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I am drawing 55 fucking seahorses for this project. 55. Who draws 55 fucking seahorses. Tiny fiddly ones too

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“what are you thinking about?” swordfights, next question 

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Also, coming from an anthropology background: there were "hunter gatherer" societies where women provided the majority of the calories, because men were mostly just showing off their hunting skills and having fun but not actually catching all that much all that often, and the women were actually trying to dig up sufficient potatoes to feed everyone.

There's plenty of historical - and current - societies where women do the heavy lifting. Like, say, fetching water from the well. There's pictures of women carrying heavy loads while their husbands stroll besides them completely unburdened. Because sure, men are stronger on average, but they don't want to do the heavy lifting - and in a patriarchal society where men are in charge, women will do all the dirty and unpleasant work.

When you look at the actual history of men's work and women's work across the globe, it usually looks a hell of a lot less like the complementarian understanding of "men did Outdoor Stuff because they're stronger and better suited to it and women did Indoor Stuff because they're more social and better suited to it" and a hell of a lot more like "men had more power so they reserved the fun or high-status tasks for themselves, women had less power so they were forced to do the disgusting or unpleasant or low-status work".

And when something moves from low-status to high-status, it is suddenly redefined from women's work to men's work.

a phrase that kinda bothers me when talking about women's historical roles in europe is "cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." you hear it so often, those exact words in the same order even. and once you learn a little more you realize that the massive gaping hole in that list is fiberwork. im not an expert and have no hard numbers, but i wouldnt be surprised if fiberwork took up nearly as much time as the other three tasks combined, so it's not a trivial omission.

it's not a hot take to say that the mass amnesia about fiberwork is linked to the belittlement of women's work in geneal, but i do think there's a special kind of illusion that is cast by "cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." you hear that and think "well i cook and clean and take care of children (or i know someone who does) and i have a sense of how much work that is" and you know of course that cooking and cleaning were more laborious before modern technology, but still, you have a ballpark estimate you think, when in fact you are drastically underestimating the work load.

i also think that this just micharacterizes the role of women's work in livelihoods? cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children are all sisyphean tasks that have to be repeated the next day. these are important, but not the whole picture. when we include all kinds of fiberwork—and other things, such as making candles or soap—women's work looks much more like manufacturing, a sphere we now associate more with men's work. i feel like women's connection to making and craftsmanship is often elided.

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embroidery from peacockandpinecones my friends and I have been losing our minds over all morning.

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A friend made this. I’m not in it, but my heart and soul is.

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this should have been me

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If you are wearing a cloak, they are all definitely jealous of your swishy cloak.

I keep coming home from SCA events and stopping at fast food restaurants. (because if I’m not actively shoving food in my mouth I’m probably hungry) Having done so, I stand in line and notice people are staring at me. For a moment, I think “Damn, I must be looking good. Everyone is checking me out.” And then I remember that I dressed as a sixth century anglo-saxon, and they probably don’t see a saxon maiden ordering french fries every day. This happens almost every time.

I suppose it could be both. After all, I am a cute Angle.

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I got married and turns out my wife and I are the hottest people alive.

(A blacksmith friend of hers made me a longsword and twin daggers for her for our wedding.)

(I'm a paladin, she's a rogue.)

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This is badass: Medieval Nubian Fashion Brought to Life. Click through to the link because there’s more replica clothing and it is all stunning!

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my new years resolution is to sword fight. and my goal for the year is to be better at sword fighting

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This is so so so so so pretty

A zillion hours of hammering, skiving, dyeing, and Angelus paint later, finally finished my rapier hanger.

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I'm so normal about the SCA. I spoke to non-sca people yesterday and I managed to have like two entire conversations that were not about the SCA. Then I went up to the attic and introduced everyone to the concept of a bardic circle and afterwards talked about swordfighting for hours. But the important thing is that I did shut up about swords for over 10 minutes, which is a big achievement

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Carolingian sword uncovered near Dendermonde, Belgium, 750-850 AD

from The Royal Military Museum of Brussels

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william the conqueror: i shall take england for normandy and become its king

william the concurrer: i agree

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this is going to be difficult -> i am capable of doing difficult things -> i have done everything prior to this moment -> this difficulty will soon be proof of capability

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Red Tower 50 day 3. I made every stitch of clothing but my friend’s pants. Hand hemmed the world’s orangest tunic on site. Accessories by an assortment of makers (including some by me)!