Adventurer's Guide to Medieval Cups
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- A break down of medieval cups, mugs and tankards for your kit or character. Pros, cons, historical accuracy, care, and where to find them!
Some research sources (Secondary source) (Any products sold on the sites are not affiliated with me):
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www.hidebound.co.uk/blog/post...
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00:00-00:35 Intro
00:35-4:45 Ceramic & Stoneware
4:45-7:11 Pewter
7:11-10:58 Wood
10:58-14:46 Leather
14:46-15:28 Glass
15:28-17:30 Horn
17:30-18:45 My Choice
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Another benefit of ceramics is that if you turn it upside down, the bottom of it, the unglazed portion, can be used to hone a blade if it's smooth enough.
Hadn't even thought of that, great point!
@@LivingAnachronism the edge of car window glass does the same thing. Works quite well if you can get the correct angle.
I do this with the knives at work >_>
Very good. Heard that years ago, but had completely forgotten....
My father told me bout this
Another way to season a wooden mug or kuksa is what i have been told is the finnish method:
fill the mug with coffee, drink the coffee. Fill the mug with whiskey, drink the whiskey. Repeat until you black out and wake up in a ditch.
LoL
When my uncle Frank died, he wanted his remains to be buried in his favorite beer mug.
His last wish was to be Frank in Stein
🤦♀️
That one got almost 10 seconds straight of wailing in agony from the wife. Take your filthy up-vote and get out…
😆
Get out
One of the BEST tips here: You equipment IS going to break (or at least breakdown). I have seen SO many people paralyzed by fear of damaging the gear that they refuse to even use it (as if they couldn't ever buy it again). Don't be afraid! Use your gear and get out there! Gear that isn't used is nothing more than really cool-shaped paperweights.
They're tools. Not art pieces. Use them!
Also, using abd repariing your kit will make it more like period items would have been
Another concern about pewter (especially older pewter) is that it may have a higher lead content than is considered safe in present day.
Even with a modern pewter drinking vessel or plate, it's best to submerge it in a mild acid like milk for 24 hours before ever drinking or eating from it. Some may have been treated at the factory but unless the packaging specifically says this, don't assume it.
I think it's important to note that pewter mugs aren't always as hard-wearing as was indicated. In my experience they can weaken at the top handle joint (due to repeated mechanical stress) and eventually leak. When you're buying one, run your finger around the inside and see if you can feel a slight depression at the two spots where the handle meets the body. If you can't detect one, that's a sign it'll probably last a fair amount of time.
I mean, if youre going full reenactor, dying by lead posoning should be a very fitting end.
@@d.esanchez3351Nah, I perfer old fashioned way. Plague
He’s back boys
And GIRLS.
Just sayin'. 🤷♂️
On the Asian side of the world there is also bamboo and hulu (some sort of woody squash) to consider. The hulu is most commonly used to hold wine or the like, since it's more of a bottle than a cup. While bamboo is really just a fantastic vessel in general, you don't even have to hollow it out 😂
Wooden mugs are not uncommon among people that sell supplies for weddings - You can even get them with your name carved into them.
Also, the thing about using horns, is that they have the tendency to develop smells, if not kept clean meticulously.
And that they definitely need to be prepped before use, a "raw" drinking horn has a powerful "barnyard" smell.
drinking simple hot water with a little of honey... always good when you are in the wild. I know you didnt talk about those but i seen a lot of people with galvanised mug in Larp event. Little advice for everyone that get a galvanised mug : DO NOT USE ACIDIC LIQUID!!!! it will damage the galvanisation and it can get you sick! That include coffee by the way. Coffee + galvanise mug = Bad for your health. I use a metal (stainless) mug in my Larp event, im also playing a Dwarf so it fit in character :) if any fantasy race could forge a mug out of corrosion resistant material its the dwarf! If i was any other race, i would go for a wood mug.
Yeah I was thinking " where are the stainless steel mugs?" Only 2 issues is heat and weight... and I think for the heat it'd be really slick to copy the idea of that leather and ceramic mug. Mayhap sandwich some insulated foil between the two.... When you want to wash the mug you just pop out the stainless steel part... but yeah it'd be heavy...
Sealed leather with a pewter insert would do well, I think.
If there is a pewter insert I don't think you would need to seal the leather. At that point it's just there for thermal insulation
I use tung oil for my wooden utensils. It’s the most waterproof oil once it’s fully cured and hardened. I personally wouldn’t use cutting board oil because it doesn’t harden and will leach into the liquid you’re drinking.
Agreed. Tung oil is great. Make sure you get 100% tung oil, and not the kind of drying additives.
Ditto that . Tong oil is otherwise non toxic and perhaps more important to most , alcohol resistant ! Let it dry an harden at least a month before use , I would leave it over winter to cure in a warm , well aired place .
You could probably find a plastic cup to fit inside the leather cup and then be able to hold hot or cold drink's without having any leather flavour either
We did this in my group. We wrapped astic and glass bottles in leather. Our group had a ten foot rule. Meaning it had to look authentic from ten feet away. But on closer inspection it could fail scrutiny. You can make some pretty cool looking things by wrapping in leather.
@@jamesanderson6769 our rebactment group had something similar, but if you were in a living history village, where public up closer, it was much shorter ditance
@@jamesanderson6769 ten foot rule, I like that 😁
@@24darush It worked well, especially for new people. Having an entire authentic kit can be intimidating. When I started, I bought a nice used tunic first. But I used some hospital scrub pants instead of leggings from the local thrift store. I found a decent belt and boots at the thrift store also. I got a bota bag for water at Walmart. And found a decent looking knife at home. 30$ was good enough to be ready for my first adventure. I loved being in the group so I continued to upgrade my kit piece by piece. A local blacksmith had a nice dagger with a cast bronze unicorn pomel. I paid a local seamstress to make me a winter cloak and a tabbard in my knight's colors. Each of these items were more expensive than my starting kit. And had a been asked to get them up front I would have sadly left as the hobby was too expensive. The groups ten foot rule made the hobby approachable, without loosing much authenticity.
@@24darush Much like the cosplayers' 5 foot rule.
Us: "Hang on, your costume isn't sewn. It's held together with hot glue and duct tape."
Cosplayer: "Don't look at me!"
I want to see you make that beaker on the trail!
I'll probably have to make sure I can make one with my work bench available first, then I can see how doable it is on the road!
He's a seller in the cellar 😉
Glad to see you again, Kramer.
About fixing pottery:
From the historical and archaeological records (archeological - I've seen with my own 2 eyes), pottery is so common and so cheap, that once it's broken you generally just get a new one. The exeption to this rule are specialty kitchenware like platters or bread tables, which were more expensive or for special ocations, and we do see repair signs on them since their invention, really. The thing that made them repairable was the fact that they were used for storing or presenting solid foods.
Also a side note about pottery shops: my village has 3 potters, 2 of which have shops where they sell stuff (the third is an educational workshop). I personally know 1 of the potters and she's a very lovely lady with golden hands and immence talent.
I think I watched a programme here in the UK about a Roman archeology site in which they said that pottery was so ubiquitous and cheap it was their version of plastic. They didn't really care if a ceramic storage vessel broke it was relatively easy to replace it and that's why a lot of archeology have pottery fragments.
there is another reason, apart the cost :
To build a oven capable of ceramic, you need a ceramic, reduced in dust, an reused as like clay wa in the first place.
So when something in baked clay is broken, it's the perfect moment to build an oven, and you will need a lot of broken cermaics to build one.
but until it's baked again, this reused ceramic is not waterproof, and cannot handel water or moisture, as said above.
And if you cook it, there is a high risk your pottery broke, because you don't have a plain ceramic structure like the one we're creating during the pottering (? french, sorry) process
Something like that, not sure about what happens deeply, i'm not a professional, just making some observation from my own work.
But there is, maybe, a solution that i've never tested :
A fact is that you can add oil and wax to your clay,
and even some king of glues and resin. It's a wonderful medium for composite materials.
And because wax and oils are hydrophobics, yhis dried clay -this fragile clay, sadly- can be both waterproof AND never putted in an oven.
But i'm still trying to figure the good recipe, and never managed to build something fitted for an every day use.
Of someone konws a way to do so... please let me know ?
@@MalucoLapin if my memory serves me correctly (and it's been a while since I visited that topic in uni xD), innorder to bake ceramics you need an over capable of produsing high heats, somewhere in between 700°c-1000°c. (1buzzilion freedom units or whatever). The clay itself needs to be pure enough for the final product not be all chonky and bulky, but it also needs to have some sort of fillers like hay or gravel so the piece doesnt explode in the oven.
When it comes to insulation and water resistance, I saw plaster being used as an outside coat on jugs and jars. However, the plaster coating is probably for temperature control for sensitive liquids like boose, since ancient times didnt really have portable coolers like we do.
Also sorry if my english is all over the place, I'll gladly explain what I mean when I'm more awake xD
@@TheGrinbery don't worry about your english, it's not my native langage too, so we're roughly using the same basic vocabulary ^_^ a georgian friend of mine call it the "Alles klär" method ^ ^
Et beli, alles klär ^ ^
Fact is you can -but it's not a 100% garantee of non-cracking- bake clay under a classic fire during a few days (a professional, but poor, potter friend of mine was doing so,)
But to build the oven himself, you will need a material capable to handle theses temperature without being vitrified as a normal clay would have been : if that's happens, the temperature differences would make it collapse.
that's where the ceramic dust become handy, and even nowadays, the mortar of such oven is primarely made of this kind of dust.
So me and my potter friend made -this way- his oven, recycling his lost potteries.
And i'm almost sure that ancient baking ovens had such mortars : the kiln is not vitrified, and any flame is at least 600°C
But i love to spend a lot of precious ressources (oil and waxx in clay, what a waiste !) because i'm not impersonating a peasant :P
So i keep my call to the universe : if anyone knows exactly the process to have a waxxed clay, it would be handful.
And looking at culture outside of Europe, in feudal and pre-feudal Japan, broken ceramics were glued back together, often with a glue or resin that contained gold. Repaired ceramics as well ceramics that showed unintended flaws after firering were prized higher than new and excelent ones.
Drinking from a 1 litre horn is quite an experience. My friendgroup usually bought it filled with mead in my favourite medieval tavern. The tradicion was to not put it down until it was empty. It was a great way to get buzzed quickly because it was a bitch to hold ( most of us had to use both hands in order not to spill it) so it traveled around very fast. And if you got it you had to drink, no skipping. And the best way to gage if someone had enough was their ability to put a small horn back to its holder. The tavern used these intricate spiral iron holders that firsttimers had a problem to navigate even sober :D
Personally as a camper myself, I actually lean towards the opposite of that belief of only bringing cheaply replaceable things. Simply because I would like my stuff to actually last for one, and 2 it actually gives a more reassuring feeling knowing that it will stick with you for a while and maybe actually generate additional usage/memories. Not so much in the materialistic approach but moreso being able to boast how you smacked and laid out an opponent via kitchenware is priceless.
this is not modern camping this is living anachronism. A modern plastic cup or a stainless steel cup can both hold hot and cold and are basically indestructible, eternal and cheap. But neither of those materials was available in the "middle-ages/fantasy" setting. Given the choices available, you often had to compromise and accept that stuff would break more often
@@marcogenovesi8570 I never did say it was for modern camping, just the method of camping in general, modern or anachronistic. The main point I was trying to address was that I would prefer my equipment be more sturdy than replaceable so in case of any surprise altercation it can both survive the hard trek or being bashed against a skull. Cant do that with pottery or some glassware but definitely a drinking horn or stoneware mug.
@@noctisthehumanslayer777 I own different types of ceramic ware, cause it‘s simply easy to clean, they‘ve been holding up for 10 years by now. Having brought them to all type of events. The one time it broke it was out of my own stupidty in a car not on camp.
@@anblueboot5364 Oof I hate when that happens. Cars seems to be deadly to phones, tablets, cups, and fingers it seems xD
@@noctisthehumanslayer777 More to ceramics but yes X‘D my disapointment was big, it having survived all of my weird packing shenanigans like in my bed rolls etc. Just for it to break while basicaly holding them in hand in the car X‘D
I was delighted and surprised that you mentioned the kuksa. I used to work at a market stall that sold them.
I have a handmade one, and it has a great rustic feel to it.
Don't forget skulls, bladders, and dried fruits! I have a collection of cups and water bottles that I made simply by hollowing out a thick skinned fruit and letting it dry. If you wanted you could apply some sort of sealant to the inside but it's not necessary if you are just a bit careful with how long you leave liquid in it. Of course, all your drinks will taste like squash. An orange or grapefruit would probably taste less, but are less bottle-like
A basket cup is also an option, if you want something slightly more civilized. It's like a wood cup but even lighter weight and has the extra strength of flexibility, both of which are particularly useful if youre going to be hanging it off of your kit. If you use the right waxy reed and have a tight enough weave it can easily hold water on its own, but it could also be sealed similar to a wood cup by coating it in wax or something else
The druidic approach may not be appropriate for every adventurer
My choice would be a well made basket cup, it seems like the best option in terms of weight to toughness and durability ratio if you can get your hands on someone skilled enough to craft one. Wood and basket cups can also make a sort of improvised buckler, wicker shields are highly effective and lightweight, and wicker hats are durable, light and potentially waterproof as well. Frankly wicker is an amazing material for all sorts of adventuring needs
Gourds too.
Gotta head out to meet someone, but I'm looking forward to seeing this later.
As for horn, from what I read it only starts to deform at about 300F. When coffee is brewed, usually the hottest temperature at which it would be served is around 200F, with 150F being more common.
I'd definitely love to see you make a leather mug/jack. I like the ceramic liner for one, as I am indeed a coffee drinker. I'd like to know how well leather would insulate against the heat if you used a pewter liner.
Ceramics are definetly best to me too. I do happen to be skilled in pottery, though I do not own my own kiln. And I find it easy to make a new one should they break. Plus, the cleaning is soooo much easier without worrying about maxing again. Metals like pewter you have to be careful of because they can historically be made with lead or other dangerous metals.
I was concerned about this. Lead was removed from pewter after 1862, so beware of antique stores.
@BobThompson215 Older pewters with higher lead content are heavier, tarnish faster and oxidation gives them a darker silver-grey colour. Lead was removed from the composition in 1974, by BS5140, reinforced by the European directive BSEN611 in 1994.
I have heard of medieval people drinking out of clay jars, but I don't know how often those would have been used as portable "adventuring" cups.
Cool overview though! I tend to prefer drinking horns or a well-sealed horn cup mainly just for the rustic look. Gold chalices are sadly hard to come by on my peasantish budget.
I feel the same way about the metal options. anything truly food safe is beyond my budget.
Ceramic vessels aren't very portable, especially not if you are going with anything historically accurate. Cups and mugs and other small, portable drinking vessels historically were primarily made out of wood or leather. Those were light, cheap, durable and widely available so quite suitable for traveling. But more so than cups or mugs, historically travelers would have made use of wineskins (which in contrast to the name were used to store a lot more than just wine) since it has a double function as both a storage and drinking vessel, which saves on precious space and weight in your travel kit.
"You look like you could use a drink..."
Me with a good wheat beer - YEEEAH....
Brass and copper are also options. A leather sheath of sort can be put around them to help with both dings and heat retention.
The Return of the King
On my way to my first medieval faire perfect time for a living anachronism video drop
Thanks, Kramer. Loved how you framed this video in the context of a traveller entering a tavern 👌 excellent presenting, as always. You made cups interesting for 20 mins easily.
I'm biassed and pleasily eased though 😄
Told you I'd have a mug (or 7).
Eating cake now to soothe the curry burnt tongue 😝 🎂
To all adventurers - Be careful using any actually antique foodware as it may contain or be glazed with less than desirable chemicals.
Better be safe than poisoned. 👍 Use them as display pieces.
I really want a nice wooden mug, that 'wood' be awesome 😊 he he.
Awesome!
So glad you mentioned the moscow mule mugs, i love those things.
And if you don't mind some anacronism then i would _definitely_ suggest having your wood/leather/horn mug finished with a food safe high temp epoxy liner, it allows hot or cold drinks and makes clean up easier. Plus it comes in multiple colors so you can match or constrast the mug material!
If you want a more natural finish i would suggest 100% tung oil (which is food safe) over cutting board oil of vit E oils, tung oil dries and hardens as it cures, the other oils listed don't.
An alternative (again, anacronistic) to pewter would be aluminum, which looks really great once it has a chance to patina. I have a cast aluminum tankard with a naval scene of ships riding the waves of the open sea and it looks just like it was made of pewter.
Or the aluminum/steel camping mugs, a trick to give those a bit of a less machine finished look would to lightly hammer the outside of it with a small ballpeen hammer to give it a more hand finished look.
Townsends has great items as you said. I still use my Horn spoon I bought from them in the early 90's
Another one of those things that you don't really think about till you need it. I completely forgot about the wanting tea while on the road. But I must say, WW2 US Military kitchen kit from 1944... on of the best thought out kits of all time.
You are such a good storyteller!
An entire video about cups. I was not expecting this topic to be as interesting as you made it.
I was wondering about cups two weeks ago, when many friends of me raised their horns at a party. Thank you 😊
I have a friend who does medieval pottery. He has a hand powered turning wheel.
Wouldn't that be foot-powered?
@@_XR40_ Actually no. It looked like a wagon will turned on its side with a flat portion in the middle for the clay. He used a stick to spin it really fast and the metal will had enough momentum to keep it spinning for a bit while he worked. This was the one he used on campaign and for shows as it was easily portable.
CZcams deleted the link to the picture I posted, but just search for medieval pottery wheel and you can find a bunch of examples.
@@jamesanderson6769 Okay. Weird. I found images of a guy standing over a wheel similar to what you describe, and even poking a stick into the spokes of the wheel, included a link with my reply - And it looks like CZcams also deleted my response.
So, though looking up "medieval pottery wheel" produces far more pictures of a standard kick wheel, I have no reason to doubt you. However, I really don't see the point since since this would be far inferior to the normal kick wheel, which will spin for as long as needed - And which has been around since at least 3,000 BC.
Also, the pictures show a guy in costume standing up, bent at the hips working on a vessel at knee-level - And that is just ridiculous. It's like one of those museum dioramas put together by someone who thought medieval potters were too dumb to find a chair and use it as a normal kick wheel. Seriously, those pictures plainly show that if the guy just sat down he could use it as a small wheel and throw the stick away.
I fear your friend with the "medieval wheel" might have been misled....
@@_XR40_ Most of the pictures I found show the guy sitting. Some of them appear to be from historical manuscripts. I haven't looked into the historical methods used, but I know he did. He even used powdered copper to make green glazes.
As far as pros and cons of the different methods, I could only guess. But he was able to get the wheel spinning really fast with the stick. Faster then I thing you could with a kick wheel. And he was usually able to finish a mug in one go, or with only speeding it up once. The metal rim held a fair bit of momentum. I remember him saying that in a shop, keeping the wheel spinning would be one of the jobs an apprentice would do. As well as prepare new peices of clay and taking the finished pieces off to be fired. He had a kick wheel as well as a modern electric one, which is what he often used at home. He took the wheel one for demos though as it was the most portable and durable. It was hard to tell how quickly he could make a mug or pitcher cause he kept stopping to talk to people and show different techniques.
Medieval people weren't stupid. And they used this sort of wheel in addition to kick wheels. So it must have some kind of pros.
I have a replica of a tankard that was used to be made in a German monastery. It is glazed ceramic with a pewter lid, that attaches at the handle of the mug. The top is not flapping at all and it is solved by the design of the hinge. There's two prong sliding between three, secured with a through pin. The shape of the joint from the side is slightly oval, so the through pin is not only acting as a pivot point, but flexes the parts of the joint against each other on their radius, creating enough friction for the lid to stay in the set position. Also, as there's two prongs inserted between three in the joint, it also reduces side-wobble, making it even more practical.
Your channel is a blessing as always. I want to get into larp myself with a few friends so everything you’ve created and done is really helping me on the path. I hope I can get some stuff ready for the ren faire this year
Ayyy I've been waiting anxiously for the next upload!
Found your Chanel about a week ago and have binged all your content , keep it up!
All hail the mighty mug! :)
Ah, a well done video with good thoughts. I enjoyed it!
Thanks Ben!
OMG get it IN my friend! I've been doing ceramics for years, thank you SO MUCH for also caring about little educational bits like this!!
The vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison
The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
But they broke the chalice form the palace, so the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true
The flagon with the dragon has the pellet with the poison.
Just remember that.
From the moment he said flagon, this was playing in my head!😄
I can't remember which film that is from, but i know Danny Kaye was in it
@@taraelizabethdensley9475 court jester! Great film
I have found walnut oil to be a good way to take care of wood cups and plates.
Also, we have evidence that a lot of people used simple wooden bowls as drinking vessels. These bowls would be on the shallow side and only hold about 8 oz, but they were easy to make and did the job.
I've had two good wooden mugs...my current one (oak with a walnut handle) and the one before that (all walnut). Before my mom did me a "favor" and put it in the dishwasher the walnut mug was great...so great that when a couple guys at a faire proceeded with the F-around phase (swordfighting drunk...they got their gate passes pulled) my mug stopped one of their swords from "becoming part of my way of thinking" (head shots suck) and I proceeded with the "find out" portion of the exercise. The oak mug I replaced it with wasn't quite as pretty ...but stayed clear of the dishwasher.
For my garb I have a drinking horn sealed with beeswax for mead and ale, a pewter mug for other drinking (such as water whilst I sleep or tea (use gloves to not burn myself)) and a small pewter goblet I use for wine. It is a bit heavier but I usually carry stuff in my wool blankets as a makeshift backpack so I dont mind the extra few grams.
Perfect alternative to the ubiquitous and silly drinking horns every Ren Fair goer or Larper seems to just sprout from their belt after some time. I have a horn cup myself, with a nicely made metal trim decoration and no handle. Those could also be viable but tend to cost a good bit more if you want them to be able to hold more than a shot.
Very interesting and performance (vrong word?) is outstanding, personaly I have a thin light stainless steel cup within a engraved leather cup that I can hang in my belt 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Me being interested in wooden wear, this helped plenty. Thanks a million!
Commenting for the algorithm!!
Replying FOR THE ALGORITHM!
@@LivingAnachronism Good to have you back, sir!
If you are willing to live with the anachronism, Kupilka makes a pine & resin cup and bowl set that look like wood and work well for camping.
There’s a Finnish company called Kupilka that makes Kuksas that are some mix of recycled wood fibers and plastics but they’re gorgeous, I have one of the bowl sized ones that I like to eat soups from
So nice to call out the unknown local potters! Enjoyed the video!
I have a lovely set of different travelling cups, wooden goblets, pewter mugs, ceramic tumblers and cups, but my favorites are something you didn't mention: copper mugs.
I have a pair with hollow handles that hold hot or cold well, they're light, very durable, and look fantastic in candlelight.
They do get hot if you try to lift them by the bowl of the cup instead of the handle if something's hot, but if it's too hot to touch the cup, it's too hot for me to try and drink anyway.
I see copper cups and mugs in secondhand stores all the time.
Copper is fine when sealed with modern resins, but if it's bare copper, highly acidic drinks like Coca-Cola can etch it, which isn't good. They hold mead well though. 😊
how about a leather cup that has metal inside instead of ceramic? it seems a good compromise of both, leather would somewhat protect the metal from dents and the handle wouldn't heat as easily, and also you could have hot liquids in it without an issue. it sounds like a perfect solution. when i was hiking i tended to carry a metal mug with me just bcos how durable and easy to use it was (and i mean regular cup, not a tankard), but also i kept it in my backpack, not on the belt.
i also wonder about the leather cup with ceramic inside - it looked like it's very easy to slip the ceramic part out, so i assume there would be a danger of it falling off when you carry your cup on a belt? i'd understand if you really didn't want to risk it breaking on one of your adventures, since it was a gift.
I, have a mug that is a recreation of a mug that was found in the archeological site at the old viking village Birka. It's really beautiful and a favorite drinking vessel.
something that didnt come up since it wasnt a criteria that supports glass (at least for stuff like Potions) would be its chemical inert nature. Potion in a leather glass or metal or etc could react with the material and be changed or lose effectivness. Glass tends to not react to anything and is thus really good for storing chemical compounds
You can't sleep on horn as a crafting material, it was common basically up until the invention of plastic for almost anything you can think of, from spoons to weapon handles to spectacles.
I am 30 seconds into the video and it is already awesome. What a great introduction!
This was such an amazing video Kramer, and your setup gets better every time I see it! Thank you for this detailed breakdown. Super useful and interesting!
It would have to wait until they get back from Conquest, but I would love to see you make the leather cup in a collab build video with Skill Tree. It would fit both your channels really well.
Great breakdown, thanks!
Thank you for sharing your fine collection of cups and mugs, i enjoyed this one.
Awesome video.
Suck an amazing video. I love the history brought into it so much.
Nice collection!
I'd like to see you make a leather beaker.
Seconded, see if you can get a stainless-steel or cork insert for it to house.
Alternatively, I heard that thrifty Victorians would make roof tiles out of many layers of newspaper coated in linseed oil. You could look into making your own container with that method if you don't mind the smell of the plasticising seed oils traditionally used to make sealing putty.
Raw linseed for the layers, boiled for the weather-proofing coat.
Oh wonderful a video, hallo Kramer
Might want to add a bronze Patera. The romans used in as a cup (hot, or cold) and a cooking pot. Much like a modern canteen cup. Very versatile, strong to resist damage easy to carry.
I had never heard of leather cups. Thats an interesting fact that I loved learning. Thanks for the great video.
I have several leather mugs purchased here in the UK with stainless steel inserts …perfect solution
I'll certainly buy your merch when it's available.
Thank you for awesome video! With love from Novgorod 10-12 centuries reenactors 😙
There are also several hybrid cups.
My favorite to carry with me is a leather/metal mix. There is a base and rim have metal while the rest is leather.
I've also got a few metal/ceramic mixes that I have at home, and a LOT of tankards have a glass bottom to them...
Wooden handles are also great for metal mugs or anything else that can get really hot. Or wicker, those look nice.
Very fun and informative video! I just subscribed. I picked up a Ceramic mug similar to the one you got in Bath! I got it at the Maryland Ren Fair last year, me and my DnD group (I am the DM) went there for a weekend. It was great fun and we'll be returning in a couple of months. I'll probably pick up another one! I have also gotten a pewter mug as a gift. The information on wooden and leather cups was really useful and now I'll know what I'm signing on for in getting a wooden or leather one and it's upkeep. Subscribed! Also gonna look at your website, the wooden coasters might go in my cart :)
Those of us of a certain age are flashing back on the cup scene from the movie THE COURT JESTER.
Nice one, I like how you weave stories even into videos that would be mundane.
I don't know if its just me but since starting reenactment about 8 years ago I think the most common piece of kit I have is utensils, specifically spoons, bowls and cups of various forms and material. Medieval clothing is going to get a lot of unwanted attention if worn in day-to-day life, armour takes a long time to put on and is costly, weapons generally aren't advisable to wear for the sake of wearing assuming you're in a country that even allows it... but eating/drinking utensils can easily be used in day-to-day life and I think at this point I have more historic than modern ones to use.
I’ve been on the lookout for mugs, so this video was timely! 😄
One thought I had was how much would people have historically just drunken out of bowls instead of mugs or cups of some type? 🤔 Just a thought I had.
Actually very likely. Traveling monks were known to carry bowls - And the term "beggar's bowl" must have come from somewhere...
@@_XR40_ Interesting!
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I admit that when it comes to transporting drinks I usually choose a modern option incorporated into an anachronistic framework. I think it’s great that you go all the way with exploring anachronistic options!
Modern masked by an anachronistic cover is also a great option, I've had to fabricate some for friends of mine who wanted to carry very large water bottles but needed them to be in period.
Oh! Something that you didnt bring up is gourd cups! Theres these folks that do renn faires near where i live and they make drinking gourds with corks in the top for water bottles and they seal it with a food safe resin but what the also do is take the smaller top portion of the gourd, attach a wooden base to it so it can stand up straight, and coat the inside with that resin. I imagine it would be fairly easy to drill a shallow hole into the gourd that doesnt go in very far or if it goes all the way through just sand it from the inside, but drill a hole straight through the base at 2-4 angles and use wooden pegs and glue to firmy affix the cut gourd section to the base. Then seal the inside like your wood or leather cups. The gourd is probably lighter than the leather and they are quite durable
Great video!
Wanted to give you my opinion as a spanish roleplayer about these things:
- For carrying water and drinking on the road we use a "bota skin", a small goat bladder container with a horn cap that can be used to drink without touching it's mouth, pressing the skin to propel the liquid to the mouth, so it can be shared in a sanitary way. Container and drinking vessel all in one and when it's empty it can't be broken (only pierced) and weights almost nothing. Everyone carries one of these, and they normally transport wine because you hidrate and eat at the same time, the alcoholic content is negligible. If we need more liquid we use an "odre" (uter in latin), a whole goat/sheep skin sewn to carry bigger amounts of liquid, also usefull to inflate with air and use it to cross rivers safely as a flotation device.
- For cooking we use a single pot, you can use it to carry and boil water, cook and so on. A small wood bucket can be used for shared cold water, but unnecesary because first you drink, then you have your lunch/dinner and then you drink again from the water source when you are cleaning the pot. The bot can be used to drink in a pinch.
- If we want to drink we don't use cups of any kind: too big and to easily broken. We use small bowls of ceramic. They are cheap, durable, can be used for hot liquids or soups, easily cleaned and stored safely inside a sack with a blanket inside and around it. It's geometry makes it very unlikely to be broken aside from directly hammering it, the cushioning is pretty protective.
By the way, check the "botijo". It's a ceramic container used in Spain even today for keeping water cold and fresh when you are camping or in a place without electricity. It's a small wonder of low tech and I'm pretty sure most people don't know they even exist, it would be a curious thing to show how even in the bronze age you could have a cold water drink. It was used by horse cart traders in Spain to drink cold water until 100 years ago, and it can be also found south of the american border as a boteja or bucaro, I think. In a hot summer this is something that was a "must have" if you want to have a small luxury.
In Brazil we call this "botijo" "moringa" and there are people that still use it to this day (specially in very rural areas and in the middle of the forest)
I am such a huge sucker for a good mule mug. I do want to get more, since I only have one at present, because it would be great for my eventual home tavern/cafe set up.
Yes, please make the leather cup 😊 👍
Hey Kramer, could you do a video on medieval underwear? You always say modern shoes will make you look weird and out of place, but iirc you didn't mention anything about socks! And that also made me think about underwear in general. Thanks if you do!
We have medieval paintings of the Virgin Mary knitting stockings with a four or five needle technique. I'd like to know if they used ribbing or we should look for smooth ones.
On the cheap, you could use foot wrappings, basically a square or rectangle of cloth you wrap up in a certain way and it's held in place by your shoe or boot. Very practical as they dry quickly, can be rotated so they don't wear out in the heel only. Look up how to wrap them properly. A popular show was a fairly thin leather and was sewn then turned inside out.
Those mugs are all awesome! I just love the pewter one with the ships on, it looks just like something you'd find on the master of lake town's banquet table! just be careful thrifting pewter cups, some of the old ones have lead in, (new ones are just copper, tin and silver) although the lead is in small amounts and should be safe if you only put cold liquids in, still something to be aware of. You mentioned Moscow mule mugs, (if you get a traditional copper one do t put hot liquids in it) but if you look on catering suppliers you can get stainless steel ones of those that are copper plated on the outside only, it's been on my list of stuff to try for a while to see if they hold up to being used to cook/heat liquids over a fire
The presentation of this one is v v fun
We need to get you a globular jug. They’re historically accurate and just plain fun
My primary use mug is metal, a contemporary piece from one of those companies that sells mugs with their soda at festivals. It's insulated, so it holds hot and cold fluids well, but I made it look more medieval by wrapping the handle and base with leather, and getting a leather lid that is tied to the handle; it can be turned upside down to use as a coaster without detaching it. If it was a more antique piece, these additions would help insulate it and make it easier to use.
Basically there are two types of pewter, decorative and food grade..platers with freezes and embossed images meant for display can have lead in the alloy, food grade doesn't.
Making a leather Cup/Mug would be awesome to watch ! ^^
Nice video, well-rounded introduction to good cup choices. I especially appreciate the leather; I’ve never owned one, and only recall seeing them with pewter liners and sometimes glass bottoms. Boiled leather might actually make a good drink container.
I must have coffee, though, and coffee is appreciated by most people when it is hot. I prefer mine slightly above room temperature, but at gatherings, it’s typically only available hot. For that reason alone, I prefer ceramic cups or mugs, which are also excellent choices for soups and other wet meal options.
The MAIN
About the kind of hardened leather cup you have, you can hit it with a hammer whithout breaking it.
The machete i use to cleave wood (axe-like wide and sharp sharp) can't do the job, barely a cratch.
What makes it hard is what makes leather scale armors hards. so...
How to do it is quite easy :
You'll need vegetal tanned leather, water, jelly, skin glue and bee's waxxx (any other wax won't work properly)
In a bath of boiling water, add jelly, skin glue and bee wax. In one bath, the cup will be hard as the one you hold, and imprevious.
Problem is it will move, the shape may be not hyepr cool.
Then you'll dry it under the hotter sun you can find, simply to avoid the sun hottnes problem you've mentioned.
Normally, it should took you two hours max.
Jelly? Grape or strawberry?
@@_XR40_ pork or beef, obviously. Sorry if the names aren't corrects, i'm french, and made a litteral translation...
Is " the non-vegan agar-agar" more clear ?
@@MalucoLapin Fair enough.
@@MalucoLapin"gelatin" is the word you are looking for.
gelatin and "skin glue" (I'm assuming you mean the glue made from animal skins) are made out of the exact same thing by the way, the collagen rendered from animal byproducts.
@@DH-xw6jp thanks you.
But they behave in such a different way, you'll need both, i swear.
You'll never glue two wood part with gelatin,
you'll never make a cake with skin glue.
I would love to see you do a leather cup. Maybe even as a competition / collaboration between yourself and Skill tree?
Great video. Personally when adventuring I use a horn with a cork for each end for travel it works wonderfully as a drinking vessel and as a signaling horn to gather the party before venturing forth.
I have not tested it but have heard that you can improve the sealing properties of food safe oils in your drinking vessel using heat the same way you would create a non stick surface on a cast iron pan. You coat the vessel in the oil and then heat it past the oils smoke point and do many layers. The oils fill in all the imperfections in the surface and the heat causes some chemical change that hardens the surface. Supposedly this allows you to drink hot beverages but you have to be careful of sudden changes in temperature because it will crack the surface.
Congratulations on opening your own shop!
Grand idea, wish you success, young sir.
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Thank you very much!
Don't forget? For Centuries, Korea and Japan used Laquerd from trees, whether it is clear or black, They used it to coat their wooden ears to make it as strong-like diamonds or steel and they lasted for centuries both for durability and wear Hope that helps. Plus Linseed and Flax oil is perfect for leather goods. and you can buy a lab approve stainless steel with vanadium beakers from 250-500-750-1000-1500- 2000mi as a liner for wood and leather and it will make excellent Tankers or Traveling mugs!! Hope My Autistic nerd and geekiness help you, it sure helped me. Thank You I lift my Horn Mug Too YOU!! CHEERS and HAZAAAAAAAAAH!!!