Just to add to that, here is a pic to advertise the show, courtesy of Mel Morpeth, Fulcrum TV.

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Without intending any offense, this picture reminds me a lot of advertisments for Nordic metal bands! :P

Seriously though, I really wish I could afford a better source for television so I could watch this...

The Vendel madness is catching. I met Paul Mortimer and the Wulfheodenas fellow with the Thorkil Valsgarde-8 at Tamworth Anglo-Saxon festival.
Inspired me to make this over the summer (my first ever attempt at metalwork);



What do you guys think?

Hi guys,
Now, here is a Valsgarde inspired helm made by my friend and fellow forumite Paul Holwell. Modelled to stunning effect by yours truly.Lol!

To put things into perspective this is also his first ever helm attempt, (he normally makes swords), it is also the first time he has ever beaten sheet metal.
The helm was inspired by the works of Ivor Lawton and Thorkil, courtesy of Dave Huggins who owns helms from both makers. The fittings (eyebrows, crest) are based on the V8 helm, but the helm is essentially conjectural, but leaning towards the imagery represented on the Torslunda press blech dies. hence the inclusion of Cheek plates.

The helm is heat blued, which has achieved a lustrous bluey/ gun metal finish.

The eyebrows were hand carved, the crest terminal 'heads' were cast from a master which Paul carved, the crest is hand formed in one piece from 3mm sheet brass with the vane attached separately by rivets.
For any English Living Historians out there, who will be attending The Original re enactors Market this Sunday, I will have the helm with me to drool over! So give me a shout.
Paul is a friend of Wulfheodenas and as such has promised 1st refusal to one of our members. But shortly he will be posting pics of the helm himself on the makers and manufacturers forum. Any requests for commissions etc, should be broached on that thread, to Paul directly.
Paul wants to do an accurate pres blech helm at some point, personally i can't wait to see that one.

In my opinion Paul has really grasped the essence of the theme perfectly, he did his own research but was big enough to accept advice and guidance from both myself and Dave Huggins.
from a personal and purely selfish point of view I would be proud to have this helm gracing our groups displays,where it would not look sad or out of place alongside the works of Ivor lawton, Dave Roper, Gzrzegorz Kulig and Tim Noyes.

Well done Paul mate.

Bruce

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Looks fantastic! I really like the cheek plates.

Hi guys.

Thanks Bruce, and thanks to Dave too. Without your joint input, i don't think the helmet would have turned out so well. It was a big learning curve for me and a lot of effort to get to this point. That said, the compliments on my work form you guys has made it all worth it.

Cheers lads, Paul

God that one's perfect, Bruce. Tell him to put up a tutorial, especially on those crests and eyebrows haha. :lol:

Looks great. Very Vendel but with something of a Coppergate spirit to it too.

Paul,
Wow! That is stunning. Especially for a first try. Congratulations.
I think the cheek plates add a lot.

Thanks very much guys. Its really great to get feedback like this. It was a challenge, esp the crest and eyebrows. As for a tutorial, well, after all the bad language has been edited out, there wouldn't be much left to watch. so i recon, if you swear at a piece of metal enough, you can get it into any shape you like!! :D

Paul

Geez, I hope some day my LAST helmet ends up looking as good as your FIRST one! But there is hope, since it sounds like we share some of the same metalworking techniques!

Congratulations, and KEEP AT IT!

Matthew

Thanks Matthew. I will keep at it, got a few to make now. It keeps me busy :)

Paul

Excellent Matt, and very nice tooling too.

Following on from the completion of Paul Howell's new Vendel inspired helm, a new project is under-way. This time we will use a self imposed brief of taking the construction and elements of the known Early Anglo Saxon helms to build a Staffordshire Hoard boar crested inspired helm.

Below is a mock up using the Wollaston Helm and Coppergate Helm as a basis, each having not dissimilar structural features, using pressbleche from the Staffordshire Hoard decorating the circumference of the helm all surmounted with the boar crest from Benty Grange. The terminals on the eyebrow crests will also need to be changed from hounds to boars reflective of the style we are aiming for, and we will drop the existing beast on the band terminating at the middle of the eyebrows as again this does not reflect the 6-7th C style.

We think a sound conjectural helm can be manufactured that would not look out of place on one of the warriors lords of battle amongst the Early English kingdoms.

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Brilliant effort Aed -- it was good to meet you in the summer -- you chose, possibly the hardest of the Vendel helms to do and a very creditable result. Well done. You are quite young, too, I think.

Very nice helmet from Paul, too.

It is good to have talented metal workers taking in an interest in our period.

Paul

Hi All,
After the US airing of the Documentary on the Staffordshire hoard a couple of weeks ago, Here is the date for its airing in the UK,


SAXON GOLD: NEW SECRETS REVEALED
UK Premiere on Wednesday 7 December at 9:00PM
National Geographic Channel

Its repeated the next day also.
Featuring Wulfheodenas, Owen Bush, oh and some bits of Anglo Saxon gold.

Hi Folks,
This is my first post on the forum and i'd just like to say beautiful work on the helm Paul.

Hi

For those that have been following this and the other Vendel/Sutton Hoo threads they may be interested to know that Paul's much anticipated book 'Woden's Warriors' is now available from Anglo Saxon Books. Amazon UK appear to have become temporarily out of stock in very rapid fashion but no doubt will restock very shortly.

The book is a large 30cm X 30.5 cm format hardback printed on catalogue grade paper, large enough to best display the lavish illustrations and diagrams of artifacts and reconstructions. Having previously had access to the preprint draft it was a delight to see the books many illustrations and one of the authors aims was to provide images of artifacts previously unpublished and I do feel that he has been successful in this aim. Great images of reconstructions too from some of the best craftsmen working in the field!

While within the text Paul acknowledges the book is not difinitive and that many answers on a period that continues to beg questions remain unanswered I do feel for those interested in the period it provides thought provoking stimulation and provides glimpses into a warrior culture that can often be difficult to discern and that previous books have not tackled to this degree.

Top book, well done Paul and a fitting complimentary companion to Steve Pollington's 'Wayland's Work' from a publisher with a shared passion for the Anglo-Saxons culture.

All the best to fellow forumites for 2012
Dave

i have the book in my grubby hands, ASBooks were great to deal with and they had a copy down here to Australia for me in no time!

the book is easy to read and has alot of information in it. and the photos in it.. well all they do is make you drool at the works of art they show

Thanks Paul for such a great book and thanks to ASBooks as you were great to deal with


Mick