Irish Penannular brooches make me happy...and it's great to be making this style again.

More Bronze age goodness, this time in the form of this bracelet based on an extant made by the Lusatian culture and dating to around 1000BCE. The spiral pendants have been seen as both amulets worn around the neck and this time attached to a bracelet. Both are forged from bronze.

I followed a creative rabbit hole inspired by late bronze age jewellery today. Brass and bronze and antique quartz, brought together with great harmony.
I am chuffed to bits about this one.

Sometimes it's not about trying to recreate historic items that are super-blingy or adding modern symmetry to an interpretation...the raw and "ugly" can be beautiful, also.
Here is my sculpted rendition of a small, Anglo-Saxon brooch of a beast, with the original dating to the end of the AS period.

The Tygers of the Sands Crowns of the East Kingdom (SCA), designed by me based on Nubian and Egyptian examples from a concept by His Majesty Ryouko'jin, made and built by my apprentices and I.
These were a great return to Active duty creating after three and a half months of healing.

Slowly adjusting to try trials of having a broken left humerus. The orthopaedic surgeon opted to see how immobilisation would work vs surgery for the time being. Other than the occasional movement, there is no real discomfort.
There is a lot that I cannot do...however onward and upward.

The very first coherent thought that I had after breaking my left arm and deafened by the jumble of panicked thoughts was the title of Marcel Duchamp's Dada masterwork "In Advance of a Broken Arm"
This week I find out how long I will truly be out of commission.

As we are one week from A Market Day at Birka in Manchester, NH, I worked in the shop making more bling for people to adopt!
Here are two silver brooches...one a square headed bow brooch based on a 6th century example and then a Trewhiddle style disc brooch inspired by a late 9th century piece.

Casting a silver mjolnir blank for hammer forging.

Every piece.
One at a time.
Timeless methods.

First new piece of 2025! This is my rendition of a silver penannular brooch housed at the National Museum of Ireland. I used garnet cabs instead of amber and I love how that deep red pops against the silver.

Here's to another year ready to depart and another ready to begin.

May you all spend this last night of 2024 in the throes of Merriment and also Peace. May you ponder your past as you life your present so that your Future will be one full of new adventures and wondrous growth

See you all in 2025!

Meta must be doing some major updates, and it seems that their algorithm is targeting posts that are "censorable".

Our kitten, Loki, minding the gap because he can.

I had to make this...it just felt right.

This is an homage to my dearly departed big boy, Iroh, who I endearingly called Jólakötturinn because he was magnificently large. So just right for the Holidays to complement the Mari Lwyd piece.
What do you all think?

I had a huge burst of inspiration today...working on forging more EarShivs™, casting Yule Goats, and listening to good music.
The Mari Lwyd is not represented enough so ai decided to carve and cast a Mari Lwyd pendant/ornament. This is definitely one of my better sculpting jobs.
Onward and upwards!

Immersing in a creative endeavour makes life much more tolerable.

What keeps you going?

More from the shop today...silver, ivory, wood, and horn...such wonderful materials to work in. Connecting to the past through the work of ancient artisans is both emotional and profound.

History in one's hands is powerful. This Donar's Club is made from mammoth ivory and 5500-year-old Irish Bog Yew. It's such a small thing that transcends time.

The Strongford Arts shop is on BlueSky! We will be slowly migrating away from Meta and will be looking forward to bringing our historically-inspired art here.
Here's a good way to start...my rendition of a Pictish bone pin found in Burghead, Scotland, made from mammoth ivory!