Kay Beecraft
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kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Kay Beecraft
@kaybeecraft.bsky.social
1.5K followers 410 following 1.2K posts
Writer of historical romance & fantasy. Current: edits of Guenevere & Arthur retelling. Also: medieval illuminations, historical costumer, Romano-Briton archeology, fashion and textile history. 🍉😷
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kaybeecraft.bsky.social
A most magical time of year: ghost season in York! ✨

(Also, a slight cheating nod to #RomanSiteSaturday with a quick peek of the Eboracum fortress walls. 👀)
A ghostly wire figure depicting a woman in a dress playing a violin standing in the lush garden of the Yorkshire Museum with a bit of stone wall peeking out from the trees behind her.
September 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Going to bump this search with some #RomanSiteSaturday eye candy: the stunning stonework at Vindolanda Roman fort in Northumberland, in use from the 1st-4th c. AD. The fort is associated with Hadrian's wall and may very well have served as a an oversight hub during the wall's construction.

📸: me
Set against a moody backdrop of grey, rain-laden clouds and emerald quilted hills, the stonework remains of a Roman fort nestle into the sodden clay and grass.
September 20, 2025 at 11:14 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Caught @merchantshallyork.org wearing a puffball hat this afternoon.
A view from the gardens of the brick and sandstone chapel of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, sitting against a bright blue sky with a wee puff cloud centered directly atop the roof point.
August 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Just a reminder, this is a WWIJD page: What would Indiana Jones do? Punch Nazis and archaeology on.
Indiana Jones in a rumpled, sweaty jacket and hat, kneeling in a boat deck over a Nazi with fist raised about to punch the soldier.
June 11, 2025 at 4:06 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Just a small thing: there is a cricket, possibly several (who’s to say), that resides in the soft petals of my neighbor’s roses. Today I finally took a photo. He had surprised me the other day when I went to sniff, and he was staring back at me like
👁️👄👁️
A closeup of the side of a fully blossomed rose, cocooned in the petals, flush in the gradient of an evening sunset of pinks to sherbet orange to golden yellow, a wee cricket.
May 3, 2025 at 3:21 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Oh to be Paul Bettany in Master & Commander, wearing my cunty little robe and glasses, admiring animals, writing, and exploring nature without a care — except for revolution. 🥰
Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin in Master and Commander. He wears a pashmina robe and is kneeling on the ground before a shrub, delicately lifting a green lizard into a wooden cage. In the same ensemble, this time sporting a straw wide-brimmed hat and small wire-rimmed glasses, he is sat tucked into a crevice of rock and holds a notebook he has been writing in.
April 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
God forbid a woman have hobbies.
A closeup of a #medieval illumination of a woman wearing a gold robe and golden headdress, holding a whip, and the reins to the bridle worn by the man she is riding. He is on all fours, looking very distressed, and wears a grey robe and red hose. Found in "Romans arthuriens" by Robert de Boron, circa 1270-1290AD. Courtesy of Librairie des ducs de Milan.
April 11, 2025 at 11:42 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Or — hear me out — solve murders!!
A closeup of Derek Jacobi as the medieval crime-solving monk, Brother Cadfael. He is posed before a large lit candelabra within a cloister, clasping his hands, and looking at us with a sly, cheeky look. His silvering hair is cut into a tonsure.
March 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
What do you do when you’re recovering from surgery? You watch Much Ado About Nothing for the healing properties of tight pleather trousers.
And Denzel.
And Emma.
And one of the sexiest casts.
A promo shot from the 1993 film “Much Ado About Nothing,” featuring Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Beckinsale, and Robert Sean Leonard. They’re standing on the stairs of an Italian villa entryway against a dark wooden door and plaster wall. The men are wearing their uniforms of white double breasted jackets with silver buttons, dark blue or black pleather pants, knee high boots, and rapiers at their sides. The women are wearing white gauzy ankle length dresses with white buttoned bodices, nipping in at the waists, and ties at their shoulders.
February 15, 2025 at 6:08 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Literally a Richard Scarry illustration! 😭
An illustration by Richard Scarry depicting an apple as a car, with four small wheels, one large window through which a worm in a green fedora, a blue suit, and red bow tie looks out and smiles.
February 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
I’m late to the party, but I’m going to throw in my representation for Vindolanda and the very fine samian ware collection.
A vertical museum display of a wide range of samian ware, red clay Romano-Briton pottery, dating to late 80AD. There are shards, whole pieces, and some items nearly whole except for a few breaks. Some are plain, and some are decorated with various images/patterns such as animals, gods, gladiators, mythical beasts, flowers and foliage, and are in varying sizes and designs, or forms, including bowls, dishes and cups. The pottery uncovered in Briton has been found to originate in make from Gaul (France), and several of the potter stamps identified have also appeared on dishes in an un-opened crate found at Pompeii.
February 10, 2025 at 3:08 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
A yellow emoji face with two brown eyes enlarged and taking over almost the whole image with a caption that reads “I am looking respectfully.”
February 8, 2025 at 3:44 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Omg? 😩
Lisa Simpson sitting at the dining table staring down into space with a look of wide-eyed horror.
February 6, 2025 at 8:52 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
The wounds run deep.
A Victorian era painting of a woman, blonde hair braided in a single braid hanging over one shoulder and wearing a voluminous white linen blouse tied up at her elbows and a black dress with embroidered slashes across the chest, sitting with a man laying across her lap, her hand on his chest and his dark hair long and splayed across her skirts. She is looking away, extremely perturbed, and he has his eyes closed. A caption by her head reads “you finished that book three weeks ago” and one over him reads “time cannot heal the pain of a literary wound, Rebecca.”
February 2, 2025 at 12:29 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
A damask loom would require multiple heddles, or the cord or thread which the warp threads pass through, due to the complexity of the weave. The horizontal heddles have a hole at center for the warp to run through, allowing for the shifts of the warp, or the longways threads in a weave. 4/
A diagram of a simple loom showing: warp beam; warp yarn; harnesses; heddles; the reed; shuttle and filling yard; cloth weave; and the cloth roll.
February 1, 2025 at 7:07 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
It was early extant damask silk fabrics accessible in 5th century Briton over here. Which is very tricky, because, surprise!! UK is damp and inhospitable to old organic material surviving. But we have some. Like this golden damask from a Romano-Briton burial in Spitalfield, dating from ~360AD. 1/
A closeup of the damask silk weave from the Spitalfield Romano-Briton burial. Chinese-originating silk of about 97% pure gold thread, dating from about 360AD.
February 1, 2025 at 7:07 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Woke up feeling incredibly spiteful and stabby today. So please have this Romano-Briton spatha from the 1st century AD featuring Celtic modifications.

Discovered at Hod Hill in Dorset, acquired by the British Museum.
Looking down into a peach fabric lined museum case, there are three swords laid out: a small wooden child’s toy, the Hod Hill Romano-Briton sword, and a Ring Pommel sword. The sword we’re looking at is the center Hod Hill weapon, a rusted and pocked iron blade that has been broken off at the tip, with only the central iron grip remaining, the organic material having decayed away, leaving intricately molded and decorated pommel, grip rings, and hilt end. The metal remains are made of a copper-alloy; two smaller rings at the top and bottom are grooved in horizontal pattern; the larger middle ring is bulbous in shape and decorated in diagonal ribs; the hilt end is three scalloped petals, etched in a floral design, and lined with a band of narrow ribbing; and the pommel is an upside down crown like shape, almost clawed, and would have once held the organic bulb of the pommel.
January 29, 2025 at 6:05 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Just making sure we're all on the same page here. 🥰
With a grim look of determination, Captain Von Trapp stands before the open door of his chateau, and rips a nazi flag in half.
January 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Not to mention Geraldine Chaplin as the stunning queen. And the mustache on the Duke of Buckingham. And Portho's swanky gold belt. And the LACE everywhere!

Anyway, this film blew my little romantic mind when I was a kiddo. 😅
Geraldine Chaplain as Queen Anne. She appears from a froth of white lace, ostrich plumes, and diamonds a vision loveliness. Her auburn hair is curled into ringlets, framing her narrow and expectant face, while about her neck hangs a lovely diamond encrusted band necklace. The bodice of her gown is wide to reveal her chest and is edges in delicate embroidery and a silver metallic ruff. Simon Ward as the Duke of Buckingham. He stands in a candlelit room before a portrait of Geraldine Chapman as the Queen, and he gazes off camera with a curious look. Clutched in his left hand and held up towards his chest is a diamond necklace, the jewels falling against his embroidered blue velvet doublet and nestled into his extravagant lace cuffs. His blonde jaw length hair is swept back, resting delicately along his very wide and stiffened lace collar. Frank Finlay as Porthos. He is sitting astride a faux white horse having his portrait painted, glorious in a black silk doublet with slashed sleeves, the edges and cuffs trimmed in metallic gold braid, and his white linen shirt peeking through along his arms. Across his middle is a mustard gold silk sash and a gold encrusted baldric thrusts across his chest. He leans back with a wild look in his blue eyes, dark curls framing his pert face and dark curled mustache twitching above his lips, and his black musketeer hat with white plume perches at a jaunty angle atop his head.
January 20, 2025 at 5:34 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Was going through old tweets & stumbled on one of my favorites.

Everyone talks about The Mummy cast as their awakening, but mine has always been '73 Musketeers.

Dirty Oliver Reed? Eye patch Christopher Lee? Faye Dunaway in a bloody bath? Raquel Welch jumping to get a key out of her boobs?
Oliver Reed as Athos. Grim and watchful, he stands in a shadowed room gazing off to the right, his black silk doublet edged in black velvet trim and black musketeer hat with black and white plumes angled low over his brow, shadowing his blue eyes. Christopher Lee as Rochefort and Faye Dunaway as Lady de Winter. They sit close together in a cream silk padded carriage, Rochefort's deep blood-red velvet suit and hat in dark contrast to Milday's white and pastel blue and pink gown and hat. They are conversing, the casual vibe between them in sharp contrast to the two pistols on the carriage wall behind their heads and Rochefort's dark eye-patch. Raquel Welch as Constance and Michael York as D'Artagnan. They stand close together, her face etched in worry while his gaze lingers on her very prominent bosom. She is wearing a deep cut gown of peach silk, with puff sleeves, and her auburn hair is pulled half back into a bun while the rest hangs in voluminous ringlets. He wears a black silk doublet with jet inlaid metal buttons, a wide lace edged collar, and his blonde jaw-length hair is tousled and poofy. Richard Chamberlain as Aramis. He is kneeling before a wash line hung in linen sheets, and he thrusts his sword forward, hilt up, saying "Let us pray." His elaborate and luxurious black velvet doublet, with slashed sleeves, is edged in black filigree braid and a ornate lace collar and cuffs. His wide black musketeer hat sits handsomely over his furrowed brow, blue eyes pleading.
January 20, 2025 at 5:34 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Psst! Can I show you something really neat, BlueSky friends? 👀

This weird pile of leather is an original saddle cover from the Romano-Briton fort Vindolanda, dating from about 100-105 AD. It would cover a four-horned wooden saddle, like the drawing here.

But, Kay, you ask, why is that special?
An overhead view of a dark brown leather saddle cover from 100 - 105 AD, found at Vindolanda Roman fort in the residence of Flavius Cerialis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians. It has four prominent corners, embroidered in scrolling flora, which would then be secured over horns of a wooden saddle frame. The edges of the cover are punctured in a neat line of holes where the cover would have originally been sewn. A black line illustration (by M.C.Bishop, from Vindolanda Trust) of a Roman cavalry horse in full tack. It wears a bridle with decorative circular plates, a four horned saddle, embroidered saddle blanket, and fringed chest strap with decorative metal embellishments.
January 19, 2025 at 7:11 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Okay, so it’s technically a pelican, but I think it’s funnier to call it a cursed duck. Because this fowl has SEEN things. And also, I’m deeply obsessed with these embroideries by Mary Queen of Scots and needed and excuse to post.

Embroidered panel, 1560, at the V&A.
A closeup of an embroidered textile panel hung in a glass case against an olive green background. It is of a pelican, the bird standing in water with a fish, and is framed by a cross-like opening with four flowers within each corner. It is a linen canvas decorated with silk, gold, and silver thread in cross stitch. Circa 1560-1570.
January 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Yooooo what? Has @merriam-webster.com gone AI? What in the balls?

#writing #wrtiersofbluesky
Screenshot of the Merriam-Webster Thesaurus website for a search of "surefire" revealing a bright purple search bar below the main search that says "Get Custom Synonyms: Enter your own sentence containing surefire and get words to replace it."
December 26, 2024 at 12:23 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
‘You will be visited by three spirits.’

The three spirits:
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon, and Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings.
December 24, 2024 at 4:20 AM
kaybeecraft.bsky.social
Isn’t it? And you can get quite close to them. There is just a wee rail here. Which means you can really lean in and see the details. 😍
Fragments of Romano Briton tertiary frescos on a white wall at York Minster. What remains are scrolling horizontal bands of frames that would house pastoral scenes. A few have vestiges of olive branches reaching over the scrollwork. An angled shot of the same Romano Briton frescos, this time revealing a narrow tail between the photographer and wall.
December 17, 2024 at 5:58 PM