Bright colours for bright summer days

As summer events are approaching one yearns for more colour and light materials. And as my friend Johanna at https://www.facebook.com/evajohanna.arts.crafts/ just showed her circlet made of Bright coloured string covering a metal band I finally got the inspiration for making that multicoloured gefrens I have had plans for for quite some time. I even ordered different colours of silk in order to make one.

What is a gefrens then? Well it is a small fringelike accessory covering the back of the neck, and is mostly depicted in late 15th Century german art. It comes in many different colours and shapes, there are even those in metal. 

These ones are my main inspiration, clearly thin stripes of different colours, not just three large blocks of colour.

It is often seen used just as it is, over the braided hair, but it is also seen in combination with other headwear such as vulsthaube and steuchlein.

For my new gefrens, I started with a silk lucet cord and then measured and cut the strands in green, yellow and red.

My silks are a thick lush one from Devere yarns

Don´t complicate things, use whatever comes handy!

 I measured twelve strands for every stripe, and then tied them onto the lucet cord in threes.

A simple and fast little project finished! And a small and very versatile accessory is ready for use.

And I love how it just naturally makes those waves you see here:

A laurel wreath

Going to SCA Drachenwald 25 years anniversary and Midsommer Coronation in Bulgaria the upcoming week, I had loose plans on making a new dress. As most people does. But the silk I ordered from the US is still in customs, so no new dress for me. And it is not like I am at the risk of having to go naked, there are plenty of kirtles in this girls closet.

But I could always use some new headwear. Because I love headwear, it makes such a difference for an oufit and with plenty of headwear it is easy to alternate and it packs easy.

As a newbie Laurel, I do not have much insignia other than my medallions. And sometimes one simply has to bling up a bit. So I decided to make a laurel wreath, similar to one I made for my mistress, Joutsenjärven Sahra, using a brocade band with attached laurel leaves in gilted leather.

But I could not make a thing without finding some kind of period sources or inspiration for it. So I had a look through my art database and found a number of late 15th Century german depictions of wreaths used by women.

Some seem to be actual flower wreaths but other are to stylised to be simply a flower wreath. And the bride in red in the middle is wearing a small circlet with beads and a central flower of semiprecious stones or the like.

So with this supporting my idea of making a SCA-anachronistic wreath, I went on to sewing a band in dark red silk brocade and then cutting and attaching leaves of gilted leather to it. I decided to make it open in the back so I can pin it on different headdresses as well as just on top of my braids, as seen in the pictures.

I sewed the leaves onto the band with silk and left the front uncovered, but then it looked like it needed something. Back to the drawing board! I finally went with a little flower out of glass beads, similar to the one on the bride in her red dress. And in order for the gilted leather leaves not to look to bland, I added some beads inbetween them too, to look like litte berries and brighten things up.

So now I have a very blingy wreath that also travels easily and can be rolled up and put in a bag without any fear of breakage. And I am looking forward to wearing it!