day one hundred twenty-one: nope, not finished yet
So the trim doesn’t count as an accessory, which makes sense, and I’m back to making a leather belt. I just want to do a few minutes of relatively superficial research on whether belts were decorated with incised designs of some sort, and then I’m off to the races. If I don’t find any such evidence, I’ll just make a plain belt and call it good.
In the meantime, I need to pick up the workroom and reset it for leatherwork. There are cones of thread everywhere and I need to put away some fabric. Stay tuned!
So yes, these are seax sheaths, but they're the right time period and frankly, I found them in a book written in English because I don't have time to go through Die Lederfunde von Haithabu, which is in German. They're from Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York, which is an incredible resource.
So I'm going to go with an impressed geometric design, not incised. I'm just going to draw it on with a stylus, and if it doesn't show up, then I'll take a knife to it, and do very shallow cuts.
I also need to piece this belt together, because I couldn't get a belt blank long enough, so I was thrilled to find a whole range of seams. Most of them are found in shoes (and there are so many shoes in this book with drawings of the pieces! I gotta make some shoes), but there is one that is specified as being from a strap. I may use that one; depends on how this progresses.
I need to get back to prepping these straps. Stand by for more updates.