It was a busy weekend, as usual. I did get a little bit done, but I had to spend most of Saturday out and about doing Girl Scout cookie sales and attending a 1yr old's Birthday party. I then had guests in the evening playing Tarot (an awesome card game...makes pinochle look Easy!!). Needless to say, Saturday was shot for getting needlework done. I did work on some during fighter practice on Sunday, and I got my cuffs back out to work a bit more on them as well.
My main accomplishment for the weekend was getting some bobbins made up for making Viking Whipcord. My mentor agreed to do the site tokens for a big event this fall, and he needs to have cord enough for about 300 tokens both in necklace and bracelet sizes. He decided on doing Viking braiding and got a set of wooden spatulas to use as bobbins. They work, but are rather unwieldy to catch and return. (If you don't know what the heck I am talking about, and would like to know...check out http://genvieve.net/sca/whipcording-howto.html). The lovely lady who taught me how to do the braiding long ago, used wooden snowmen forms that she found on clearance at Joann's Fabrics. Well, me being the rather anal person I am, though that the spatulas stink for making that much cording and I wasn't lucky enough to find the snowmen anywhere. So, I took it upon myself to make my own. I was silly in that I didn't check out the web before I went shopping, or I would have found this web page with a way to make them http://www.wymarc.com/artifacts/classes/Whipcord%20bobbin%20handout.pdf.
Funnily enough, going on my own to the craft store and creating my own design, my bobbins strongly resemble his. Great minds think alike I guess. His have less of a neck, but since I do bobbin lace making, I made the Viking bobbins resemble more of what I would use for bobbin lace, only much larger. I found all the wood bits at the local Michaels Crafts, and it was pretty inexpensive. Here is what I did....

Parts:
3-3/8" Shaker pegs


3" Candlesticks


2" doll head balls

I wrapped the ends of the shaker pegs with glue and size 10 crochet cotton. This is what I am using for the cording, so it was on hand. It fills the gap between the candlestick and the peg, and provides even more surface area for the glue to bond. I used Aleene's Tacky Glue for putting the pieces together.

Glue the shaker peg to the candlestick

Glue the ball to the bottom

Set aside and let dry (the tops of the cording balls worked great for holding them to dry, but dixie cups might work as well).

I found that they are good to go within an hour or so, and Aleene's Glue will put up with most anything. On a whim I gave one of the bobbins to the 10 month old running around the house, and she didn't manage to get it apart...drool and everything. They work really well for making the cord, and they feel good in the hand. They also have the benefit of looking similar to bobbins used in the Viking era. They should also be good for making cording with many different weights and kinds of threads. I will probably put a coat of sealant over the wood, or I may just wax them instead....not sure yet. I used a playing card holder and a small binder clip to help control the finished cording. You can get those at toy stores, or at least that is where I got mine. I hang the bobbins by a knot on a nail over my kitchen doorway. It lets me work a necklace length before have to wind it up.
Don't they both look thrilled? :) Actually, they enjoy making the cording, they just don't like getting their picture taken doing it..not that I blame them! I managed to make 4 sets of bobbins: one I gave one set to my mentor, one for myself, and two are going to be available for anyone to use to help in making the cording. The colors I used are royal blue, green, gold and silver which are the four colors being used by the two groups the event is for in August. It does make a neat looking cord. Anyeay, that's done...now back to stitching blackwork!