Lofotr Viking Museum internship report 1

Hello everyone,
It took me a few days because I had to sort out internet and to find the time and energy to write a blog.
First of all I wanted to say that landing in Trondheim (Vaernes) was already spectacular: from snowy mountaintops that we (optically) only seem to go past by a (few tens of meters-) descending further untill we reached the treeline and landed in the valley.
I was thinking of my (quarternary) geology lessons watching the traces in the landscape left by the glaciers during the ice age(s) (and the nominations for the various types of the shapes). Last year I was digging in aridisols (in the Carribean) should I ever decide to become a geologist;>…it’s funny to be able to apply these lessons in practice.
This time I will be working as a smith in the viking age in the Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg. www.lofotr.no
It’s interesting for me in various ways: it deals with public archaeology, emulates a (interpreted) feeling of the time period and offers me the opportunity to practice metalsmithing in an archaeological setting. I want to practice techniques, test hypotheses and do experiments. Also I will try to cast a silver button for a piece of clothing someone is reconstructing (more about that later;)).
The place is gorgeous- I love the reconstructed chieftain's house and the surrounding nature. I feel privileged to have a whole smithy to myself. Well to me and my ‘apprentice’ Matthias, though I think we will learn from eachother. He is an apprentice- blacksmith (which I haven’t done a lot so I could be called an apprentice) and I’m a goldsmith that hasn’t worked with non-modern methods before. Well, at least not in casting.
So far I have cleaned and organized the smithy a bit, installed some bellows that were outside (and realized finding out how they should be mounted was trickier then expected). To familiarize myself with the smithy I have been working a bit on an iron knife, but from this week on I really want to do some silver casting. Today it was actually my day off but I wanted to try out the bellows (and the temperature that can be reached with them). It should be doable, but I think it still will be tricky to cast silver-the fire really should be going in order to achieve this. We’ll see. The weather has been a bit rainy and overcast, with sometimes a streak of sun. The view on the Mountains is particularly in the morning breathtaking—some look lapis lazuli blue with snowy peaks and others are more red/violet. Matthias took me on a wander in de surroundings today- I guess it was good to have him along as I would probably have ended up in a bog:> He will also take me and a housemate up a mountain (not that high, about 109 meters) . It will more be like hiking, but I feel I should. Perhaps I will concur more mountains when I am here.
I’m staying in a cute little house across the chieftain’s farm , supposedly haunted but I have slept like a baby here. It used to be the postman's house and I had suspected the postman’s spirit to have posted the postcards I lost yesterday-but I found them again:)
Oh, and yesterday I (together with a group of ‘vikings’)also featured in a film made by artists that will be shown on a Viking festival in August (in these surroundings). It was kindof funny:>
Did I mention I wear men’s clothes? I feel a bit like Joan of Arc. WELL THAT IT’S FOR NOW:>