Contemporary Makers: Original 17th-18th Century Leather Powder Horn

Over on Contemporary Makers, they have a nice post on a leather powder horn. There’s two things about it that interest me (ignoring the claim that LR stands for Louis Roy although the justification for a French origin looks at least possible). The photo at the end of the post shows a fleur de lis that looks like it could have been done with one of Hugh’s stamps. This extends the possible period for this stamp by another few hundred years, well into the modern period.

The other thing is that there is another one dated 1649 in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Unfortunately, it isn’t listed on the website so I can’t link to an image. Having dealt with the V&A on the attribution of a particular gaming pouch (a uniquely English form) as being French, I received the reply that the identification that these objects were of French origin was made by a curator in 1856 based solely on use of the fleur de lis for the decoration. Things got somewhat awkward when I pointed out all the other objects in the collection that had the same decoration but were identified as English or Spanish. I’m rambling but my point is not to trust the stated origin without some other validation of the claim.

The stitching is particularly fine, to keep the powder in. It looks like it was made and decorated on a last. I’m not convinced the leather was hardened, as the embossing would have distorted as the leather shrunk.

Here’s the link to the post, it is worth a look.

Contemporary Makers: Original 17th-18th Century Leather Powder Horn.

Mary Rose Leather Gallery

I’ve finally managed to get organised enough to upload my photos from the Mary Rose Museum. “Mary Rose leatherwork”, or a variant on that theme is in the top 5 searches on this blog nearly every day, so there seems to be some demand for it. The museum features very low light to protect the finds from UV degredation, so the colour in the photos tends to be a bit muddy. Some of them have had a lot of work to pull the image from what at first appeared to be a black frame.

I’ve arranged the photos by item type, starting with archery equipment and then move on to other items. You may have seen some of these photos before but hopefully most of them will be new. The photos also link through to my Flikr account. I’ll update the descriptions when more information becomes available.

Archery Equipment

Leather bracer embossed with the royal arms of Henry VIII.

Left: Ivory bracer with leather straps. Right: leather bracer, with stamped rosettes.

Left hand mitten (both mittens found were for the left hand). I suspect these were used to protect the bow hand when shooting fire arrows from a longbow. The triangular shape of the thumb cut out can be clearly seen.

Fingertip detail of left hand mitten (both mittens found were for the left hand). 260mm long, 150mm wide at widest point. Unidentified leather, the other one found (81A3292 was sheepskin). The leather was stitched with the flesh sides together, then turned inside out so the seams were hidden/protected.

Mary Rose arrow spacer. These would commonly be used with a linen canvas bag and be slung off a waist belt.

Mary Rose arrow spacer with the remains of arrow shafts in situ. These would commonly be used with a linen canvas bag and be slung off a waist belt.

Leather Bottles and Buckets

Back of Mary Rose leather flask 79A1232, 282mm high, 213mm wide and 57mm deep. Stitching is original and there is still some sealing pitch present. This bottle is asymetrical - the front is much more deeply curved than the back.

Mary Rose leather bottle of the costrel form, 81A0881. Front is decorated with three vertical ridges with a double zigzag pattern between the ridges and to either side. There are several pairs of parallel tooled lines including a large inverted V and various rectangles on the base and back. The inside is coated with an unidentified subastance. The photo was taken in low-light conditions inside the museum, colours may not be accurate.

Mary Rose leather bottle of the costrel form, 81A1214 was found in a chest along with some personal items and woodworking tools. Front and back are decorated with five pairs of parallel lines from top to bottom, framed by a horizontal line at the base and two parallel lines across the shoulders and neck. There are two asterisks on the base, with a saltaire cross (X) diagonally between them, and a saltaire cross on each end. There are reinforcing pieces in the shoulders/lugs and a gasket piece around the inside of the neck. There is the remains of a waterproof coating on the inside surface.

Reconstructed Mary Rose leather bucket. The leather buckets all have rust marks from iron handle rings and some have the remains of pitch sealing, indicating they were water rather than powder buckets.

Mary Rose Leather Bucket handle close-up

Footwear

Height separated welted shoe components from the Mary Rose (possibly 81A1861) showing the way the layers go together. The colour of the label corresponds to the colour code on the chart behind.

Assorted shoe parts found in the 2002/3 dig.

Shoe quarter from a type 1 shoe, displaying a topband in place.

Type 1 shoe (high slip on with the throat raised by the extension of the front of the quarters).

Museum display showing the differences between type 1 (high slip ons with the throat raised by the extension of the front of the quarters) and type 2 (slip on shoes with straight throated vamp and straight top edge on the quarters.

Replacement partial shoe sole cut from an old bucket. The lines of stitching can be clearly seen, and can the incised arrow marking it as the king

Replacement partial shoe sole cut from an old bucket. The shaded area indicates which part of the bucket the sole was cut from.

Mary Rose type 3 thighboot (rounded toe, turn/welt construction, secured with four straps), there

Mary Rose find 79A0877 type 3 thighboot (rounded toe, turn/welt construction, secured with four straps), outer and innersole. There

Scabbards and Furniture

A display of leather scabbards from bollock knives (top, centre) and a rapier (bottom) together with the copper alloy fillings used to support them.

Rapier scabbard with incised decoration and hanging strap.

Mid-section of rapier scabbard with incised decoration and hanging strap.

Mary Rose bollock knife scabbard with stamped decoration, the scabbard has two compartments, one for the bollock knife and one for a by-knife.

Pouches

Fine embossed bovine leather, 275mm x 190mm showing the inner flap and the inside of the outer flap. Outer flap is lined with silk, the inner flap is two layers of leather stitched with the skin sides together.

Detail of the silk inside of the outer flap of 81A2685, 275mm x 190mm. False colours due to low light levels in the museum.

Top:An unidentified Type 1 Leather pouch Bottom: An unidentified leather pouch.

Fine embossed calf leather, 278mm x 197mm. The inner flap is plain. Type 1 pouches have two sections for storage, the larger is the same width and height as the outside of the pouch, the smaller is stitched in position between the inner and outer flap. Unlike the other type 1s, this one has a third pouch in front of the others.

The Lincoln Imp

Something a little different this time. You may take this as either something a little off-beat with leather or me just showing off again. Or both, I’m still rather pleased with the result as this was my first attempt at sculpting.

Our younger child was one of those kids. Immediately after an act of the utmost diabolical evil, he’d suddenly turn into someone so incredibly sweet you’d momentarily stop contemplating infanticide. His grandmother didn’t like the only name to which he would respond, Destroyer of Worlds. To Nana, he was Prince of Imps. So when we were invited to a Renaissance Masked Ball, he simply had to go as the Lincoln Imp.

The Imp at a recent banquet, no doubt looking for a Bishop to trip. His clothing is the latest fashion in the 1640s, every stitch hand sewn by Glenda.

According to a 14th-century legend two imps were sent by Satan to do evil work on Earth. After causing mayhem in Northern England, the two imps headed to Lincoln Cathedral where they smashed tables and chairs and tripped up the Bishop. When an angel came out of a book of hymns and told them to stop, one of the imps was brave and started throwing rocks at the angel but the other imp cowered under the broken tables and chairs. The angel turned the first imp to stone giving the second imp a chance to escape and end up in another group of stories. So even in the 14th century, they knew the pulling power of a sequel.

The imp mask was made from five pieces. Two for the horns, two ears and the skull-cap. The horns are simple cones, cut as a segment of a circle with the two straight sides held together with edge-flesh stitching. A small wedge was taken out to help with the curve and stitched the same way.  The horns were then dampened and stretched into the curved shape. Ears were simple leaf shapes with folds and veins embossed with a butter-knife. I chose to give the imp an earing with a flower-shaped stamp. The skull-cap was a larger circle, with a small wedge taken out either side of the forehead and one in the middle. These edges were also secured with edge-flesh stitches to give it a curve. The eyebrow ridge was worked through from the back and hairs were then embossed from the front with the edge of the butter knife this time.

The ear showing the embossing and ear-ring and the top seam on the horn.

The “stalk” of the ears were pushed through slits in the appropriate places and secured in place with a couple of stitches, and then curved along the long axis to give them a bit of strength. The horns were sewn to a couple of strips of thin leather, which was then rolled and stitched to the skull.

Inside of the mask, showing shaping seams and ear and horn attachments. The small shaping seam under each horn can also be seen.

Selected red and brown paint to finish, with water gilded tips of the horns and earing. Once the paint was dry, I glued on some fur from an old fur jacket paying attention to the fall of the nap so it resembled the statue and covered all the seams. The ensemble was completed with a pointy tail. It’s had a couple of uses since it was made, and the son has settled down and become a lovely man in the intervening seven years. Infanticide is now only very rarely considered.

Finished mask showing fur, goldwork and eyebrow embossing.

Leather Buckets in London

My friend Helmut has returned from his sojourn in Blighty. On his penultimate day he did a pilgrimage to the Museum of London and finally captured a good photo of the 1660 leather fire bucket that has eluded me for years. In my defence, both times I’ve seen it, it has been tucked in the corner of a temporary exhibit.

Helmut's photo of the 1660 leather bucket in the MoL. Click on the picture to link to his blog

Leather buckets were long used as fire buckets as unlike wood, they didn’t have to be kept wet to stay sealed.  It is supported by a metal wire frame rather than the timber used earlier for added strength and longevity and the inverted shape both conserves wire from around the top and increases stability. This one is a very early example of a riveted bucket, with all seams including the side seam being held closed with rivets on roughly a one inch pitch. Compare this with the sewn buckets from the Mary Rose (1545) and Invincible (1758). By the time of HMS Victory, all ships’ fire buckets were riveted.

Leather bucket from the wreck of HMS Invincible (sank 1758). The pitch lining and metal handle rings can be clearly seen, showing it was intended for use with water rather than gunpowder. My photo from the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson

Hugh’s stamps

Over the weekend, Hugh found himself in posession of a wood pile, a sharp object, a little time and a Museum of London book. Always a dangerous combination. He’s turned into a stamp making machine.

Hugh has done his own write-up with a stack of photos on his group’s forum here.

Here's a couple of examples. This pair together were about 2 hours' work.

Stamped decoration for a leather girdle.

Click on either photo or here to go to the full set of stamp photos.

Hugh and I both use Australian hardwood for our stamps, Europeans and Americans can use a close-grained hardwood like ash. I’ve found American Oak to be too open and ended up with the imprint of the end-grain on the leather.

Give it a go, it doesn’t take long and you may enjoy it.