Category: Research

A place for ideas for the future, to collect research

ResearchLeave a comment

Lyres versus harps, a draft pile of data

Greet Gijsberts

I have a new-to-me harp – it isn't anything fantastic, but I'm learning a lot with it, and I love the way harp sounds.  Pennsic offered several wonderful opportunities for playing harp, and I got to jam with wonderful musicians, and see other harpists play much better than I. While at Pennsic, I saw a listing for an Anglo-Saxon lyrebuilding class – which was a presentation of how the Sutton Hoo and Trossingen lyres might be made with power tools.  But now of course I want one.  (I also now want a bodhran, after having been shown the basic strokes … Continue reading Lyres versus harps, a draft pile of data

Clothing and Equipment, Research6 Comments

More about Frankish Kent (women’s clothes only, sorry)

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I am helping a friend think about 6thc clothing for Crown List, and thought it'd be nice to collect some research images, with my thoughts about how they might be put together. Aillegan is focused on Merovingian – that'd be Continental – but as there's significant influence in Kent by Franks (the marriage of Berthe to Ethelbert in late 6thc), and I've got a couple of really good books about the period, I'm sharing. The books are: Owen-Crocker, Gale.  Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. Rogers, Penelope Walton.  Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England. The images that follow are from them. … Continue reading More about Frankish Kent (women’s clothes only, sorry)

Clothing and Equipment, Research2 Comments

The Orkney Hood

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I met Brid, Laurel of the East Kingdom, interested in early period British Isles stuff (particularly Irish) in Thora Sharptooth's wadmal class. This is her in her Orkney hood.  I like hooded capes very much (see the chaperon pattern), and didn't know about this one, so I looked it up, and found this re-creation. I will never be as good as the author in this paper.  Not that I think I have to be, but my word – the fantasticness of the geekery.  All honors and homage are due.  I am terribly impressed. Continue reading The Orkney Hood

Events, ResearchLeave a comment

Wadmal class, Pennsic 2009

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This will be an incomplete post, as I arrived on site too late for the first installment of Thora Sharptooth's class, but as the cloth in progress was very similar to the construction of my string skirt, I feel I can muddle through that on my own.  Thora's page on the warp-weighted loom; if you're interested in Viking stuff at all, look at her filing cabinet. Wadmal is apparently 2/2 twill from Iceland.  It's woven on a warp-weighted loom.  We all got to do a bit of the process. When I got there, the loom (and Thora) looked like this: … Continue reading Wadmal class, Pennsic 2009

ResearchLeave a comment

Music update – Modes

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 I'm wading through the stacks of papers, and notes, and pictures, and pamphlets, and business cards…all acquired at Pennsic. Kind of depressing having no money and not being able to drop $500 on the books I want now.  ILL is not quite useful enough.  Oh well, it's not like I've exhausted the books I have or finished all the projects I've got materials for. Had lovely music geekage last night at ensemble. I got there a bit early, and dumped a pile of questions on Master Octavio, which he seemed to enjoy.  Our practice then revolved around one of the topics of my … Continue reading Music update – Modes

Clothing and Equipment, Research1 Comment

Tent building – thinking about getelds

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I have been researching various kinds of wedge tents. I'm very fond of the basic shape – I like the cool simplicity of a light-colored prism, and contrast it in my mind with a riot of woolly and painted-wood color on the ground plane with bedcoverings, rugs, cushions and trunks. I'd found this Regia Anglorum site on getelds – an intriguing design, and one found in drawings of the pre-Norman period.  They show it with one side lifted here, but you can also stake that side down, and open either end of that opening, by using half the bell as … Continue reading Tent building – thinking about getelds

Research1 Comment

Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1

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Basic notes: Warp Yarn: Medium Lilac, Mandarin Petit, 100% Egyptian cotton, produced in Norway.  50g skeins ~180m/skein.  Wash cold, air dry.  Iron 150dC max.  18 wraps/inch.  Z plied, S twist.  7-ply.  Color lot: 5226 5926. Weft Yarn: Light Lilac, Wildflower DK, Plymouth, 51% cotton, 49% acrylic, made in Holland.  50g skeins ~137 yds/skein.  Other stats same.  Color lot 50 105. Ends: 276, selvedges sleyed double. Sett: 12 epi, in #6 reed. Weave type: Diamond 2/2 twill, variation as shown in Dixon, page 85, top variant. Historical reference: Fine worsted diamond twill of the Birka type from Vinjum, Sogn and Fjordane, … Continue reading Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1

Research1 Comment

No tiny gauge, please

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Okay, so now I'm definitely in love with yardage, and started to wrap another warp with this stuff, thinking I'd try out a fine gauge: Fail. I didn't even empty one of those little spools.  I didn't like the way the thread cut into my fingers…I just felt like a slave to it, with no sensual return.  Gave it away, and cut the wrapped warp off my warping board. Onto cushy colorful DK cotton, for playing in unbalanced twill structures! Continue reading No tiny gauge, please

ResearchLeave a comment

Benefits of researching less

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I had a powerful experience recently. Typically when I decide to make a thing, I do a little research to show me which of several design alternatives I should choose, and then I make it. Almost always, the thing comes out well enough that it inspires me to do some back-documenting, during which I learn that there were variables I didn't know, or context…I learn a lot.  The thing isn't museum-perfect, but I use it, and people like it, and tell me so, at which point I tell them all the stuff that's 'wrong' with it until I realize that I've passed … Continue reading Benefits of researching less

Research6 Comments

Summertime, school is out! Requesting EP fiction…

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Why yes, I was one of those boring children who read all summer long, but even the most dedicated learner benefits from a change of pace. I'm collecting fiction about sub-Roman Empire Britain, for the purposes of increasing my ambiant knowledge without the angst of yet another research project.  (The more I personally identify with and enjoy my research directions, and the further I stretch to get there…the thinner my skin gets.  Ergo, time to feed the right side of my brain.) Having just started, I haven't got very far yet, but the Dark Is Rising series is a favorite. … Continue reading Summertime, school is out! Requesting EP fiction…