No thanks. I'm not one to broadcast my interests and loves by using my body as a billboard/canvas, but prefer to express them through my attitudes and actions. Some folks have more money than sense and just want attention and validation, I suppose. Reminded of the Professor's comments in Letter No. ...

I don't mess around with petrofibers anymore, so it's natural materials all the way. I've tried nettle, yucca, and basswood strings. Only the basswood didn't snap after a few shots, but it still stretched a lot. Now I use linen (8-10 strands, which only stretches a little at first stringing) and dee...

The database looks really good, Greg! This project had been kicking around in my head for some time, and I'm glad we were able to see it put together. But ... he is right: it's nowhere near finished! There are plenty of gaps for you good folks to fill in...like, say, anything to do with the First an...

Howdy folks! Please excuse the year-old necropost, but we've reached that hot and sticky part of the late summer again, and I was curious to touch base and see what kind of things folks have been up to and working on (indoors, hopefully!). Aside from stitching up a sheath for a new swede knife, I sa...

Ursus, are you talking about spearheading (pun!) the warfare content for the existing (content-less) wiki pages, or the primary-source/text-evidence database that is in the works? I like your list of categories, Greg. I might change Clothing to Garments, add one for Jewelry. Should Trees (Wood?) be ...

Yes! I'm glad to have folks on board with this. Can anybody think of a catchy name for this section of the wiki? I'd like it to deal exclusively with Tolkien's works--both text and illustrations (of which there are only a few, and these are mostly landscapes of specific environments)--though I total...

I had brought this up awhile back on the Middle-earth Reenactment Society fb page, but since discussion of MERWiki content is currently active, I thought I'd mention it here too. If you've never been, I highly suggest checking out the 18th Century Material Culture Resource Center . Sometime soonish,...

Yup, ditto what he said ^ on all counts. For peace of mind, I generally just go ahead and use a backstitch & flatfell (2 visible lines of stitches) for most applications--everything from clothing to utilitarian foraging sacks. With linen, if your backstitch (or running stitch + backstitches) is ...

Yeah, I'd like to know how much of a demand there really is for these other properties...we get little enough traffic as it is, even with Tolkien becoming pretty mainstream for the last decade-and-a-half. Less on the front page (eliminating clutter) would be fine with me, but I could settle for a 'n...

Looking good, I dig it! Definitely getting more of the 'Ranger silhouette' as you add these layers. One thing which you might want to be aware of - the tendency of oilcloth to 'bleed' onto other (more absorbent) materials if they are heated and touching. I have an oilskin duster that I used to store...

Yes! While Tolkien details the armour and decorations of the Haradrim/Southrons/Swertings, as far as I can find, this is the only mention of their arms, aside from "spears" and a "sword" in TTT: “Southward beyond the road lay the main force of the Haradrim, and there their hors...

Excellent write-up, sir! I really buy this as the clothing of a northern Ranger. (the fact that you've clearly lived and worked in it enough to be worn and patina'd is what really sells it). Props on the pants, especially. The last time we got together, JBook and I were discussing how it would be ni...

Just make sure you pronounce it 'jew-el' and not 'jool,' or the spirit of Professor Tolkien will haunt you. Ah-ha, but the Professor (or one of his rusticated characters, at least) did say jool!: :wink: "'There's a tidy bit of money tucked away up there, I hear tell,' said a stranger, a visito...

Matches are known in association with Hobbits, yes, but Tolkien writes that “(Dwarves have never taken to matches even yet.)” ( TH Ch 6, p.111). (From this line we might infer that dwarves became familiar with matches through their business with hobbits, but nonetheless refrained from adopting t...

A few years back, a buddy and I case-skinned a rabbit (tail included) and stretched it over a wine bottle, so that the rabbit's mouth went around that of the bottle. 'Kissing the bunny bottle' made for a great conversation piece; but pouring from the bunny bottle into a cup brought to mind a rabbit ...