Michaelmas Swords

You may have noticed our Michaelmas swords about the table at our dragon feast.  The boys never quite lose sight of them since we rehabilitated them last week.

Last year we bought some inexpensive unfinished swords at the Renaissance fair. I had planned to finish them but never did and they were looking really sad, scarred & dirty.  We fixed them up by sanding them smooth. Then the kids chose what they wanted on their swords and I drew, wood burned, painted them with watercolors & finished with beeswax. Michael wanted a dragon & flames on his. I suppose technically a Michaelmas sword should have a cross on it, but a dragon was asked for and so it was given.

Owen would barely let me touch his beloved sword.  After much persuasion he let me sand it clean & smooth & beeswax it.  I was afraid what he would say when he saw it for the first time because the beeswax gives unfinished wood a more yellowed hue.  (Yes, he is that particular.)  However, he surprised me & asked, "ahh, think it's glowing?!" He was excited & after seeing how nice it cleaned up he wanted his wood-burned and painted too.

Here's my sleepy fire gnome.  He hasn't put the sword down very often since. Only today he turned it into a jet, (with the help of a few other toys) and then a candle with the flame handle sticking out of a boot!  Last night he flipped an outdoor chair on it's back, added another chair on top, his sword was a shifter and he was driving a truck.  This one simple toy can be just anything.

Until next time...