Martinmas or St. Martin's

Yesterday was St Martin's day. This was significant to the population of England in times past more for the practise of slaughtering one of the family pigs.

Firstly this is when the pig would be at it's fattest after being fed on beech mast and bad fruit. Also the times of dearth are ahead and the family would not be able to feed too many mouths.

Every part of the pig would be used from it's blood to it's intestines. The meat would be salted down for winter consumption, the offal turned into sausages and the head into brawn.

There was not a mass slaughter of animals at this time of year just a reduction of livestock numbers to winter manageable numbers.

This would be carried out through the months of October through December. It was a practise that can be traced back to Saxon times.

December from a Medieval calendar

Ginger ale Update

This brew came out a bit mild.
Next time I do some ginger ale I think I will use more ginger and chop it really really finely.

Ginger Ale / Beer

Whilst making my ale I took the opportunity to syphon off some wort. I added my wild yeast (Alfred) to this liquid and left it to do it's thing.

It took a couple of days to do much but when it did it was lively and very active. It was still happy this morning so I decided to make some ginger ale.

It is at least a year since I have made any but it is a deceptively simple process, with astonishing results.

Firstly peel then grate or chop a couple of ounces of ginger. I find taking the skin off makes a better flavour.

Dissolve 2-3 ounces of sugar in about 2-3 litres of tap water over a slow heat. Do not heat over 40-50 degrees Centigrade.

You can add the ginger any time in this process until this point.

Leave the gingery mixture to steep for an hour or two.

Sterilise your bottles, strainer and funnel.

Cool the liquor to ambient temperature.

When you are ready add your prepared yeast  to the bottles then strain the gingery mixture into this too. Shake and stir! Then seal the bottles loosely and keep it thus for two days.

Then refrigerate it. It will keep for up to two weeks.

Good Luck and enjoy!!

Medieval Ale.

This weekend I had a go at brewing some medieval style ale. This is a far more rustic affair than we are used to!

 

There are no hops in this one. I have never made an ale before and have been desperate to give it a go. Technically an ale is a malt brew without hops (Just malt, water and yeast) and beer is brewed with hops added. Hops adds that lovely bitter flavour as well as helping in the beer's preservation. Hops were not commonly used here until the 17th century.

 

I started with just a two litre batch to get back into brewing again.

 

First heat the water to 75-80 degrees approx. Then add your malt. Let it cool to about 66-68 degrees. Then cover the pot with lots of towels. Pegs may help here.

 

I used a dark roasted malt as that is what I had left. I added some pale malt too.

 

After an hour or two strain the liquid from the malt/grist. I used a linen cloth. Then I re heated the liquid to above 80 degrees, this stops conversion of the sugars and also sterilises the solution. This then has to be cooled very quickly. In days gone by this would be strained into coolers or keelers. I used a wort chiller. (available at a good price from Viking Brewing Equipment on ebay).

 

This was my first use of an immersion wort chiller. It is very fast on small amounts! it took less than 15 minutes.

 

When the liquid is about 20-25 degrees I took a small amount of the wort and mixed it with the yeast. This I then added to the bottle.

I then strained the wort through another linen cloth into the old 2 litre pop bottle.

The I gave it a good shake after putting the lid on the bottle.

 

It will go off very quickly so we started drinking it yesterday night. It tastes like bland beer but a little sweeter. Not as rounded and full bodied but it grows on you. Also it is very cloudy. 

 

It looked inert in the bottle but it was extremely lively when I opened it. But it does taste flat once poured.

 

Everything the ale, wort and yeast touches must be sterilised first. This is the most boring part of the process but very necessary.

 

Because this has to be used quickly I have used some more in my bread today. Not as a leavening agent but as the liquid instead of water.

 

This I hope will be my lunch tomorrow along with a nice lump of cheese when I start at another museum!

 

My Tudor Corset / pair of Bodies

It is a long running joke that I am making my Tudor style corset. This I have been making for the past year or more.

These corsets were called bodies. It is believed that is where we get the term Bodice from. They were called a pair of bodies (as a plural) because they are made in two matching parts or they may have been originally. They later became known as stayes.

These came into fashion for most people through the first Queen Elizabeth's reign. The wealthy had silk bodies that were later stiffened with whale bone. But the bodies for most women would have been made from linen and stiffened with rushes and wood.

There are lots of blogs and books on how to make these and lots of advice around the net.

But here are some pictures of how mine is progressing:

Here I have tried to make a mock up or making a toile or muslin. Ideally I would have another assistant to help me do this part of the process on me but I have my husband..... say no more.....

This is what one half of it looked like when I took it off the dress form. As you can see it may be possible to make it all from one piece. The originals were not so I will not.

This is as far as I have got! There are two layers, one a heavy linen canvas fabric and the other an old linen sheet. Here I am sewing the channels by hand in a back stitch. In these channels would have been inserted hard rush, these were referred to as bents. I have sourced some hard rush which would have been used:

Here I have some fresh and some dried.

This picture may help in it's identification if you come across any. These were harvested in September

Hard rush seems to like open wind swept damp places. Try damp fields that are grazed by sheep. They do not like to eat these so leave them standing so they are easy to see.

This is the inside. I will line them with another piece of linen so all this will eventually be covered up.

Not all the bodies' area need to be sewn into channels.

 

 

*********************

Some research.....

I have used what are called the 'Dorothea Bodies' as a template. These were worn by Pfalzgrafin Dorothea Sabina von Neuburg when she was interred in 1598.

Here is a cropped part of a painting made in 1565. Here this high class kitchen servant may be wearing something like a pair of bodies under her petticoat.

Elizabeth Vernon Countess of Southampton in a painting made in approximately 1600

 

Here are a pair of bodies made for an effigy of Queen Elizabeth the first in 1603

This is what they look like off the effigy.

Market scene with a pick pocket. In the first half of the seventeenth century possibly 1630s.

Here the stall Holder is wearing a garment sewn in channels and stiffened.

 

And a paining in 1660 by Gabriel Matsu

******************************************

 



I have used a mid weight linen thread, and a water soluble dress makers/quilters pen. Also you can see a lump of beeswax and the wood splint I used as a spacer for marking out the channels.

The centre channel is wider for the insertion of a busk. This was/is a piece of wood, what looks like an old fashioned ruler. This may be laced into place as it was sometimes removable. Men would have them made for their sweet hearts and have them engraved with pictures or messages.

Mine is plain in keeping with the status of person I represent.



 

I recommend Patterns of Fashion 3 by Janet Arnold. This is a great book with photos of original garments and then a section on patterns to make some of the garments.

 

 

Well that is it so far. I am working on my little exhibition on historical clothing at the moment (under the guise of art). I will try to update that some time soon....

Sour Dough?

After making the dough and kneading briefly I put it to rise. Not expecting anything to happen. We had to go to a wedding reception last night so forgot all about it.

I came down this morning to find that he had risen out of his large bowl and almost knocked of the heavy glass lid.

I gave it another knead and pulled some dough off to make some skillet bread. The rest I shaped into a large loaf.
I then left these to rise until when I prodded it it sprang back enthusiastically. This took about two hours.

I found an empty cereal packet and used this to cover the rising dough. This is pegged loosely in place.

 

I cover my loaves and baking tin with bran. This helps to prevent it sticking. It does not always work though.

Here it is ready to enter the oven

 

It took about 35 minutes in the oven while this was cooking I attempted some skillet bread. I heated an iron skillet I have not used for about ten years. It was covered with dust. I have an electric hob and it still works well.

I covered it with a casserole dish to make a small oven. It rose well and tasted good.

 

Here it is drizzled in Honey

 

This took about 10-20 mins on a skillet over a low temperature. The first one got burnt but I still ate it.


The actual loaf was then ready......

This tastes amazing. An unmatched flavour. I may never use dried yeast again!

This particular loaf is a real taste of the past well worth resurrecting.

Sour Dough Baking

Gsufel Hlaf

I am not an expert at this but I love to experiment.
Earlier in the week I made a sourdough cake that barely managed to come out of the tin in one piece but it tasted great!

Today I fed Alfred-Herman (That is his new name). And within an hour he had grown too big for the large jug I am keeping him in. So an experiment was launched to start to use him up.

I am trying to make a Saxon Spiced Loaf (Gisufel Hlaf). This is a festival or high day food only afforded by the wealthy.
I had tried this recipe with sour dough before to be cooked in a wood fired bread oven but the oven got too hot and incinerated it!

I am using the recipe in Mary Savelli's book 'Tastes of Anglo Saxon England' from Anglo-Saxon Books.

I have had to amend the recipe a little as I do not have all the ingredients to hand. And of course instead of dried yeast I am using my Sour dough yeast.

2 oz Flour, I have used strong flour but it is best to use plain.
Butter, softened.
3 oz Honey
1 egg
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves
7 oz Plain Flour, again I had only strong flour.
4 - 5 oz dried fruit and chopped nuts.

I have mixed it into a very sticky dough. I will be very surprised if it rises at all!

Watch this space........

Sour Dough Starter

I was given a some sour dough last year by a neighbour. She called him Herman as he was from a German stock!

I have used him to bake cakes and bread. Some of the more unusual things I have done is use him as yeast in brewing both beer and ginger beer. With different results, not entirely unpleasant! The ginger beer was the best though.

When you get given some sour dough he requires upkeep. You need to divide him into quarters. give away three quarters and then keep one quarter and feet it.

I fed mine with wholemeal strong flour, water, and sugar. He will then munch away until his heart is content. He likes a warmish temperature to be kept active. But he can be kept in the fridge where he will go dormant.

Whilst he is in the fridge he is still supposed to be fed once a fortnight and kept clean to keep him turning over. At this point he will develop a dark coloured liquid as he starts to settle and separate out. This is OK. This liquid is called Hooch. I have been told that this is a sort of alcohol. (That is what started me thinking about using him for brewing.) This is the by product of him eating.

Herman is a bacteria that lives naturally on wheat. He is a sort of yeast. He needs food - sugar and flour, water, and air - a good whisk. He needs all this special attention to be coaxed into large enough numbers to become useful to us. He is not like the modern yeasts that have become refined. He is a very primitive type of yeast.

When he is healthy he will multiply. He will expand and bubble. He needs to be very active to be used in baking. He can not be used direct from a dormant state.

Well, my Herman has been in the fridge for at least 6 months with no attention at all due to my health. But on Friday I thought it was about time he woke up. It has taken until today to revive him. I kept feeding him once a day and whisking him two to three times a day keeping him at room temperature. Of course in that time I may have spawned a completely new Herman rather than revived the old Herman, there is no real way of knowing.

I found giving him junk food -white sugar- the best. I did also add flour and water to give him a good consistency. He needs to be no thinner than a thick pancake batter but a more porridge like consistency seems best. I also found that whisking him with a plastic spoon rather than a metal one seemed better.

I came down this morning expecting to have to throw him away. But there were signs of life... little frothy bubbles!

So it looks like some sour dough experiments are on the cards....

My Little Beaded Wrist Band

This is one of my most recent little projects. I used Size 13 Charlotte cuts and size 15 Czech beads. This was beaded onto a Brain tanned buckskin background. The border I made more interesting by cutting it out with pinking shears. It is tied using just a thong that I can tuck under the band when I am wearing it.

I used the Cheyenne style as inspiration.

THE TUDOR REVELS

Tudor Revels in Southampton.

The Michaelmas Fair

Well I am getting back into the swing of things again.

I volunteered over the weekend at the Tudor Revels in Southampton. This was held, mostly, in St. Michael's Square in Bugle Street. This was held to promote the work of archiving Southampton's Historical documents.

http://www.tudorrevels.co.uk/

Saturday was an amazing day with beautiful weather. People turned out in their droves and enjoyed the proceedings. The Tudor House was open for free and offered lots of talks, classes and tours for free too. I hear the lute workshop was very popular. The Medieval Merchant's house was also open for free. They had the Tudor Rose Society.
The Gosport Living History Society were there adding a lot of life and enjoyment to the event.

My job was a general meeter and greeter. I helped a little with the queues outside the Tudor house, keeping people entertained with what was in my basket and tales of Tudor life for the ordinary folk. I handed out dozens and dozens of leaflets about the weekend and self guided walk pamphlets. I met up with an old re enacting friend I had not seen for years. It was great to see him.

I had a meal in the Duke of Wellington of frumenty, venison and pork sausage and stewed red cabbage with gravy. It was lovely. I would love to see this sort of thing on more menus around the town.

In the evening I attended a mass. It was advertised as a pre reformation mass but was a modern Catholic mass. This was historic in that it was held in the Anglican church. The walls would not have heard the sounds of a traditional Catholic mass for some four to five hundred years. The chanting was done by Cantores. It was beautiful. I can now see what people would have experienced and how uplifting the whole experience is. The smell of incense is overwhemining even at the back of the congregation as I was.
A lot was in Latin and with out the prompt sheet I would have been lost!

On the Saturday I wore an early Tudor outfit.

The Sunday I was worse for wear. My back was beginning to complain terribly. I was not nearly as productive on the Sunday but tried my best.
There was a procession around Southampton's Historic Churches with banners of the relative Saints called the Procession of St. Ledger.
I met up with the Hampshire Spinners Weavers and Dyers Guild in the Tudor house. There I met some people I have not seen for some time. That was really great. I do miss them.
I did want to attend the dance workshops and the Revels at the Dolphin Hotel in the evening but I was not well enough by then.

On Sunday I wore a more Elizabethan outfit.

 

As usual I was kept very busy and did not have a chance to attend any of the events, But I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and hope it happens again.

My Lumber discectomy and how my life has changed

What has been happening.

Well, a lot, and not on the creative front! All my plans for the year have been put on hold. They may be put on hold for a while longer too.. well, some of them....

It all developed in March-ish of this year when I got sciatica.

I had already been referred to the physiotherapy unit and was receiving treatment. I was given a series of exercises to do. That I did religiously.

The pain became infinitely more unbearable in June/July to the point I was taking two Tramadol (which is part of the morphine family) 3-4 times daily, a massive dose of Ibuprofen, Lanzoprozole, Paracetamol and then Amytriptiline. All these were leaving me pretty much good for nothing. I was even considering taking the lot at once to end it. I was in so much pain I could not see another way out.

When the pain became unbearable we tried to make an emergency appointment with the Physio department but could not because  my physio was away. My Husband was told that I was not allowed to see a different physio or that no one else was allowed to read my notes so were unable to treat me.

At this time I had another visit to the doctor (I was almost living there). She noticed right away that I had a dropped foot. Now, if the front desk at the physio would have relented for 30 seconds A physio would have noticed immediately that there was a problem.

It was a long and difficult saga to get the needed CT scan. The doctor tried moving mountains, My husband was on the phone three to four times a day to various people and departments. He managed through strength of will to arrange one for me. After that the scans kept going missing! Eventually they turned up at my GP's desk.

A colleague of my doctor got in touch with a surgeon. By the time the surgeon saw the scans he said that my condition was urgent. I was in hospital within weeks. The surgeon was great.

I had no time to think about it after that. I was in bed one morning and I was woken by my Mother in law to be told that I was going in right away for the pre op. That was the Friday morning. I was first on the surgeon's list for the following Tuesday.

The operation should have only taken three hours but took five to six hours. I began to wake because the dose of anaesthetic was calculated for three hours. I was re sedated but I did not know anything about this. He found what he referred to as 'an impressive' herniated disk in my L4-5. One of the surgeons visited me almost straight away to say what a difficult case I was! This disk has done permanent damage to my right leg and foot. I have a weakened right leg with little control. My right foot is well, pants really. But I can waddle about. The unbearable pain has gone but I am left with back pain. In comparison to what I had before I am happy about that.

All this happened between the Olympics and Paralympics.

I kept trying to come off the painkillers but could not. But finally the pain had subsided enough to succeed. I could not wait to come off them as I could not see properly and this stopped me doing the creative things that keep me going. The medication is addictive but I had this incentive to come off them and that was more powerful than the addiction!! Creativity can save us in many ways this is one of them!

I am in convalescence. I am not supposed to do any housework or sit too long. No standing for long periods, leaning or bending. This is hard to stick to as a lot of what we do is automatic. I have to really concentrate on my posture now. I still keep falling and tripping over as I have no control over my right foot and little sensation there either.

Yesterday I was fitted with a foot brace. This is an ingenious little device that fastens with Velcro around the ankle and attaches to the laces of your shoes by a piece of elastic. This pulls my foot up, otherwise it just flops. I can now put my heel down first and can try to walk better. I still need my crutches but in time I should not be dependant on them at all.

One of the paralympic Cyclists who won two medals (One of them gold), Mark Colbourne, has two dropped feet. He got his in a more exciting way than me! But, he was being interviewed on the Paralympics as soon as he said what condition he had and then showed us his foot supports my attention was grabbed even more than usual. Those moments are permanently etched in my memory now. I cried. I have always loved the Paralympics even more than the Olympics. I now have a hero to inspire me.

I have not been able to do any exercise for a year now and I am feeling it! I used to cycle everywhere so that is my aim now. I want to be a good cyclist. But I have to recover first!

The strange this is I dreamt of the Paralympics whilst I was anaethnatised....


http://www.markcolbourne.com/

My Woman's Painted Buffalo Robe.

This was a very ambitious project I undertook Three or Four Years ago.
It is a fairly heavy hair on Bison robe. I used modern paints and materials to achieve the finished project as at that time I did not have access to the earth paints I have now.

I wetted the hide as I painted the design on. This gives a better coverage.

This photograph is actually upside down. The head is worn to the left of the wearer.

The design is exclusive to women (so I have been led to believe). It is called the box and border design and traditionally represents the internal organs of the bison. I have heard that there is a very old story entwined around the shapes used too. I do not know anything about this though.

It took the best part of a week to do. Before starting this project I did a vast amount of research with what I could. I tried to lean it towards Sioux tradition. I do not have any actual full pictures of Sioux Box and Border robes. I had to use a lot of modern examples to help me.

The colours as you can see are very vivid, characteristic of modern synthetic pigments. As well as being a very bold design I love the delicate details that are not obvious from these pictures.

I have not had the opportunity to use this robe at all. I have displayed it occasionally at dances. Most of the time it is on display in the spare room over the guests bed. Guests that have slept here have used it more than I have!

Naturally dyed Porcupine Quills

I thought I should get some pictures of the naturally dyed quills. All the quills were pre-mordanted with alum. Various things could have been used eg, roots from the female dock or something very tanin rich eg, oak galls. I have not used these before so can not say how successful they are!

Above are the quills dyed with madder. There is a range of lovely shades. From orange through to red.

I am really made up with the colours I got with the madder. To get the red I added a modifier. I used washing powder! The middle ones match the old orange quills I have seen very well.

Here are the quills dyed with onion skins

The yellow is lovely and bright. It gives a glimpse of how bright the original early quill work may have been. Yellow is the most common colour achieved from vegetation. To achieve yellow the wood from the oregon grape could be used. When I get hold of some of this I may give that a try.

To the right of the onion Skin dyed quills are the ones dyed with oak galls and iron along with walnut husks. Most of the quills came out grey.

The quills here were dyed with walnut husks.

And this is the quill work in progress.

I am very out of practise with quill work. That and my blurry drugged up eyes have made it quite scruffy. I am still not very good a quill work. But practise makes perfect. I have been practising for years now!

To make the most of what brain tan I have left I have sewn bits together bits left over from other projects.

I have taken all the stretch out of the hide. I wetted the hide after I had sewn it all together then pinned it to a board to dry. That makes it quite thin and stiff. I have found this easer to quill on. Although I do not know what may happen if the hide gets wet again. I am worried that it may shrink back to it's actual size.

Porcupine quills

Before the pain became unbearable I did some more natural dyeing. But this time I dyed some porcupine quills.

I have been very inspired by early Native American art. I love the beautiful mellow colours of the natural dyes they used to add colour to their porcupine quill embroidery.

Having a lot of experience with natural dyes I thought it about time a attacked this new challenge! I thought I would treat them the same way as I treat wool. I first cleaned the grubby porcupine quills. The next stage is to mordant them, I used alum.

The quills I dyed with onion skins came out as expected, a lovely shade of yellow. It is actually quite bright.

My next challenge was madder. I have always had difficulties with madder on wool, especially getting a red. But I knew I would get a lovely colour. I actually achieved a number of great shades of orange through to an amazing red! I have never managed to get a red with madder!

Next I tried to get a black. I used oak galls, Iron along with walnut husks. I dyed these for hours and hours but did not manage to get a black! I did get a lovely grey with one or two black quills.

I plan to use these quills to make a trail bag. I love walking and spending time in the New Forest and I wanted a bag to take with me. I do not want anything commercial or artificial on this bag. I have a lot of brain tanned buckskin bits. I have sewn lots of these pieces together to make a large patchwork. This will be my bag... eventually.

Thes rosettes are not naturally dyed. I used a commercial dye.



Still Ouch

Still struggling with my Sciatica.

Had a relapse a couple of week ago when the pain became unbearable. I have been given all sorts of drugs to help with the pain but they make me very sleepy!

OUCH!!!!!

I have not been around for some time.

Sciatica has really slowed me down!

All the painkillers have made me ultra dopey. I fell into a tree and got a massive black eye on the first day of taking the drug cocktail.

But I do hope to get back into things again....

Misadventures of the Stuart Skirt, continued.....

Further Research

I plan to use Onion skins as the dye. Mainly because I have lots of them and they are taking over a corner in the kitchen. There is little historical evidence of onion skins being used as a fabric dye in Tudor and Stuart times. There is not much reference to yellow in skirts or petticoats in probate inventories and no reference to onion skin as a commercial dye in this period. But from some of the art of the period onion skin coloured clothing can be discerned.

1531

The lady's kirtle/gown here is like the colour obtained from a good onion skin dye.

1552 The Egg Dance Pieter Aertsen

The lady's sleeves here. I have got similar results from onion skins on a pair of my own sleeves.

1568 Bruegel

In this painting the gown of this dancing lady maybe lined with a fabric dyed with onion skin. There is one probate entry I have found that has a reference to a gown with yellow lining.

1630 Brueghel Pieter the Younger

This lady's petticoat could be too.

1650

This little girl's skirt looks like a faded or pale onion skin dye.

Pieter van Hooch 1658

And the colour of this little girl's petticoat looks like an onion skin dye.

But it is not conclusive as there maybe and probably is some aspect of artistic licence used here. But also a consideration could be that smaller items were dyed using onion skins on a domestic rather than a commercial basis, as a lot of these items are smaller and more easily dyed in a cauldron or the copper. So may be this particular dye was not used commercially but in small scale domestic activity. Just a thought.

Although wearing yellow hose was considered a sign of promiscuity!

On that note....

The Stuart age Skirt!

Misadventures of my Stuart age skirt....

I started by going to the museum where I volunteer and looking at their historic clothing. They put in a lot of research and have the advice of professionals in the construction of their clothing so I can not get better than that. Also as I plan to wear this skirt at this museum so it had better be as good as theirs.

All their historic clothing is fully researched and hand made. There is no corner cut to get to the finished article. No compromises are made. The clothing is all made from materials available to the average person for the period in question. It is all hand sewn in either linen or wool thread. The clothing and sewing thread are also naturally dyed where appropriate. So I have a lot to live up to...

I am already an avid natural dyer and seamstress. My sewing is probably not as good as their sewing, but I need the practise and you can only get better if you practise!

They are also very particular about the construction of the clothing and that it has to reflect the status of a particular house's occupants.

Firstly I had to look at the fabric used. Then the construction.

The fashion for the average woman in the Stuart age was to enhance the child bearing image of the figure! That is, to make your bum and hips look large and to have a good amount of support for the breasts. By this time the skirt and the top was separate. The skirt is made from a parctical wool lined with a light wool worsted or linen. This skirt is pleated for 90% of it's circumference. The front 3 inches being left unpleated. For the poorer women the width around the hips and bum is achieved through careful pleating. For the more upper class you may wear a bum roll. This is a curved sausage like pad worn around the hips and bum. You may wear a petticoat under the outer skirt. This petticoat is like another full skirt made from a wool fabric again and often dyed red. On your upper body you may wear a bodice that was called a pair of bodies or stayes. And then be more presentable you would wear a waist coat over these. It has been suggested that the bodies (Corset) was a fashion item for the younger generation and not for the married woman! This does to me seem likely. A more mature lady may have simply had a solidly made bodice instead. But this is my guess.
The fabric used for their outer skirt is a heavy wool twill in a beautiful grey. I did not have enough of my own heavy wool fabric left at this time so I thought I would use a lighter serge. I had already dyed this a blue with indigo. I tried to substitute it by adding some thicker fabric to the top. I have already lined it here with linen.

Next the construction. They are very particular about their cartridge pleating. I sat down and measured mine carefully.

Here you can see the white chalk marks. Each of these was to be the base of a cartridge pleat.

I then threaded a large needle with a heavy linen thread and started the pleating. Then Pulled. It began to look like the top of a pair of curtains! So it was going well. I then sewed through the pleats with some blue linen thread to secure them.

Here you can see the indigo dyed wool serge.

The problem came when I tried to sew it to a waist band. I managed after some hours to attach it to a waist band. But, try as I might I can not get the cartridge pleats to sit right. They kept wanting to go sideways.

I concluded that it was down to the fabric I used. The wood is just too light even with the band of heavy wood I added to the top.

I have bought some lovely heavy wool fabric in a cream shade from the re-en actors market and plan to start again...

This blue skirt I will turn into the skirt of a Tudor gown. No matter how much I tried this is what it looked like any way!

A pair of modern Moccasins.

These are a pair of moccasins I made a couple of years ago. They took me much longer to make than they should have done. Most of my beading projects end up like that.

They are constructed from smoked brain tanned buckskin. The beading was carried out in size 13 charlotte cut beads. The red are size 12 tri cuts in an iris coating. I have put a little Mother Of Pearl button in the centre of the circles. They are finished off with earth paints. I have rubbed a yellow ochre into the uppers and red into the laces.

I have made them to a traditional Cheyenne design but the colours are funky. I have heard that the design represents the tipi camp or the internal arrangement of a single tipi. With the door facing the rising sun. The design just below the tongue I have been told is the Morning Star.

The soles are made from a heavy latigo leather. Constructing Moccasins is one of my least favourite jobs. I do not mind beading them but sewing the upper to the sole..ergh.. I end up with lacerated hands.

The buckskin I used for these was a seconds. That is it was not the best. I was inspired to make these after I made a mini pair in similar colours. I saw how pretty they were and wanted a pair for myself.

I have always admired this traditional design. I would spend hours looking at old pairs and be mesmerised by them I knew I would make a pair one day.

It is great t be able to make moccasins as they fit like a glove. You can not buy a pair of shoes that fit better than a pair of Moccasins made for yourself. Because they have been heavily smoked they are very practical and I wear them a lot.

Bread Result..

It tastes good!

I can recommend this.

I used a mixture of flours. But I did include extra strong bread flour which is nothing like the flour of the past. It makes a light loaf more like the ones you can buy from the baker.

Bread.

We have ran out of bread again!

Today I am using warm Beer instead of water in my bread. This is more likely to have been used in the past before we had clean running water. I can not wait to see how it tastes!

I have plans to make a tiny wood fired bread oven in the back garden this year.

I have the base, the form and the clay ready. But, my husband has decided the form has much more use storing his stones for the garden.

I will have to get on with it soon because it will take months to dry before I can actually use it.

                                       (Picture from the Lutrell Psalter)



I have made bread using a sour dough in the past. It does rise but very slowly. I leave mine to rise over night. It tends to rise sideways rather than up wards! It has an interesting and not unpleasant taste.

I always have a batch of sour dough somewhere. It can be kept in the fridge and re vitalised when needed. But, it does take more patience than modern yeast. You have to prepare in hours in advance and sometimes the night before depending on how long it has been stored. Sour dough makes lovely cakes!

We are spoilt today with our fine bread. In the past the flours would be mixed - barley, pea, rye and so on. The wheat did not contain as much gluten either so the loaf would be heavier and more sustaining.

A bread made entirely from pea flour and prepared in the same way as normal bread is made tastes fowl. There is no gluten in pea flour so the loaf is like a brick. This would be a famine bread. But, if you use a quarter in total or less of pea flour it tastes quite good.

A Busy Weekend.

No rest for the wicked...

Saturday was spent at the re enactors market.

Yesterday I was tudor spinner!

I managed to spin quite a bit on the great wheel. It is a fun thing to use.

Spinning was one of those tasks that was  not a priority. You would do it in between all the more important tasks. Such as the garden this time of year. Sorting out the veg and herbs to sustain the family.

Spinning was a way of bringing a little more money into the household.
It is thought the term pin money originated from this extra money earned, you may use it to buy your pins. A lot of your clothing would have been fixed with pins and you may want to arrange a fancy head dress by folding and pinning a piece of linen over your coif. It was a way of expression that was allowed.