Cardweaving, beginner class.

Cardweaving, beginner class.

History

Card woven finds as early as the 3^rd century. Edging fabric in the 6^th century. Bands have been found woven of wool, linen, silk, cotton, and combinations of these. Cards have been found made of wood, ivory, bone, leather and other substances with 4-8 holes.

Weaving

The only thing you need for card weaving are cards and thread. Other aids include shuttle, beater, comb and loom.

Patterns

Warping pattern and the turning pattern control the final result. The weft will only show a bit on the edges and diagonally. The kits are warped for this pattern with 16 blue, 10 red and 14 tan:

From Card Weaving by Candace Crockett. Isbn 0-934026-61-0

A common turning pattern is four turns forward and four turns back. Mix it up by turning in sets of six. You could turn all in one direction but ultimately you will either end up twisting the warp threads so much there will be no room to turn the cards or reversing the direction so they unravel.

Formula for warp length = 1.2 x final length + 50 cm http://www.stringpage.com/tw/basictw.html

Weaving the kit

Thread the cards in your pattern from front to back. Tie the four threads from each card in a knot and move on to the next card until they're all threaded in a stack spaced several inches from the knots. In your next project you can experiment with threading some of the cards from the back to the front (S vs Z threading) alternately or half of your pattern.

When you have threaded all the cards tie them all together at one end. Comb the threads with your fingers as you hold your cards, smooth them out as much as you can (a wide toothed comb can be helpful here) and trim and tie the other end in a knot as well.

Fasten your weaving so that it's under tension. One end tied to a doorknob or stationary object, the other end tied to your waist is one option.

Make sure all the cards are aligned with A-D on the top and you can put your hand in the space in the middle (the shed). Put your weft thread through this space and let it dangle about 4” out the other side. Turn your cards ¼ turn away from you. Slide your cards a little forward and back if you need to to clear space for the beater or your hand in the new shed and beat down the threads. Pass the weft back through the new shed and repeat until A-D is on the top again (you will have completed 4 turns. Now do 4 turns toward you. Repeat this 4 away and 4 toward once more and check to see if you like the pattern.

Happy Weaving! ~Adrienne d'Evreus adrienne.devreus@gmail.com 207-651-5837

SCA Scroll Layout, Introduction and References

Scroll Layout for SCA Awards

By: Adrienne d'Evreus

Adrienne.dEvreus@gmail.com 1.207.651.5837

In the East Kingdom, awards are often accompanied by scrolls. Scrolls are made by volunteers given assignments by the East Kingdom Signet. I am one of those volunteers and I hope someday soon you will be too!

When planning a scroll, the first place I start is with the assignment itself, the recipient's name and title, the award being given and any information about the reason for the award if it's available. I reach out to the contact I have been given and research the information I have received about the recipient including the nationality and time period of their persona.

Cennino Cennini, a 14^th century artist says, "Strive and delight always to copy the best things you can find, made by the hand of great masters." (Broecke 47) This medieval craftsman teaches us to make tracing paper (Broecke 46). I delight in the fact that copying was traditional and tracing paper was used by some medieval scribes. Remember, you are a volunteer, this should be fun! We're here to learn about history and re-create it. These scrolls should enrich your life as well as the life and home of the recipient.

So, in books and online, find sources that fit your recipient's persona and modify them with information from the Scribe's Handbook and information from Ygraine'shandout to lay out your design.

Based on frame sizes at Michaels, Alexandre Saint Pierre put together this table, which I find very helpful.

Mat Opening Size	Maximum Artwork Size
3.5x5"	3x4.5"
4x6"	3.5x5.5"
5x7"	4.5x6.5"
6x8"	5.5x7.5"
8x10"	7.5x9.5"
8.5x11"	8x10.5"
10x13"	9.5x12.5"
11x14"	10.5x13.5"

From the Scribe's Handbook we can see some common frame sizes:

4x6", 5x7", 8x10", 8.5x11", 10x20", 11x14", 12x16", 16x20"

Thank you for your time and interest in re-creating medieval and renaissance pieces of art. Have fun and feel free to contact me with questions or for help.

References:

Broecke, Lara. Cennino Cennini's Il Libro Dell'Arte, A new English traslation and commentary with Italian trascription. 2015.

Brown, Jamin. Personal communication with Alexandre Saint Pierre

Kell, Susan. Scroll Layout for SCA Awards by Mistress Ygraine of Kellswood. 2002, 2007.

http://signet.eastkingdom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/EK-Scribes-Handbook-2015.pdf

Quick Soft Cheese Class Handout

The production of cheese for food is ancient. The definite origins are unknown though there are many theories.

It is a versatile and tasty byproduct of 'too much milk'. Many factors govern the final product including the kind of milk used, what you use to set the curd (Rennet or other acid), cultures and other flavoring additions and further processing including bacteria and mold introduced or just in local conditions.

Quick Farmer's Cheese

1 quart of whole milk

2-4 Tbsp lemon juice

butter muslin or a clean tea towel with a tight weave

salt and herbs

Heat your milk slowly in a non-reactive pot, stirring with a wooden spoon to 175 F (about 80 C). It will look 'foamy' around the edges. once you've made this cheese a few times, you can use this as a sign of when to add the acid without a thermometer.

Stir in the lemon juice and let the curds 'set' 15-20 minutes.

Pour into a colander lined with cheese cloth and let drain an hour to an hour and a half.

If you're in a hurry you can pick up the bundle and squeeze out the whey out with gloved hands.  Careful, it's hot!

Add salt and herbs. Form into a button.

Serve it forth or chill to use in the next week.

Substitutions:

Farm fresh milk is best. You may use cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, reindeer, camel, yak, etc.

Store bought pasteurized milk is acceptable as long as it's not 'ultra pasteurized'.

To set the curds you may also use other citrus juices or acids like vinegar or rennet.

If you soak it in cold water for a few hours then press it under a slab you have made Paneer.

Paneer (also Panir or Paner) is an acid set, non-melting farmer's cheese.

What to do with the whey (other than converting it to bacon by feeding it to the pigs)? The whey is the liquid strained away from the button.

Original recipe from Platina: De Recocta. We heat the whey which was left from the cheese in a cauldron over a slow fire until all the fat rises to the top; this is what the country-folk call recocta, because it is made from leftover milk which is heated up. It is very white and mild. It is less healthful than new or medium-aged cheese, but it is considered better than that which is aged or too salty. Whether one is pleased to call it cocta or recocta, cooks use it in many pottages, especially in those made of herbs.

- Andrews, E. B. trans. Platina. De Honesta Voluptatae. L. de Aguila. Venice, 1475. St. Louis: Mallinckrodt, 1967.

Redaction: Save the whey, slowly heat to over 185F to precipitate the milk solids. You will see it happen! Strain through cheese cloth, salt and use in other recipes or eat plain!

Or... some recipes use more acid (vinegar or citrus) to make ricotta and other products.

YIS

Adrienne d'Evreus. 207-651-5837 adrienne.devreus@gmail.com 

Alexandre Saint Pierre's Calligraphy with Yellow ink from Buckthorn.

Yellow ink from green buckthorn berries:

Buckthorn Yellow from green buckthorn berries. a Paduan MS recipe.

Most students of the history of medieval and renaissance paint are familiar with Sap Green, often produced from ripe buckthorn berries. Fewer have experimented with a yellow pigment that can be made using the unripe green buckthorn berries. In Mary Merrifield's book Original Treatises a recipe from the Paduan Manuscript (662) explains how it's done!  Merrifield thinks that the Paduan Manuscript dates from the late 16th or more probably the mid or late 17th century (643).

blue pigment from woad

Woad (Isatis tinctoria) seeds were purchased from Sand Mountain Herbs.  Having read that this plant is a heavy feeder, classified as an invasive weed in certain states and that the water shed off the leaves may be a germination inhibitor for other seeds, I planted the seeds in shallow drills in two giant plastic plant pots on a gravel covered patio separated from any other gardens by a paved driveway.

Economically frugal as always I planted the seeds in the soil that was on sale, Miracle-Gro.  And fertilized it every month with liquid miracle grow.  Next year, in hopes to yield more blue I will plant the seeds in an organic, rich mix, fertilize organically and harvest the leaves earlier.

Extracted from the leaves, indican and isatan B can be converted into indigo!

Jenny Dean's Wild Color explains four methods to dye using a woad vat.  I decided for the first year I would try Method 1. It involves washing soda and sodium hydrosulfite (Sodium dithionite/Na2S2O4).  Had I known how bad the hydrosulfite smelled I would not have ordered any.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?  It came in two layers of plastic and two of cardboard too.  Not sure where to store it, it's wrapped in four layers of plastic in plastic storage drawers.

I soaked the fabrics overnight in a gallon of bottled water.  The water turned a little yellow/brown and tested between pH 5 and 6.  Possibly because I didn't clean it enough.  Cleaning the fabrics before dyeing is called scouring.  Next time the fibers will be scoured more thoroughly.  I've read online that uneven dyeing is a common problem for new dyers and perhaps why my colors came out unevenly.  The morning I harvested the woad leaves there was more plant material than I thought so I threw more fiber and fabric in to soak.

Harvested the woad leaves from the plants in the two pots.  Looks like there were only about seven plants but they yielded a surprising 428g of leaves.  I cut them up using scissors and poured nearly boiling (190F) water over them.

I let them steep for the recommended hour and got my sherry colored liquid!

Pouring the whole concoction through a strainer into a bucket, I reserved the leaves for a second dye bath.

Letting the dye vat cool to 120F seemed to take for ever!  Once it had, I sprinkled about two teaspoons of washing soda to turn it to the essential "greeny-brown" color. and introduced air with an electric mixer.  The bubbles changed from clear to blue quite quickly.  There was not an abundance of bubbles like I hoped but what bubbles there were I skimmed off and ladled in to a glass bowl.

In retrospect I should have saved some of this liquid and let the blue settle out to try to make my blue paint.

Daniel V. Thompson talks about the flower in The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting.  "In the course of dyeing a scum collects on the surface of the vat, and this was called in Latin the spuma or flos indici, and in English, "florey", or the flower of woad.  This foam or flower was skimmed off and dried and used, either alone or in more or less elaborate compounds, under the name of indigo in the Middle Ages." (Thompson 2: 138)

There was very little foam on the surface.  The foam dried quickly and was only enough to paint a tiny bit.  I think the leaves were harvested too late and the dyeing potential had decreased as we can see by the weak results on the fibers.

Almost everything on the linen got washed away when I rinsed and washed the fiber and fabric as recommended.  The cotton produced a pretty blue cloud effect.  The unevenness on those pieces can be attributed to incomplete scouring.  The wool wasn't scoured and soaked properly and picked up dye patchily so there's variegated wool yarn.  The silk was dipped twice and gave me the most even result.  The end shade of that piece was s soft baby blue.

Next time I'll dye at the peak plant health with hopefully more plant material and definitely with more effectively scoured fabric and wool.

And here is the 2017 trial.

Vine Charcoal

The thick woody part of some healthy grape vines denuded of leaves and side shoots

cut to length for the size of the container and cooked on the coleman stove like the willow but in a smaller container and not as precisely layered, came out as beautiful charcoal.

I didn't whittle or peel the bark off but let it burn with the rest and it made fine vine charcoal.  The bark just seemed to flake off as ash on the final product.  Not even too messy.