~ MUSEUM PROJECTS ~

For these projectes I wove the braids:

2011: The Saxon Princess & The Princess Pendant

download exibition flyer as PDF (1,2MB)
The Princess Pendant

There is a story behind these pictures! A beautiful story - which has given me two wonderful things: One was the opportunity to make  braids for a special project in the UK. And the second, but no less important is the contact and friendship with Deborah Simmons, a talented seamstress who made all the clothes for the princess!
But let's start at the beginning:

Who were the Anglo-Saxons?

The short version: After the Romans left Britain around the 5th century, this ethnic group settled in England. Part of them where the Angles, coming from Denmark and northern Germany, the Saxons were just from Saxony (Germany). These strains then mingled to the Anglo-Saxons, which in turn is mixed with the resident Brittains.

In the 7th Century, the Anglo-Saxons occupied large parts of England ....
A replica of the Princess Pendant with hair-needles
The excavation site was previously studied in 1979, the first time for traces of Neolithic occupation (about 3300 BC). Which a detailed assessment followed in relation to bronce-age settlements (ca. 2000 BC).

Between 2005 and 2007 more digging and research happened and a cemetery of 117 burials and three cremations came to light! This is only a very rough sketch of the archaeological site. Stephen Sherlock has produced a wonderful exhibition catalog with detailed site description and the discovered artefacts . There you can read it all, also about the other grave finds.
Important for us is grave No. 42:
The high status of this grave is underlined by it’s central position and the fact that she was buried in a bed (bedburial) that was probably already in use in her lifetime. This can be detected from the wear marks on the remaining steel parts. The largest and most impressive find was a wonderful and valuable pendant, along with other unusual and also priceless pieces of jewelry. The pendant, however, gave the exhibition at Kirkleatham it’s name:
 
The Princess Pendant

The excavation was led by archaeologist Stephen Sherlock and Redcar, along with members of the Teesside Archaeological Society, at Street House, Loftus. Artifacts have been recovered so breathtaking, that the decision was taken to an exhibition that pays tribute to the findings.  Also Mark Simmons shall be mentioned since he worked alongside Steve and was responsible for the identification of the finds as well as being the person who excavated the bed burial. So he had a very responsible part!

Before this, the objects were declared as 'treasure', followed by a debate in the House of Commons to ensure the purchase. Redcar & Cleveland with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund bought the items Then followed the laborious cleaning and conservation work of the valuable artefacts and Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council arranged the exhibition! There also was a movie produced, which takes a closer look at the Anglo-Saxon life in the 7th Century, with the Princess as the main figure.

The actors with seemstress Deborah Simmons during the fitting for the shooting of the film

Here is now where the Simmons come in: Deborah was asked to make dresses for the princess's funeral. And then she looked for someone who weaves the required braids. After a lot of work samples submitted by domestic and foreign competitors my work was selcted. It is a  great honour for me to be a small part of this project and execute orders for Deborah in the future.

This book provides more detailed informations: "The Saxon Princess Exhibition Guide Book by Stephen Sherlock" available here.

Photos in this report are courtesy of Deborah and Mark Simmons who allowed me to use them. Texts of the Anglo-Saxons and the excavation was created because of the information in the book The Saxon Princess Exhibition Guide Book by Stephen Sherlock as a summary written by me. The pics from the book are taken by Singe Vert photography and Media Arts.

UPDATE 23.8.2011: new pictures from Sonja´s visit at the Kirkleatham Museum in England

 

2011: Belt & Strapend ~ Bamburgh Castle

The first written reference to this sight is from the year 570 and since it is associated with a turbulent history. Normans, Saxons and Vikings have contributed to the turbulent past of the castle. For more information please see www.bamburghresearchproject.co.uk/

By Deborah Simmons, I am aware of the ongoing excavations and she connected me with Graeme Young, who currently oversees the Research Project.

I was particularly fascinated by the find images of an artifact, which was provisionally designated as textile processing tool. The course, I was very interested, especially as I recalled the find more of a strap end  (other end of a belt buckle). Thus began my search for a matching counterpart in the textile processing. I've been in contact with other international historic weavers. But there was no one to know a corresponding piece of the wool processing. So I decided to weave a matching girdle and to find me a bone carver, who makes of the unfortunately very blurry picture a matching replic.

For some time I knew Carlo Wolf who made exclusive for me a strap-end and  belt buckle (which was not found, but we designed it to fit to the strap-end).

Graeme Young was very impressed by the result and wrote to me:

"Hi Sonja
That looks very impressive and is certainly the most practical looking use I have seen so far for the object.

Best wishes Graeme"

 

2010: Der Fürst von Planig - Mainzer Landesmuseum

During channel works near the Roman road and fort of Kreuznach in 1939 the grave of the Prince of Planig was discovered and rescued. It was found at the junction of 2 important Roman trade routes, the one from Worms to Bingen and the other one from Mainz to Kreuznach.

Unfortunately, we still know very little abot this franc (died about 525 AD), nor his age or his death, because bone remains have not survived. But there were recovered exceptionally lavish grave goods, which implicate on extensive trade relations. Not only these artifacts suggest a high-ranking personality, but also the  sandstone blocks, which he was imbedded in. They where carved with roman figures.

2010 was the year,  the  reconstructed grave in the newly built part of the Mainz State Museum opened and became the new home of the Prince of Planig exhibition.

For this project I was have woven the gold-brocaded silken braids based on the fragments of the original goldthreads that where excavated . I also produced the plant-dyed wool leg wraps and the garters made of linen yarn

 

2009: Celtic couple in Historic Museum
of Speyer (Germany)

In the year 2008, I manufactured three plant dyed braids of pure wool for a celtic exibition. The beautifull celtic couple on the left was outfitted with my authentic braids

 

2008: Tablet woven belt for the Lake Dwelling Settlement Museum Unteruhldingen at Lake Constance

For some stuff members of the museum I wove some belts. (the picture was taken at our visit in 2008).