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July 14th, 2009
07:54 pm - Documentation for use of a part-linen fabric in early sixteenth century German Clothing
(11) Household book of Anton Tucher 1507 – 1517 – “Item, 28th November paid by Virgili to Hans Staiber for 6 ells gray fustian and ½ atlas cord for my granddaughter a gown."
Fustian = Linen warped cloth with a cotton weft, and damnably hard to get these days. And, of course, woolens still predominate. However, that's the first written evidence I'd seen. And in my era, too - most information I find is either from too early or too late, with little information in the first thirty years of the sixteenth century.
Current Mood: catwaxing
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July 12th, 2009
11:01 pm - WW 2009, plus blitherings about clothes
Back from the event, minus some nap and recovery time. I am not as resilient as once I was, and it's time to start implementing a preventative maintenance plan of sleep and hydration, it seems.
The pavilion is doing reasonably well with just the crow's feet and center pole, but no wooden structure inside. It's a bit like this one , but without the ropes running through the canopy.
However, my door attachments, which have always been jury rigged, could use work. They're the cause of the need for an emergency take down during the high winds and thunderstorm early Friday morning. I woke up and both doors were open, which had turned my pavilion into something that very much wanted to fly away, and caused me to lose one stake.
That meant that the formerly taut roof was now saggy and leaky. So the walls were pulled off, the stuff carted to the car for dryness' sake, and I was up a lot earlier than intended. The roof pulled a couple of stakes later and went over shortly. However, a tip-over in this design is non-disastrous, and putting it up later was simple and pleasant. The rest of the weekend was non eventful, tent wise, though I was pretty cold Saturday night. We ran the weather gamut this weekend.
Bumblebee dress Mark I was worn throughout the event, though I spent a lot of time in field hand mode when in camp, since two layers and no hat is cooler than three with hat. I require more aprons. Also, the support bodice had not been worn for an extended period of time in the heat before, and has stretched an important inch or so. The back will need to be taken in a bit.
( Photos )
I got to take a very nice recipe redaction class, which was a lot of fun, and the Baronial Open House remains a tasty occasion. Sadly, dance was quite disappointing, with what I feel was a poorly chosen set and drawn out, inefficient teaching before hand. Also, it was on the warm side most of the time, and I let myself get dehydrated, so I had a headache most of the weekend. Hopefully I was not too much of a bitch to people.
Camp is turning out very nice, and we're getting a decent ratio of canvas to nylon these days: two red pavilions, a pair of white wall tents and a wedge, plus a couple of shade flies. Hopefully by next year I'll be able to bring a little bit of furniture, since the tent should be past all really major renovations by then. :)
The next question, of course, is whether or not I'm crazy enough to do this .
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/yawn.gif) tired
Current Music: rats drinking
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June 29th, 2009
June 17th, 2009
03:46 pm - Discarded cabinets=chest in the making
Went outside to toss some recycling and I came across four lovely pine cabinet doors. One is slightly cracked (not a problem - I have glue). One is slightly warped (more of a problem, but dealable). I see a chest in the making. I wonder if I have anything that'll turn into decent end pieces.
Anyone in Milwaukee who runs across more of these, or some other nice pieces of finished wood (not particle board) preferably blonde - please to let me know!
Current Mood: unscrewing hardware
Current Music: abney park - breathe
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June 15th, 2009
08:34 pm - Back from the event
Border Skirmish was a good practice for the longer camping event later in the summer. The pavilion got converted to ropes only a little earlier than expected, since a previous, more optimistic version of myself apparently ditched the hub that the spokes sat in sometime in the past year. My pavilion used to be a 12' round of this type: http://home.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/sca/tents/kuijt.article/ which I have never really been comfortable in the documentation for, and which requires a fairly large amount of support structure, though less than the sidepole type of tent.
It is currently a 12 foot round of approximately this type: http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/sca/tents/firstkr.html though my guy lines don't run through the roof. The crow's feet are currently extremely jury-rigged, since it was a bit of a last minute decision.
In addition, my old center pole, made from three 4' pieces of 3-4" diameter bamboo, was completely borked. Cutting the damaged part from last year off did not work, as the cracks only tried to work higher. I spent the first night in the Emergency Tent, a tiny, tiny dome tent bought about eight years ago. Fortunately, there was a man there selling these: http://store.colemans.com/cart/pole-4-fiberglass-used-6-poles-p-1477.html
I spent a little time pondering the use of something so incredibly modern, but I've been using bamboo, which while natural, isn't what you'd call authentic. And this is less obtrusive, stronger, lighter, and pre-jointed. Moving to hardwood would be very difficult, given my lack of woodworking facilities and the fact that I drive a Prius. And a bright red cotton canvas tent can only be so period accurate to start with.
Moving to this configuration has significantly reduced the amount of wood I have to carry, and has made ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) samadi, who usually holds my center pole while I stake the tent, incredibly happy. The tent now goes up in ~15-20 minutes with two people.
The weekends for the next three weeks will be devoted to working on clothing, and perhaps reworking the ropes on the pavilion to a better configuration. At the moment, it has a bit of sag. More toes and a better distribution on the crow's feet should help that.
In other news, it was very cold and rainy - the first event to be that chilly. I lamented my lack of an overdress (time and effort constraints meant I went in two petticoats and a support bodice like these washerwomen: http://www.hermetics.org/solis/solis21.html and the maid in Susanna at the Baths: http://www.wga.hu/art/a/altdorfe/1/4susanna.jpg (1582 and 1526 respectively). I think that I have some wool on the lighter side, so I'll be making a woolen petticoat for cold days in the future, as well as finishing my overgown. Wore the wulsthaube (white mushroom shaped hat) and got a reasonable number of compliments on that.
No photos, I'm afraid. I bought batteries for my camera, then failed to charge them!
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Steeleye Span - Blackleg Miner
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June 8th, 2009
06:48 pm - Book Blither
Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw is quite good. It's a Regency/Austen style novel, but with dragons.
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June 7th, 2009
10:55 pm - Oh, thank goodness
I've been weird and out of sorts all day - frustrated, blah, etc. It's only been getting worse, and I can't really get much work done, though I did turn the bread shrapnel into bread pudding. And then I read a webcomic and started weeping.
It's just some kind of brain glitch - hooray!
Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Styx
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07:49 pm - Bread Shrapnel
As some of you who know me in person may be aware, I am not what we would call a light and fluffy baker. I make dwarf bread. Sometimes, this turns out to be "mm, chewy!" Sometimes, when I accidentally under rise it, or heat the oven too high and kill the yeast early, it's more "here, the rats could stand to grind their teeth down a little." All of it, when it gets stale, however, goes clunk.
There are lots of recipes that call for stale bread. They work with very stale normal bread, or kindof stale my bread. Not really stale my bread, which mostly turns into a lump. The ends and crumbs get stale fast, which is why I keep a bread jar. Into it go all those little bits that are very stale, when the rats have a cage stuffed to bursting. If you leave the bread long enough, it actually gets so stale it breaks up again.
The bread jar just got really full, so I made bread crumbs. Ordinarily, this would involve a food processor, but mine is not about anymore. I use a stick blender for most of these types of jobs. Discovery! You can indeed make bread crumbs with a stick blender. Just...watch out for shrapnel.
In other news, rope purchased for pavilion. Am making bound canvas grommets instead of leather. Got surprisingly little done today, yet I am tired.
Current Mood: crumby
Current Music: in extremo
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June 6th, 2009
06:52 pm - SCA musings
Yellow onion skins in vinegar (with possible iron contamination - the enamel is chipping off my dyepot) turn silk the precise shade I think of as Steampunk Brown. I must consider this for the future.
Turmeric is also the only thing I have that dyes linen. My underskirt is now a fabulous shade of dandelion. I am pleased.
Pavilion has been hemmed and the sides taken in. It will probably have to go to the next event as the (probably) tremendously unperiod spoked wheel type, however, since I have not yet figured out how to make the leather grommets shown here (http://www.greydragon.org/pavilions/basel.html) to attach rope hooks.
Much to be done! Ack!
Current Mood: tired
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April 16th, 2009
01:06 pm - Doing a bit better today
It's warm and sunny and I can have the windows open. Art angst has subsided to some degree, and I even managed to do a bit of linework last night. Not going to push it, though.
Had a long, long talk with Nghi about what to do on the art front, since things feel so dry. May go back and update some old good ideas with a better skill level. Feels like cheating, but it's at least a contribution to all those bad lines I need to draw before I get to the good ones. Trying to figure out what I like anymore, instead of asking if it's marketable. I have mostly forgotten.
Have dropped two of those pesky winter pounds. Remains to see if the rest can be invited to leave, or if they'll stay like uninvited guests. Will have to take all the corsets in again regardless, due to shape changes.
There is much to do and little time, and I'd rather be sewing, but rent still needs paid, so I'm off to write some more pizza recipes for other people's websites.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/hyper.gif) hyper
Current Music: a lot of Bad Religion
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April 15th, 2009
12:02 pm - Goofing off
I could have been doing something useful last night and this morning. I could have been writing, fixing my pavilion, or sewing. Instead, I messed with my hair. ( Read more... )
Current Mood: catwaxing
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April 11th, 2009
07:44 pm - Whew!
Today was the search for a new desk, which took several hours, and ended us up in an Office Depot purchasing a particle board friction desk (tm), which I'd sworn not to do again. However, the wooden desk I had been using was a kids' desk, and tennish hours a day in front of it was killing my back. Now I have to learn to sit like a normal person again. Oh, and I have to put my apartment back together. Going from a 30" desk to a 47" one required some interesting rearranging. It looks like a furniture store exploded in here.
Honestly, buying a desk just feels so wrong. Especially buying one new. I feel like I've broken the scavengers' code. But it's much comfier than the old one!
Current Mood: tired
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April 9th, 2009
05:16 pm - Writing - I should do it!
So, we have an approximation of spring here in the land of cheese. It is now mostly above freezing at night, and in the 40s and 50s during the day. There are colored things coming from the ground, which my sources refer to as flowers. And I have been greatly remiss in writing here.
My mood has still not quite settled out completely from winter, but at the moment, I'm merely having bad tendencies to catwax (clean the kitchen? do my writing? Why not work on my sewing instead?) with occasional mood drops. This is better than before. I still have not gotten up the energy to blitzkrieg clean the apartment, but spot cleaning is making this more of a habitation and less of a clutter factory.
I am so thankful to have such a small space to deal with. I am also very pleased that at no point did the winter blahs get so bad that I had to purchase bread from the store. While I skipped a week or so at a time, I made all of it using the yeast colony living in a yogurt container in my fridge. That yeast is now six months old. Happy birthday, yeast!
The rats are big and fuzzy, and like me, they have colds. I am hoping this will pass, because I'm far better at telling the severity of an illness in me than I am in them. Currently, it just looks like a spring cold, however.
( Reenactment dribble )
In art news, I got most of the way through a piece I was very fond of, then corrupted the file wholly. I had not, of course, made any backups. That's put me off it for a bit, but I'll see if I can jumpstart that again. Things were going very well, for a bit.
On a day to day basis, I'm afraid I'm quite dull. I write articles, doodle, sew, and wax poetic about food. That's really about it.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sad.gif) sore
Current Music: Inkubus Sukkubus on last.fm
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March 29th, 2009
08:21 pm - Rats! Paris and Hector
Many things ongoing. I seem to have managed to work out fitting issues for this year's garb. Apartment is undergoing spring cleaning time, though it'll take a while, given the neglect. I have the attention span of a gnat lately, too. Bento lunches are still good if you do work at home, surprisingly - they make me take a lunch break. Several art pieces in the works, none at all finished. Recently did a purge and reorganize of my deviantart gallery, as well. Elfwood and Epilogue are at this point abandoned and will not be updated due to site policies.
And my breeder sent us an email asking for photos of our rats. So I took him some, and realized that I hadn't shown any of the new boys' pics here yet. So, here are ( Paris and Hector )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/balloon.gif) weird
Current Music: Polish folk metal
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February 17th, 2009
01:48 pm - Anyone want a sweater?
I have a black 24/26 ribbed sweater, non-fuzzy, pretty heavy. It's always been a little big on me, but these days it's ridiculous (I'm probably an 18/20 on top right now?) If anyone wants it, you can have it for shipping (or you can come get it). Otherwise, it'll go in the donation box near the supermarket.
Current Mood: catwaxing
Current Music: Blind Guardian - Bright Eyes
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February 4th, 2009
03:41 pm - Writer's Block: Cookies
"The old ones sleep, but they never die."
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February 2nd, 2009
12:22 pm - Winter War
Hi, folks. I'm going to be coming down to Chambana this weekend for Winter War, though not in a professional capacity. Anyone want to hang out? You don't necessarily have to be at the convention, though it's easier to see people there, of course.
Current Mood: avoidant
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January 26th, 2009
06:50 pm - I made it out of the shire!
75.8 miles since the beginning of October, when I started charting , and I just hit the Bonfire Glade. (Don't know what I'm talking about? see here: http://home.insightbb.com/~eowynchallenge/). Was doing about a mile a day, on average, till the weather got nasty. Have slowed down since the beginning of December.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/cool.gif) accomplished
Current Music: The Auteurs - Light Aircraft on Fire
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January 13th, 2009
January 6th, 2009
07:53 pm - Because It Amuses Me
New userpic.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/bouncy.gif) silly
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