Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

There aren’t a whole lot of medieval castles in america and the ones we do have aren’t 500 years old like their european counterparts. Anyway, I have a goal to visit as many medieval castles as possible and I am starting in a radius around where I live. I have visited a lot of these so far this year and the latest one is an interesting little castle on in connecticut on the bank of the connecticut river.

It is called Gillette Castle and it’s quite a unique little place. It was built in the period between 1915 and 1919 all out of local stone and all to the architecturual plans of its owner William Gillette.  He was a famous theatre actor in the last century and is most famous for his portrayal as Sherlock Holmes.

It is quite unique on the outside and on the inside. I have never seen a castle like this and I called it decayed baroque The picture will tell you why!

It’s a fun trip and if you live in new england you might want to make a day trip and go out to see it. One of the unique things about it is that there is a ferry across the river that you can take to see it. Kind of different, and very New England.

And if you want to check out more medieval castles and see the ones I have visited so far you can visit my website here: Medieval Castles

The blacksmithing is going well and the home made forge is working very well. I have been learning all about the art and am making progress. It is always a matter of time! Anyhoo, I have created a new tutorial that shows one of the basic skills of the smith - drawing out metal. This is the skill where you hammer a piece of metal to make it longer and thinner. Picture it sort of like having a length of iron that is 10 inches long and an inch thick, if you heat and hammer it you can make it (eventually) 20 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. Lot of work but particularly one of the most basic skills when it comes to sword making.

And that is my goal: To make some nice swords!!!

This tutorial on how to draw out metal is in a video format on my youtube channel here: Blacksmithing - Drawing Out

 I have also started a new section on my website that is all about the art of blacksmithing. It is only just begun but there is some interesting stuff there: The Art of Blacksmithing

Website and blog review

Being involved quite deeply in the medieval stuff and having a blog and several websites that are deeply involved in it means that I get a lot of email from shops and stores that sell renaissance and medieval clothing.

Now, this is great and it helps me to keep tabs on what is out there but for the most part none of them offer anything special. That is “for the most part”.

I got an email from one particular renaissance shop that also has a blog and I was really astonished at how good it really was.  The clothing and accessories are high quality and superbly made. I am not really into the clothing aspect of the Renaissance, medieval period or LARPing but their selection is really high quality. I like it.

And, To take this a bit further they obviously have a love of the whole arena and it shows in their blog. Here are some sample posts they have:

• Where to Go with Your Renaissance Costuming
• Allied Kingdom: Medieval Research with Joyce
• Waterproofing Your Footwear

Anyhoo, I am not affiliated with them in any way and I don’t know them but I very much approve of what they are doing. This is because we obviously share a passion here! So check them out:

Their Blog: http://blog.pearsonsrenaissanceshoppe.com/

Their website where you can see and buy some beautiful stuff: http://www.pearsonsrenaissanceshoppe.com/

You probably already know I am a big fan of medieval castles. There aren’t a whole lot of them here in the US  but there are a few that could be reasonably categorized as Medieval Castles. Anyway, there is one in New Hampshire calle Kimball Castle. It is pretty run down but still standing. I haven’t been able to make the time to go up there and visit so I ended up hiring a photographer to make the trip.

He delivered the pictures today and they are pretty neat. The place does have the reputation of being haunted and judging by some of the pictures it looks like people throw halloween parties in there! Anyway, I have posted a bunch of pictures to my facebook page and I will be doing a write up about the castle on my medieval castle website

The exterior

An amazing structure on the inside. Having been built in 1895 light was a very big consideration, thus the big beautiful skylight.

Blacksmithing is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time now and just recently me and some family members have been getting together and doing some. We have our own home made forge and have been heating and hammering away at metal. It’s a lot of fun and we are learning as we go. Eventually my goal is to make a sword or two and possibly some armor.

It’s just a matter of time and effort (and learning)

 I have been working on some webpages about the whole blacksmithing process and how to make a forge but those pages aren’t yet ready for prime time. But, I do have a couple of youtube videos that you can watch if you want to see what we have been doing. The forge is a pretty ingenious little set up and we are doing some basic skills like folding metal and twisting metal.

You can check out the latest video right here: Blacksmithing video 2 on my youtube channel