The Craftings of Icka The Goth

SCA Arts and Sciences blog of Lady Icka the Goth. So Goth We Sacked Rome. Normal blog is Ickaimp.

[icka-the-goth]

A while back I got these fish vertebrae, bone skull beads, and bells for free and went “that would be a cool necklace”

Then today I got some dark brass chain and eye head pins at a garage sale, and went “wait”, so made a necklace.

Not my style, had no idea what to do with it, then someone on discord when 🤩, so it’ll be sent out later this week.

[icka-the-goth]

Mystery stone tube beads and two shades of pearls on brass for my sister.

It’s hard to tell in the photos, but the pearls in the centre are slightly cream and a bit more shiny, the ones in the back are white. The pliers mark the change. I wanted the contrast of the cool stone against the warm toned metal and pearls, but ran out of the warm pearls 😅

The pale blue stone beads were gifted to me in a tic-tac container, pretty sure they’re dyed agate, but could be wrong.

Not a complex pattern, but I wanted something simple and kind of elegant.

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Quartz with inclusions, lava rock, and brass beads on brass wire

Surprise gift for a friend.

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Machineel (little apple of death) panel on the hood of my patchwork coat done.

It’s on the hood rather than the body of the coat because just brushing the machineel tree can leave blisters on your skin.

Wool appliqué with wool thread backstitch on the veins, whipstitch on the apple, and metallic couching for the stems.

[icka-the-goth]

Also added a black widow spider to the web on the hood with velvet embroidery thread.

10/10 would recommend velvet thread, such a lovely texture and not prone to tangling at all.

[icka-the-goth]

Machineel (little apple of death) panel on the hood of my patchwork coat done.

It’s on the hood rather than the body of the coat because just brushing the machineel tree can leave blisters on your skin.

Wool appliqué with wool thread backstitch on the veins, whipstitch on the apple, and metallic couching for the stems.

[icka-the-goth]

Ammonite fossil pendant, agate and glass beads.

Wanted something monochrome to wear in goth days.

[icka-the-goth]

Finished making a Roman jewellery set for Angie. She requested black, blue, and gold. Sapphire and pearls on brass wire, with an amethyst pendant.

Necklace inspired by this one at the Met:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251019

I don’t keep glass beads on hand, so she got sapphires. 🤷‍♀️

[icka-the-goth]

Gift for Po, freshwater pearl and two different kinds of aventurine on brass, with space for a medallion.

Her heraldry is green and white, I gave her the choice between smooth green agate or edgy aventurine and she asked for edgy, please.

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Turquoise and silver beads on square wire for @elinordear.

Her ears are no longer pierced, so the earrings were given to another friend.

[icka-the-goth]

Agate, Pearl, and Ammonite fossil necklace for Zoe.

I made the dark agate sections first, then gave Zoe her choice between pearl, amber, sapphire, and amethyst to go inbetween the agate.

She also had three fossils to chose from and decided she wanted to emphasise the grey tones.

[icka-the-goth]

Dick necklace.

Because I could.

[icka-the-goth]

Last minute gift, Roman style necklace using beads from the stash. Glass, pearls, turquoise, and one smokey quartz bead.

I don’t know the recipient’s preferred necklace length, so added an extender in the back.

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There’s a local recycled craft store called ‘Who Gives a Scrap’, and at the front they have large bins full of scrap fabric and other miscellaneous items you can take for free.

The tassled bag, I saw the fabric and immediately started cackling at how hideous it was and immediately knew it was perfect for an SCA bag. The inside is a dark plum linen I had laying around that was the exact same height as this fabric. Perfect!

Wanted to make it as big of an eyesore as possible, and instead it came out lovely. Ah, well.

There’s two draw strings on it. The orange is mean to attach to the waist, and then it can be closed with the blue ribbons.

The smaller bag is actually made from a sock. Someone had sliced a sock up the back, and I thought the pattern was cool. Got two little bags out of the material, figuring they’d be good dice bags. In this case, it’s a jewellery bag.

The seams on the back are an upside down T shape with a seam on the bottom and up the middle, rather than a U shape with seams on the sides. Read about it in a book on Persian bags years ago and it’s awesome for bags that have patterned fabric, since nothing breaks the design on the front.

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Lapis lazuli and pearl necklace and earrings for Viscountess Lori. She doesn’t do a set period, so went for something vaguely medieval-ish and mimics her heraldry. She’ll get it tomorrow and if she doesn’t have a medallion for the middle, I’ll add another pearl.

Never done beads hanging off the main strand like this before, ended up restringing it a couple of times to get it right.

The best quality lapis is in the front, creating an unexpected but delightful colour gradient.

[icka-the-goth]

Necklace for a visiting friend. Roman style necklace, 22” inches, peridot, dark purple amethyst, and warm coloured pearls on gold craft wire.

Green, Gold, and Purple are her heraldic colours. Was originally going to do gold beads instead of pearls, but it didn’t look right.

Meant for this to be a chain for her Laurel pendants, so added a temporary pendant of carved amethyst.

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So when I moved to Outlands, I immediately started attending Scribal nights. Because shocker, unlike some East Kingdom baronies who shall remain nameless, they actually listed the time and location of said Arts nights. 😱

It took two Scribals and a fighter practise to discover that the person who was hosting is the Baroness. 😅 She and the Baron are stepping down soon, so I wanted to make her something to thank her for the work she’s done and for being so welcoming.

Her persona is Tudor, and I loved the double strand pearl necklace worn by several of Henry VIII’s wives. And I tried, but I don’t have the correct double hole beads in my stash to do them, nor do I have the cash to get replica ones.

So instead, it’s a single strand choker, which is also common in Tudor fashion, with a jump ring in the centre for a pendant. Pearls are both white and ivory ‘potato’ pearls, aventurine (also seen on the green Roman Necklace) and amethysts carved into melons from a previous project. There’s also some small gold spacer and cap beads to give the gemstones room to breathe.

Purple and green are pretty much the Barony’s colours, so it’s heraldic!

Prolly could have used glass pearls, but I don’t like how uniform they are for historical jewellery, they’re too perfect. It’s the flaws that make the jewellery interesting.

Anyway, she’ll get this Saturday during polling and hopefully she’ll enjoy it.

[icka-the-goth]

Gave away 90% of my garb when I moved cross country from East Kingdom to Outlands, and thankfully, got a tunic from Gold Key and was gifted this wool apron dress from a new friend who no longer wears it.

Been embroidering it for the past month while at various petsitting jobs. The pets helped.

The top and sides were done with a double herringbone stitch in green and purple, then went back and backstitched in gold to make it look like a triple herringbone, since I wasn’t going to go through all four layers of wool. The straps have both the double and the triple pattern, to give it some variation, and the bottom hems are just a single herringbone in green.

Both the apron dress and the embroidery threads are wool, so they’ll felt together with time and use.

In retrospect, I wish I’d made the stitches bigger, but oh well. On to the next project!