The Black Market of the White Bones - Blog

Horner's flowers

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 10:07:00 +0000

Some eight years ago when we began our way of craftsmanship, horn was the very first animal hard tissue material we started to explore.

Horn is a material that seldom survive in the ground therefore archaeological examples of hornworking are few and far between. The most ancient object found we know of is dated to c. 950 to 1050 [1], but later in medieval era and then also in early modern era and all through to the early 19th century the specialists in hornworking are often mentioned in historical documents as horners. Different kinds of produce can be ascribed to horners, indeed it seems to have been an industry with many branches and expressions, but the horners proper engaged in making of translucent horn sheets, for horn-books, lanterns, windows and such. That's why the demise of this profession coincides with the discovery of new sheet-glass making technologies at the end of 18th century [2].

Fritz Hornrichter at work. An image from the famous Die Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen, beginning of the 15th c.

What refers to medieval horners and their tricks of the trade, many legends circulate nowadays. One of such legends we debunked only recently.

It is sometimes mentioned that back in ''those days'' horners mastered a technique that allowed to ''weld'' together several plates of horn so that a larger one-piece plate could be achieved [3]. This technique, as so many things, has now, of course, been lost in the mist of past together with the treasures of the Templars.

Well, everybody who have had some more or less serious experience in working with this wonderful material will know that it doesn't give any promise to be weldable, no matter what tricks you come up with. But that is not to say that horn sheets were not indeed joined together - they were, usually and quite often at that - only not by any kind of ''welding'', ''soldering'' and such.

Look at this one picture below and, Fortune smiling, you will know the truth in no time! Notice the division of the window of this lantern? Such divisions can be seen in countless depictions of medieval lanterns, so much so that one can assume them to be a typical feature. All the secret is hidden behind those lovely pewter flowers. Of course, one can connect two horn plates also without these ornaments, sometimes even a wooden crossbar has been used instead, but they make the whole lantern so much more brighter in a way!

With these observations in the pocket, we have started to sprout our own horner's flowers for use in our next projects.

[1] Kinmonth C. Irish horn spoons: their design history and social significance // Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 118

[2] Yeomans L. The shifting use of animal carcasses in medieval and post-medieval London // Breaking and shaping of beastly bodies : Animals as material culture in the Middle Ages

[3] e.g. Lord Mikal Isernfocar, called Ironhawk Working with Horn and Skeletal Materials booklet, chapter ''Hot work techniques''

Not about bone china yet

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 05:49:00 +0000

( Bone china is a type of ceramics that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate. Bone china is the strongest of the porcelain or china ceramics, having very high mechanical and physical strength and chip resistance, and is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency. Its high strength allows it to be produced in thinner cross-sections than other types of porcelain. Like stoneware, it is vitrified, but is translucent due to differing mineral properties ).

...But in medieval Europe ceramics often met bone in the shape of potter's combs and similar tools for shaping and decorating clay vessels.

Potter at work. Note the potter's comb in her right arm. Depiction on the mid- 15th century German playing card.

By the contemporary depictions alone it is not possible to distinguish the material such potter's tools are made of; also wood could have been used as well. Archaeology provides us with examples of potter's tools made of animal skeletal materials. Here we present you two of the most famous of these - one from Inwroclaw (Poland) and the other from Viljandi (Estonia) .

The Inwroclaw potter's comb [1] is of simple design that very much resemble the one depicted above. The function of it thus can be clearly understood.

The Viljandi find [2] asks for further explications. If it wasn't found in a context of a pottery kiln then certainly this object would have joined ranks of finds with unidentified/unclear function. But look, how nicely it snuggles against the curved surfaces of pots found at the same digs:

Images from ''Handwerk in den Kleinstädten Estlands im 13. bis 17. Jahrhundert im Spiegel der Archäologischen Ausgrabungen '' and ''Pihkva Pottepad Viljandis ja Tartus 13. Sajandil''.

Below are image of our replicas of these two finds. See more here.

[1] - Pawłowska K. The remains of a late medieval workshop in Inowroclaw (Kuyavia, Poland): horncores, antlers and bones //Written in Bones. Studies on technological and social contexts of past faunal skeletal remains.

[2] - Pärn A., Rossow E. Handwerk in den Kleinstädten Estlands im 13. bis 17. Jahrhundert im Spiegel der Archäologischen Ausgrabungen // Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum V: Das Handwerk.

Tvauri A. Pihkva Pottepad Viljandis ja Tartus 13. Sajandil //Eesti Arheoloogia Ajakiri, 2000. (4)

Russow E., Haak A. An outline of pottery production and consumption in medieval and early modern Estonia // 2nd MEETING OF BALTIC AND NORTH ATLANTIC POTTERY RESEARCH GROUP Tallinn, 12th and 13th April 2018 Programme – Abstracts – Outlines

Gesso for the unversed

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 04:08:00 +0000

It seldom is enough to master only one's own craft.

In boneworking we often come in touch with the realm of basic metalworking [1], elements of colour technology [2], chemistry, and lots of miscellaneous, really weird stuff.

Experience has taught, that about once a year ''the cruel destiny'' also expects us to practice the noble art of painting on wood. In oil.

To anyone who has worked with oil colours, the most unerasable memories of this labor would surely be the torturous waiting for the oil to dry. And if you happen to paint on wood, weeks can go by, while layer upon layer, you satisfy the poor boards’ eternal thirst for more oil. It just sucks it in, never gives it back...

Well, unless you are smart! And, trust us, people in bygone eras really were smart.

There is this thing called gesso (from Italian), that traditionally is used as a ground colour (as a primer, if you like) in such cases. It is even claimed to shorten the drying time of the colour [3]. And traditionally, since nobody recalls when, this thing, the gesso, has been made by mixing hide glue, or such, with chalk [4].

But don’t be misled – it is way more tricky than it sounds! The mixture should be made exactly in the right proportions, made not too liquid, not too dense, applied in the right way, and thus often in the end this gesso will crack or surprise you and your friends and family in some other way [5].

This is then where our recipe – ‘’Gesso for the unversed’ - ’ comes in the limelight. Indeed it consists of lime, chalk, and cottage cheese. It is based on the cheese glue described by our friend Theophilus in the 12th century [6].

How it is done?

Roughly 20% weight fatless cottage cheese (or curd if you will) ( containing 0,1% or less fat and as much protein as possible).

About 5% weight of slaked lime (Ca(OH)₂).

Approximately 75% of chalk (about 5% of that can be substituted by another pigment, thus giving the possibility to pre–tone this gesso)

Then:

Add the slaked lime to the cottage cheese and mix it thoroughly in a mortar. Add a bit of water when the mass becomes too sticky. Mix the chalk with water. Add to this the mixture of cottage cheese and lime. Mix it nicely, add water as much as you want, but it works the best if it is rather thick than thin.

Apply.

Let it dry for at least a day.

This Gesso allows a large margin of mistake, one can safely measure the ingredients ‘’by eye’’. It won’t crack, is easy to work with. Use various layers if needed, you can apply the next layer almost as soon as you have finished painting the previous one.... It is simply gorgeous to work with and then to work on it.

In the picture: Our improvized backgammon board painted on wood, gesso - ed using our recipe Oil colour , pigments: titanium white, iron oxide red, iron oxide black. Colour has been applied in one thin layer. The finishing second layer is yet to come (the event came faster, as it often happens).

And our bone counters...

[1]E.g. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4244218695616993&id=1330837736955118

[2]E.g. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4228245323880997&id=1330837736955118

[3] https://mysketchjournal.com/9-ways-to-make-oil-paints.../

[4] For shorthand facts and fiction, consult : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesso ; https://www.britannica.com/art/gesso

[5] https://www.naturalpigments.eu/.../gesso-grounds.../...

[6]Please consult: https://experimentingwiththemedieval.wordpress.com/...

The playful deer

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 03:22:00 +0000

European archaeology testifies a proliferation of carved gaming counters for tabula type of games during the 10th to 12th centuries. The most famous of such finds is a complete set of counters from Gloucester, but there are countless more separate finds as from the South, so from the North.

Some examples of carved gaming counters from France, Germany and British isles in the popular magazine ''Histoire et Images Médiévales '' No. 28 (2012).

One lovely, but lesser known example comes from Daugmale hillfort in Latvia. It tells a story of an artifact that was created for gaming, but at some point continued its career as a pendant in this bustling trading post at the river Daugava.

See few more pictures of our playful deer here.

Simple and beautiful

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 06:51:00 +0000

This comb is lovely example of the simplest type of the 13th/14th century bone combs - combs with rectangular end plates. It is a replica of find from the old town of Riga, but this type of combs have been widely used all throughout the Europe. See some more pictures here.

Different sorts of dice

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 05:35:00 +0000

Cubic dice, longdice, stickdice, teetotum, astragali. There is always too much or too little to say about dice. This time we put the following two works on the menu for you to suit yourselves according to appetite:

Küchelmann H.C. Why 7? Rules and exceptions in the numbering of dice

Holmgren R. ''Money on the hoof'' The astragalus bone - religion, gaming and primitive money

The mysterious viking age awls

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 18:19:00 +0000

Nowadays archaeologists identify this kind of artifacts as awls and there can be not much doubt that they could fill this role of a simple tool quite fine. However, a shadow of doubt over this recognition is cast by the inexplainable presence of often lavish decoration on their bone or antler handles. The quality of the carvings clearly exclude simple doodling done by an idle craftsman. Antler handle alone would make it quite an exceptional awl, but the ornamentation that the largest part of these objects manifest seems to quietly whisper that we yet do not know enough about them.

It seems that for the most part awls, as simple and humble tools that they are, have had nice wooden handles and thus after centuries in soil all that is left of them are not impressive looking iron rods [1]. Whereas, look at some of these here: https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/early-medieval-awls/ (may the authors of sagy vikingove live long and prosperous for gathering images of so many of these artifacts in one place!). And those are not at all all of them, in the archaeology of Latvia alone we have many others. But what might they really be?

[1] E.g. Mould Q., Carlisle I., Cameron E. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York, figs. 1574 - 1575

Our ''awl'' is based on the find from Āraiši lake dwelling, also depicted on the website mentioned above.

Black berries

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 18:47:00 +0000

Different kinds of stains are used by modern bone carvers to highlight the relief or decorations of their carvings or to tint the item so as to ''age'' it. The most common recipes for such stains consist of one of these unsophisticated materiae - tea, coffee, soy sauce, tumeric, potassium permanganate...

But now, as we approach the end of the last month of the autumn - the season of fruits and berries- it is time to prepare ourselves better for the next autumn by poking our nose in ''the scriptures'' to see what hints to authentic medieval stains we might encounter there. To make our wagon in the winter and our sleigh in summer, as saying goes.

First of all we have to say that even without any appearances in texts or other sources of history, an endless variety of brews made from common natural materials would be more appropriate for the use in making of replicas of medieval objects than above stated ''devilish'' liquids. So there is wide open field for experiments before us.

And now to our berries! It is common buckthorn ( Rhamnus cathartica ). You will encounter the necessary hints if you search for this amazing an unparalleled work entitled Archeologie en geschiedenis van een middeleeuwse woonwijk onder de Hopmarkt te Aalst (red. Koen De Groote & Jan Moens, issued in 2018) and open it on page 391. Yes, it could be meant for woodwork, but as it has been used in crossbowmaker's workshop, bone and antler was never far from these berries there (look at this lovely specimen for example).

During the last leg of this autumn we indeed managed to get our hands on a small quantity of common buckthorn berries and the preliminary results of experiments with those are forthcoming. But we also got some other wild fruits that seems to be similarly promising - the berries of black elderberry ( Sambucus nigra ). These we even took decent photos of (as one below).

Bone and horn combs

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:38:00 +0000

We never cease making new and new combs again. These few were made during this long spring-summer season. During this time we also learned some secrets of the trade about horn combs by watching professional combmakers at work. Therefore we should now make them more often and in greater numbers. We promise.

Where can you see professional combmakers at work nowadays? In obscure videos from the 70ies about Switzerland in Spanish. Not in vain it is often said that each new language opens a new world.

Tools looking sweet

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 13:05:00 +0000

Originally published on 21th of September, 2022.

https://www.facebook.com/theblackmarketofthewhitebones/posts/

Along different craftsmen also ''common men'' (and women) used to make some simple and useful everyday items from bone by themselves. Few typical examples of this medieval domestic production are bone needles, bone whistles, skates and flutes, and a specific kind of spindle whorls (things that require only a knife to produce).

These last ones are also the heroes of today's story.

This kind of whorls are made of a femur - head (femur being a thigh bone simply put) most often of cattle, sometimes also pig or other livestock.

As you might have observed the femur-head consists of very porous bone tissue that is richly filled with thick and greasy marrow. We have experimented in different ways during the years, but nothing acceptable came of it. If you try to clean the marrow out and try to get as neat a result as possible, you are left with a plume- light brittle, and useless bone shell. If you leave the marrow in, it slowly petrifies, but you get an ugly waxy hemisphere with a tendency of faint but everpresent bitter stench.

Years passed by, and our insights widened.

Indeed - as a simple domestically made item such whorls are not necessary the embodiment of aesthetics of the latter-day Arts and Crafts movement. Even more - some of them should have looked like veritable horror movie props if we read the reports of the archaeologists [1].

There seem to be two main scenarios of how these whorls were made: 1) using the fresh refuse of food preparation (these could have been dried a bit in an oven or in the sun). 2) Using decayed femur heads.

This last scenario involves either intentional bone maceration in water, cleaning it by burying in the soil, or in the ant hill, or again - the material was accidentally encountered just laying there on the ground [2].

Thus ''cleaned'' the porous bone is very simple to shape with a knife and, filling this spongy matrix with oils, waxes or resins, strong and massive enough whorl is easy made.

That is how we made these yummy-looking, things in the pictures (here) - linseed oil, beeswax and some resin soaked in the tissue of spongy bone.

They weigh between 20 and 41 grams.

[1] E.g. Penelope Walton Rogers Textile production at 16-22 Coppergate, Pp. 1741 - 1743

[2] This can easily occur when a separate femur - head comes off from the rest of a decayed femur for according to Silver (I. A. Silver The ageing of domestic animals // Science in archaeology – New York, 1963. pp. 250 – 268.) the fusing of the proximal end (the femur-head) of the femur with the rest of the body of this bone happens relatively late in animal's life: ox - 3,5 years, pig - 3,5 years, sheep - 2,5 - 3 years. So in younger animals, the only attachment that holds the femur head in its place is a thin layer of organic substance that will rot away.