I have created a handout for the class, with the intention that it be thorough enough to follow without needing me to be present. I hope that is so!
Muirgheall O'Riein
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Beginning Pysanky
I have created a handout for the class, with the intention that it be thorough enough to follow without needing me to be present. I hope that is so!
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Words for Elena the Blue
These are words for the Order of the Pine, the service order of the Barony of Concordia of the Snows. The recipient is Elena the Blue, who is the baronial chronicler, has autocratted Coronation, can routinely be found helping in feast kitchens, and has been SUPER involved in promoting and supporting archery.
Her persona is early Norse, and her heraldry is an owl in flight on two arrows, crossed. I aimed for something with the general flavor of the Havamál, and slipped in kennings where I could.
Given at Bjorn's Ceilidh, Nov. 15, 2020
Arrow-swift, owl-wise, comes Elena the Blue
Unstinting is she in her service
To snow-limned Concordia
Formidable is she in in guarding the Barony
Training and supporting its sylvan defenders
Mindful that knowledge unites those parted
Does she labor to chronicle the snow-land’s deeds
Her words fly even through the aether
To bind us all one to another
Nor is she behindhand in hospitality.
She labors to feed hungry guests at many a feast
And also to host our mighty royalty
No service too great, and none too small
She sets her hand to labor at any need.
Thus are we, Faolán an Sccreccain and Maria Erika von Ossenheim,
Baron and Baroness of these drift-bound forests,
Minded to admit her to our baronial Order of the Pine
That all may know we have seen her labors
And desire to honor her.
Done this day ….
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Apron dress pattern
You can strap this in several ways, of course. I didn't add the straps to the diagram, because it is up to you how you want to do them -- or if you even want to do them from the same material; tablet-woven straps are terrific!
I have one or two, made for reigns when I was retaining and might have to move fast, for which I simply made a strap and sewed it down front and back.
My usual method is a wee loop in front, and a longer loop over the shoulder, aligned so that when the brooches are in place, everything hangs as it should. It may help to have another person on hand to pin and re-pin while you figure out where that sweet spot is.
I invariably take darts along the top edge of mine. Big enough to go around the bust measurement leaves me with a big flopping flappy-thing at the top, if I don't. So I take darts above the breasts, aligned as closely as possible to the vertical seams.
If you use this pattern, let me know how it works for you!
Monday, December 9, 2019
Veil for the elevation of Mistress Eikaterine
With a Byzantine persona, she wears fairly large veils. I acquired some bright blue lightweight silk, tiny freshwater pearls, and similarly sized garnets and lobed trade silver beads.
I hand-rolled the hem of the silk. Folding over the edge about 1/4 inch, I secured thread in the fold, passing it through the material, and brought it down to just below the end of the folded portion. I caught a thread or two, then re-pierced the fold, bringing the needle out again about 3/8 inch away, repeating the process until I had several inches of "ladder rungs" across the edge of the veil. Then I pulled tight on the working end to zip the edge together.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Reproduction: The Lviv Pysanka
The shell in question is believed to be either a goose or a duck egg. Looking at the wax and dye patterns, it appears to have been decorated with a single dip -- areas that were not covered by wax all appear to be the same shade. To date, I have seen no information indicating what the original dye material was. The design itself is a traditional pattern referred to as "Black Sea."
With close to a dozen excited friends sending me links to the find, I just HAD to reproduce it. At the time, I had neither duck nor goose eggs in hand, so I worked with chicken eggs. My tool kit was as usual: a household candle for a heat source, a lump of beeswax to lay down lines, and a traditional kistka, a copper cone wire-wrapped to a small dowel. And for dyestuffs, I decided to try a material that would have been readily available in period.
My first attempt was made with beet juice and macerated beets as the dye, but I added too much vinegar. This gave me a lovely pale pink -- and acid-etched a considerable percentage of the eggshell itself, leaving a fine white film in the bottle of the jar of dye.
Time to start over, and pick another readily-available dyestuff.
Fortunately, my local grocery store is used to me. The stockers are all used to seeing me candle eggshells before I buy them. And the late-night clerk didn't bat an eye when I went to the produce section and filled a bag with yellow onion skins -- and no onions.
At home, I crammed as many skins as I could into a small saucepan, with about a cup and a quarter of water. I simmered them until I got a good golden-brown color, then removed the pan from the water, strained it, and let it cool in a wide-mouthed jar. While it cooled, I laid down wax on a new shell. Once the dye was cool, I added about a tablespoon of vinegar and stirred it in. Since I had emptied the shell, I plugged the hole in the bottom, and weighted the shell down with a smaller glass jar, crossed my fingers, and went to bed.
The next morning, I extracted the shell from the dye bath, lit my candle again and removed the wax. This time, it was a success!
While the "Black Sea" pattern can be filled in a number of ways, the Lviv shell features fairly large-scale hatch marks through half the space -- a simple fill. The shell took up the dye beautifully, too.