I have been interested in the A&S 50 challenge for some time and just needed some time to get off my duff and get started. The cliff notes version is that it is a challenge to complete 50 Art and/or Science items in a category before AS 50, with the categories being depth (50 of the same thing), breadth (50 different things), or persona (50 things your persona would have done/known/used). Some optional additional refinements that have been offered include attack_laurel's suggestion that the 50 things be made out of your current stash. I'm doing a persona challenge, but making it a broad Northern European challenge including Pictish, Dal Riadic, Northumbrian, and Viking items (and possibly some Anglo-Saxon), since there is a limited number of Pictish items that I can document well and I want to play with cooking and some other things where straight-up Pictish evidence is poor to non-existant. I'm making up for my lack of specificity with additional anal-retentiveness in construction and materials.

I didn't get everything done for this weekend like I had wanted, but I did get a start, so I'm beginning my reports.

#1 - Norse hat - handwoven wool diamond twill with a linen lining and real fur brim, entirely hand sewn and hand embellished with linen thread.
#2 - Pictish gown - linen dyed with onion skins as one of my Pennsic dyeing experiments, my Pictish pattern, hand sewn and hand embellished with linen thread.
#3 - Norse gown - wool tabby in a natural and madder/iron red, using the very flattering gored pattern (and example of which is found here),  hand sewn and hand embellished with linen thread.



The necklaces and chest-strands were either pre-existing or recently re-threaded necklaces of glass beads (many made for me by THL Moira ni Connell the Strongbow), amber, and copal. The earrings were made for me years ago by Cnut's man-at-arms Olav and, to my delight, I recently acquired a matching ring to replace the one I'd lost some time ago. Bracelets of silver and/or amber by other Northshield artisans, brooches kindly lent by goldfrog, and leather turn shoes completed the outfit.

I'm actually really very pleased by the outfit and just ordered some brooches of my own from Raymond's Quiet Press and I can't wait to finish the coat. As a bonus, I think I like the pigtail braids look and may need to start making a habit of that. :)