Æsa, Baroness of Vulkanfeldt in the Kingdom of An Tir, hosted a Largess Competition at Vulkanfeldt Yule Feast this winter. She called it the Sleigh Bell Six.
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| Baron Rurik and Baroness Æsa |
I had never made largess before, because I could never quite figure out what to make that people would like to receive. I really wanted to support the largess idea at this event.
I decided to look on Pinterest using the keyword "Largess" and Oh My Gosh! So many fun and beautiful things to look at. I copied a bunch of the cool ones to my computer and looked through them over and over for a few days trying to decide what to do.
I don't remember exactly when and why I decided to make Byzantine Embellished Alms Bags, but that is where I went with the making Largess thing. I then spent some time looking up period examples of these bags and of byzantine embellishment, to get a basic idea of the appropriate look.
My first Bag turned out to be a bit religious, Rus' Orthodox I guess and I decided that it was not an Alms Bag but rather a Reliquary Bag. I didn't pre-engineer the making and so I didn't exactly know how the thing would go together. It was trial and error. This one is still not finished, because I need to sew tiny eyelets in it yet - for the drawstrings.
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| Bag #1 - Front |
I embellished both the front and back with metal bits and pearls. The bag was completely hand sewn, meaning that after it was embellished, I put the lining on by hand. Really fussy and I did not have an awl to make the eyelet holes, nor am I practiced at making eyelets. I was not confident this one could be given out after I punched holes in it.
I did a bit more more research, meaning I looked at a bunch of pictures on-line. I found that some of the period Alms Bags had pockets for the drawstrings.
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| Early 10th Century Byzantine Reliquary Bag |
My next try at making a bag included a pocket and I sewed the lining on with a machine, because that part is hidden and can't really be detected. On this bag, I just added Rivets and Red French Knots. I also tried out various materials for the hanging strap and drawstrings (Yellow shoelaces). The red beads are wood and I am not fond of them. I had nothing metal with holes big enough to work. Still trying to get the methods down.
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| Bag #2 - Front |
Bag three was easier. With this one, I used red cotton crochet thread that I braided for the hanging strap and drawstrings. Finding beads in my kit that worked on the drawstrings nearly drove me mad.
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| Bag #3 - Front |
Also on this bag (and it was the only one made this way), I used different fabrics for the front and for the back. Mostly various rivets and some red French Knots.
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| Bag #3 - Front and Back |
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By the fourth bag, I think I'm getting the hang of it.
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| Bag #4 - Front and Back |
Again, this one turns out to be a bit too religious, but I LOVE IT. This is the one that I end up not being able to give away. It is now part of my garb. I used a lot of different metal bits and pearls. I also dug through my stuff and found a bit of silky cord to braid for the hanging strap. I used the cord as-is for the drawstrings.
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| Bag #4 - Front |
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Now, the Largess Competition called for 6 items and by this point, I had made four with only two ready to gift. These were taking me about a day and a half to make (maybe 8 to 12 hours). Also, I'm out of appropriate cord/string. I'm getting a little frantic.
With Bag five, I again used crochet string for the hanging strap and drawstrings. I tried some new things on this one. Not loving it, but its okay. A little metal, a lot of french knots. I made the tassels on this one with the same crochet cord. They do not hang nicely. I definitely need other cord.
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| Bag #5 - Front |
We stopped at Jo-Anns on a trip to Moses Lake and I found some silky cord. YAY! It's so pretty. I thought about making cord on my lucet - but since I am not practiced I decided it would take too long. The silky cord will do for now.
On Bag six, I tried out using some really big metal elements. Personally, I think the smaller elements work better. I do love the silky cord. I braided it for the hanging strap and used it as-is for the drawstrings. I am still having issues with finding beads for the drawstrings. These were really difficult to get on the string, but they need to be there for the string to hang attractively.
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| Bag #6 - Front |
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OMGosh! I just love bag number seven. I think it is my favorite. This fabric is perfect for showing off gold bits and pearls. Maybe you can tell by now, that I really like diagonal patterned fabric for these. Many if the extant bags have diagonal patterns on them.
This is the first time that I have ever outlined an element in pearls. I've laid it out before, and thought about doing it, but I never really liked the way it looked. It just so happens that these pearls were exactly the right size.
The round red topped gems are actually snap heads. I don't really like them, but I have not made any mounted gems yet and frankly, they are impossible to find to purchase. A lot of rivets on this bag, but fairly balanced with the sewn-on objects.
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| Bag #7 - Front |
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| Bag #7 - Front and Back |
For the last bag, I went back to my second favorite fabric. No sewing embellishment on this one. All the metal bits are rivets.
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| Bag #8 - Front and Back |
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Now I have Six giftable Bags. The last thing that needs to happen before the competition is Presentation. I'm a bit of a Presentation fanatic. It is one of the things that I love do the most when entering a competition.
I knew there would be a table made available to us. I have bifocals, and I don't like to bend over to see the details on things when they are displayed on a table top. Over a couple of days, I tried out a number of different options that would bring the pieces up and closer to viewing. Here is what I eventually came up with.
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| Presentation |
I used a simple camp stool that I had converted with leather. It is an old Sears version of the stool and has a nice fold-up back. I hung a brown scarf over the back. I had really wanted to show how the bags were hung on a belt and this worked much better than the stick and easel I had first tried out.
There was no requirement for documentation for this competition, but I wanted to show something. I made a very simple folded pamphlet out of card weight paper. It has the title of the work and my name on the front. The Inside held this image.
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There were some fabulous entries in the Competition. Amazing things that people made.
I won, but truthfully, I think that it was the presentation and the simple documentation that gave me the edge.
In a largess competition, everyone enters a group of "like" things. In this instance, Six like things - although we most often hear of the "Dirty Dozen" competitions. The winner gets to take home one of each of the things entered. I did not really know these particulars. I had expected to be just giving.
As the winner, I decided that my winnings would stay with the Baroness for her use. I did take home my favorite bag #7, but gifted it to the outgoing Baroness of Wastekeep as she had commented how it would go with a certain outfit that she liked to wear.
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While I was making the bags, I was posting my progress on Facebook. A number of people commented about their interest in learning to make the bags.
Making the bags is a two fold thing. The first, is bag construction and the second, is Byzantine Embellishment. When I got home from the competition, I began work on a PowerPoint Presentation for Bag Construction.
The only way I could figure out to make it available on-line was to post it as a document to a Facebook Group. It is currently available in the Inland's Regional Arts and Sciences FB Group under Documents.
In my next post about the Wee Bags, I plan to convert the instructions to Blog format.
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