I was actually given some cochineal recently – unfortunately I haven’t got a prickly pear plant to infest with it, and as I haven’t messed with the plastic container the buggies are in…they’re probably dead by now. If I want to get more, here’s places to try.Maiwa Aurora Silk Continue reading Dyeing with Cochineal
From the Spindlers group on Yahoo! This is freaking me out with natty detail that I’m not sure matters. I typically spin counter-clockwise, which according to the Interweave handouts is S, but I should try it the other way (clockwise = Z) and see if it works better one way or the other. If you want a really shiny woven fabric, you want the warp spun one way and the weft in the other. All the twists will line up that way. > > Also I remembered reading once upon a time or hearing that ‘we’ used to spin S … Continue reading Z twist versus S twist
I’ve had another one of those days where the top of my head has just been lifted clean off, and I’m shifting all sorts of scheduled blog posts to tell you about it. Today was the monthly meeting of the local weaver’s guild – I can’t hardly believe we have one, given that I live Back of Beyond – and although it’s a Mundane group, y’all need to know about it. First, the hostess had four looms out for us to look at, two with projects on. The big draw, and my main head venter was her new Oxaback countermarche … Continue reading Swedish loom at Weaver’s Guild
7/07 – Determined not to do Hapsburg gown at all, but green version of Durer’s Furleger gown instead. Worked out pleating device, but need to figure out organ pleat stitching per Lorenzo’s advice. Would like to have done for Coronation. NEXT STEPS: Cut neckline, sew eyelets, finish seams, figure out organ pleats, place pocket slits, make baby bump? ———————– Mary of Hapsburg Gown NEXT STEPS:Work out how much contrast linen needs to be ordered.Order linen Continue reading Green Kirtle
I don’t think I’ve blogged about my Trunk Views yet, but after lots of thinking and some experimentation, the Views are turning into a Project, so it’s time. Views: Peasants and lesser nobles should be able to live out of a trunk, right? Houses were small, people might have been very mobile. Certainly we in the SCA are very mobile. And She With Few Things is likely to be rewarded with a lower gasoline bill, particularly when she lives Back of Beyond. (8 hours to Kingdom A&S, 7 hours to RUM.) So I thought about using a trunk to move … Continue reading Trunk Project
Presented tablet weaving as technique to mundane weaver’s guild – showed completed non-repetitive band. (WARNING – Sucky nighttime pic ahead – I need to work out a lighted photo box.) NEXT STEP: Figure out how to get pattern to repeat; how to repair broken warp thread. 7/27/07 – Tory wants to learn how. ——————- HAVEBook and cardsNovice project already started NEXT STEPSTake tablet weaving materials to some meeting somewhere Continue reading Learn Tablet Weaving
as Lavena is, I would be interested in: Classes to ask questions in: Casting Period TypeDecorative Embroidery for GarbEgg Tempera for Panel Painting & Polychrome Objects Sun 5 10:00 AM AS13 Modern Materials/Period Shoes Edward NewmanSun 5 11:00 AM AS09 – Cotehardie (GFD) Fitting demo Alison WodehalleSun 5 12:00 PM AS04 Viking Domestic Architecture Ragnvaeig Snorradottir – handoutSun 5 2:00 PM AS 01 How to make a girdle book Angharad verch Glyndwr o Llangollan Mon 6 11:00 AM AS 09 Survey of styles of sleeves used on the GFD (Cotehardie) – handoutMon 6 2:00 PM AS … Continue reading If I was going to Pennsic 2007…
7/23/07Update! Here’s what the mead looked like after RUM. It’s still bubbling in that lefthand picture. The bucket on the right probably holds seven gallons. ——————————————- Lavena is an accomplished vintner. I’ve enjoyed her products several times, and she’s complained about adjusting to a different agricultural rhythm, here at 30dN. So I commented the other day – "It’s cheap peach time, you know." So last Sunday, I brought a box of Chilton County (between Montgomery and Birmingham, 209 miles) peaches and a bag of lemons, and she proceeded to direct Melbrigda and Cato and I through the process. Basically, you … Continue reading Peach mead!
Found on Tavern Yard… The Society for Creative Anachronism celebrates its 50th year on May 1, 2015, and that will be cause for much celebration. I am starting early, and I hereby invite you to join the party! Challenges have long been a part of Scadian culture, and I thought that a challenge of 50 things seemed appropriate for our 50th year. Since years in the SCA are counted as Anno Societatis, (year of the Society,) or AS, and Arts and Sciences (the lovely canopy under which so many of my interests rest) is oft abbreviated A&S, the A&S 50 … Continue reading The A&S 50 Challenge
Okay, the cotehardie won. (Andreva was jumping up and down at this news at RUM.) I decided that since the brown is so dark, it needed to be a winter dress. And that if it was a cote, then Lavena said it needed handcast buttons, like the one of her daughter’s that I wear sometimes. Well, that created an aesthetic disconnect for me – because metal buttons are Fancy, and this linen really isn’t. Lord Eoin helped me with the justification for the buttons – they’re a payment for Something Wonderful that I did for a metalworker – but my … Continue reading Brown Linen Cotehardie