Friday, June 26, 2015

Ravages of Time / Ajan syömää


There is a Medieval market in our town this week. I am taking part as a reenactor. We try to be as authentic as possible, down to forks and knives and shoe laces and even the kind of stitches the clothing was sewed some 700 years ago.
I needed a place to keep some of my modern day stuff like a mobile phone, camera and the like. But it shouldn't be a pretty box and look like there would be valuables in it, I wanted it to look as inconspicous as possible. So I made a box that opens like a book and looks like a plank of wood. Nah, a tad prettier than a plank of wood, I couldn't resist the curlicues. One half of a rusty clasp on the side where it opens completes the withered, ravaged look.

Ajan syömä puunpalanen, joka onkin salainen laatikko salaisille tärkeille papereille. Ikävä kyllä ajan hammas on päässyt nakertamaan ja keskiaikaisista dokumenteista on enää rippeet jäljellä. Tein tämän Turun keskiaikasille markkinoille.


It looks like it may have had a picture on top, but that picture has sadly worn away in these 700 years.


It used to be a box in which secret messages were brought from place to place, safely hidden in plain sight. For who would think a wooden plank would be anything else than a wooden plank?


When you open it today, you will find some remnants of those precious writings.


 Sadly, years of abuse have done it's work, they are torn, crumbled, soiled.


There are only fragments left, -  poor historians of today, they will have to make sense of it all!


 Oh, the ravages of time!


The authentic looking manuscript scraps are copies that were aged with some ink, baking, washing, sun and fire. Some were torn before, some after a treatment, then treated a bit more.
Entering this in Steampunk challenge
Eclectic Ellapu

5 comments:

  1. LOVE this, Alice!

    Being a roleplayer too (and loving medieval markets and festivals and costumes) I just adore the aged look you have achieved! And the idea with the "lost picture" on the outside is so imaginative and brilliant!

    Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful creation with us at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!

    Claudia xx

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    1. You too! It is just so much fun, isn't it. Too bad we have all these separate niches in our lives and can't really mix them in the blogs. But this crossing of borders between paper crafts and Medieval was actually even useful.

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  2. Love the story that goes with this! It brings your wonderful piece to life! So cool how you made your manuscript pieces. So fun!! Thanks for joining us this month at SAS

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    1. Sorry, it stopped...SASPC of course! Love these steampunk challenges!

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