Friday update, Crossroads at Canterbury

[helwen]

Friday Plan:
Shower, exercise, cut out kirtle and chemise, back to sewing. Magnus over to work on documentation, Pagan maybe (clothing), Emma with scroll blanks and to get loaner clothing for her nephew.

Actual:
Shower, exercise, vacuum floor to prepare it for laying out fabric, a bit of washing and cleaning, cut out kirtle. Water meter guy came sometime in the afternoon. fitzw came down to say a storm with high winds was coming and that he was going out to do some cleaning up and putting away of things. I went out to help, and put some heavy stuff on top of the pile of hay bales to keep the tarp from billowing -- he'd already laid a goodly supply of bricks around the edges. We picked up some of the old construction leftover bits, and I sorted through and did a bit more planning of things for the studiolo. Also set and brought out the two new clocks and put them on their respective sides. fitzw put the print shop one up already. If all goes according to plan tomorrow (weather dependent), he'll be putting up the second external light and the weathervane, so I painted the latter. Spraypaint can be your friend sometimes... cut out the chemise between painting different sides of the weathervane.

Emma, nephew and nephew's friend showed up and said nephew tried on clothing. Very cool kid. His friend's interested but has an aikido seminar same day as B Yule. They're both very interested in the fighting of course, but nephew was very cool about the clothing and even had his friend take a couple of pictures of him in garb with his cell phone so that he could show them to his brothers and friends. The friend got a pic taken of himself in my body armor. Magnus showed up at the tail end of this and gave them a bag of other clothes for in case they might have anyone else needing clothing really -- originally they were other possibilities for the nephew, but he's a bit taller and definitely broader in the shoulders. Quite handsome, actually. I'm sure a number of ladies at the event will find him a pleasant addition to the Yule scenery ;)

Magnus and I worked on his documentation, as well as discussing other things that can be done with tabletweaving. It certainly won't be the only thing he does in the SCA (it already isn't - he made his own Viking tent and furniture for Pennsic this past summer, and he's been in for less than a year!). Funny guy, smart, also single. I think he's a little shy maybe.

Checked in on email and LJ after he left, then the storm was being a little too loud for comfort so we shut all the PCs down and made some supper. Watched MacGyver while we ate, then I finally got to sewing -- re-did the sleeves on my overdress, and started work on the kirtle.

Kirtles are very cool. They don't have sleeves, so you can line it and assemble the entire bodice using a machine :) Of course once the skirt's attached to the outer layer of the bodice you have to hand hem the lining for covering the seam, and of course more handwork for the lacing rings and the hem, but that's par for the course. And the skirt's fitted at the waist and then goes out in a modest bell, so you don't have a huge hem either. Normans take a while to hem because I usually go for as close to full circle as possible (makes a very pretty swish!).

So, most of today's plan actually happened. Wow.

For Crossroads at Canterbury, since I'll be one of the hosts as it were (playing a very minor part, thank you), I've been looking at what will be needed for that, from a proper merchant's booth to feast ware to clothing. From what I've seen of the mid-late 14th c. English stuff, skirt fullness is fairly modest there as well. Fitting will be key, however -- at least for my outfit as a baroness. Now for a merchant lady.... I'll have to look at the pics and see what my options are. Also, I have this purple and green plaid and I'm wondering if I can use that... I haven't had much chance to look at that period's clothing in great detail. Should be interesting. Historic Enterprise has acorn buttons, so of course I shall have to have at least 8 per sleeve -- that'll be about 1 per inch, which I'm not sure is enough, but I don't want to go insane getting dressed, either. For the buttons down the center front I thought the wavy-armed stars would be nice, about a dozen of those. They aren't Bergental stars, but they'll have to do. And of course I wish they were in brass/gold, not pewter, but still, they are very pretty and very 14th c.

On feast ware, I don't know how much we'll be able to do for stuff that was produced locally in England, but I think Odbald and I can come up with some nice appropriate imports. We really need a wheel to throw things on. I've been looking at sources for blanks or to molds to pour our own and produce something with at least the correct silhouette but there's absolutley nothing. Not that I've worked on a wheel since the 80s, but what the heck. Could be fun. Odbald has some interest in that but I don't know if he has any experience. You don't learn to throw a pitcher overnight. I mostly did bowls and cups because my hands weren't strong enough at the time.

We're not being purists or anything. Attendees are by no means being required to dress in 14th c. clothing -- the idea is SCAdians are all pilgrims of one sort or another, on a voyage of discovery of history. But for the general ambiance of the event, it would be nice to have as much "stuff" be from the same time period as possible. I love the idea of painting a real live picture of history. Isn't that why so many people love events in old churches rather than in modern schools? Why we love woodsy places that hide some of the modernities of the world away for even a short space of time? So, if we can figure out what types of dishes we can produce that would best fit in, I think Odbald would enjoy the challenge. There were a fair number of imports during that time, so he can always go with Italian stuff. And there may be other potters in the East who wouldn't mind adding to their repertoire too, or who already do some. I'll have to ask Safia, as I'm never quite sure who's from where when I go to events in PA, which is where I see potters most often.

I wish we could have all the types of artisans one might find in a bustling town, but of course we can hardly transport the barn loom -- although someone doing tabletweaving on a band loom might be possible. Ah, a silk guild would be lovely too...all sorts of tapes, trims, tassels... we English do like our imports :D And someone selling yarns and spinning, perhaps a dyer. Well, dyeing would be quite difficult I suppose -- I can't remember what the fire rules are, but I do know that Bergental's dyers aren't used to working over a fire so they'd need lessons or someone to watch the fire for them. And of course it being the 21st century, we'll have to dispose of the dye baths properly, not just dump it into the stream!

Spinners I can get though -- they're everywhere :D I even know one who _might_ be able to make some to sell.... she's amazingly fast. That would be D. Moiselle, of course. You should have seen how much yarn she spun up while we were away at Pennsic! And on top of that she knitted some things too.

Dec. 10, day after Yule, our Master of Revels will be holding a meeting and I can't wait to see what sorts of things we'll be working on. Revels covers ambiance in the town area, so not just decoration but also performers and demonstrations of crafts.

I'll be putting something out to the EK Stationers group soon to remind them about the company's presentation at EK 12th Night, but next will be to work on stuff for our booth. fitzw and I make blank books but are also going to be working on having printed items there. I have yet to get to work on woodcuts myself, but I'm hopeful of doing at least one for the event, and if I can get Renye to do some (she has much more current experience than I), we'll have some lovely things. Since printing is a late-ish art, I really want the woodcuts there because those are more appropriate to Chaucer's time. But considering Canterbury Tales was such a big hit in the 15th century as well, when printing was really getting going, I don't feel too bad about the typeset stuff. fitzw will be printing at least dispensations -- one of the first things to be printed on presses :D We may also have one rather non-period print, but it's struck a number of people as quite funny, and suits printer humor down to a tee -- an eye chart done in Gothic letters.

It's nearly midnight, so I suppose I should end this post and wind down. Tomorrow's another busy day!

G'night all.

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

If we can find a way to disguise a camp stove, I'm more than happy to do some dyeing.

Or - if someone is willing to help me clean my grandmother's copper cauldron, I'm game to try doing something over a fire. A nice clean yellow would be best, possibly using white wool of some sort....

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Will the copper interact with the dye? Just curious

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Actually, it would intensify the effect of using blue vitriol, just as using a cast iron dyepot would intensify the effect of copperas. Both would produce dark, somewhat muted colors, with the copper giving a slightly greenish tone.

That's why I'd prefer to dye some wool or linen using the cauldron - silk dyed with a copper mordant can get very brittle. Besides, England was a big, big wool producer, even if most of the actual *dyeing* was done on the Continent.

Or I could use a Coleman and do a nice big pot of woad. The semi-magical transformation from yellow-green to blue as the goods are exposed to oxygen always impresses.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I agree, wool would be the best. And someone else may have an iron pot too. jdulac has a couple of braziers that might work instead of the camp stove (see post). If possible I think we should either try for a more period heating method or not do it, not only because of visual aesthetics, but it will also smell wrong. In Hong Kong you always knew it was winter when the chestnut vendors showed up with their charcoal and chestnuts -- a unique scent, although you got used to it after a while. As you pointed out, dyeing was done more often overseas -- at least the commercial stuff, eh? I can't imagine no dyeing happening in England, just that it wouldn't have been for export. But with all the possible things we can do at this event, we'll have to consider all of our options and see what makes the best use of our resources, without burning people out :)

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

And of course I wish they were in brass/gold, not pewter,

Try Talbot. He makes brass cast buttons, some with the wavy star type of design. His buttons might be too big, tho', you'll have to see.


On feast ware, I don't know how much we'll be able to do for stuff that was produced locally in England

this period is pretty well documented for English ceramics. This is a lovely site: http://potweb.ashmolean.org/

Most is earthenware, but you do have proto-stoneware, although the only glazes for that are salt. That copper-green and yellow glaze over buff earthenware fabric is very typical and popular, and the later 14th c forms are fairly straightforward (http://potweb.ashmolean.org/PotChron4.html) The highly decorated stuff is actually somewhat earlier.

I can't remember what the fire rules are

No ground fires except in designated fireplaces. However, I believe that you could have a portable brazier. We have two copper ones, which work pretty well for getting a hot charcoal fire, and you could set up a tripod over it. I would recommend putting the brazier in a bed of sand. We also have a fireproof pad that we put underneath.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've prowled through the Ashmolean as well as some others, which I may post more on at another time... LJ just ate my initial response and I'm not in the mood to re-do the entire thing. Major problem is we don't have a wheel and many of the pieces appear to have been thrown. Hence my interest in perhaps covering the imports angle (French & Italian anyway). Although there's a 13th c. find in Canterbury of Islamic ceramics, I expect that it would be a rare appearance compared to other imports.

Couple of good sites:
http://www.exeter.gov.uk/timetrail/07_middleages/growth.asp (in general)
http://www.trinitycourtpotteries.co.uk (based on museum pieces)

The brazier sounds like a good possibility, thanks! We'll have to keep that in mind.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

Funny guy, smart, also single. I think he's a little shy maybe.

Understatement of the century. I think I scared the poor boy a bit at Pennsic, not least because I knew who he was.

[freya46.livejournal.com]

Bring the lad by. I'd like to meet him. :-) I promise not to abuse him. Really.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Will do :)