Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Since rolling out my 'Beorning 2.0’ this fall and having 30 miles on the latest MERS trek to work free some ideas that had been rolling inside my head, I realized that one key part of my existing Beorning kit that didn’t quite match my updated mental picture was Aistan’s knife sheath. The design was fine, but the use of braintan made it feel a bit less ‘civilized’ than I wanted. Also, I have a crush on Odigan’s lovely seax sheath that he brings on all our treks, and might have subconsciously wanted to emulate it. : P
This project was fairly straightforward – I cut my existing sheath apart to use it as an approximate pattern (I saved the original rawhide liner too), then laid it out and cut the piece. I opted to use the belt loop from the old sheath, which has some sinew embellishments that give it some structure, plus the braintan material gives it some extra ‘hold’ versus slick vegtan.
I decided to reuse the stylized mountain motif I’ve used previously to decorate my braintan tunic and loincloth-holding-up belt pouch. I don’t think it’s quite right for the more civilized, later-Germanic Beornings (it feels more ‘neolithic pottery pattern’ to me), but a mountain motif is more appropriate for a Beorning than my Second Age Greyflood Man, and I don’t know of any examples of mountains depicted in Norse/Germanic artwork - paging Eofor?).
To show that they are in fact meant to be mountains and not just stripey triangles, I added little circle-and-dot ‘stars’ in the spaces between them.
After tooling, I dyed the leather and stitched everything back together with hemp cord!
Much improved, if I do say so myself!

That is just lovely work! Nicely done.

That looks fantastic! Not that I'm particularly well versed in such things, but to my layperson's eyes it looks like it would fit right in with a culture roughly analagous to, say, late Roman era or early Dark Ages Germanic tribes, while still keeping with a slightly more rustic, less bling-y approach that feels appropriate for a Beorning. I appreciate that the mountain motif is identifiable, but is also stylized in a way that, if you're not looking for it, easily passes as just geometric decoration - which seems to fit well with a lot of stylized decorative motifs of the ancient and medieval world, to me. And whether or not mountain motifs were present in similar real-world decorations, I feel like it's barely a stretch to suggest that they might be something common in Beorning culture, since the mountains were such a big presence in their lives and that part of Middle-earth in general. Overall a really solid bit of speculative design work, and some nice handy leatherwork to boot!

I think it's a vast improvement for where Aistan is at now

Udwin wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 4:43 pm I don’t know of any examples of mountains depicted in Norse/Germanic artwork - paging Eofor?).

None that I am aware of, Gulli has a vast knowledge and may know of something but landscape and nature aren't motifs which appear. The triangle design does but as part of a herringbone pattern where the upper triangle is also inscribed.
I think this is an excellent example of using historical elements in a conjectural fantasy seting

Very nice work

I really like it! There's not much to say that others haven't already said with better eloquence than I can muster but I have to say I totally agree that the mountain motif seems perfect for a Beorning and has the right pseudo-early medieval-but-not-really vibe that Middle-earth should have in its material culture. Well done!