Part A

Choose a object and take it out of its context.

I chose to do a Family Heirloom and that was my mothers charm Bracelet.

Reason on my Selection:

A lot of untold history, not for my mother but for me.
As my father pasted away when I was only 6, my sister and I where raised by our mother.
With only one parent, a lot of the time she was working and mostly working over time, there was never really any time or relevancy for us to talk about our history, family, and heritage, so as of today it will be the most I have researched and developed a understanding on my family's heritage.
We never really talked about my father, so his past and history lies with him.
This is when my mothers bracelet gets involved

A few things to do with, and are on the Bracelet:

Locket, gifted from grandmother. Pram, Australia,
Crocodile, Memory, Beach, Father, Friends,
Saint of Animals, Shell, Denmark, Elephant,
Danish Badge, Acorn, Santa, Book, Relationship,
America, Germany, Christmas, Children,
Engagement, Gifts,

and some of the years relevant

years
1917, 1973, 1981, 1926, 1974, 1911, 1920,
1933. (not in order)

Where is Denmark ??

So my decided option to research on is (Denmark), because thats my family history and heritage.
I have not done much research on my family's heritage as danes, so this would be a good option to develop my understanding towards Denmark,

So as one of my tasks I wanted find out some of my family tree. As I got into deep conversation with my mum she was able to take us back to my great great grandfather as far as 1880, she knows that there is more information leading us back further but was sure that someone else in the family has got those resources.

I also found a image of my Great Grandmother when she was 17, Dagmor Harret Gronning, also known as (Besta) which means grandmother in danish. As my mum was growing when she was younger Besta played a big role in my mums life, her and Besta had a great connection and adored each other dearly. When Besta pasted away, mum got older and had me she was told I was here in my mums life time before I was even born, she was certain that I was Besta, we have been meaning to have a reading but never had the time.

Name: Dagmor (Besta)
Age: 17
Year: 1922
















But I want to go back further, further back to my ancestors, the Danish Vikings.

Vikings and middle ages.

From the 8th to the 10th century, the Danes, Norwegians and Swedes were known as Vikings. They colonised, raided and traded in all parts of Europe. Viking explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the 9th century, on the way towards the Faroe Islands and eventually came across "Vinland" (land of wine), Known today as Newfoundland, in Canada. The Danish Vikings were most active in the British Isles an Western Europe. They conquered and settled parts of England (Known as Danelaw) under King Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013, Ireland, and France where they founded Normandy. More Anglo-Saxonpence of this period have been founded in Denmark than England Danish Vikings.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark

The Danish Vikings went on raids and trading expeditions down the European coast and to England and Ireland and around the Baltic Sea - the capital of todays Estonia is called Tallinn, which means "Town of the Danes". They said down the French Coast, around Portugal and Spain and through the Gibraltar Straight into Mediterranean Sea, and along the Northern coast as far East as Miklagaard (Big City in Viking Language) or Constantinople, today's Istantbul, the capital of the East Roman empire at the time.

Combat

Viking chieftains continuously competed with and even fought each other. Add to that the number of subjects that could be conscripted by their chieftain and the equipment that was continuously given to pay for the chieftain and the equipment of his populace. The chieftains commanded well trained warriors who were in return experienced tacticians, using thoroughly trained formations and excellent individual weapons skills. A channel across the island of laesoe was unnecessarily dug by a combined viking force under the command of a viking king at one point, presumably to train the forces of several chieftains in working together as one large force - exactly like a NATO exercise today.

www.vikingdenmark.com/viking-history.html

As I have been researching more in to my Ancestry, History instead of developing my own Totem pole, that was discussed, I want to make my own Viking Stone.

I then went to Wikipedia to find out more about Runestones, Why they were such a popular thing and what it meant. 

Runestones 

A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century, and it lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date back from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to dead men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, thoughts is no longer evident as the colour has worn off.

History 

The tradition of raising stones that had runic inscriptions first appeared in the 4th and 5th century in Norway and Sweden, and these early runestones were usually placed next to graves. The earliest Danish runestone appeared in the 6th and 7th centuries, and there are about 50 runestones from the Migration period in Scandinavia. Most runestones were erected during the period 950-1100 CE, and then they were mostly raised in Sweden and Denmark, and lesser degree in Norway.

I then went to search Runes in Denmark and came up with a great web sight to show the different fonts that they used at different dates and also add on sight were you can wright your name.

Rune

The word "rune" means speech, as well as song, writing and knowledge. Up too app. The Germanic 24-rune-futhark was used in Denmark. From about the year 500 through to 800 translational stages cut down their number to a 16-rune-futhark. From the year 800 only a 16-rune-futhark was used. From the year 900 and onwards the shape of the runes and their phonetic symbols were further developed. From the year 1300 the runes were adjusted to the Roman alphabet. In the times of the vikings they understood each other and spoke the same language whether they were Danes, Norwegians, Swedes or Icelanders. The language was called "donsk tunge". (the Danish Tongue). At the end of the viking period the language began to change, and in the course of the same centuries, each country developed their own language.

Danish- Germanic runes, used until app. The year 500, The 24-rune-futhark

 




     F       U      T       A       R      K        G        W

      H         N      I       Y      EI     P        Z       S

      T      B      E        M     I     NG     O         D


Danish runes. Used the year 500 to app. The year 800, The 16-rune-futhark

     F         U      TH   A       R         K 

    H       N        I       A        S  

    T         B          M         I           R 

Danish runes. Used from the year 500 to app. The year 800, The 16-rune-futhark.

      F         U       TH   A      R       K 

      H       N       I        A       S 

      T       B         M      I           R

Danish runes from app. The year 1300, Here adjusted to the Roman alphabet.

   F     U   TH  A  R     K    G     W     H   N    I     P

    A    S    T    B    E    M   I    D    Y    Z  AE    O 

Here 4 letters cover 8
F can also be used as V
G can also be used as J 
A can also be used as O
S can also be used as C 

As I was developing a understanding with the Danish rune I still could not get a full grasp on the Text and why some stay the same an why some change but I have done the best as I can to get the most out of something that would take a few years to learn and not just a few days, Im going to now make my name with the english alphabet in Danish Rune. 

Alyse Lacy Mills

So I used a different web sight that aloud me to make my name it also has the meanings for each letter/ symbols. I thought that this is a cool way to show different typography, my last name in the rune came up very similar to my last name in english, as for my first and middle name its hardly recognisable which I quite like, even tho the shapes might be more symbols and a meaning more than a letter. 

I also did the english alphabet and drew it up my self 

English Alphabet












I then went on to find the meanings of each of the symbols, as shown bellow.
I then chose symbols to display on my own viking stone sculpture instead of making up a quote or phrase, I think that the symbols I have chosen represents my family heritage in some shape or form. 

The Symbols/ letters I have chosen are 

• U
• K
• W
• Z
• NG
• D
• O

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/write-your-name-in-runes.html

So now I'm going to view and Develop some image ideas that vikings once used on there viking stones and the reason/meaning behind the picture story. 

I thought I would show/ Demonstrate some images of Viking rune stones.

 Rune Stone, Holm, Uppland, Sweden 





















The Piraeus Lion, Venice, Italy. 

Danish Rune Stone 

















I then went to find some meaningful images that were used back in the viking age, I couldnt find much information towards the pictures they used on the stones. I did search some images I could incorporate that are very much like the drawings vikings once used. 

Some of the Images that caught my attention. 

I then opened one of my Jovi clay to test how it would go over night, I sculpted it in to the shape of a rock to my standards, it was hard by morning but soft enough for me to only to push my nail into it. I then put pressure on the small rock to see how it would break and I thought it would be nice to document because it cracked exactly how a stone would break. I did put the rest of the packet into a air concealed container and by the morning that was still soft enough to work with.

I then started to sculpt my Viking Stone out of the jovi clay, I kept sculpting until it was worked enough to my standards, I scooped out of the bottom of it to hollow it out so I could add that clay to the top. I then also added water to see how it would react but it help a lot to smooth it so you couldnt see my finger pints, which I didn't mind so much because it was a part my DNA in the work. 

I took some Images of some different angles of my stone sculpture to capture the shadows on each side. 

I Started to scratch some rune on to my clay, starting with the shape around the middle picture to give me a fear idea on the size I needed to make it. 

There was no particular reason on my image selection , but a good conversation was made with my mother and I about what I should do. I could not find much information on the dragon that I did sculpt in my piece. For my understanding and my own brief description on my point of view towards it is that there are Two dragons at each others back, as if looking out for each other and always being there for one another. Another symbol it could mean is Geminis, Being twins, My mother is a Gemini and so am I, So with unconsciously choosing the double twin dragon was another sign of how close we really are. 

I then started to write a quote in stead of random symbols as I wanted to say a meaningful phrase towards life and something that could have a close relevancy with my ancestors. 

"In The Middle Of Every Difficulty Lies Opportunity" 

Things I would/ could do differently next time is I would like to purchase a real stone and design something on that, (didn't think of that till I finished making this sculpture). I would of liked to have buy more clay to make my clay stone larger than it already is.

But all in all I am happy with my final object and find that I would like to make more sculptures like this in the Near future.