Uber-tasty mini-mango pies

While some people are busy doing important things with their lives, others cook.  And food is important, trust me on that.
Anyways, these little pies are not medieval, but would be perfect for a fantasy inn… or you know just with coffee… several times a day.

You need:
1 large mango.
 A cup of grated coconut
some cream. 

For the dough:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
a teaspoon of baking soda and two large spoons oil

Mix all the ingredients for the dough, knead a few times and set aside. Peel and core the mango, then cut it into small pieces.

On a large surface spread the dough, using a large glass or a small cup cut circles.  Place each circle in a cupcake form, fill with mango, top with coconut and a spoon of cream. Close. Repeat until you have as many pies as you want. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes or until ready. Praise Medievalisticals and enjoy….

 

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Garment for a future scale mail

Hi everyone
today we show off our latest project. This thick garment will serve as base for a scale mail armor.

the lucky owner posing with his new outfit

It looks a bit like a gambeson with an altered pattern. And I admit it`s a bit speculative because we have no archaeological finds for garments on which the scales were sewn. All we have are several murals from Bulgaria and the Balkan region.

The armor our friend Stefan is planning on recreating is from the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom – between 12-14 th. centuries. The garment you see is made of linen and thick wool. It`s not as thick as a gambeson, but it`s strong enough to carry the weight of the scales and thick enough to minimize the damage from a full strength sword blow. The pattern is based on pictorial sources from the bulgarian church Boyana(13. cent.) as well as murals from the serbian church in Nerezi and the greek church in Kastoria.

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This is Stefan`s second scale armor project. His first work was a great success – he reconstructed a lamellar armor from the same period and location and had more then one chance to test the mobility, weight and protection qualities of his work. We are all proud to say the results were excellent. It provides very good protection while keeping you mobile and not weighting too much. Needless to say, we will be monitoring his work with great interest and keep you posted on his progress.

A photo from our latest battle, with our friends from Chigot – medieval reenactments. Notice the lamellar armor on the left

The Nobleman`s shoes

Hi guys,
remember when I told you I was working on a special luxurious project? Well here it is – “The nobleman`s shoes” or “the christmas elf shoes” as we call them

These are exclusively nobleman`s shoes worn by both men and women from western and central Europe from the 12th to the 14th centuries. They`re custom made and one of a kind. The leather sole is 7mm thick, the upper is 1,1-1,2mm and the fabric is 100% pure silk. The edge of the upper is enforced with extra stitching and lining to avoid tearing in the fabric. The design and embroidery pattern are based on extant originals and studies on medieval footwear. For the binding stitch I used waxed linen thread, and for the embroidery and enforcing stitches I used cotton threads. The buttons are made of glass beads. The shoes` size is 40-41 by european size standarts (6,5 t0 7,5 british sizes and 7-8 by american standarts).

But the best part is they are FOR SALE
Their price is 150$ but if you order before the end of the year you can have them for 120$

All done

The button is made of a glass bead

on the inside – waxed linen threads and cotton decorative stitches

The sole

neatly shaped to fit the foot and it`s curves

blue cotton embroidery

….your feet here

The fabric doesn`t touch the ground

feeling good :)

in the making

making holes for the embroidery

in the making

Futhermore we take orders for custom hand made shoes – any design and decorations you like.

Vasil.

Nobleman suit up!

This is a reconstruction I made a few years back. It`s a nobleman`s outfit based on a mural from a 14th century bulgarian church in Dolna Kameniza, Serbia. The church is one of the best preserved medieval churches in the area and has beautiful murals.
The costume belongs to one of the men who donated the money for the temple.
My reconstruction is made of velvet and cotton, both available in Bulgaria at that time. I liked this coat because of the strange sleeves and the furry lining on the neck. I used fox fur and silver buttons.
The main reason I chose to recreate this outfit however was the guy`s long hair and beard. He`s one of the few men in medieval murals with long and untied hair.

So I made the outfit, grew my hair just a little more and in summer 2010 I even visited the church. And that`s how we do things in Medievalisticals.

Vasil.

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Dwarves at work… and play

Dwarves are the best fantasy race ever – they are the most down to earth and jolly fellows you can find. And with the upcoming “The hobbit” we just had to do

 something dwarvy. In the mean time we were employed at some archaeology digs – and what better place to show your true beard, than ancient ruins.

I would have added beards on Photoshop if I wasn’t too busy procrastinating, but even now the dwarves look good…if You ask me, even better than those in the upcoming movie – we’ve got hoods, and they don’t.
Photographer is Mihail Hristov (mostly)
Not pictured:
A pile of dead orks
A Gandalf
An empty ale barrel

Viktor

Mead brewing

Photo of the tavern table at Cherven medieval camp. Hint- the mead is the yellow one in the glass phial.

Well, it`s the time of the year when we usually brew something. This time it`s mead. We`ve had the honey ready and waiting for months. Last week I finally found the time to brew some “medovina” as we call it.

Don`t forget to take out the white foam.

just some herbs

This is not the first time me and Viktor make this type of drink. I think this is our third year in brewing. We learned the method from our friends from Modvs Vivendi medieval society who translated it from some authentic medieval books.

So, here is what we did…
In a large pot we put 1 part honey and 4 parts water. Usually that is one jar of honey and four jars of water. This time we used larger quantities. Keep an eye on it. It will begin to make white foam on the surface. Take that out. For half of the mead we used a german recipe which makes the mead more beer-like because the basic ingredients are hops and sage. We also added some lime-tree (tilia) because we had too much and didn`t know what to do with it. We experimented on the other half. We put in some dried apples and some … well normal apples, cinnamon, cloves and just a little bit of dried citrus fruit peals – oranges and lemons. We let the herbs boil for a few minutes. Then take the pot off the fire and let it cool for a while. When it`s cool enough to put your finger in safely, take some mead and mix it with a tea spoon of yeast (one tea spoon for 5 liters of mead). Remove the herbs and fruits and put in the yeast.  Then pour it in a fermentation container. We use simple plastic bottles of 10liter mineral water with home-made fermentation taps. It usually takes a little more than a month of fermentation. After that… well it`s your decision. We don`t usually store it in any special way because we tend to drink it very fast. There just isn`t any point in that with us around

Now the mead is fermenting quietly near my bed in large plastic containers with fermentation taps so that no air comes in to contaminate it. Well that`s not entirely the case this time cause I opened one of the containers to check how it`s going. It tastes divine! There will be no mercy!

Vasil.

The fruity mead turned red, while the herbal stayed yellow.

Pilgrim`s gourd canteen

Can hold almost half a liter

Last week a couple of dried gourds fell in my pocket and i decided to make medieval canteens out of them.

So far this was my third attempt. The first failed and became a bowl, very successful bowl actually. The second attempt was a success, made a good big bottle with capacity of some 2,5 liters.

This time the gourds were different – small and cute.

So at first I cut the top open and pour out the seeds and the filling. Then I put small sharp pebbles and some water in and just shake the gourd until all the insides fall out and everything is clean. After a good half an hour of shaking I managed to do that. At this stage I noticed that these gourds have very thin walls and the first gourd had cracked in the middle. Naturally I tried to be more careful with the second one, but it was even weaker and broke in two. It was a shame… but on the other hand I managed to fix the first. I melted some honey-wax and warmed up the gourd in the oven and when the fruit was warm enough I poured in the hot wax and shook it around to cover the whole inside. Luckily the wax sealed the crack and although weak the bottle survived. It looks a bit beaten up,  but after all it`s a pilgrim`s bottle.

In the end I added a tap and leather straps to hang it over my shoulder, filled it with water and now we wait to see if I`ve done my job well.

Vasil.

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