Within Leather-guy's excellent list, he mentioned wooden swords for the boys, so I included a little toy horse too. I'm still working on references for the board games and girl's doll.

The tapestry is pure guess work as to how it would be displayed. While I could find references for hung tapestries from the 1200 - 1500's, I couldn't find anything earlier. If anyone can lead me to a historically accurate pictorial reference, I'll give you the props pack when it's done.

Tapestries were used mainly as wall-insulation so they tended to be pretty huge and thick - decorating them was of secondary importance - even hides of animals would have been used in preference to cold bare walls. The most common board games I've seen look kind of like a handled square cheese cutting board with a raised "fence" arround the edge to keep markers from tumbling off on voyages. The game surface was usually crisscross lines cutting the surface into regular squares (scratched in and blackened with soot) and a small pit in the center of each to keep the assorted markers, tallys and pebbles in place, or just 7 by 7 rows of pits with only a few marked off by circles or squares at corners and edges. Handles could be single or double, plain rods or carved into faces or horses. What you've done looks really good! Have you considered making a heavier table with trestle reinforcements for heavier tasks, or sawed-off tree sections for portlier folk to sit on without breaking stools?

Leather-guy, you are a regular fount of information. Thanks.

I hadn't thought of making anything "thick & chunky" for the furniture, but it is easily done. Mostly I'm working from a few choice archeological and recreationist sites (see the links below). If animal skins would be acceptable for hanging on the walls, I can create a couple of morphable hides... I have a "hairy" deer hide at home for photo reference.

Hmmm... There are just so many models to create! I'm wondering if I should break them down into items like:
~ house w/ furniture;
~ cooking ware;
~ tools;
~ and finally personal items like combs, pins, torques, etc.

I'll decide later. Must be off to do more modeling!

angelcynn
jorvik
regia
vikings

Check these out TygerCub, although I'm sure you've already seen some of them. VH http://www.tapestrieswp.abcguide.com/detail.html?item_code=ME008 http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/saxon_house.htm http://store.doverpublications.com/0486234258.html http://www.regia.org/textiles.htm http://www.regia.org/feasting.htm http://www.regia.org/houses.htm Anglo-Saxon feasts and etiquette Ann Hagen This article was abridged and adapted from Ann Hagen's book A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and consumption published at 8.95 by Anglo-Saxon Books [www.englisc.demon.co.uk], Frithgarth, Thetford Forest Park, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk IP26 4NQ. The period covered by Ann Hagen is AD 400 to about 1100. Feasts in hall offered a variety of sense impressions - taste, smell, warmth, music and entertainment, the play of light on tableware, the colours of hangings, the clothes of the guests. Companionship, a confirmation of one's position in the community, reward, the chance to drink and escape day-to-day concerns were all part and parcel of feasting, and the potent appeal of the feast derives in part from them, as well as from the rich and plentiful food. The function of feasting Although the feast was not primarily a gastronomic event but a ritual - with religious, aesthetic, legal and societal ramifications - the provision and consumption of food and drink was central. The 'chieftain' provided food and drink that was prestigious in kind and plentiful in quantity ... The function of royal feasts was to emphasise the ruler's power and, through a lavish display of wealth, attract followers and supporters. Those who partook of the feast were declaring or confirming their obligations to the provider. In return for sustenance, they were pledged to fight to the death for him, sustaining him in his position of power, but also obliging him to continue to provide well for them ... A noble king not only provided amply for his retainers, but created a splendid occasion - an image of plenty and assured harmony in a world where shortage, uncertainty and conflict were the experience of many. The feast retained its symbolism as a unifying force, even when the guests were not dependent on the king for sustenance and support. ... People apart from the king had the resources for a social life that included feasting. The visit of guests was celebrated with a feast, though if the king was the visitor, the royal provisioners would arrive the day before to see everything was ready and suitable. The king could not have his status compromised by attending a feast at which the supplies were insufficiently lavish, or the mead might run out. Sometimes the guests may have been visiting specifically to consume the food, payable as the 'food rent'. Most people probably arranged feasts for special occasions, which could be personal - celebrating the arrival of a guest, celebrating or commemorating rites of passage - or seasonal, called forth by the time of year or the date of a religious festival. Victories and coronations were also marked by feasting. Funeral feasts and feasts on the anniversaries of deaths are frequently mentioned. In pagan times, the dead person seems to have been propitiated by a grand burial feast. Funeral feasts continued to be held after the introduction of Christianity, and ultimately had to be incorporated into the Christian scheme. Anniversary feasts were often held, particularly in religious establishments ... Holding a feast A feast was arranged and guests gelaood (invited, bidden or summoned). They dressed in their best clothes ... or perhaps their most splendid armour ... The writer of The Ruin saw in hall: Many men, joyful and bright with gold, splendidly adorned, proud and gladdened by wine; their armour shone. According to Cynewulf in his image of the Ascension, the radiant garments of the angels were appropriate to the great feast that was held in heaven to greet Christ's arrival. Summoning the guests Presumably the guests gathered and then a horn was blown to summon them to the feast. Such a use of the horn may have been strictly functional, or it may have played some further part in the ceremonial. Hand-washing was the first and necessary part of the ceremonial of feasting. The hall The scene of feasting was the great hall, furnished with trestle tables and benches, and guarded by door-keepers who turned away gate-crashers and prevented anyone from entering while the meal was in progress ... The archaeological record provides much evidence of halls - e.g. one of these at Yeavering was over 24.4 m (80 ft) long and 12.2 m (40 ft) wide and the walls were white-plastered on the inside, while at Cheddar, there was a hall about 22.9 m long dating from the mid-9th century. Other business was also carried on in the hall at mealtimes, so that Harold might receive news of William's landing when he was dining at York, and when Cnut was at table in hall at the end of a feast, a crowd of petitioners occupied his ear, while a bard wanted to sing him a poem he had just composed. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that, although communal feasting in hall continued, in the late period we hear that the lady of the household, and sometimes the lord, retired to a private room to eat. Some people were no doubt grateful for their entitlement to sleep in the hall after the feast. Hangings and table-linen Hangings, sometimes interwoven with gold, were used to decorate halls from early in the period. Tablecloths were in use, at least on the Continent, by the early 9th century. Table napkins, known of by the 8th century, were certainly in use by the 10th century.