Medieval handcrafts

From grain to bread
Bread is one of our basic foodstuffs.
Our project aims to illustrate the process of making bread from grain, including threshing, grinding, kneading, preheating and baking. Using querns and grindstones, the children can turn wheat, barley, rye and oats into flour. Bread rolls and pizza are baked in the clay oven in the courtyard of the museum.

Rope making and braiding
On the farms of Nordfriesland people used to make their own ropes. It belonged to the daily chores of the children on the farm to twist ropes to tie up the animals. The tools needed for this task were also home made and clamped in the open barn door.

The braiding of ropes, which can be done without tools and machines is a much older technique.

Children twist skipping ropes and braid friendship bracelets.

Basket-making
Is there life without tupperware, plastic bowls and boxes? Many foodstuffs used to be kept in baskets made of natural materials. It would be a shame if the old handcraft of basket making were to die out. Here we weave little baskets from reeds and willow.

Fire and light – candle dipping and starting fires
Today, it is almost inconceivable to us, how people used to manage without electricity and light, although even Stone Age people were proficient in the art of creating fire and light.
This project shows the various ways to spark a flame. To do this, fire plows and flint stones are used as well as petroleum lamps and bethrothal candles. Candles are dipped and each child gets to take home their own candle.

Models of houses constructed using wattling – with clay and haselnut
An old building technique is half-timbered buildings, in which the walls between the jambs are wattled using hazel branches and then filled out with clay ensuring the wall is windproof. The children can experience this hands -on while making a model.