This post is all about feathers (making quills and plectrums) and strings (recent embroidery projects)…

I’ll begin with feathers– as Emeline does a lot of calligraphy and illumination, she has been curious to attempt to make her own feather quills. As luck would have it, while at Birka, we came across some feathers for her try her hand at making a period quill. So she picked up a few and brought them home.

Meanwhile, I have been struggling to restring my citole with a more period nylgut string. I called my incredible teacher, Mästarinna Margreþa la Fauvelle, to help me string and tune my citole. While there, we discussed feather plectrums where she gave me a few goose feathers to play with and figure out how to make them.

Recently, we read a few articles about stripping, curing, and cutting quills and plectrums (which are surprisingly similar), and here are the results. We have learned a few things in the process but we are looking forward to making more.

On to strings– we have also been busy with a few embroidery projects. After all of the attention to the embroidery on the hood that Emeline crafted, I wanted to come back through and embroider the tippets to match. Originally, they were not going to be embroidered so they could work with any hood that I might be wearing (because there may be another hood in the making as well). However, I can always make more tippets. Thankfully, I got them finished before King’s and Queen’s bardic.

Emeline, just finished up two projects today. She has been working on the neckline for a new gown as well as tacking down her Queen’s Order of Courtesy rose to the white leather glove. The actual rose was embroidered beautifully by Mistress Jehannine de Flandres, but at the time Emeline received the award, there were not any gloves to give her (the embroidery was on a linen placeholder). Emeline was so excited to add it to the glove and hopefully wear it at Kings and Queen’s Bardic this weekend.