Hunh - I'd not recalled Viriathus - fascinating! I did see on another trailer they covered Alaric I, which is definitely a "End of the Northern Kingdom" kind of story. Though I'm given to understand Alaric didn't look much like a Hollywood barbarian. I know how difficult it is to illustrat...

Very cool!

I love seeing the village grow a little every year: is it the same location as usual? It looks so verdant!

... and WOW! Are those hanging cauldrons your work?! They look right out of the MoL artifact books!

Could simply be fashion: we could wear five point harnesses instead of simple across-the-chest seatbelts when we drive: but we don't. Even though the former could be rigged to be almost as simple to put on, and would definitely save some lives every year. But have one mounted in your car and people ...

We know that Tolkien drew on many historical sources. I have always held that Arnor was based on Western Roman Empire and Gondor on the Eastern Roman Empire. With respect to Minas Tirith, I've read that Tolkien based it on Ravenna. But I'm thinking more of the region as a whole--not just one city. ...

just went to watch trailers...

... I think I prefer my fantasy labeled as such.
(Not intended as a slam at you Harper )


(As an aside, I'm a latecomer to Game of Thrones, but DANG have they captured the realpolitik of monarchic succession. Yikes! )

Nice!

The family went to a WWII museum the other day, and I saw on one "British Courier" mannequin the leather jerkin posted previously on one of these threads - I've no doubt they informed Tolkien's mental image: and yours looks so like it! Very cool project.

Oh that eket is beautiful! I can't wait to see the final piece!

After a long hiatus for some more urgent projects, back to the trousers! I always knew when I got to the stirrups that it would take some experimentation: Urthgard (I believe) machine sewed his trousers, and left the foot openings around the stirrups unhemmed. That means there's no awkward lumps und...

Neat! Some "pocket change" would be quite nice. AntiquaNova makes some fantastic classical era coins, but all their European ones are from Central Europe and points east, which doesn't work quite so well. At some point now that the fella's gotten a crucible set up for his forge, I'd like t...

Speaking of thatching, there's a nice little write up of it in John Seymour's "The Countryside Explained" : https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Countryside_Explained.html?id=RWPGAAAACAAJ http://www.amazon.com/COUNTRYSIDE-EXPLAINED-JOHN-SEYMOUR/dp/0140049460 It's a little denser than h...

Wow... after re-reading for details, that's even more impressive: I'm agog at the precision you had in that sinew cord! My sinew thread looks all kinds of ugly, and I assumed that was the nature of the beast. What critter is it from again? Deer? With the pitch, does the rawhide stay stiff in the wat...

Hunh - very cool!

Are you going to keep the file pattern on them, or take them all the way down to smooth metal?
Will the kukri have a traditional handle pattern, or are you planning something different?

Neat!

HOW DID I MISS THIS - WOW!!!!

Oh that's gorgeous work, and impressive gumption! I've seen a friend do a little coracle - but nothing so large and sophisticated as that! How very cool!

Ha! Thank you. :) Thought you guys would be interested in this. You may remember the pigs we slaughtered early this year: Lessons from the farm (a bit dark, discretion advised) Well - we hung up two hams to salt-cure the old fashioned way, and it was finally time to cut them down. Here's a piece get...

Came out alright - my fella noted it was very much in the space of beef burgandy. I really should have roasted it longer in lower heat, and the recipe is fairly undersalted. cormarye2.jpg Tomorrow we're going to put the leftovers in the roasting pan right after breakfast, and let them just stew in t...