I oiled this one with lanolin, I'm not sure if beeswax would have an effect or not, might be worth a try tho And yeah, soapstone. It's 34g, which is iirc historically feasible tho towards the heavier end for sure. I think also fine glasswork could make an appropriate bead, though perhaps in a style ...

Like to illustrate here's a medieval spindle I made - I think it's very pretty, and I love using it, but nothing about it screams elvish to me, none of the... ageless majesty, I guess. I'm not really sure what about the aesthetic it lacks that would make it elvish lmao but there's smth ineffable. Ma...

That's actually a very good way of putting it, I think! I think that's a beautiful way of framing it and think its right tbh. I think I wrongly considered elves as above the more and muck of humanity, rather than (transforming?) it And yeah I don't think for a second that spinning or weaving cannot ...

I agree, but I think I just have difficulty imagining elves performing mundane tasks in general lol, and at least all the drop spindles I've seen have a more rustic elegance than I usually attribute to (at least non-sylvan) elves

Like picturing Gildor washing the dishes

So, elves obviously have to spin their own threads and harm (I mean, everybody does, and galadriel is specifically mentioned to weave - with her handmaidens, I think). But I have trouble actually picturing what they might use to do this. Regardless of whether the spinning wheel is present in Middle-...

I think gandalf actually says something to the effect that it was good he came alone, as (unlike them) he came across as a lone traveller and not an important group We know he loses his horse crossing the Ford at tharbad, where it runs back to the rohirrim, and then he has to walk the rest of the wa...

C immediately reminds me of a pattern for a knitted tam, I bet it would look great as one

My gut reaction - having just reread the books - was no, and it's implied heavily in a lot of what I remembered (and in the lament for him). But I couldn't recall explicitly, so I decided to check. "In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ...

It fits the longhunter vibe the rangers are often ascribed

I don't suppose the professor happened to mention Moka pots as well?

No such luck, unfortunately. It seems silk/wool blends are a rather niche luxury fabric and not much else

All the silk/wool blends I see are rather thin and aimed at couture, so I suspect it would need to be hand woven (more accurate to the books as well, I suppose). Better add a loom to the list...

My understanding of viking-age silk is that it was used judiciously, mostly as decorative trim and the like rather than for full garments However, there are fully silk lèine (which can be something from a chiton-like garment to a medieval shift) mentioned several times in some of the Irish literatu...

as to why have a king at all, well, I don't have a good answer to that question - but in one of Tolkein's interviews he talks about liking having a clear succession, of these sorts of eternal institutions. I suspect a good deal of the appeal for him simply was that they are traditional, and in the s...

I'm flabbergasted you could tell from that picture, but yes, it is! The colour darkened considerably in the waxing to that lovely burgundy - the bag actually was made from the same fabric as the apron-dress originally. It definitely has a more flexible, less 'plasticky,' feel and different look to i...

I think it's worth noting that while Tolkien is a monarchist (of a sort), the contemporary label of anarcho-monarchism did not exist at his time, and its use today seems distinctly against Tolkien's bent, being in favour of absolute monarchy, a state, a feudal class system or a class system of some ...