Gudvangen Viking Market 2015
Whilst living in Norway in 2014 I met some of the local vikings, and was invited back to the Gudvangen Viking market in 2015, and asked if I would run leatherworking courses which I just couldn't pass up on. The market is held every July in the centre of Gudvangen, which is in the heart of norway three hours east of Bergen City. Luckily I have friends who have a farm 20 minutes away in Flåm, so I arranged to stay with them and help out on the farm when I had the time either side of the market. This worked out perfectly as it meant I could buy a new viking stall tent and ship it to them rather than lugging it through the airport.So in early July I flew out with my partner Fionn who runs 'Wee Beasties Creations', and we headed over to the farm in Flåm. I spent the couple of days we had before the market crafting a viking frame for my new tent, and making tables and benches for my stall. I made the prototype frame from seasoned larch that had been cut and seasoned before I was born. The benches were made from a recently felled tree, sawn into four plans in Terjes own sawmill. The rest was done with a chainsaw to make basic legs which the seat could slot into. The table was a hastily knocked up solid board planed and sanded down, with interlocked legs which werent finished nicely as I ran out of time but it did the job. Finally, it was market time! It was a fast-paced week full of meeting people, learning, and teaching. There was three tv crews out filming for various television channels throughout the week, viking wrestling (glima), plenty of great viking music, food, there was hugnarian horse archery, storytelling, blacksmithing, woodcarving, leatherworking (of course ) and loads more. I had an insanely busy week trading/selling, and running courses every day. I was teaching my students how to make belt pouches and arm guards mostly, and one lady who wanted to make a reindeer skin dress which was a lot of fun. Fionn was also selling her needle felted wool viking ladies, which ended up bringing a crowd of viking children around our tent every morning which was a real joy :)
