This drinking horn was a custom work I dealt with during the last weeks - I think this turned out to become my best hornwork so far... The designing process was great - it was done freehand onto the horn, just the way I like it most - first with a lead pencil and after some small changes and the final approval of the customer with a permanent marker. Last but not least the bas-relief carving followed.
This time I did not carve the drinking horn, instead I used a kind of pyrography and as you can see there are no lines but a lot of dots forming the pattern. It was my first horn pyrography since a lot of years and I did this more or less just for fun between two comissions. A very relaxing work and there will be more like this to come... Furthermore I think a combination of carving and burning might be extremely nice?! I did the design while I was working on it, step by step.
Classic leather dog collars for a pack of Staffords, decorated with a custom viking design and the dogs' names written in runes. All 3 collars have the same design including the famous stafford knot but differ in the use of colours - this provides individuality and the feeling of pack solidarity at the same time.
Leather dog collar decorated with ornamental viking design and the dog's name. It has a D-Ring closure instead a buckle closure. I personally prefer this type of closure for the collars of my own dogs since they are very easy to put on and take off again. Of course these are not designed to choke the dogs even if the D-ring closure uses kind of the same concept as a choke collar. However there's a stop which prevents the choking effect. So the minimum extent of the collars is calculated with regards to the actual circumference of the dog's neck.
Recently I was asked of a danish pagan magazin to do some decoration for their release of a booklet with some Yule-songs. Since I like the idea of collecting pagan songs for a traditional celebration of one of the most important annual feasts, I agreed to do this. Here is the result:
This is the cover of the booklet.This is side frame which returns on each side in addition to the songtexts. More infos about this little Yule song collection you can get here: http://www.urds-kilde.dk/
This job was close to driving me crazy. It was not the first time I carved horns but the first time the horns were for the customers' wedding - so I was constantly aware of the high relevance this work would have for the couple and their pagan marriage ceremony... Furthermore I had to do a pair - a pair that should be almost identical, apart from the fact that they are mirrored. And doing two identical horns means a total different strategy - so it took me almost two days of work to trace the design onto the horns. Usually, or at least very often, I design the patterns freehand on the horn - something that was completely out of question this time... So before I even could think about tracing any patterns, I needed to have the patterns first. Fortunately the classic celtic knotwork bands and the central Lugh's knot pattern were given so I "just" needed some knotwork band for the intermediate parts. And, call it a creative logjam or whatever, it took me ages to come up with this one: This was a real bastard to carve, but in the end it turned out well and the couple was really satisfied and happy with the result. And this is what makes me happy, too!
Another one of those things I ever wanted to do is to combine my two favourite crafts - carving and knife-making. I mean, is there anything that screams as loud for a carved decoration like a knife handle made from antler? I think not. So I took this knife which I actually made a few years ago but never finished. It served me in it's unfinished state sometimes as a working knife, sometimes it was completely forgotten. I just found it again a while ago and after all the progression of my carving abilities in recent times, I decided to finally dare it. There was this little wrist cuff lying around and I thought, "Hey, this pattern would be great for this handle!" and after 5 minutes of freehand transfering and some further hours of work the result was convincing. This is the first one in a long row of knifes with carved handles - you can be pretty sure about that! Since I do not know when I'll be able to make a fitting sheath, this piece is not for sale yet. However if you are interested in a "pre-order" don't hesitate to contact me!
After many many requests about how I carve the bone jewelry, I decided to show the process of making a Thor's Hammer here step by step. Keep in mind that this is NOT a real tutorial, since these steps display my personal way to reach my aim and may be totally improper for others. Though I am of course happy if you find it helpful for your own work.
Let's start! Of course there are some things needed before the actual carving work starts. First of all there was the design which you can see above. And a pile of "material" which you can see below.
on this picture you see my staff considering the most suitable piece for my work
I often get questions about the bones I use. Usually I simply buy bovine bones in the supermarket, frozen and filled with marrow. This is when my little helpers (see pic above) come into the play. During weeks of intense engagement they clean them very well and make them almost ready for the use. However, the sun and the weather are additional factors in the preparation process of the material.
The last step of preparation would be to choose a suitable piece of bone and to roughly cut it out.
Below you can see numbered pictures of the following working steps including the actually used attachments/accessories for my Dremel Power Tool. (click on them to make em bigger, you know?!) The numbers correspond with the steps of work. If there's no number on the single pictures, it means that they show the result of the previous procedure. Underneath you will find a short description of each particular step.
1. Transfering of the design onto the roughly cutted and grinded bone 2. Engraving the outlines with a medium sized, round-headed, engraving cutter 3. Cutting out the workpiece and beveling of some of the hard edges, using an engraving cutter with a cylindric head for both procedures
4. Using a big sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen the section around the bottom knotwork 5. Using a small sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen all important lines 6. Adjusting irregularities of the surface and the thickness of the workpiece
7. Using a small sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen all important lines that may have vanished during the previous working step 8. Shaping of all edges with an engraving cutter with a cylindric head 9. Engraving the cuts on the lateral sections with a conic headed cutter 10. Using big sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to make the dots in the background of the bottom section 11. Using a small sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen all important lines, add some new ones and "dotting" the lateral areas
12. Using different Diamond Wheel Point accessories for grinding down and smoothing
13. The final sanding with good old school sandpaper 14. Polishing
Due to the weather conditions I did no new carvings this year - until this week. I have some custom carving works to do, however I started with this two bone pendants for my shop to get used to the tools again after this seasonal break of more than half a year.
Thor's Hammer pendant with knotwork design Vårby Beast pendant
Unique and innovative battery driven wall clock made of veg. tanned leather; hand tooled and dyed. The hands are driven by a quartz clockwork. It has a diameter of approximately 23 cm/9" and has a weight of 145 g.
If you are looking for a good leather belt with some kind of viking style decoration, you may have realized that something like that is quite hard to find out there. Either you have those really nice authentic looking ones with great metal buckles and strap ends that fit perfectly to viking costume for the next reenactment event - but less perfect to your every day outfit. Or you find those with poorly embossed and boring celtic knotwork patterns. So I decided to do something for you guys and girls out there.
The inspiration for this belt comes partly from the early Viking Age ornaments of the Oseberg period. (It's my favourite style btw.) It is one of the most typical viking styles and is less celtic influenced. The runic inscription "Mattr ok Megin" is thought to summon the power and the might of the individual who will wear this piece one day.
It is 4.5 cm/1.8 inches broad while the the ends are cut out somewhat narrower (ca. 1.5 in) to ensure that almost every common buckle should fit. It is a snap-on belt - so you can fasten your buckle with two snaps. It is 125 cm/49.2 inches long (excl. buckle)
Bracer "New Dawn" Maybe when I did this piece I was a bit inspired by the long winter this year and the actual wish for the sun to return, maybe those feeling inspired only the name I gave to this pattern. Anyway, since I made my own Thor's Hammer design recently, I wanted to do my own version of another very important symbol of germanic paganism - the Irminsul. I think I was fairly successful with my approach of combining this old sign with my own style.
Bracer "Svarog" This design is my tribute to the slavonic pagan traditions I find really inspiring. I think there may be some more works in the future using slavonic or baltic symbols. But since I am not that familiar with these styles, this will probably stay single attempts every now and then unless there will be a good response forcing me to do more ;)
This belt pouch is made from solid 2 and 3mm vegetable-tanned leather. It is hand tooled and dyed It fits onto a belt up to 45mm wide. The closure button is made of antler.
These custom knives are perfectly suitable for every outdoor enthusiast or collector of nordic knives.
Jotun This damascus steel blade is made by the famous Poul Strande from Denmark. Measures: 105mm x 27mm x 4mm
The handle is made of brass, leather, reindeer antler, stabilized curly birch and stab. maple burl.
The whole knife has a length of 241 mm and a weight of 149 g (without the sheath)
The sheath is made of solid 3 and 4 mm veg. tanned leather, hand tooled, dyed and sewn.
Whitefang The blade is a quality product from the well know swedish company Frosts Knivfabrik from Mora. It is made of carbon steel; measures: 150mm x 24mm x 2,5mm
The handle is made of amboina burl, leather and reindeer antler, finished with linseed oil varnish
The whole knife has a length of 275 mm and a weight of 125 g (without the sheath)
The sheath is made of solid 3 and 4 mm veg. tanned leather, hand tooled, dyed and sewn
Both Knives are currently for sale in my Etsy-shop: Buy here!
the mighty weapon of the germanic thundergod. Since the time of the christianisation of the north, it became a sign for the resistance against the new and foreign belief. Until today it displays the pride of a heathen/pagan worldview." Bracers with an own Thors Hammer design. There are still some of them available in my Etsy-store - however this will be the last ones of that kind I make, so if you are interested, do not hesitate and order your's today! Buy here!
This time I did not carve the drinking horn, instead I used a kind of pyrography and as you can see there are no lines but a lot of dots forming the pattern. It was my first horn pyrography since a lot of years and I did this more or less just for fun between two comissions. A very relaxing work and there will be more like this to come... Furthermore I think a combination of carving and burning might be extremely nice?! I did the design while I was working on it, step by step.
Classic leather dog collars for a pack of Staffords, decorated with a custom viking design and the dogs' names written in runes. All 3 collars have the same design including the famous stafford knot but differ in the use of colours - this provides individuality and the feeling of pack solidarity at the same time.
Leather dog collar decorated with ornamental viking design and the dog's name. It has a D-Ring closure instead a buckle closure. I personally prefer this type of closure for the collars of my own dogs since they are very easy to put on and take off again. Of course these are not designed to choke the dogs even if the D-ring closure uses kind of the same concept as a choke collar. However there's a stop which prevents the choking effect. So the minimum extent of the collars is calculated with regards to the actual circumference of the dog's neck.
This is side frame which returns on each side in addition to the songtexts.
So before I even could think about tracing any patterns, I needed to have the patterns first. Fortunately the classic celtic knotwork bands and the central Lugh's knot pattern were given so I "just" needed some knotwork band for the intermediate parts. And, call it a creative logjam or whatever, it took me ages to come up with this one:
This was a real bastard to carve, but in the end it turned out well and the couple was really satisfied and happy with the result. And this is what makes me happy, too!
Another one of those things I ever wanted to do is to combine my two favourite crafts - carving and knife-making. I mean, is there anything that screams as loud for a carved decoration like a knife handle made from antler? I think not.
and after 5 minutes of freehand transfering and some further hours of work the result was convincing. This is the first one in a long row of knifes with carved handles - you can be pretty sure about that!
After many many requests about how I carve the bone jewelry, I decided to show the process of making a Thor's Hammer here step by step. Keep in mind that this is NOT a real tutorial, since these steps display my personal way to reach my aim and may be totally improper for others.
on this picture you see my staff considering the most suitable piece for my work
1. Transfering of the design onto the roughly cutted and grinded bone
4. Using a big sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen the section around the bottom knotwork
7. Using a small sized, round-headed, engraving cutter to deepen all important lines that may have vanished during the previous working step
12. Using different Diamond Wheel Point accessories for grinding down and smoothing
Unique and innovative battery driven wall clock made of veg. tanned leather; hand tooled and dyed.
If you are looking for a good leather belt with some kind of viking style decoration, you may have realized that something like that is quite hard to find out there. 
Bracer "Svarog"
This belt pouch is made from solid 2 and 3mm vegetable-tanned leather.
This damascus steel blade is made by the famous Poul Strande from Denmark.
The blade is a quality product from the well know swedish company Frosts Knivfabrik from Mora. 
"Mjolnir - the Hammer of Thor,
