Hello everyone. I recently thought of creating a post concerning jewellery care (in this case, my Mjölnir, although the content herein applies to all forms of jewellery) as well as showcase the method that I use with photos.

It behooves us as devotees to the Gods to keep sacred symbols in as best condition as possible, so if you wear a Mjölnir yourself, I urge you to maintain its quality if you do not already do so.


- PHOTO ONE:
This is everything that I prepare before beginning the cleaning process in earnest - a disposable kitchen wipe, a pair of disposable gloves, two microfibre cloths (one for cleaning, another for drying), a tub of silver cleaning product and my Mjölnir pendant.
- PHOTO TWO:
- The silver cleaner product that I use is labelled as non-toxic, but why take a chance? I recommend wearing gloves whenever handling such compounds just to be extra safe.
PHOTO THREE:
- Your nearest jewellery store will most likely have reputable silver cleaning products in stock for you to purchase. I recommend bringing in your jewellery item in-store, seek their advice on the best products to use as they are experts. The product you end up purchasing should have information for safety and use printed. If it doesn't, assume it isn't worth buying or using.
PHOTO FOUR:
- Start small and get more if you need to. This depends on the exact jewellery piece, of course, and you'll learn how much is enough as you go. In my opinion, a microfibre cloth is among the safest options for cleaning jewellery. I will also use a cotton bud in order to get at the really small, delicate segments of my Mjölnir pendant. In all cases, be very gentle with how you apply pressure to the material of your jewellery item.
PHOTO FIVE:
- Applying the cleaning product should be fairly straightforward. Ensure that you've covered every part of the jewellery item's surface and, if necessary, consider using a cotton bud if a microfibre cloth fails to access small segments of the design. I leave the product on for around a minute, after which I rinse it off under warm water. For my necklace, I will gather some of the cleaning product on a corner of the microfibre cloth and gently run it along that corner. Again, I rinse the necklace with warm water as well.
PHOTO SIX:
- You may not get a flawless looking result and depending on how intricate your jewellery item's design is, it might be effectively impossible to clean it completely without advanced methods that professionals use. However, I think that if it still gleams and shines in light, then you're definitely doing something right.

I hope this has helped others to either begin a regimen of jewellery care, or perhaps reminded someone to do theirs. Hail!

When amateur archaeologist and metal detectorist Morten Skovsby uncovered this tiny silver figurine near the village of Hårby in the southwest part of the Danish island of Funen, he knew exactly what to do. He documented the findspot immediately, and then took the artifact to the City Museum in nearby Odense. When the museum’s curator, Mogens Bo Henriksen, saw the figurine, he knew what it was. “There can hardly be any doubt,” he says, “that this depicts one of Odin’s valkyries.”

Norse myths, called sagas, tell of female figures called valkyries (from the Old Norse valkyrja meaning “chooser of the slain”). The valkyries were sent to battlefields by the god Odin to select which fallen warriors were worthy of afterlives in Valhalla, filled with feasts of wild boar and liquor milked from goats. Despite their prevalence in the sagas, depictions of valkyries are relatively rare. They are confined to Swedish picture stones dating to about A.D. 700 and a handful of Early Viking fibulae (brooches) from Sweden and Denmark. So this three-dimensional representation is unique.

The figurine, which would probably have been a pendant, is partly gilded, while other areas are colored black by niello, a mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides used as an inlay. The valkyrie wears a long patterned dress and carries a double-edged Viking sword in her right hand and a shield protecting her body in her left. Dating to about A.D. 800, the figurine was recovered near an excavated area known to have been a metal workshop. Perhaps, says Henriksen, it was discarded as waste. Or maybe it was raw material on the way to the melting pot. “For some unknown reason it didn’t make it that far—and that’s our good luck.”

Source: JA Lobell. Archaeology Magazine

Strange dudes sitting in workshop distributing humongous Thors hammers is no basis for a system of government.... Or is it?
#hewellery #viking #craft #handmade #thor #hammer #pagan #pendant #trollcave

Work I finished today
#suttonhoo #viking #axe #saxon #jewellery #pendant #Thor #thorhammer