Freki

One of my best belt bags so far...

The patterns are own designs inspired by Viking age art styles

I finally finished a harness for my wolfdog Skadi - I started with it already 3 years ago, but due to the lack of time and a lot of other projects it took me while to get it ready for the use...

I am not able to tell exactly, but definitely "six" is "seks", "øyne" means "eyes" in norwegian - so Hjalmar Seksøyne would be the correct spelling from my point of view.

You actually described it how it works exactly, CitizenKate. But I have to add that there's no such an "educational" effect included like in the case of chain collars. So the collar stops closing at a point before getting to tight, but tight enough to hold on the dogs neck, not able to slip over the head. This type of collar enables you to very fast put it on and off... Thanks for the compliment to my dogs - I will pass it on to them

Really not a special process I think - dyeing with ROC leather-dye and afterwards fiebing's medium brown antique finish. Mainly using old socks and smal paintbrushes for the dyeing.

Have you been thrown off for functional or for optic reasons? Just curious...

Here is my collection of viking and celtic patterns. I even got some more stuff, but I tried to pick out the more important images. So I also did not include paintings and other related things. Especially in the celtic collection may be a lot of crap, also some tattoo-stuff, I didn't have the time to look through it to carefully - simply delete what you don't need LINKS REMOVED BECAUSE OF REPORTED MALWARE.

This piece is far from being perfect, but if you bear in mind that this was my very first sewing-work ever, I guess it is acceptable. I like this kind of collars better than the ones with buckles. There's also a bit botching with the dye on the inside, but it's the inside, right?! The pattern was drawn freehand and then tooled. The runes mean Isa, which is the name of my Saarloos-bitch who now owns this work...

I have done two .zip-files and just upload them. Where shall I post the links? Into the pattern-section?

Thanks for your positive words! Actually I really did not use a tri-weave-stamp - the whole piece is done with nothing more than a beveler and one backgrounder. I used a stencil for the wolf, the rest was drawn freehand on the wet leather. I am a bit minimalistic when it comes to the use of tools - I almost exclusively use bevelers and backgrounders. Here's a pic of some self-made tools I used back in the reenactment days: I am really back to the basics, hehe

Thanks a lot to all of you for this hearty, warm welcome here!!! And of course thanks for all your nice words - compliments are fuel for the creativity. I promise - you'll get to see more

Daggrim: First of all: Thanks for your words! Yeah, these Viking dragons and beasts have their unique vibes - and the best way to explore their magic is to recreate them again and again - and leather is a perfect material for this... Unfortunately I don't know a special website, I started collecting everything I could find some years ago - most patterns I actually got from books. But if there are more people around here who share this intrest, I could make a .rar-file and load it up somewhere...

I made this bracer already some time ago but I after being unsatisfied with the result, I revised it recently. This time the pattern is not designed by myself, it is an ancient one from Gotland, Sweden. I really love this pattern and used it quite often in the past.

This one is not my most recent work - however, since this is my first post here in the Show off section, I want to show something representative. This belt bag displays a lot of "my" style - the bag itself is in a classic viking-bag shape as I have done them for years now. The "main"-pattern in the center is an own design which was inpired by the so called Mammen-style and other later viking-age styles, even if it is a bit more "simplistic"... As my art always includes kind of a spiritual level, this special pattern should not be to complicated - don't wanted to cover up the "message" behind it. It shows Fenrir, a Wolf from the norse mythology which was bound by the gods. This is a strong symbol which has a lot of connection to my work. I think the bag also looks somehow ancient and rough (in a positive way) - something that I always try to reach.

Well, I am registered here since a few weeks and thought now it's high time to say "hello!" to you folks! My name is Freki and I live in Sweden though I actually come from Germany. I am into the whole leather-thing since a few years now, starting with more or less re-enactment related works. My wife and I visited re-enactment markets as merchants and craftsmen in Germany for two years. Then we decided to make our dream to live somewhere in the north come true. After moving to Sweden I redefined my artistic approach a bit. I moved from more authenticity-based to more independent works. Still the most inspiration I get from the art/culture of the Viking-age and the ancient northern/germanic mythology, but instead of using "old" "original" patterns, I started to design more and more of them myself. Other influences are of course the celtic pattern style (which is sometimes quite hard to distinguish from the viking-style), tattoos and also comics. Back in the days I worked together with my wife, she did the sewing, cutting and so on, while I did the more "artistic" parts like tooling and dyeing. Now I have to do everything myself - the sewing is still kind of a trouble to me, but I am working on it. Besides leatherworks I love to make knifes and also work a lot with horn, wood and other natural materials. Guess this was enough about me, right?! To complete my introduction some pictures are attached: