Wayland

I adapted a casting made by someone else to make it into a pendant. My own silver work is mainly hammer, punch and chase work like this: At the armoury it was mainly helmets for re enactment use until we started getting in to film work which was a bit of a grind. I left when it started getting a bit industrial. Sadly I don't seem to have many pictures from back then. I hadn't gone digital at that stage.

It holds very well, even in well waxed thread and is compact as well. It was the best I found for the job.

That sounds as if you have it straight. The knot is this one. It's called the English Fisherman's Knot in Ashley #293 but on this side of the pond we just know it as the Fisherman's knot, though technically it's a bend.

OK,I'll try to explain it if I can. I start with a thread half the thickness that I will need for my finished work. The stuff I usually use is a barely twisted linen yarn which has just six strands. I cut a piece twice the length I need and I wax it up with a lump of beeswax. Because it is half weight I can then use a much finer needle than a full weight thread. I thread two needles onto the ends of the thread and then tie those ends together with a fisherman's knot. This gives me a loop with both needles on it. Now I take the knot and fold it to the opposite side of the loop and pinch these point together. Draw the needles to the other ends of the two loops now formed. Give the thread a quick twist and I now have a 12 strand thread with tiny needles at each end. The advantages as far as I can see are no great thickness just behind the needles and just a very small knot in the middle which is easily lost between the leather. I also don't have to worry about the thread slipping off the needles unless it actually breaks, which is a very rare occurrence. I hope that makes sense, it's much easier to demonstrate than explain.

It's mostly silver work I do now but I used to torture a bit of steel from time to time and for a while I worked as an armourer. The talisman hanging above Mjölnir is Veðrfölnir, not often seen as a pendant but it turns up frequently in artwork. I don't worry too much about the way I do things but I suspect I do have a few bad habits which the old hands would frown at. I've never met anyone else that preps a thread for saddle stitch the way I do but it seems to work.

Thank you for the welcome. Sylvia, I've heard of walnut shells used for dying but never seen it done unfortunately. There is quite a bit of info on the net but I guess your own GooleFu will have found that already. If not you might be interested in: Practical Primitive or CasCity In the UK we get a slightly different variety of walnut tree so I'm not sure how well it would work here. I'll ask a couple of people I know and see if I can come up with anything better for you.

I found this great site while looking for ideas for a new project. I'm a real amateur when it comes to leatherwork, I make everything the wrong way, use scrappy old bits of leather but things generally work out well enough for my own purposes. I started off making my own kit for my living history work. I teach people about history and ancient skills. And I sometimes add my own metalwork as well. But these days a lot of my stuff is made for bushcraft and outdoor use. More functional than pretty. I don't do much tooling or patterned work but just like the leather to speak for itself which is why I often use knarly old bits and pieces. I'm sure I will learn loads here but I doubt if there's much I'll be able to teach you guys in return. There's some really wonderful work here.