tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11362236557307305962024-03-14T04:24:27.685+10:00OltramarLiving History centred around Cyprus in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century CEMimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-68334847067775346902017-03-02T18:36:00.001+10:002017-03-02T18:36:41.093+10:00Playing with gifs...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-40192149188592665952015-10-11T09:38:00.000+10:002015-10-11T09:38:00.434+10:00Something to Dye for...The following is a list of dyestuffs and mordants that I've collected over the past 25-odd years; some of them I've tried, some I haven't. If the information is incorrect, or you get a spectacularly different result, please post in the comments :-)<br />
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<br />Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-64622210999541001512015-05-12T18:51:00.000+10:002015-05-12T18:51:00.487+10:00Ceiling Wax...Ellie's getting married soon and wanted to use wax seals on the wedding invitations, so we set out in search for some sealing wax and eventually found some (although the clerk initially thought we'd asked for something for the ceiling…).<br />
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I grabbed a spoon and a small lamp as, in the good old days, this was how one melted sealing wax; and I didn't trust the newfangled wick thingy in the middle of the wax stick. We melted about a spoonful and then tried to pour it onto the paper - it was a lot thicker than I remembered and most of it clung to the spoon like a preteen girl to a One Direction photo; so we thought we'd try lighting the wick and melting it that way (and just put up with the inevitable traces of carbon through the wax >.<)<br />
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Napalm. Burning plastic falling from the heavens. Setting fire to the paper. Repeatedly. We peeled off the small amount that we'd spooned onto the paper previously and found it flexible (WTF??) and very unlike the old-style sealing wax - it didn't even smell right LOL! Tried breaking a bit off the stick to melt in the spoon and found that the stick was soft and bendy… Bloody plastic! With bloody wax on the outside!<br />
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FFS.<br />
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We'll make some ourselves.<br />
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How hard can it be?<br />
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From memory, sealing wax was originally (at least, in the twelfth/thirteenth centuries) a mixture of beeswax and resin but I wasn't sure of the ratio. We made some up 1:1 and then deserted the greasy mess for the internet and tried to find a hint as to how much beeswax to how much resin to use, but all the recipes were for post-1600 wax which included shellac and, frequently, vegetable turpentine.<br />
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Eventually we settled into experimental mode, and tried a 2:1 (resin to beeswax, still too soft and oily), a 3:1 (looked too oily), 4:1… and the 3:1 set and was just right >.< so added more wax to the 4:1 mix to bring it back to 3:1. The resin was a yellow/orange colour, and the beeswax was stuff I'd scored from a hive and then rendered quite a few times (and was the colour of putty) so even without any dye added the sealing wax looked like caramel. The only powdered dye we had in the house was an antique and venerable pot of Dylon 'Autumn Glory' (which was a lovely 1970s burnt orange and probably dated from about then, too) so we mixed a little of that in, reheated the wax for the fourth or fifth time, and ended up with something that looked like poor-quality chocolate… I think we overcooked it. A lot.<br />
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We tested it with the seal, figured we had the proportions right, made a solemn vow to get some red powder dye, then spent half an hour cleaning up the kitchen… But we now have 'real' (if poo-coloured) sealing wax :-)Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-91570364312749041342015-05-10T21:12:00.000+10:002015-05-12T18:18:43.688+10:00The past yearThe past 10 months has been a production line of making Things Medieval - research, sourcing materials, putting it all together; sewing interspersed with woodwork, embroidery spelled by leatherwork… you get the picture.<br />
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I was very excited to find some pewter spoons, and with a little adjustment with a file I now have the first set of period metal spoons I've had in 20-odd years of re-enacting (sad, isn't it?).</div>
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Decorations from old costumes were recycled - another thing to upgrade once we have time...</div>
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Some things were made from scratch - my tunic is a silk brocade, a copy of a twelfth century Sicilian brocade; the collar pattern comes from a bowl of the period and the cuff pattern from a column head. They're worked in Opus Anglicanum-style laid-and-couched gold thread, embroidered, and beaded with carnelian, citrine, malachite, turquoise, coral, and pearls (mainly freshwater, but grandmother's Mikimoto cultured pearls are in there, too).<br />
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One of the silliest things I ever heard was a long-standing re-enactor informing a newcomer that the pearls on her costume were "the wrong size"… Tell that to the oysters ;-)<br />
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We've even got together a collection of toys for the kids - documentation for toys in our period is a little bit thin on the ground, so we've had to rely on what came before and what came directly after the early 13th century.<br />
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An interesting find in Big W - the original earring is gold ;-)</div>
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It occurs to me that we've spent much more timing making things than photographing them - as it should be :-)</div>
Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-8327836960349053042015-05-10T20:16:00.000+10:002015-05-12T18:23:12.949+10:00It's been a long time...Spoiler warning: semi-biographical and very little historical content ;-)<br />
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I didn't realise how long. Ellie had a daughter in late 2010, Dad passed away in 2011 :-( ; Sam and Colin came back from Canada, had a baby, and returned there in 2012. Ellie, Will and the kids moved up from Tassie in 2013. Nat, Rob and I pootled along with Oltramar as a tentful of static displays, which suited us well enough as Three People Does Not Make An Encampment ;-)<br />
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Ellie, the kids and I went along to History Alive 2014 and Abbey 2014 as members of the public - an odd experience for a re-enactor! - and The Family sat down afterwards and decided that Oltramar needed a little remodelling… The 25-thousand-word-essay-in-an-ugly-canvas-cover had been an interesting experiment - no one had done it before, I had a good amount of public interest, and it was heartening to see other groups start to use written displays; but there were now enough of us to have a functioning encampment. Ellie and I sat down and sketched out what we thought we'd want in an encampment, and what social aspect of medieval life we'd like to display. We decided to stay in Cyprus, and to enhance the visual aspect of our display (let alone making research easier) we decided to portray an 'upper-crust' extended family, travelling somewhere… Rob and Will were re-enacting with The Templars, who generously invited us to be their 'pilgrims' that they were escorting to Jerusalem in 1229. Having the 'where', the 'why' and the 'who', we now had to work out the 'how' - we needed another tent (for Ellie, Will and the kids), mine and Nat's costumes needed upgrading and Ellie and Will needed costumes from scratch (they'd been doing Viking re-enactment in Tassie); Rob's costumes had worn out, and the kids had none at all. Our plates and cups and serving gear were all very… middle class ;-) and the hangings needed upgrading, the chairs repainting, another small table here, a pavilion to sit under… and we had 10 months until HA2015.<br />
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Ellie and I drew up a battle plan (fondly known as The Bloody List) and started measuring, sewing, researching, embroidering and op-shopping. We enlisted the help of Nat, Will and Rob to do odd tasks they were suited for (and had time for - there's not a lot of that when one is a teacher) but by and large we made building the new group our 'job' (in between coping with our respective bipolar disorders and Ellie being a Mum).<br />
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Now we're just under a month out from our first show (in our new format!) and The Bloody List has been whittled down to something (hopefully) manageable.<br />
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And I really should look back over the last year of photos, and blog about it ;-)Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-31776976976495811102010-02-15T21:36:00.002+10:002010-02-15T22:16:45.043+10:006-and-a-bit weeks to go...Yup, Oltramar (minus Dad, who has too much sense ) is heading south in six-and-a-bit weeks to Armidale to partake in the <a href="http://users.tpg.com.au/gpost/easter.htm">NEMAS Easter Gathering</a>. This involves a lot of planning and creating, so that everything goes smoothly on the weekend.<br /><br />There's a large number of things to take into account: How are we getting down there? No problem - the ute, a couple of cars (and hopefully another ute heading north from Tassie with our southern members :-) ) What are we living in once we get there? We have a tent (4.8m x 3.2m) which will house 4 of us, and have to make another (3m x 3m) for the other two; the Tassie folk are making a Viking tent (3m x 4m-ish) and will be bringing that.<br /><br />How will the tents be furnished? As they're white canvas it's necessary to line the walls with hangings to prevent the dreaded 'puppet-show' - the legend goes that one re-enactment event, long ago, a couple headed into their tent to consummate their fleshy desires, and neglected to blow out the candle, thus giving the entire company ... a puppet show. Of course, hanging also keep out the cold, and make the tent look pretty :-) So we have to come up with 28m of period-looking wall hangings...<br /><br />Carpets make living in a tent more pleasant (and warmer); period-looking rugs are not hard to come by, especially the small ones (which are a tripping hazard); one can go overboard, though - I spent my Rudd-money one two $399 ones from Ikea... but they almost cover the entire tent floor.<br /><br />What is everyone sleeping in (keeping in mind that it's bloody cold at night)? I have The Medieval Rope Bed (complete with flock and feather mattresses, mink coverlet and a couple of blankets), but the others have opted for The Pallet - traditionally a sack stuffed with straw, but in our case blow-up mattresses with a heavy cotton cover. On top of these will be blankets, sleeping bags covered with more blankets, and a couple of large flokati rugs (pretty much the same thing as the traditional 'rya' rugs that were woven as coverlets in the time, but with a higher percentage of goat hair). Pillows will need to have 'period' slips if they are likely to be seen...<br /><br />What are we wearing? Well, a generic version of 'Early Medieval' - tunics, gowns, shirtes, chemises, pants for the guys, woolen cloaks... This is the sticking point - we have enough costumes for doing a show, but not to last us for four days (even though none of them will be fighting and getting hot and stinky). So, my sewing room is a veritable production line at the moment, which ends in the living room where all the handsewing and embroidery is done to the dulcet tones of Stargate, M*A*S*H, and The Simpsons... SOOO much sewing!!!<br /><br />As well as all this, there are stools, a trestle table, olive oil lamps, musical instruments, spinning equipment and a host of other incidentals that all have to be checked, repaired, cleaned, and made ready.<br /><br />What are we eating? Well, for breakfast (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) there will be a choice of bread, butter, eggs, bacon, or porridge; lunch (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) will be an assortment of bread, cheeses, ham, salami, apples, dolmades, olives... Dinner (Friday and Saturday, as NEMAS is feasting us on the Sunday night) will be a stew and a roast. 3 full days' meals for 9 people... Most of it (veges, bread, dried foods) can travel down in a sack; the rest, believe it or not, will pack into 2 medium-sized eskis and will be frozen solid before we leave (including the cartons of milk and the apple juice concentrate); that way we need to get minimal ice over the weekend as the nearest service station is a good 15 minutes drive away.<br /><br />And what are we cooking it with? Pots, cauldrons, pans, fire irons, wrought iron tripod, wooden spoons, pottery bowls, chopping boards, cooking knives, and so on and so forth... The entire kitchen has to be 'medievalised' and the squeezed into the back of the ute with all the other 'essential' stuff. Then we have to make sure everyone has eating gear - a plate, bowl, cup, spoon and knife each - most of which can be picked up at op-shops, some (like the knives) can be made.<br /><br />In the end, it's a lot of work and preparation to make sure everything runs smoothly once we get down there. It's a five-hour drive from home and way to far to go back if we've forgotten something (which always happens - one year I remembered my bow and forgot to bring arrows D'oh!); so lengthy lists are made, checked off, compared with what we took last time, patitioned into 'have' and 'make'... and I'm going to be spending the next 6 weeks sewing!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-72900698097036140752009-07-15T13:07:00.007+10:002009-07-15T14:23:47.834+10:00Cardweaving - Longest.Post.Ever.The cardweaving kits sold quite well at Abbey, so I thought I'd put the booklet up on the blog. The kit was primarily designed to teach the basics of cardweaving , from which you can move on to your own patterns or something more advanced like letters or figures (using other sites available on the net!). As you can see, the kit contained everything to get going straight away: cards cut out of cardboard, with holes punched in then and corners rounded off, yarn for warp and weft, a shuttle (also made of cardboard), a comb (to keep the width correct) and a 150 cm length of tape to use as a belt. If you're going to use these instructions to learn to cardweave, you'll have to get/make up all those things yourself - read through the 'booklet' here first so you get lengths and sizes right.<br /><br />The cover of the booklet is a fabric made of cardwoven strips - half a dozen more and I'll have enough to turn it into a shoulder-bag!<br /><br />This booklet is copyright - it tok me quite a while to get it all together and I'd appreciate it if you email me if you intend to use it in any other way other than to learn how to cardweave yourself.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VdefO8kI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ffpp3vsfC1k/s1600-h/Cover.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VdefO8kI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ffpp3vsfC1k/s320/Cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358533096529392194" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VdHR4rRI/AAAAAAAAAWw/xbvss18DL2k/s1600-h/Bag+contents.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VdHR4rRI/AAAAAAAAAWw/xbvss18DL2k/s320/Bag+contents.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358533090299391250" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Cardweaving is a very ancient form of weaving (dating back, at least, to the ancient Egyptians) which was extremely popular throughout the medieval period. It is also known as tablet weaving. Some historical references are : 1) the set of weaving cards found in the Viking age Oseberg ship burial, 2) remnants of card woven braid from an archaeological dig in London dated to the twelfth century, and 3) a late fourteenth century painting of a woman using a card loom. The commentary to the London dig suggests that the large amount of cardweaving found there indicates that it was a very common form of decoration for clothing etc. There are still some parts of the world that use card weaving for saddle girths (the strap under the horse’s belly) and belts or straps.<br /><br />This is a quick and easy way of producing decorative, handmade braid. You can use wool, linen, or silk yarn, or embroidery thread, depending on the result you want. The basic tools needed are just a set of cards and the yarn, although there are a few other tools that make the process easier. This booklet is designed to teach you to card weave, from nothing to a very basic piece of braid; and I’ll add some more complicated patterns at the end.<br /><br />The Cards<br />You will only need 15 cards to do the simple exercise in this booklet; but you will find more cards are necessary for more complex designs. The cards should be made out of a stiff material - traditionally bone, horn, ivory or wood was used, but stiff cardboard is fine for the beginner (after all, there’s no point in spending hours making bone cards only to discover you hate weaving!). The cards should be roughly 6cm square, with a hole in each of the rounded corners (see diagram at right). A hole through the middle is handy for binding the cards together when you’re not working so that they don’t get out of order. If you’re using something stiffer than cardboard it may be necessary to sand the edges and the holes so that the yarn isn’t cut by sharp or rough edges.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1Vc6Ao-KI/AAAAAAAAAWo/B_U-GxOHmf4/s1600-h/Picture+1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 148px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1Vc6Ao-KI/AAAAAAAAAWo/B_U-GxOHmf4/s320/Picture+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358533086737397922" border="0" /></a><br />Threading<br />We will be using 8-ply wool for this exercise, as it is easy to come by and less fiddly than finer yarns. Cardweaving designs come out best in contrasting colours (e.g. green and yellow; red & blue; purple, orange and white; red, yellow and black etc) - we’ll use a ‘light’, a ‘medium’ and a ‘dark’ colour.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VcsiBQHI/AAAAAAAAAWg/W1miCcz5FuY/s1600-h/Picture+2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1VcsiBQHI/AAAAAAAAAWg/W1miCcz5FuY/s320/Picture+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358533083119304818" border="0" /></a><br />First, we need a threading pattern. This is, very simply, a grid which denotes the number of cards on one axis and the number of holes on the other axis. This pattern uses the fifteen cards you have, and each card has four holes, so the pattern grid will be 15 x 4, and we will need 60 threads (i.e. 15 x 4 = 60).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UXNeAnPI/AAAAAAAAAWY/BT2_8iL_RHo/s1600-h/Picture+2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UXNeAnPI/AAAAAAAAAWY/BT2_8iL_RHo/s320/Picture+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358531889370012914" border="0" /></a><br />As you can see from the diagrams above, you start with a piece of graph paper and draw half your pattern. This is because the basic principle of card weaving is to turn the cards forward four quarter turns (whereupon you’ll weave what you’ve drawn) and then back four quarter turns (whereupon you weave the other half of the design - a mirror image). If we took it that the dark squares were blue, the medium squares were red and the light squares were yellow, then what we would end up with is a braid with a blue stripe along each side, and between them a line of lozenges that are red on the outside with blue centres, on a yellow background. If you examine the diagram and count the coloured squares, you will notice that there are 26 dark ones, 20 medium ones and 14 light ones. These are the numbers of threads of each colour that you will be using.<br /><br />You next need to prepare your yarn. The yarn supplied in the kit with this booklet has already been measured, cut and tied. Given that the exercise you are doing is just to produce a sample of weaving, the pieces of yarn are only about a metre long. Because it is necessary to fasten the ends of the weaving to something, I find it easier to loop the threads (i.e. cut each thread to be 2m long and fold them in half giving a loop at one end). I have found that allowing 2m of yarn gives 1.5m of weaving - you need to allow the extra 50cm for knots at either end, for an unwoven length in which to move the cards, and the actual weaving takes up a bit, too.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UW6PUQrI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ksXK7I6vNCU/s1600-h/Picture+3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 76px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UW6PUQrI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ksXK7I6vNCU/s320/Picture+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358531884208112306" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The diagram below indicates how the pattern actually relates to the cards.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UWnxI7XI/AAAAAAAAAWI/6l7w6FStLvs/s1600-h/Picture+4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UWnxI7XI/AAAAAAAAAWI/6l7w6FStLvs/s320/Picture+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358531879249702258" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Card number 5 has been circled on the pattern and the diagram on the right shows how the individual threads are placed. Please pay particular note that the holes in the card are numbered in a clockwise direction (not left-to-right).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UWsLbwJI/AAAAAAAAAWA/OMohIzkFc4c/s1600-h/Picture+5.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 241px; height: 295px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1UWsLbwJI/AAAAAAAAAWA/OMohIzkFc4c/s320/Picture+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358531880433729682" border="0" /></a><br />The image above is the threading diagram (D) - the / and \ symbols indicate how each card is to be threaded (i.e. \ indicates that the card is to be threaded from top to bottom - diagram A, and / indicates from bottom to top - diagram B. Threading follows the pattern - note where a series of \ marks are, the pattern goes the same way (e.g. cards 4-7). To distinguish which side of the card is which, I put a circle around hole 1 on one side of the card - this side, where the circle is, is now the top side of the card. I also mark the side of the card (see diagram C) so that when I am weaving I can keep track of the turns forwards and backwards<br /><br />Tie the looped end of the threads you have to something solid (I use a nail hammered into a shelf) so that the loose ends hang down. Start threading up the cards, as indicated in the threading diagram, starting with card number 1. Thread it as indicated (take four ‘dark’ threads from the bunch and thread them through the card, top to bottom) and then lay it down face up. Thread card 2 and lay it face up on top of card 1. Make sure that the holes in each card are on top of each other - i.e. hole 1 is over hole 1, hole 2 is over hole 2, etc. Continue to do this until all the cards are threaded.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SWPg38UI/AAAAAAAAAV4/nY0zmie2xX8/s1600-h/Picture+6.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 115px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SWPg38UI/AAAAAAAAAV4/nY0zmie2xX8/s320/Picture+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358529673715773762" border="0" /></a><br />Now take the cards in one hand (so they don’t fall out of order) and all the loose ends of yarn in the other hand, and pull the threads tight against whatever you’ve fastened them to. You will notice that some of the threads are looser than others. It is important if you want the pattern to come out evenly that all the threads have as even tension as possible. As we are using wool, which has a certain elasticity, it will not be that difficult to achieve. Still keeping a hold on the loose ends, run the cards up the threads towards the fastened end. You will see which threads are loose. Keeping a good hold on the cards, let go off the threads and comb your fingers through them, pulling them tight, until you can see no more loose threads. Take hold of all the loose ends and pull tight and then run the cards back down towards you. You will doubtless find more loose threads, so repeat the ‘combing’ process. The loose ends of the threads are likely to be fairly tangled but all this to-and-fro-ing with the cards and the combing will eventually untangle everything. When the warp (the proper name for the bunch of threads you’re holding) is evenly tensioned and untangled to your satisfaction, tie the loose ends in a knot (keeping the even tension) and run a piece of twine (about 30cm) through the warp in front of the knot. This twine will fasten the weaving to your belt as you maintain tension on your weaving by leaning back away from what you have fastened it to. Finally, take the small comb and, moving the cards about 15cm up the warp away from you, place the comb in front of the cards so that its teeth are collecting the warp on the top and bottom and move it towards you up to the knot. This spaces the warp and ensures that the weaving will start off an even width.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SV3hM-7I/AAAAAAAAAVw/I867LBj30i8/s1600-h/Picture+7.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 117px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SV3hM-7I/AAAAAAAAAVw/I867LBj30i8/s320/Picture+7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358529667274701746" border="0" /></a><br /><br />To start weaving, take your shuttle (see the picture at the bottom of this page) and wrap around it the same colour yarn that will be on the outsides of your design (in this case, ‘dark’). If you use a different colour it will show at the edges - you may like to experiment with this effect later. Have about 25cm of yarn trailing from the shuttle and weave it through the shed leaving a 15cm ‘tail’ (see diagram 8). Use the shuttle to press (‘beat’) the yarn (properly called the weft) up against the comb, and then take the body of cards in both hands and turn them a quarter-turn away from you. Pass the weft back through the shed, beat the weft back, and turn the cards another quarter-turn away from you. Repeat this twice more (You will now have made four quarter-turns away from you), and the black stripe on the sides of the cards should all be up the top again. This indicates it’s time to change direction. Pass the weft back through the shed, beat the weft back, and turn the cards a quarter-turn towards you. Repeat these steps until you see the black stripe on the sides of the cards on top again. You have just completed one repeat of the pattern. Now, continue until you run out of weft. When that happens, just overlap the ends of the old weft thread and the new one (having wound some more onto your shuttle), and continue weaving. When weaving pieces longer than a metre, after a while you will notice that the cards are getting out of reach - pull all the cards along the warp until they are against the weaving, untie the weaving from your belt and make a slip-knot in it, pass the twine through the loop in the slip-knot, tie it back on to your belt and continue.<br /><br />When you are coming to the end of the warp, and the cards don’t really have enough room to turn anymore, you’ve nearly finished. Cut off the weft leaving a 15cm ‘tail’ and cut through the warp threads at both ends, next to the knots. Now you have a choice - you can sew the weft ends into the weaving, or plait the warp (and weft) ends, or thread beads on them - it really depends on what you intend the weaving for. Obviously if it is to be braid on a garment, then you’ll sew the ends in, but for a belt you should use your creativity.<br /><br />SHUTTLES are basically a tool to hold the weft, pass it through the warp, and in the case of cardweaving, beat back the weft. The shape is not important as long as the job is done - I find the shuttle shape below more convenient to use, and of a size of about 8x3cm.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SVp6iVZI/AAAAAAAAAVo/6YV45wxmXvY/s1600-h/Picture+8.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 109px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SVp6iVZI/AAAAAAAAAVo/6YV45wxmXvY/s320/Picture+8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358529663622862226" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Below are a few basic patterns. As you can see by the pattern on the far right, they can be combined to form a wider pattern. Theoretically it is possible to weave a 'belt' a metre wide but I wouldn't advise it unless you have a regular cloth loom to support the weaving. You will probably find that 5-7cm wide is within the range of comfortably being able to move the cards, but it is a matter of experimenting and finding your limits (i.e. how far your hands will stretch...). Rather than weaving a single belt a metre wide, it is easier to weave a series of belts around 6cm wide and then sew them together to form fabric. Another thing to try is to experiment with turning the cards more than 4 forwards-4 backwards. Try 8 or 12 forwards and backwards and see how it changes the pattern. Be sure to look on the net or in your local library for books on card- or tablet-weaving, as they will provide you with new and more complicated patterns and techniques.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SVTh2CUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/Td8TsyJ7h_s/s1600-h/Picture+9.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sl1SVTh2CUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/Td8TsyJ7h_s/s320/Picture+9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358529657613715778" border="0" /></a>Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-84137752328087898232009-07-13T19:03:00.004+10:002009-07-15T13:03:00.047+10:00ABBEY!!!!The big day finally came - the group's first public show, at the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAn_cxA4I/AAAAAAAAAVA/uqTn5RsFlkY/s1600-h/CIMG3109.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAn_cxA4I/AAAAAAAAAVA/uqTn5RsFlkY/s320/CIMG3109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357876868734321538" border="0" /></a>Abbey Museum Tournament. We arrived there late afternoon last Friday and set up the tent, the carpets, the hangings, the lamps... as it was getting dark by the time that was done I decided to leave setting up the actual display until the following morning, so we set up the camp beds for the girls and left it at that. Dad had the good sense to book a motel room for the weekend, so we had dinner with him in the restaurant attached to it (Sam had the biggest eye fillet steak I've ever seen!) and then returned to the festival site to do some socialising.<br /><br />I hadn't been to an Abbey tournament for about 5 years, and the difference in size was immediately apparent - this was going to be a HUGE event! The other thing I noticed was that there was a distinct lack of the bitterness and enmity between groups that used to plague the movement, and the general atmosphere was friendly and welcoming. We spent an hour or so wandering from campfire to campfire and chatting with folk - lovely to renew old acquaintances! - and then headed off to bed about 10ish...<br /><br />Up early the next morning: into costume, setting up the display, grabbing pancakes for breakfast (the pancakes stall opened at 6.30am to feed the re-enactors, bless 'em!); Dad arrived a bit before 8 and helped set up and we were ready to go well before the public turned up an hour later.<br /><br />We felt singularly honoured to lead the grand parade, as 'Brisbane's newest re-enactment group' (although it probably had more to do with the fact that I was scheduled to give a lecture on medieval textile production at 11 o'clock, shortly after the parade), and for the rest of the day had a steady stream of visitors to the tent, a lot of whom stayed quite a while, reading the display. I also ran a spinning class each day, which was nicely populated by about half a dozen people who seemed to get the hang of it and will probably turn out to be good spinners (with the ever-necessary bit of practice!).<br /><br />We all took time out from 'tent-sitting' to have a wander around <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAoHxNUxI/AAAAAAAAAVI/hEBF3Shg0g0/s1600-h/CIMG3111.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAoHxNUxI/AAAAAAAAAVI/hEBF3Shg0g0/s320/CIMG3111.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357876870967546642" border="0" /></a>the fair, and the girls bought trinkets at the medieval market - stacks of stalls this year! - and had a good time. Dad was happy to watch the to-ing and fro-ing of the people - re-enactors and public - and answer odd questions about the display; the rest of us were more energetic and wandered around the place, but are paying for it today with sore feet and stiff legs - haven't done that much walking in ages!<br /><br />Our little stall was a moderate success - didn't sell much of the medeival bits'n'pieces (wooden spoons, needlecases, odd bits of brass), but the cardweaving kits went very well - the kits are designed to teach the basics of cardweaving, and it seems people are interested in learning new skills, which is great!<br /><br />I was very chuffed to receive so many compliments on the display - <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAoXnKfYI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/HMf757XNImw/s1600-h/CIMG3110.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAoXnKfYI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/HMf757XNImw/s320/CIMG3110.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357876875220385154" border="0" /></a>the nicest from Michael and Edith, who organise the Abbey Tournament and run the Abbey Museum; none of the other re-enactment groups displays in this way and I was trying something 'new' for the Brisbane re-enacment circle, so I'm glad (and very relieved) it was received so well. To explain: most groups set up a living history encampment, to show how people lived in the era they're re-enacting. They have tents, tables, campfires and such and they spend their time demonstrating skills of the period to the public: fighting, cooking, textiles, crafts, medicine... you name it. I've found, though, from doing this sort of re-enactment in the past, that the public are <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAofJqcYI/AAAAAAAAAVY/wJtvrrRMn3U/s1600-h/CIMG3114.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SlsAofJqcYI/AAAAAAAAAVY/wJtvrrRMn3U/s320/CIMG3114.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357876877244133762" border="0" /></a>often unwilling to ask questions and will stand back and watch, and sometimes be puzzled about what's going on. My display, as you can see from the photos, is mainly textual with a lot of models about what the text is talking about. The display cover a variety of areas - Dad's Benedictines (the Public Service of the day providing education, medical care, record-keeping, and care of 'unfortunates'), textiles (including spinning, dyeing and weaving), clothing and cosmetics, food and utensils, games, music, medicine, and a smattering of other odd information. Where possible I include illustrations from the period, and models of whatever the display topic is talking about (a scale model upright loom, a medieval bed, crockery and so forth). The aim of this is to provide background knowledge of the period in easily-digestible, 18pt font chunks which will hopefully allow a greater appreciation of the living history seen in other encampments (some of the work that goes into these is incredible - hand-beaten pots, carved beds and tent-ends, beautiful costumes - an enormous amount of work!)<br /><br />All in all, it was an enjoyable and gratifying weekend - now we just have to wash and repack stuff for the next show, History Alive, in just under two weeks....Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-49040634465326320572009-06-13T19:48:00.006+10:002009-07-15T13:02:36.125+10:00The Warp-weighted LoomThe model of a warp-weighted loom is a significant part of the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_wn-V0II/AAAAAAAAAUY/H52GZW25nRA/s1600-h/loom.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_wn-V0II/AAAAAAAAAUY/H52GZW25nRA/s320/loom.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346757655959818370" border="0" /></a> textile production display as it presents a physical, tangible example of how weaving is done. I've noticed that for non-weavers (so, most of the population!) even the most basic description of the process leaves them with glazed eyes and nodding heads that tells you that, while they appreciate you trying to explain weaving, they really don't get it. A working model of a loom, however, lets them see instantly the interplay of warp and weft threads and thus the process of weaving becomes clear.<br /><br />Wow, that was one pompous paragraph! Now, to the nitty-gritty: I decided to make the warp-weighted loom first (a model of a horizontal 4-heddle floor loom is scheduled for next season, 2010), because it was simpler to put together and I had all the necessary timber on hand. The side pieces of the loom are made of maple (because it's less likely to warp out of shape over time) and the front and back bracing are of pine, because I had some scraps the right size lying around; the pegs that hold it all together are an unidentified softwood dowel that I picked up in a craft shop to make spindle shafts out of, and the roller is tassie oak (an offcut from the tent poles). The warp is 2-ply handspun brown wool - not sure what sort of sheep it came from, but it has a 5-6 inch staple and is pretty coarse; the weft is a similar wool but in white. I chose a traditional 'goose-eye' weave because it is period, and pretty...<br /><br />Setting the loom up is basic but time-consuming: First the warp n<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xtSGsUI/AAAAAAAAAU4/qHndnS4IVZk/s1600-h/weights.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 152px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xtSGsUI/AAAAAAAAAU4/qHndnS4IVZk/s320/weights.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346757674564759874" border="0" /></a>eeds to be cut to size (in this case a metre long) and then looped onto the roller. Then each warp thread is fed through a small figure-8 of thread on the heddles - the pattern in the fabric depends on how these are threaded (in this case 1-2-3-4-1-4-3-2) and then the ends of the warp are tied to clay weights (these are made of an air-drying clay, suitable for display purposes but probably too fragile for a loom used for real weaving) in groups according to which heddle stick they are fastened to. This ensures that when a heddle stick is lifted, all the warp will remain under tension. The chaining of the warp occurs so that there's enough warp available to weave a decent length of cloth - as it's woven and rolled onto the roller at the top of the loom, the weighted ends rise and eventually would reach the heddles and any more weaving would be impossible. This way the warp can be 'lengthened' by undoing and re-doing the chains so that the weight can remain near the ground and the fabric can be woven as long as possible.<br /><br />Then it's a matter of wrapping some weft around a shuttle and weaving - the order the heddle sticks are lifted affect the pattern too - in this case it's <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xY3H1uI/AAAAAAAAAUw/-CzitMNnLuQ/s1600-h/weaving.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xY3H1uI/AAAAAAAAAUw/-CzitMNnLuQ/s320/weaving.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346757669082879714" border="0" /></a>4/1-1/2-2/3-3/4-4/1-3/4-2/3-1/2. Each line of weaving needs to be beaten into place (so it lies straight) with a weaving sword, which is a flat, straight piece of wood with a tapered edge (traditionally they were also made of metal - a lot of them look like large, blunt cook's knives with a wooden handle), then the heddles are changed and the next line of weaving occurs.<br /><br />It's a slow process and hard on the arms, but cloth was woven in this manner from the last ice age up until around the late 12th century when the horizontal floor loom made it's appearance (horizontal looms are mentioned in an 11th cenury Arabic text, but its unclear as to whether they were the mechanised, treddle sort). The main advantage of the warp-weighted loom, than as now, is it's portability. The top roller is lifted off the side pieces, along with the heddle sticks and clay weights, and the entire thing laid out flat on cloth and then rolled up. The roll and the side pieces can then be transported and then set up again, ready to weave, without any difficulty. A horizontal loom is very much a fixture and must be moved <span style="font-style: italic;">in toto</span> if it has weaving on it, or the heddles and reed must be re-threaded up on setting it up again<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_w880V3I/AAAAAAAAAUg/oeMUkhefRbI/s1600-h/packed+up.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 183px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_w880V3I/AAAAAAAAAUg/oeMUkhefRbI/s320/packed+up.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346757661590574962" border="0" /></a>.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xAOo8yI/AAAAAAAAAUo/FvjySwTK2dQ/s1600-h/packing.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 180px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SjN_xAOo8yI/AAAAAAAAAUo/FvjySwTK2dQ/s320/packing.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346757662470632226" border="0" /></a>Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-34510083430357489402009-05-06T20:42:00.006+10:002009-07-15T13:02:14.728+10:00The Bed, Part 2We were invited to a camping weekend, celebrating another group's 20th birthday, last<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvfiCrnwI/AAAAAAAAATw/rpm0oTrTosM/s1600-h/Image389.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 187px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvfiCrnwI/AAAAAAAAATw/rpm0oTrTosM/s320/Image389.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332666021288058626" border="0" /></a> weekend. Aside from the fact the it was cut short by me feeling a bit 'off', and a level of disappointment felt by the girls that people weren't that sociable and there wasn't that much to do (we were the only people with a campfire - everyone else clustered around the hard-shelter accommodation and kitchens etc and didn't really camp at all), it was a valuable experience in that I got to pack what I thought we'd need for the weekend, fit it all onto the ute (just!), and then we spent nearly two hours setting it up (far too long!). There was much going-through of lists after we got home and a lot of stuff got ... rationalised...<br /><br />The bed, however, was a great success: very warm and comfortable and a real showpiece, if a little bulky to pack. I smugly received compliments from the few people who bothered to wander up to the tent and who saw it; one young woman had seen a rope bed in one of the castles in Engl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvex49aNI/AAAAAAAAATg/VH0licrX1R4/s1600-h/Image382.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvex49aNI/AAAAAAAAATg/VH0licrX1R4/s320/Image382.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332666008362379474" border="0" /></a>and and expounded at length how different it was to the one I had created... I asked her what century it was built in but she couldn't remember (just that the wood was original and the rope was a modern replacement LOL); I asked her to point out, specifically, the differences and it turned out that the English one was a double bed whereas mine is single, and theirs wasn't painted... at that stage I suggested that she should be very proud that the bed <span style="font-style: italic;">she'd</span> built was such an exact replica of the English one; "Oh, I haven't <span style="font-style: italic;">made</span> one!", the creature exclaimed. This didn't surprise me as about the only thing she <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> made was her costume, which was of a rough cotton fabric (which, I suppose, was meant to represent linen) decorated with a band of the same fabric in a contrasting colour around the neck and cuffs... Chez Spotlight, I'm guessing and probably cost her a fortune LOLz.<br /><br />So, I breathe a great sigh of relief at the knowledge that re-enactors really haven't improved any over the time I was out of The Movement - there were about 30-odd people there and I think I saw maybe half a dozen wool garments - a lot of cotton and "linen"; very little decoration and that badly done most of the time, and the accoutrements were negligible or crap - one does not turn a modern item into a medieval replica by wrapping bits of it in leather or rags (sigh).<br /><br />It's a little sad, too; I had hoped that the presentation of groups and re-enactors would grow and improve over the years, but it seems they have found a level of historical accuracy that they're content with and stuck with it. LOLz I shouldn't complain - it makes my mob look bloody good!<br /><br />Anyway, whinge, whine, <span style="font-style: italic;">planxi et hoc totum;</span> and back to the bed... <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvfEpVM2I/AAAAAAAAATo/XJsPDrw7MEc/s1600-h/Image384.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SgFvfEpVM2I/AAAAAAAAATo/XJsPDrw7MEc/s320/Image384.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332666013397103458" border="0" /></a>If you squint in just the right way, you can see the frame of the bed and the ropes, the flock mattress, the feather mattress, linen sheets (dear gods I hate hand-hemming sheets!), a flokati rug dyed what is meant to be a red colour but it came out a bit washed-out, a coverlet made of mink (a 1950s A-line coat was sacrificed for this!) and raw silk (which <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> actually red but looks pink in the photo) and a selection of feather pillows. I really need to make a flock bolster (as suggested by Alexander Neckham, an English traveller who died in 1217 but not before he'd written at great length about his travels, up to and including how a bedroom should be furnished), and another couple of feather pillows as we tend to use them on the chairs during the day... oh well, still got a couple of months until the next show!!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-79277372566124681142009-04-25T22:14:00.005+10:002009-07-15T13:01:49.917+10:00The Bed, Part 1I felt there was a bad pun in the statement "I finally got around to making my bed" but at the moment (fortunately) it escapes me...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The bed is modelled on those in the Maciejowski Bible<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyRq-wxI/AAAAAAAAATI/cWCqHtINKFk/s1600-h/bed.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 216px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyRq-wxI/AAAAAAAAATI/cWCqHtINKFk/s320/bed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328603647846564626" border="0" /></a> - it is painted and has rounded ends on the bedposts with the head end being taller than the foot. Other than that the construction was fairly much at my own discretion (and limited to the tools in mine and Dad's workshops!). I wanted a bed for shows, so it had to be portable; I decided that using mortice and tenon joints to fix the side pieces to the head and foot pieces would be appropriate as that joint was used in the period, and to have the mattress supported by a rope web would probably be fairly right (they haven't found any 'rope beds' from our period, and as you can see from the manuscript picture (from the Maciejowski Bible) little more than the legs show so it's hard to guess at the construction). Not wishing to rely wholly on the rope and my body weight to hold the bed together, the joints are also pinned by dowels (another period method), and the result is something that creaks a little when you first get onto it but is remarkably quiet once it's got some weight in it - even rolling over is a silent procedure!<br /><br /></div>The mattress in the pictures is the flock one (the feather one, which<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyV7HFEI/AAAAAAAAATQ/oJ7g9XLUCeA/s1600-h/Image377.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyV7HFEI/AAAAAAAAATQ/oJ7g9XLUCeA/s320/Image377.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328603648987960386" border="0" /></a> goes on top, is currently 'under construction'... I need to murder a few more pillows to get it comfortably full) which in itself was interesting to make. I started with a cotton duck (about the weight of mattress ticking but not black and white striped) cover more or less the size of the bed and stuffed about 10 kilos of wool into it (hence "flock"); I must note here that I've been collecting wool since 1991 when I took up re-enacting and spinning and had baskets and boxes of the stuff in varying degrees of usability for spinning - a lot of it is brown or grey (medieval folk favoured white - it dyed better) and some of it has been sitting there unwashed for nearly 20 years and is a little brittle, and some of it is clippings and sweepings and fairly grubby - vegetable matter and dags and such (and, as I found while teasing the pieces open prior to stuffing them in the mattress, a mummified mouse!). Having loosely stuffed the cover I sewed it shut and regarded the sausage shape before me. To flatten it out a bit I sewed through it (yay for the 10" doll-making needle!) with heavy linen thread from a leather reinforcing on the back to one on the front and then<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyumjQnI/AAAAAAAAATY/qeYET60yPHw/s1600-h/Image379.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 243px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SfMAyumjQnI/AAAAAAAAATY/qeYET60yPHw/s320/Image379.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328603655612613234" border="0" /></a></div> tied it down tightly - 12 of these flattened it out adequately, as you can see from the photo.<br /><br />So, I guess ATM I've only partly made my bed... the next step is to finish the feather mattress and then to create some voluminous sheets and a coverlet. Judging from MSS pics and the songs/poetry/stories of the day, the coverlet was an all-important piece of bedroom equipment - the words 'costly' and 'silk' frequently crop up... Mine will be of heavy red silk lined with mink from a 1950s calf-length coat donated by a rellie for that purpose.<br /><br />And as I need it to be in working order next Saturday, I better get sewing!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-3250439975509230722009-03-29T18:54:00.006+10:002009-07-15T13:01:18.732+10:00Test runI've been spending the last while on the display boards - much researching, writing, precis-ing, re-writing... Having beaten them into something brief but still informative, I then sent the pdfs to Dad who printed them out (on 'parchment' paper or card) in glorious colour; they were then stuck to boards (stained and varnished earlier) and given a couple of coats of matt varnish to protect them from the ravages of time, packing, and sticky fingers...<br /><br />An aside: you'd be amazed what The Public will poke and prod at. I learned a lot when I was re-enacting a few years ago as I also had a display then (although not as neat or as comprehensive as my current one) set up inside my tent, and at every show I would have to ask people not to damage it - the two old biddies who were attempting to bend a bone needle it took me half an hour to make, to see if it was plastic (I'm not sure how bendability or snapping it would have proved that); the young couple who placed my spare loom weights (threaded onto a loop of leather) over their child's head like a necklace and walked out of the tent, and made a great show of surprise when reminded that the object actually should stay with the display; the constant poking of fingers into the spice bowl (part of the tableware display) - most of the fingerprints were adult-sized (!); and the constant banging on drums, twanging the harp, strumming the lute, despite there being signs everywhere requesting the displays not be touched (and a rope a metre out from the displays!) - I had to re-skin a drum because of the amount of grease and something else (I think it may have been satay sauce) deposited on the head by one curious person.<br /><br />Anyway, this time I decided that as public 'interaction' with the display was inevitable I should design the displays to be touched and make them as undamageable, or easily replaceable, as possible. The musical instruments, as ever, will be a problem...<br /><br />Having got the majority of the display boards and accompanying models finished, I decided to set up the tent (I only finished sewing the walls, finally, last week!) and have a test run. It took me a couple of hours to set the tent up, put down the carpets (with a tarp under them - they're expensive!), tie up the wall hangings, and then finally set the display up. By this time it was very late in the afternoon and so Dad and I did a quick critique on what needed to be done/changed/ improved, then I went back later in the evening and made most of the major changes before I decided that I was too tired to make rational decisions and should pack it in for the night.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844dkR5qI/AAAAAAAAASQ/4NgdQAvGmBk/s1600-h/whole+tent.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844dkR5qI/AAAAAAAAASQ/4NgdQAvGmBk/s320/whole+tent.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318532227608471202" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I spent most of this morning 'tweaking' the display and by lunchtime had it to a stage where I rang Dad and asked him to come over and do some more critique-ing. There is still a fair bit of work to be done on it - I need to make a model of an upright loom and finish a couple of the display boards, and stupid little things like replacing the thin dowel that some of the hangings are on with thicker dowel, as they don't support the displays without bending dramatically; but by and large I feel I've broken the back of it and will definitely be Good To Go by early June, when our first show is.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844rTwarI/AAAAAAAAASY/Ueuc0UhKnM8/s1600-h/left+side+ok.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 340px; height: 253px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844rTwarI/AAAAAAAAASY/Ueuc0UhKnM8/s320/left+side+ok.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318532231297264306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844isxzOI/AAAAAAAAASg/-SjwAN5ylok/s1600-h/middle.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 252px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc844isxzOI/AAAAAAAAASg/-SjwAN5ylok/s320/middle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318532228986293474" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc8449VgqLI/AAAAAAAAASo/PEv0Kw4D3bc/s1600-h/right+side.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 335px; height: 250px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/Sc8449VgqLI/AAAAAAAAASo/PEv0Kw4D3bc/s320/right+side.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318532236136458418" border="0" /></a><br />As it stands, the display covers the areas of tentage, lighting and furniture; a quick history of Cyprus during and shortly after the Third Crusade; textiles, dyes and cardweaving; games; medicine; music; feasting and eating; clothing and cosmetics; Dad is working on a display on the Benedictine Order (including himself in it, in costume); and Nat's planning a Trade and Travel display as soon as her studies (last year at uni!) allow. So, it's fairly comprehensive but still has a lot of room for upgrading and improvements (for example, replacing the wooden model dice with bone or horn ones, when I find some pieces big enough to make dice out of!). As I mentioned in the last blog it'll run to about 25,000 words, which basically makes the whole thing a big book with a stripey canvas cover and lots of 3-D illustrations!<br /><br />And best of all - it packs down very neatly into three trunks and some loose stuff!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-18769931336983936902009-02-15T22:38:00.008+10:002009-07-15T13:00:50.872+10:00The DisplayThe raison d'etre of the group is a display in the pavilion covering a range of topics - textiles, music, medicine, games, trade and travel, stuff like that. Each of the topic areas comprises of notes in 16-18 point font (Goudy Medieval on marmor chamois paper), diagrams, photos of manuscript illustrations or archaeological finds, and handmade replicas of whatever it is we're talking about.<br /><br />So far I'm covering about a dozen topics and have written about 23 000 words - the last couple of topics are graphics- and model-heavy and will probably bring the entire thing up to 25 000 words. It sounds a lot, but it's a big pavilion and each topic has an average of 3-4 A4 pages devopted to it.<br /><br />Having broken the back of the writing side of things, I've been starting to work on the models. This weekend I made a hnaefatafl board, and peices, and rules, and commentary... and also a naker, which is a forerunner to the kettle drum and smaller.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBC-TLlI/AAAAAAAAAR4/HS_2sN8uCaE/s1600-h/CIMG3021.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 175px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBC-TLlI/AAAAAAAAAR4/HS_2sN8uCaE/s320/CIMG3021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303011668950986322" border="0" /></a><br />The Hnaefatafl set has a 13 x 13 board and is based on the examples from Jorvik and descriptions in the sagas - it's interesting to note that in the sagas the defending side (with the King, or 'Hnefi') are brown or red while the attacking side is white; later the colours reversed some of the time. I wonder if this has anything to do with the religious/political situation in Scandinavia then, with the opposing sides representing Red Thor and White Christ? Anyway, my pieces are made of wood (traditionally they seem to be made of a range of materials: marine mammal ivory, horn, bone, stone, pottery, wood) and the board is of leather, rather than wood, so it can be rolled up and carried, with the pieces, in a pouch (bit pointless, come to think of it, when I'm going to glue it to a plywood display board and hang it on the wall...). The lines on both the pieces and the board are done with a hot iron (pokerwork, if you like, or pyrographics) and some of the squares on the board have been stained with dye. I tried playing Hnaefatafl a couple of times and suck at it more than I suck at chess, which is really saying something!<br /><br />The other project for this weekend was to build a naker, a kind of drum that was introduced to Europe through the Crusades, and although it's been with us for 800-odd years has managed to cause a small bit of controvery involving the BBC's David Munrow. First, let us understand that the instrument is frequently played in pairs, slung around the waist or neck and hanging at groin level, and that it's name comes from the Arabic naqqara, through the French nacaires, and for years the English pronunciation has been 'nackers' - doubtless the source of the expression 'to be hit in the...'. With the resurgence of medieval music in the 1960s, Mr Munrow's correct pronunciation elicited a string of complaints from outraged (if ignorant) listeners, prompting an edict from the BBC Pronunciation Department that the word was henceforth to be pronounced 'NAY-kers' when said on-air.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBXxnZPI/AAAAAAAAASA/plYAsiT7eAE/s1600-h/CIMG3042.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 137px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBXxnZPI/AAAAAAAAASA/plYAsiT7eAE/s320/CIMG3042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303011674534929650" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyhoo, mine (one at the moment) is made from a salad bowl, a piece of parchment, and about 4000 miles of plaited homemade cord (well, it felt like that!) and a leather band to keep it all neat and tidy around the edge. Basically, you punch holes in the hide, soak it, put it on a towel and sit the upturned bowl on top if it, then start lacing the cord from one side to the other, aiming for an even tension.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBqL68CI/AAAAAAAAASI/fTiK_cpkJcg/s1600-h/CIMG3040.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 124px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SZgVBqL68CI/AAAAAAAAASI/fTiK_cpkJcg/s320/CIMG3040.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303011679477100578" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The hide's still a bit damp but it already makes quite a good noise. I'd put up an mp3 of it but Blogger'll only do images and videos...Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-59672283033961309552009-01-10T20:47:00.005+10:002009-07-15T13:00:12.786+10:00Finished the roof!!By 2pm I'd finished the last bit of painting (the hem) and waited for an hour for it to dry; the tent took me about 20 minutes to put up, squeezed between the lemon tree and the fishpond. The middle poles were way too large and Dad gave me a hand cutting them to size, and by 4pm the tent was ready to hose down and check for waterproof-ness, which it passed with flying colours.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWh-jghhChI/AAAAAAAAARQ/HlKLCfN8Uk0/s1600-h/Picture+3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 421px; height: 149px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWh-jghhChI/AAAAAAAAARQ/HlKLCfN8Uk0/s320/Picture+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289616910837680658" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The tent is basically 6 160cm squares (so, 4.8m by 3.2m), and the ridge of the roof is about 3.4m high. It has two large 'centre' poles and 10 outer poles, and the roof took 16m of canvas to make (the walls, which are yet to be hemmed, are two pieces of 8.5m x 1.8m canvas and will hook onto a rope that runs around the inner edge of the tent under the valance).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWiASkCr6PI/AAAAAAAAARg/0Dy2WUFQ0oA/s1600-h/CIMG3001.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 152px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWiASkCr6PI/AAAAAAAAARg/0Dy2WUFQ0oA/s320/CIMG3001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289618818747590898" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWiAS-5g1GI/AAAAAAAAARo/5Xhi71h2OBs/s1600-h/CIMG3003.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 152px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWiAS-5g1GI/AAAAAAAAARo/5Xhi71h2OBs/s320/CIMG3003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289618825956873314" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So far I've used about 150m of thread just on the roof, and the walls will use about another 105m - when I've finished this tent I will have sewn a quarter of a kilometre by hand...Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-46944596782958032072009-01-07T08:18:00.004+10:002009-07-15T12:59:57.904+10:00Tent update...The tent has gone from being pieces of canvas in my garage <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1P0EB2I/AAAAAAAAAQw/aJDFPaA2kSg/s1600-h/Image080.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 192px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1P0EB2I/AAAAAAAAAQw/aJDFPaA2kSg/s320/Image080.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288310995775915874" border="0" /></a>to being a huge shapeless mess on the downstairs table - I have one more piece to sew onto it before attaching the leather pole reinforcements; although I bought the canvas in late September it's taken a while to get this far - I keep getting distracted by more interesting projects (wax tablets, knives etc!) and, let's face it, handsewing a tent is a boring job...<br /><br />I finally got around to doing the poles over the last couple of days - the smaller, outer poles are Tassie oak and the two large inner ones are kwila - both straight-grained hardwoods but both fairly easy to shape (although I have developed newfound respect for just how hard kwila is!)<br /><br />The doing is really quite simple - mark <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1ZnC2GI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/9v7erGTBEC0/s1600-h/Image212.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 129px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1ZnC2GI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/9v7erGTBEC0/s320/Image212.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288310998405666914" border="0" /></a>off a line 10cm (or in the case of the larger poles, 15cm) back from then, cut a groove with a saw about half a centimetre deep (or a centimetre for the larger ones), chip the pole back to the mark with a chisel and neaten it up, finish shaping it with a rasp, and then remove the furry bits with a file.<br /><br /><br />Of course, all the ends<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1wjgMBI/AAAAAAAAARA/TKb4rBAh0Ls/s1600-h/Image214.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 129px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa1wjgMBI/AAAAAAAAARA/TKb4rBAh0Ls/s320/Image214.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288311004564828178" border="0" /></a> need to be about the same size (because they have to fit fairly snugly into leather-reinforced holes in the tent and it's inconvenient to have to match up poles to holes because some are too big (in which case they might push through, or leak if it rains) and other too small and won't fit through at all.<br /><br /><br />I decided that <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa270rKzI/AAAAAAAAARI/lygau3e20tA/s1600-h/Image215.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 129px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SWPa270rKzI/AAAAAAAAARI/lygau3e20tA/s320/Image215.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288311024769510194" border="0" /></a>rather than oiling them with linseed oil as I did last time, I should paint them - the Maciejowski Bible has some nice examples of painted poles. Linseed paint tends to be a bit thin and translucent so I whitewashed the poles first (or the colour wouldn't really show up) and painted the smaller poles a nice cinnabar/red lead - which, much to my frustration, has ended up with them looking, from a distance, like they were stained with a rosewood stain (from a couple of feet away you can see it's paint); the larger 'centre' poles I painted that ordinary blue one gets when combining the froth off boiling indigo with white lead...<br /><br />So, hopefully, gods willing, no interruptions... I might be able to set up the roof on the weekend and then cut the 'centre' poles to the correct size (theoretically they should be 180cm - the wall height - plus 160 cm - the roof height; but because canvas is flexible, they usually need to be a little longer to stretch it up properly - the question is, how much of a little bit and this has to be a hands-on measurement and not just done with a tape measure).<br /><br />Then it's just (!) a matter of sewing loops aroun the roof to take a rope on which to hang the walls, and then sewing the walls themselves - hemming and sewing hooks on 2 pieces of canvas each 8 and a half metres long...Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-71680741941815143172008-12-17T11:59:00.004+10:002009-07-15T12:59:40.857+10:00Cutting words...When I first started doing re-enactment (in 1991!), a standard piece of every re-enactor's equipment was a dagger (a double-edged knife with a cross-guard). Everyone wore one, and no-one seemed to find it odd that the smaller ones were referred to as 'eating daggers'; I always wanted to know if the cross-guard was there in case the food came back to life and attempted to leap up the weapon and attack its consumer...<br /><br />Over successive years common sense and a small amount of research prevailed and prompted the fashion to change away from 'eating daggers' to knives. Re-enactors are an odd bunch - at any meeting of more than two of us, you'll hear the word "Authenticity" bandied about with great authority. This word refers to the historical accuracy of costume and equipment, with the desired aim of having one's kit as 'Authentic' as possible. Oddly, though, there is very little research done by re-enactors as a whole; what usually happens is that in every group there will be a couple of history nuts who enjoys digging through books and researching items, who will interpret what they've researched and create it, then the rest of the group will go "Oh, that's really cool!" and make some as well, without doing their own research into it or forming their own opinions or interpretations. Most re-enactors seem to be very happy to follow the fashion of the time without questioning whether the person who did the groundwork for it actually got it right, or did a thorough job - which explains the 'eating daggers' and leads me into the next stage of my current gripe...<br /><br />One of the C12 groups I belonged to was adamant that knives should be 'seax-shaped' - see the picture - as they'd found some in an archaeological dig, and that the 'modern' shape <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe42St_xI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ihqJuPBcYXA/s1600-h/lak006b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 107px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe42St_xI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ihqJuPBcYXA/s320/lak006b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280574893831618322" border="0" /></a>was all wrong and An Anachronism and Not Authentic... true, there were (obviously, from the dig) seax-shaped blades about in the period, but they weren't the be-all and end-all of blade shapes (as a search for 'seax' on Google images will show). A lack of internet and a comparative paucity of books available in Brisbane on the subject in the mid 1990s lead to a lot of tunnel-vision as to what was 'right' and what 'they had'... Nowadays we'd say that a lot of the research back then was half-baked, but in a lot of cases it was simply a matter of "I've looked at everything that's available to me and I can't find any more on the subject". May the Deities of Re-enactment bless the internet...<br /><br />So... I dug around and found some blade shapes that I liked (from the York dig - see pic); leather sheaths were a little more difficult, as leather doesn't usually survive 800-odd years well but there are still some around; I'm guessing about the colours (and going <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe5Mc4AaI/AAAAAAAAAQg/Hpe6j1IYLhI/s1600-h/knives0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 174px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe5Mc4AaI/AAAAAAAAAQg/Hpe6j1IYLhI/s320/knives0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280574899779797410" border="0" /></a>on the premise that since 'they' decorated the living **** out of everything else there's a good chance the sheaths were also coloured). I had some deer antler lying around so made short-tanged knives with antler handles - antler is great for that purpose as when you boil it the inner part goes spongy and soft and you can just shove the tang into it; then as it cools and dries out it shrinks around the tang (and rusts it to the antler) and holds the blade and handle together quite well.<br /><br />The blades are highly polished as they rust less that way, cut easier, and don't trap food particles - which leads me to another gripe (or two): why do modern re-enactment blacksmiths make knives with pitted, blackened blades (except for the sharpened part), when swords have blades that are polished (all over) to within an inch of their life? I gather it's because they look more Authentic... What a load of rubbish - an unpolished blade rusts easily, makes slicing through food difficult, and why would one sort of blade be polished and another not? And why do re-enactors let their knives go blunt? Granted, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe5qNQ_FI/AAAAAAAAAQo/tHfTzcBakls/s1600-h/Image185.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SUhe5qNQ_FI/AAAAAAAAAQo/tHfTzcBakls/s320/Image185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280574907767389266" border="0" /></a>some of the ones I've seen are nearly 5mm thick on the non-cutting side of the blade and are difficult to cut with even when very sharp, but surely one of the basic re-enactment skills is knowing how to sharpen a knife?<br /><br />"Oh, I'm a Lady so I'd get my servants to do that", I was informed by one young woman... I started to explain to her about Ladies running households and having to know how to do something yourself before you supervised others doing it (or how would you know if they were doing it right?) and her pretty li'l eyes glazed over and I gave up in disgust - she was happy to re-enact and fantasise about being a Lady and dress up and look pretty as long as someone else would tell her what to wear, what to use, what her persona name was, yada yada yada... She was representative of a number of re-enactors who, if they can't buy something (with a guarantee of it being 'period') or get it made for them, are not interested in having it. The concept of researching something and getting their hands dirty making it is totally out of the question - which begs the question: how, then, are they re-enacting? Putting on a costume and semi-assuming a fairytale persona once every couple of months doesn't quite seem to qualify...Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-91241052850499141732008-11-26T20:55:00.004+10:002009-07-15T12:59:23.992+10:00...And a pouch to carry it in...Having made the wax tablets and stylus, I needed to make<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SS0uRabgDRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/ExF601qfskg/s1600-h/Image161.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SS0uRabgDRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/ExF601qfskg/s320/Image161.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272921615408041234" border="0" /></a> a pouch to keep them together and relatively undamaged... As 'Brother George' is dressing up as a scrivener (Wikipedia is most succinct: "A scrivener (or scribe) was traditionally a person who could read and write. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and history records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities."), he'd need the gear to be portable, so something like the ubiquitous scrip, with a shoulder strap, like a pilgrim's bag...<br /><br />Befitting a Benedictine costume, the scrip needed to be made of plain, undyed leather - what I had was some sheepskin that had gone through the chamois-ing process (fairly unsuccessfully, judging by its lack of absorbent qualities) but had kept the tell-tale yellowish colour and distinctive smell of leather tanned in fish oil...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SS0uRhZzJZI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/pL42qqy8uoQ/s1600-h/Image164.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SS0uRhZzJZI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/pL42qqy8uoQ/s320/Image164.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272921617279952274" border="0" /></a><br />It's stitched with linen thread and has a pocket on the front for the stylus to go into... Now 'Brother George' just has to dig up skills from 60-odd years ago and re-learn how to write on a wax tablet! In a twelfth century font! Then I'll have to create some quill pens and oak-gall ink...Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-73902391173932503092008-11-25T13:46:00.005+10:002009-07-15T12:59:06.127+10:00The StylusPeriod styluses (stylii??) were made of bronze, bone, iron, brass, ivory - something that'd keep a good point and not be too bendy. Figured I'd make this one out of bone, as there was a chunk of bone left in my back yard by my daughter's dog which had aged enough to be carved up...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3Yr0R0WI/AAAAAAAAAPw/R4ax_a-KRhk/s1600-h/Image153.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3Yr0R0WI/AAAAAAAAAPw/R4ax_a-KRhk/s320/Image153.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272439054729859426" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Cut a piece off with a hacksaw and shaped it using the bench grinder, then polished it using sandpaper and steel wool; all in all the whole thing took about half an hour to make (not nearly as hard or time consuming as I thought it would be!)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3Y9EtilI/AAAAAAAAAP4/038MA9H1hic/s1600-h/Image155.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3Y9EtilI/AAAAAAAAAP4/038MA9H1hic/s320/Image155.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272439059362187858" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It seems to work, writing and erasing in the wax fairly well, but it's summer in Queensland and I think the wax is a bit soft - in the winter rubbing bits out will be considerably easier and less messy.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3ZLZ0RoI/AAAAAAAAAQA/Mf8NMoZbcIk/s1600-h/Image156.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSt3ZLZ0RoI/AAAAAAAAAQA/Mf8NMoZbcIk/s320/Image156.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272439063208806018" border="0" /></a>Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-51136309312384671012008-11-24T20:53:00.007+10:002009-07-15T12:58:52.083+10:00Waxing lyrical...So Dad's keen to get into the act too, and will cover the religious aspect of the display, dressed as a Benedictine monk. Part of his kit will be a wax tablet and stylus, which will interest the Public and lead into the topic of writing and record-keeping.<br /><br />I dug around and discovered that wax tablets in our period came in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours - okay, black or green - and decided to make a nice simple 2-piece recta<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLO9p1BNI/AAAAAAAAAPA/6R6-lEMSXzI/s1600-h/Image139.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLO9p1BNI/AAAAAAAAAPA/6R6-lEMSXzI/s320/Image139.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272179402975020242" border="0" /></a>ngular one. I had some maple timber left over from a previous project (fortunate, because evidently they actually used maple, amongst other woods, to make tablets) and laid into it with a jigsaw, too late remembering that I had never, ever been able to cut along a straight line! Took the pieces over to Dad's and with the aid of a workbench, saw and cutting guide he turned all my 'interesting' angles in to 90 degree ones. Came home and disinterred my old chisels and gave them a bit of a touch up (okay, they were blunt as hell) on the grindstone and started with the hollowing-out process. The boards are about 18mm thick and I wanted to be able to put about 5-6mm of wax in them and have it about 3mm clear of the top (so they wouldn't stick together when closed), so I chiselled out all the wood to about halfway down, leaving a half-inch frame. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of woodchip mess that comes out of such a small space...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPExQWDI/AAAAAAAAAPI/8bbiScIakw0/s1600-h/Image143.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPExQWDI/AAAAAAAAAPI/8bbiScIakw0/s320/Image143.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272179404885219378" border="0" /></a><br />Having hollowed them out I sanded the boards and then fastened them together with a leather hinge - contemporary sources seem to show either a hinge or a cord fastening - then melted some beeswax on the stove and rubbed it into the wood (makes a nice finish), and particularly coated the bottom of the hollowed-out parts as one of the problems I have read about people frequently encountering is that of bubbles forming under the melted wax, and then one needs to scrape the wax out and do it all over again...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPTq5fZI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/4HyAzVYzq94/s1600-h/Image145.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPTq5fZI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/4HyAzVYzq94/s320/Image145.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272179408885087634" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then came the most tedious part of the operation - getting lamp-black to colour the wax (I think the green-coloured tablets found in some manuscript pictures are probably coloured with verdigris, and I figured getting lamp-black would be easier...). Lamp-black is basically pure carbon - the residue that a lamp or smokey candle leaves on a surface held above it for a while. In my case, I used an olive oil lamp (renown for smokiness) and a spoon, and the process basically involved holding the spoon over the flame until a fairly good layer of black soot had built up, whereupon I'd scrape it into a small container and then repeat the process.<br /><br />In the end I had about a teaspoon and a half of fine, slightly greasy black powder w<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPtZyWqI/AAAAAAAAAPY/r7NsKqsQTKU/s1600-h/Image149.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqLPtZyWqI/AAAAAAAAAPY/r7NsKqsQTKU/s320/Image149.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272179415792638626" border="0" /></a>hich I carefully carried to the kitchen and dumped into the pot of beeswax on the stove. To stop the black wax from setting as soon as I poured it into the wooden frames, I put them under the grill for a couple of minutes to heat them up a little, gave the wax'n'soot mixture a final stir, hoped that I had the frames reasonably level, and poured the wax in. I had to adjust the level of the frames with a couple of kitchen knives but otherwise everything went fairly well... except I decided to hasten the cooling process by shoving it in the fridge when it had half set, thus cracking it; and had to stick it back under the grill to re-melt the surface and get rid of the cracks. Still, the whole project was a lot less fraught than I though it would be.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqOO5j4JjI/AAAAAAAAAPo/CKqb85WnZbM/s1600-h/Image151.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqOO5j4JjI/AAAAAAAAAPo/CKqb85WnZbM/s320/Image151.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272182700411201074" border="0" /></a><br />Now I just have to make a stylus and a small leather bag to keep the lot in.Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-30960767436209821552008-11-24T20:27:00.006+10:002009-07-15T12:57:55.084+10:00I can haz bukkit...On a jaunt down to the Gold Coast (okay, important excursion to send my Eldest Married Daughter off on a plane to Japan for a month) I ended up visiting the Carrara Markets. When I last went there (20-odd years ago!) they were a large flea market with a few 'craft' stalls; now they're mainly craft stalls but also have a couple of seriously decent second-hand bookshops and some 'antique' (read 'old wares') stalls.<br /><br />I spent a very pleasant and profitable hour or so wandering around gawping at everything, found a copy of a book I'd been looking for for a while and, most importantly, scored a small oak cask (the sort that holds about 5-6 litres and can be usually found on someone's bar...). <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGl8IM5OI/AAAAAAAAAOo/L_oPyYiDLic/s1600-h/wellbucket1.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 181px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGl8IM5OI/AAAAAAAAAOo/L_oPyYiDLic/s320/wellbucket1.0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272174300144395490" border="0" /></a>This one had all its taps missing, and one of the metal bands around it, so the vendor very nicely marked it down from $39 to $25 (okay, so we haggled a little... :-) ).<br /><br />The next day I set forth to remove bits and convert it into a bucket... among the pics of period buckets I'd found on the net, there was a very nice Welsh well-bucket, but as I didn't have the ironwork to go on the top, I decided to go with the handle-fixin's of another Welsh bucket of the same period (but<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGl3pjArI/AAAAAAAAAOw/3oaP7yR4zu4/s1600-h/GTJ31602_2.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 226px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGl3pjArI/AAAAAAAAAOw/3oaP7yR4zu4/s320/GTJ31602_2.0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272174298942079666" border="0" /></a> different castle LOL!), and probably will use rope until I find a semi-circular piece of iron for the proper handle.<br /><br />I numbered all the staves (with chalk, on the bottom) in case the blasted thing fell to pieces when I knocked the rings off (because typically the remaining 'middle' ring was at the wrong end), put the 'middle' ring where it should be (i.e. near the top of the bucket) then removed the end of the cask that had the tap hole in it by the simple expedient of whacking it repeatedly with a hammer until it caved in... mmmm percussive maintenance.... As it turned out, the little cask held together through all this abuse and I was able t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGmVcu0sI/AAAAAAAAAO4/Rwnzn6Zx57o/s1600-h/Image137.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSqGmVcu0sI/AAAAAAAAAO4/Rwnzn6Zx57o/s320/Image137.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272174306941391554" border="0" /></a>o rub the chalked numbers off the 16 staves and not worry about it.<br /><br />The cask had been lined with wax (obviously, given its actual use) and I filled it with water and sat it on the sink to see where it would leak from... 24 hours later and there's no loss of water and no mess on the sink, so all good! I can haz bukkit!!1!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-40179538640374361432008-11-21T22:01:00.005+10:002009-07-15T12:57:40.353+10:00EmbroiderySo, The Child is keen on all this re-enactment stuff and suggested I teach her to embroider (The Child is my youngest and is the impressionable and delicate age of 19...). She was a little daunted by the whole concept but willing to give it a go, and after I'd showed her a few basic stitches was surprised how easy it was. Then it was just a question of what she was going to do as a practice piece.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamN8jFznI/AAAAAAAAAOg/7qUaIpUzG4U/s1600-h/hippocampus.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamN8jFznI/AAAAAAAAAOg/7qUaIpUzG4U/s320/hippocampus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271083172405562994" border="0" /></a><br /><br />She's still a little horse-crazy and by sheer luck (and minimal research) we stumbled across a Bestiary dated 1220-1230 (British Library, Harley MS 4751, Folio 68r) with a rather nice hippocampus, so I drew it onto a piece of linen for her and dug out a bunch of coloured wool I'd dyed up about 8 years ago and let her go for it.<br /><br />Well, it took about a week all up to complete, then we sewed it into a pillow slip with a dark blue linen back. Then we had to make the pillow - note to self: stuffing feather pillows is to be done OUTSIDE next time!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamNcEQ5_I/AAAAAAAAAOQ/dnRe20_J3Sc/s1600-h/CIMG2920.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamNcEQ5_I/AAAAAAAAAOQ/dnRe20_J3Sc/s320/CIMG2920.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271083163686332402" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamNj83l_I/AAAAAAAAAOY/nzYkGpbGcfs/s1600-h/CIMG2922.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SSamNj83l_I/AAAAAAAAAOY/nzYkGpbGcfs/s320/CIMG2922.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271083165802797042" border="0" /></a>Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-34005514152120821782008-11-09T16:47:00.003+10:002009-07-15T12:54:52.335+10:00Spoons...There seem to be a lot of sources for Viking/10th century and 14th-century-and-after spoons, and bugger all in between... I did find a rather nice silver Byzantine spoon belonging to the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, but being silver it's likely to be a liturgical tool and not necessarily tableware; it is however a similar shape to those spoons that came before and after it (and which WERE tableware) so we'll leave it as 'this-is-as-good-as-it-gets-at-the-moment' until more evidence rears its head.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJrXpu6XI/AAAAAAAAAN4/CquCThFg-PQ/s1600-h/00000008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJrXpu6XI/AAAAAAAAAN4/CquCThFg-PQ/s320/00000008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266548192432810354" border="0" /></a><br />I observed that the teardrop-shaped bowls are very much the same shape as modern 'parfait' spoons, and got a couple of cheap stainless steel ones; not being a backsmith, and being able to make the spoons from scratch, I reshaped the handles on the spoons (using a bench grinder LOL) and the end result is fairly 'period' looking.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJryGNHFI/AAAAAAAAAOI/3ZVtF_FJ4e0/s1600-h/CIMG2830.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJryGNHFI/AAAAAAAAAOI/3ZVtF_FJ4e0/s320/CIMG2830.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266548199531551826" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJrZhjyvI/AAAAAAAAAOA/ROUdBj6_KAQ/s1600-h/CIMG2829.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRaJrZhjyvI/AAAAAAAAAOA/ROUdBj6_KAQ/s320/CIMG2829.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266548192935398130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A lot of tableware of the period (if not wooden or ceramic/pottery) is pewter, and I can find pewter spoons from later (14th-15th century) periods, but not the 12th-13th century. So far. Frustrating!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-57803020980948037852008-11-07T05:45:00.006+10:002009-07-15T12:55:44.339+10:00SpinningConsider that the spinning wheel, which makes spinning yarn much faster, didn't hit Europe until around the fifteenth century - the hand-turned spindle wheel, which was a slight improvement, speed-wise, on a drop spindle seems to have arrived some time in the thirteenth century (it appears in the Guild Laws of Speyer in 1298, so had obviously been used for a time); but the flyer wheel, which really speeds up the process by winding the yarn onto a bobbin as it spins, appears in about the fifteenth century. For the curious, there's a picture of a drop spindle at the bottom of this post.<br /><br />Consider also that every piece of yarn, then, whether fine silk for a banner, coarse wool for carpets, linen for tent canvas and sails, and any fibre for clothing had to be spun on a drop spindle. For the uninitiated, a drop spindle is a stick with a weight on it. You twist a bit of wool into thread and tie it to the stick; then, hanging the stick-and-weight (spindle) from the thread, you spin it and that makes the unspun wool you're holding also twist into thread. This means that you need to control how much wool there is that'll be twisted, depending on whether you want a thick thread (say, for knitting or carpets) or a fine one (say, for a shirt or veil). When you've spun a couple of metres your hand is above your head and can't reach any further up and still keep the spindle spinning, so you need to stop and wind what you've spun onto the spindle. A loop over the end of the stick keeps the yarn from unwinding, and off you go again.<br /><br />As a quick experiment, take a look at what you're wearing. Ignore knitted fabric (including t-shirt fabric), just look at the woven stuff. Count how many threads are going one way in a couple of centimetres (we'll call this the 'warp', in weaving terms) and how many are going across those threads (the 'weft'; and also just count a couple of centimetres). Measure how big your garment is, to find out how big the piece of fabric would need to be, then do some quick multiplication to work out how many metres of thread you would need to spin to make that garment... A quick guesstimate is that modern shirt uses a piece of fabric about 2 metres long and a metre wide. An average cotton fabric has about 25 threads per centimetre, so you would need 1 metre ( 100 cm) of groups of 25 threads = 2500 threads, by 2m in length; so 5,000m of thread one way; you would need that same amount of thread the other way, too ( think of the way the threads intersect as little squares), so that's another 5,000m... Allow that a really fast spinner might take say, 12 seconds to spin a couple of metres, wind it onto the spindle, fasten it and be ready to spin the next couple of metres, and you're looking at 10 metres of thread produced a minute and a thousand minutes of spinning to get enough yarn to weave the fabric. That's only a bit over 16 hours! Granted, that's for a fairly fine fabric (the sort we all wear for chemises, shirtes, veils, etc.) - the heavy wool a tunic might be made of could probably be spun in a few hours less...<br /><br />In other words, fabric was time-consuming to make (and we haven't even discussed weaving it and sewing it!). If you think about the amount of fabric (including braid, blankets, sheets as well as clothing) and yarn (string, rope, lamp wicks, etc) a medieval household needed, you'll see that the average medieval woman spent a lot of her time spinning. Keep in mind that most household made their own pretty much everything, including fabric; only things that were beyond the abilities of the household to produce were bought. Fabric was sufficiently expensive that wages often included items of clothing, and cloth could be used as currency if it had a seal affixed to it attesting to its quality.<br /><br />My point is, medieval women would have been spinning when they weren't doing other things - sewing, embroidering, cooking, farming, posing for manuscript illustrations... In twelve-odd years of re-enactment I've been to a lot of fairs and events, and I think the most women I've ever seen spinning has been, maybe, half a dozen, and one of them has been me! Come on, ladies, the devil makes work for idle hands yada yada, and if we're really looking reproduce that 'authentic' medieval atmosphere at a fair, then get thyselves to a spindle, learn to spin, display a very common piece of living history to the public, use the yarn in the construction of your gear - isn't that what re-enactment's all about?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRNb8bC_RNI/AAAAAAAAAL8/oRGZQZwOI58/s1600-h/spindle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRNb8bC_RNI/AAAAAAAAAL8/oRGZQZwOI58/s320/spindle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265653482936812754" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is a pic of my favourite spindle - favourite because it spins a really nice fine thread with which I can cardweave or embroider, and because part of it is the only 'authentic' piece of gear I own - a real twelfth century spindle whorl (that's the little lead weight on the stick) which I bought from an antiquities dealer. The whorl still has a slight zig-zag design on the outer face; the inner hole is slightly conical so it can be wedged onto a stick to spin with and then removed so the stick of yarn can be used as a shuttle for weaving.<br /><br />I stress the word 'authentic', because re-enactors tend to use it to mean "historically accurate", rather than to refer to something that actually came from the period. I have a bit of a giggle at the whole 'Authenticity Debate' that rages on in re-enactment circles - is that shirt 'authentic', is that sword? Well, heads up guys - unless you've been ravaging museums and raiding antiquities dealers, none of your gear is "authentic" - at best, it's "period" or "historically accurate". Maybe it <span style="font-style: italic;">looks</span> "authentic", although I prefer to have my gear looking like I use it, without 800 years of wear and depredations... English is a fine, rich language and using a word to mean something we already have words for is redundant, ambiguous, and contributes to the blandification of the language (like, "awesome", "fantastic", "terrific" now mean "good"). Heaven forbit anyone should be interested in the history of the language, let alone maintaining it; history is, after all, for old farts, geeks, boring people.... eep.Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-58320224983640903502008-11-06T22:59:00.001+10:002008-11-07T07:37:29.962+10:00Costume<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLrOnj2E5I/AAAAAAAAALU/OTdo21UXEzw/s1600-h/gown.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 276px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLrOnj2E5I/AAAAAAAAALU/OTdo21UXEzw/s320/gown.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265529550719554450" border="0" /></a><br />This is one of my old costumes which I made about 8 years ago... the gown's silk brocade with silk/metal thread braid around the neckline, cuffs and hems; that's been beaded with glass beads, freshwater pearls, and cultured pearls (see inset). The gown has side lacing and a fairly full skirt.<br /><br />With the gown goes a headpiece and veil, done 'Eastern-style' (i.e. the veil is black and beaded, and the headpiece is a circlet raised at the front, taken from a contemporary Armenian Ms pic). The veil is very fine silk, embroidered with silver thread (which has tarnished a little) and black glass beads, the headpiece is a silver circlet backed with stiffened black linen and embroidered with pearls, turquoise, garnet and glass beads, and silver filigree flowers. It weighs a bloody ton and I'm relieved to get it off at the end of the day... There's a lovely story I read (quite!) a while back, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLvK-7AHwI/AAAAAAAAALc/yySHuO5O2JM/s1600-h/headpiece.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 156px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLvK-7AHwI/AAAAAAAAALc/yySHuO5O2JM/s320/headpiece.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265533886317731586" border="0" /></a>involving a wealthy young woman who suffered incurable headaches who went to seek the help of a doctor/abbot/wise man (I can't remember the details, dammit!); they tried all sorts of lotions and potions and praying to saints and nothing worked until one day (having grown to know the lady quite well) he asked her to remove her veil and head dress so that he might examine her head - and <span style="font-style: italic;">mirabile dictu</span>, the headache disappeared! LOL I guess she slept and bathed in the bloody thing too...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLweHFfMaI/AAAAAAAAALk/5QnHbb56DqI/s1600-h/pouch.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 199px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLweHFfMaI/AAAAAAAAALk/5QnHbb56DqI/s320/pouch.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265535314438336930" border="0" /></a><br />The pouch is pigskin, dyed a dark red (maroon or burgundy, as you please), and one of the hardest things I've ever had to put a needle through - it seems to grip onto even the finest beading needle! The design is taken from the Maciejowski Psalter, and it's decorated with brass filigree flowers, brass rondels, and coral and blue glass beads.<br /><br />Off the belt hangs a number of goodies (keeping in mind that clothing of the period didn't have pockets, hence the need also for the pouch): a comb (cow horn, the first one I made and fairly coarse, but it works and is smoth enough not to snag hair), some keys (some for decoration some are actually to a couple of my trunks), and an early sort of a chatelaine - a n<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLyCH7csEI/AAAAAAAAALs/hbIi5fUrTXA/s1600-h/stoof2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 155px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLyCH7csEI/AAAAAAAAALs/hbIi5fUrTXA/s320/stoof2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265537032651583554" border="0" /></a>eedlecase, a pair of snips in a sheath, a sharpening stone, and a small jar of grease for my perpetually chapped lips - why do they always hold medieval events on dry windy days?!<br /><br />The one thing I seem to be missing (and now I'll have to make a new one...) is a utility knife...<br /><br />Oh yeah, when it's all together it looks sort of like this (the walking stick is hand-carved with a whale's-tooth head, and I <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRL0GCb-AtI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Cfbd2CpQKi8/s1600-h/dress.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 99px; height: 258px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRL0GCb-AtI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Cfbd2CpQKi8/s320/dress.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265539298920104658" border="0" /></a>have it because my sciatica was playing up):Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136223655730730596.post-75947460118200249572008-11-06T22:45:00.001+10:002009-07-15T12:57:11.699+10:00Back into it...So after 5 years I'm getting back into re-enactment... When I gave it up I sold most of my stuff (tent, costumes, eating gear, yada yada) or donated it to the group I left (and it became flood-damaged and they threw it out LOL), so I have very little left to start again with.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLpR0LxSAI/AAAAAAAAALM/AgRbxRTloLY/s1600-h/stoof1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cWetmgB2BX8/SRLpR0LxSAI/AAAAAAAAALM/AgRbxRTloLY/s320/stoof1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265527406624589826" border="0" /></a><br />This blog's probably going to end up as a lengthy discussion of making of medieval bits and pieces, but first let's examine what I don't have to make: I have one 'good' costume (silk brocade, real pearls, coral) and accoutrements (belt, pouch, bits'n'pieces to hang from the belt: comb, keys, snips, needlecase, sharpening stone and so forth) and a headpiece and veil. I have a couple of trunks, a lute, a chair and a water barrel; I have some spinning stuff (spindles, wool, carding combs, so forth). I think I have some wooden bowls and platters somewhere... and a couple of rugs...<br /><br />Gonna be busy.Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730874998085771525noreply@blogger.com1