I consider this belt bag to be one of my best works so far - even more astonishing that I always forgot to post it here... The design of the bag itself goes back to the time when we made stuff for reenactment, so it is a classical "Viking" belt bag. But the belt bags we made at this time were much easier and less decorated.
The main-pattern on this pouch is an own one, it is displaying the fettered Fenrir. Also the knotworks and tri-weave are drawn and tooled free-hand - I never use these ready-made stamps.
This was a commissioned work for a friend of mine - though I had a lot of artistic freedom.
The Sax-blade is made from some carbon steel (nothing special) and is the only thing I could not manufacture myself so I got it from a friend. So do not ask me questions about the blade - my answers will be quite unsatisfying ;)
The handle is made from some very interesting materials. The first part is some usual deer antler. But the way I used it shall remind a bit on the shape of bronze age swords. Then there are the intermediate pieces of leather. The next part is oak - moor oak to be precise. This means, this piece of wood could easily be around 5000 years old... After the next piece of leather, there is a piece of oak again. But a special one again! Some of you may know the story about the Donar-Oak (Donareiche) which was a sacred place for the Chatti and other ancient germanic tribes of central Germany. In the year 723 Bonifatius had the oak felled in an attempt to convey the superiority of the Christian God over Thor and the native Germanic religion. However, and this part is not told by common history pages, the germanic people did not renunciate directly after christianisation and planted a new oak which stood there until the mid of the last century. Only few people know about the place where the remains of this ancient tree can be found. And this handle is made of it's wood! If you don't believe this (I swear that I do it!) it may just be a piece of a very very old common german oak...
The sheath is made from veg tanned leather as all my leather works - the viking design is an own one and the Wolfangel is part of the family crest of my friend who will get this wonderful piece...
This piece was a commissioned work, look here for the original design: [link] I tried to be close to the original and to restrict my artistic freedom to the parts that left no other possibilities. It was really fun to do this piece though it was kinda tricky, too - just send me more challenges like that!
I already began with this work almost one year ago and then completely forgot about it. When it came back to my consiousness a few days ago, I decided to finally finish it and I think it turned out quite good. It is not the most inventive design of all times - this Gotland pattern is used by many (leather-)artists. However I like it's vintage and even a bit battered look. It looks as antique as possible, I would say.
I put a bunch of older wristbands with original norse or celtic patterns into my Etsy-store today. I found them while cleaning my workshop and thought they would be to be forgotten. Even if they are not what I would do today, they are still very nice...
I consider this belt bag to be one of my best works so far - even more astonishing that I always forgot to post it here...
The main-pattern on this pouch is an own one, it is displaying the fettered Fenrir. Also the knotworks and tri-weave are drawn and tooled free-hand - I never use these ready-made stamps.
