A little Medival help pls

[Thomas Dean]

I did a demo in town Sat. and was asked about making a spoon, fork, and knife for Ren. fares. The lady just wanted 1 of each for herself and want to buy local. Said she was in no hurry of which I said "Good!" Here's what I need. Do any of you fine folks have pictures of a set you have made for this era. She does the Scarborough Fair (sp) in Waxahachi, TX and is going to Conroe, TX next month for that areas Ren fair. If you are familuar with those 2 events then you know what time frame it should be. ('cuss I sure don't! ) I pretty sure that the fork was not invented yet but that's beside the point...the lady wanted all 3 pieces! Any help wil be greatly appreciated. I Love this place!
Also, what would be a fair price for them?

[ThomasPowers]

"Medieval" covers about 1000 years and a lot of territory as well. Renaissance is a lot shorter but still a lot of land was covered by the term. Can you get them to narrow it down?

Social level makes a big bump; a solid silver set ornamented with rubies is going to cost a bit more than one carved from wood and horn.

Basically folks didn't use iron spoons, preferring horn and wood for lower classes and silver and gold for upper classes.

Depending on date and location you could have a 1 tine pricker, a 2 tine fork or a three tine fork in the renaissance.

The knife is universal and would of course be 1 edged.

Complete sets of matching eating implements in a trousseau were common with the middle to upper classes who would bring their own when they went out to eat.

Basically they want something that looks non-modern. I would look at some of the renaissance cookbooks as they usually have a picture or two of period feasts being served.

Also the Renaissance Low countries tended to have a lot of pictures of eating scenes "The Garden of Earthly Delights" comes to mind for examples of eating ware from around then/there.

I'll try to get some time in the library tonight and pull some cites...

[Aeneas]

Here are two types of fork I make.
They're just 1/4" mild steel.

A friend of mine asked for a place setting for 4 ... so I'm interested in seeing some other ideas too.

[Frosty]

What the utensils look like would depend on the period, location and station of her persona.

Frosty

[Doug C]

Aeneas, I like the second forks handle. I would not have thought of wrapping a rat tail around a twist like that. Very nice.

[solvarr]

this is 201-300 ad but fun
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept...slt&_limit_=10

[rstegman]

I have not looked, but this site Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. might have the information you are looking for. They are renaissance reinactment organization, but they do extesive research. If you cannot find what you need to know there, you might find links to find it.
If you find you like making such utensils, you might also find customers through them.

[matt87]

As an aside, the table fork in various simple guises was used by the Romans. It was eschewed by most people in Christendom until the Renaissance (as I recall), most using their fingers, a spoon and their belt knife for eating. As it was when forks became fashionable, they were considered ungodly by the Church as they replaced God-given fingers. (The fact one tends to use fingers to hold a fork was for some reason ignored.)

[Thomas Dean]

Thanks for the help guys. As I stated I'm not sure at to the exact time frame she is 'playing' in and I knew this would bring questions...I just can't answer them. the lady told me a friend has a set that is carried in a leather pouch on the side that has all 3 utensils and "they are real crudely made" which is sorta what she is looking for. Shoot, I can do crude! Anyway, thanks again for the help. I'll just have to wait and see if she calls me back to make the order.

[dablacksmith]

i make forks, spoons and knifes for the mountian mes as well as earlier reinactments . this is a area you can defenetly youse your emagination ! the styles and types of period forks and spoons is spectacular and while irln spoons arnt as common ive seen enough of them to make the available .. the nicer ones were highly forged and filed bright ! you could put rams head or dragons or ..... on the end .I currently make mine from 1/4 square but it takes a bit of work to get that forged out wide enuf for a spoon . for starters you might try 1/4 x1/2 flat bar . you can decorate the handles with punches chizles or filework.. you will need some type of depression to forge the spoon into .. i have made one to fit hardy hole .I used a chunk of 2 in sq forged it to fit hearty cut it off so 3/4 of a inch was sticking above . Used a ball piene as a set tool to make a ball shaped depression forge it to one side to give the spoon shape . Finished with a die grinder (or dremell) . These items sell to the public also! i also make a spork (spoon on one end fork on other) and its a big hit ! good luck