What happened to the Poo Lady??

• Computer crash including both the main computer and the server
• Break-up with long-term boyfriend and sorting things out and maybe something is going on there
• Marine World is still snubbing me
• Went to the Getty Villa in LA with the Foster Laurel and took 600 pictures
• Went to DC to the Smith to check out some tapestry stuff
• Learned to use my babyloc serger, still scared of the big one
• Sorted 80% of fabric collection
• Dug back to the other 20% until....
• Hayfever set in!
• Spring occurs, which actually means work for farmers
• Learned to spin in Caid and Foster Laurel's lovely lady Baroness Ghiselaine gave me a better drop spindle. Still practicing. Will buy wool to spin thread for embellishment.
• Was invited to write articles for Florigeum or however you spell that...still in denial.
• Found out I am one of a rare few that believe peer like qualities is a serious issue and yes, you shouldn't get a peerage if you don't have them.
• Realized I picked great laurels and a kick ass knight to guide me
• Made a cloak out of a piece of fabric I have had for like 12 years
• Made 1 blue norman dress that supports the breastages
• Made 1 real linen 10th century Norse underdress using Vigdis' layout. (Beautiful linen, a bit heavy but $2.98 per yard. I have 9 yards left.)
  
• Made up the cherry red Norse underdress in only 3 hours using Vigdis' design and 3 yards of linen. I have a good yard left over and may see if there is another yard at the shop for a cherry red apron dress.
• Made a lavendar (deep lavendar) apron dress
• Finished penguin pouch and gave it to Greywolfe. He says I can come over any time for job stuff and playing WoW.
• Made 42 and 19th levels respectively in WoW.
• Pulled weeds
• Went on job interviews
• Car shopping with grandma.
• Had a funeral for step grandfather type guy.

I was just too swamped to post! I do have loads of pictures and I will get them up as soon as I can.

Fish Trap Research

I first decided to study fish traps a few years ago. They are an integral part of the medieval cycle of fishing life. I was thrilled to see that they were on the competition schedule for Beltane. Technical Science: Mode or recreation of fishing impliments, such as fishing nets, fish spears or fish hooks. I decided traps are included.

I know about fish traps because we used them up until oh.. a year ago. I have eaten trapped fish most of my life. Crawdad traps are very much like the old fish traps I have decided to make. I know the design and I know how to bait it. If I get my fishing license, I could go do it. Hee. If. So, time for research.




These images were found at http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/annualreports/ar99-00/hemington/hemington.html



Perhaps the most amazing discovery was a large wicker fish trap positioned at the apex. The trap was a cone-shaped basket over 2m long with two internal funnels (non-return valves), the size and arrangement suggesting that it was a silver eel trap. Fragments of another similar basket were found nearby lying on top of the weir.


They have excavated a fish weir which was a medieval structure designed to create a fishing area. It was about 75 yards long and created an artificial environment out of rocks and wattle. Medieval fisheries were a huge economic concern because of the amount of fasting days.


Wikipedia says: The Magna Carta includes a clause requiring that they be removed:

All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.^[18]

Basket weir fish traps were widely used in ancient times. They are shown in medieval illustrations and surviving examples have been found. Basket weirs are about 2 m long and comprise two wicker cones, one inside the other -- easy to get into and hard to get out.^[19]

^{That isn't really true. They aren't wicker cones. It is really a valve inside a cone. But two cones inside each other is easier for some people to grasp. Regia.org has the *best* stuff because they care about medieval things.}

It is likely that the trap was flat bottomed to allow it to lie on the river or sea bed without rolling with the current or tide. For eels it would need to be baited with a dead fish, this would attract the carnivorous eel into the funnel and once inside, they would find it difficult to escape. Single chambered traps may also have been used by the early medieval fisherman; these would have been something akin to the salmon putchers used earlier this century in Scotland and on the Severn River. The main advantage of these traps was that smaller fish could be caught, there was little danger of the fish swimming away from them as in the case with a net and they were relatively easy to maintain.

The traps themselves would be made from willow 'withies' that had been cultivated for at least three years. Today there are withy beds in the Southwest that produce willow withies in white, buff and brown. White withies are produced by stripping the bark away, the buff has been boiled with its bark on and then the bark then removed and the browns are the withies complete with bark. In the early medieval period the majority of the basket work was functional and there was no need to add extra work to the making of fish traps and baskets: brown withies would have been the most common. To weave the withies they would need to be soaked so as to make them pliable, they would need to be left to soak overnight to enable the surface water to penetrate to the pith of each withy.

Ha! My laurel taught me this withy stuff. I am also downloading the Rule of St. Benedict so that I can see if he really reflects on this stuff.

Dark Age fish-traps
The number of early medieval fish-traps known in Britain is increasing. In Essex, a series of large, timber fish-traps around the coastline were long regarded as medieval, but two have now produced mid-Saxon radiocarbon dates of the 7th–9th centuries. The traps are in the Blackwater Estuary and near Bradwell-on-Sea.

Meanwhile, up the Thames in London, a mid-Saxon ‘wharf’ originally thought to be part of King Offa’s palace at Chelsea, and given wide national publicity last year (see BA, September), has on further examination been re-interpreted – as yet another Saxon fish-trap.

Essex Archaeology, an annual round-up of archaeological news from Essex, is now available free from the county council’s archaeology section (send an A4 SAE). From British Archeology: Issue 31 in February 1998. I need to get that.

Thwarted!

Marine World hasn't returned my calls. I need to find a camel poop soon!

Camel Poo

In the course of my research, I have found camel poo may have been used for bead slip when doing lampwork. I need a bit of camel poo. I need enough to make slip of different consistencies and see if I can make a bead slip. What to do?

Marine World Six Flags has camel rides. I bet they have camel poo. Tomorrow, I call and see if I can talk to the camel trainer.

Bags!

Shhhhhh....

I don't think he looks and it is almost done. I am doing a bag for a friend. Today, I incised the leather and stained it a bit. I ran out of brown dye as my dye had tipped over in the storage container. I am glad I am using plastic storage containers now.

The first thing I did was make the basics of the pouch. I could get pretty far without carving the image. I created a simple pattern and cut the pieces out. I found there were a few ways people were doing these but I haven't found any local museums that might have something I need in their catalog. I am going to see if I can do that later on today.

like the one I made for Beccabutt's Heraldry Flash Card Set. IThe pattern is simple. It is a kidney bag, much created a prototype of the pouch so she could work with her flash cards and carry them around with her. You might as well get *something* for learning to be a herald. Thank goodness I found someone to foist it off on. I am thrilled to go back to simple yelling and looking up names. Anyhow, I started with a basic kidney pattern. Notice the two pieces of paper? Ok, for the top of the pouch you put both together and cut that. For the bottom, just the rectangle. I also added about 2 inches between the two pattern pieces on this pouch because I plan on adding a strip of leather to make the pouch roomy.

The leather is a light, vegetable tanned hide. I got it from a local supplier and got a half way decent, cheap half. I think this is 8-9 ounce leather. I cut the pieces and even put the rivets in the back of the top layer. I used solid copper rivets because I know how to pound them over and they look spiffy to me. I am not fond of pop rivets because I made my own armor. Those rivets fall off all the time.


The next step is to make a cartoon. I am going to show you the steps with the West Kingdom Populace badge.

I blew the drawing up on my computer and printed it out. I took another piece of paper over the top, taped it to my window and then traced just the outline. Here is a version with the West Kingdom populace badge. You can see the tracing on the window. I don't have a light box. I have a great window with a kick butt view. Anyhow, I taped it up to the window and traced the outline.


Notice that I didn't do a lot of detail. Too much detail might have pulled away from my final image. I will be painting the image part after the pouch is dry. With more detailed drawings, I make the cartoon part a lot less detailed than the original drawing. All of my details and shading can be done with tools or paint.

So, here is the West Kingdom demi sun!








The next step is easy. You just get the leather damp. You want somewhere between damp and wet. I take a clean rag and dampen it with very warm water. I gently wring it so that it is not drippy. Then I brush the leather once, twice, three times. You will see three distinct color changes in the wet leather. I find that the third color change is perfect for my hand. Your mileage may differ. When the leather is wet, secure the cartoon onto the damp leather with tape or clamps. Then take a fine, blunt object and trace your design. I have a stylus now that I got for a dollar at a craft store. I have usually used ball point pens that have run out of ink. Don't use one with ink because sometimes you draw through the paper as it gets a little damp. Oh and use heavy paper to transfer the design. Good quality printer paper is perfect.



When your design is transfered on, remove the cartoon and look for touch up areas to clean it up for the next process. Notice the leather is still a bit wet? Once the transfer is complete, you can take a break. I wouldn't advise it if you haven't gotten the whole transfer done as things jostle. I hate tracing a design and having it off center a bit. Plus, you end up having to rewet things and start over. So, now is the time to take a break if you need one.






Once your cartoon is on the leather, you can gently carve it. I use an exacto knife. I prefer the heavier one. It doesn't skip around in my hand like a lighter one. You can also use a swivle knife that is made for leather or a razor blade or sharp knife. Just drag the blade with a light and level pressure. Do not cut through the leather. You are just scoring the surface. I went a tad too deep here.







Here is a shot of me tooling a bit of the design. I learned how to do this by using the end of a nail. Use the flat end to create a flat planer. I do both sides of each cut. You may need to rewet the leather to get it to bevel. That is what you are doing here, just beveling the carving.















It takes a bit to level each cut out. Don't worry if they are not pretty and perfect . I just start lightening the pressure.

Everything looks icky and dented in this picture, and it was. The good thing is that the tools smooth the skin gently as you go.




Below is the finished design for my new trifold pouch!

Eeep

Sorry about the delay in posting. I will post the Christmas post for Susan later tonight. She needs to see the clean sewing area!


The collar is mostly done. The bag is mostly done. I had a personal issue that sucked up a huge amount of my time. There will be pictures over the next few days, including some of my bistre.

Avoiding!

I don't know what it is, but I have never been fond of doing split stitch. Plus, my embroidery is not nearly as good as it was in my 20s. I know more now, but my eyes are going and I can feel it. Hee. I am old and shall do leather work! Anyhow, this is the collar for the bliaut.

When I originally did the design, I really liked it. It was a combination of simple and flashy. I took it off of a couple of manuscripts. I did not like the way they combined and set it aside for a few days. Then I started working on the dots. They are two different sizes which is a little unusual and why I chose this design. If I were to do it again, I think I would a more eclesiastical look. I think this collar will stay on the dress for a while and then be retired to a t-tunic. This is another example of the process of making mistakes.


I am definitely more fond of it now. I am trying to keep in mind I have not embroidered for nearly 6 years. My stitch tension is good but my attention to detail is not, and I am going to need this when I work on this dress. I am going to finishe the collar, get another bit of that silk/linen blend for the collar and leave the sleeves plain for now. Let's see how I feel about it when it is done. I am feeling a strong tug to redo the piece in wool or a paisley leaf pattern I found in another drawing.

FINI!!!

I did it! I finished the pouch.

I really like it. Really! It is fabulous. It isn't period and I am not going to pretend it is at the level I want things to be at. But, it is so cute! It turned out just like it was in my head. I also got to use some of the Norse dragon buttons I got several 12th Nights ago. I was in line waiting and a woman introduced herself. Her name was Diana Listmaker. What a silly name! She was very nice. This pouch was born with a story of how I met her.

Progress So Far

What do you think? Should the running stitch go on the straps too? I am inclined not to add running stitch in red on it. So far, I really like it.

Alms bag?

I started working on an alms bag. It definitely is smaller than what I wanted.

I needed a leather bag to carry my stuff in if I am not going to be wearing a belt. Alms bags seem to be the right thing. I thought about a cute little embroidered number. I am very hard on my clothes. I am as attentive to my clothing as an average 8 year old boy playing in a creek. What the heck. I have to stay busy and I need something that does look period.

I have decided what I really need is a good bag to wear all the time and a bigger and more organized bag for small crafts and things you always need at events. I also want to make a new feast bag. I liked my feast bag better than a basket because it was 100% washable and it was perfect to throw dirty dishes in.

Back to the alms bag. I wanted to use black leather and red linen. I have a cherry red linen that has a weight of 7.1 ounces per yard. I am going to be using that for a nice viking underdress. I thought the alms bag would be great as a later project. You know, after I made the dress. I couldn't wait. I cut off a fat quarter to work with. I have been studying lots of pictures and I was looking for a leather bag. I have zero documentation on this style in leather. There are serveral extant pieces that are silk or linen with embroidery in this general shape. This is a perioid piece as far as I know.

I drew out the design on some taped together pieces of printer paper. I drew a back with a lid and a front. This was a stupid mistake. In my first illustration, you can see that I cut the back and the front as two seperate pieces. When I looked again at the illustrations, I realized I would not get the crisp, perfectly pointed corners on the bag. The second illustration is how I should have cut the bag. It is the way I will do the next one.

I cut one piece out of red linen and one out of black garment leather. I then sewed up the linen as a lining and the leather as the outer. Then I ripped it out. What the heck. This was going to be flashy perioid piece and not something great because I already made it too small, out of leather and I messed up the design. I sewed each lining to each leather piece instead. I had an idea.

After sewing them, I pressed them and then sewed the bottoms together. The design may be wrong but it won't be horrible. Notice that the sides are not sewn together? That is because I am going to sew the sides together with red thread for a more striking effect.

It turned out just about the way I envisioned it so far. At this point I am pleased with the effect. The strap is externally attached with room for pilgrim's badges. I have stashed away a few so I am very excited about sewing them onto the bag.


This is what it looks like folded over? See that weird thing on the bag? It is a pewter wreath of roses. I think it used to be on a scented candle holder. The candle holder broke a few years ago and I haven't thrown away that pewter thing. It is one of those things you constantly find in your junk drawer and go 'wtf? What is that and why do I have it?' I stuck it on the bag because for some strange reason, that thing had migrated onto my desk. Obviously, that muse of freaky SCA projects is busy reorganizing my house.

I haven't been blogging

But, I have been working. I am sorting fabric and just did a bunch of heraldry stuff. I went to the meeting and I went to the collegium. I took Aurelia, my deputy with me. Two Aurelias! Ha! What is the world coming to? I have been knee deep in research and heraldry.


I have sewn up everything but the hems on the three dresses. Here are some pictures of them outside under the walnut tree. I really like the flow of the walnut dyed dress on the far right. On the far left is the plain, natural silk. The pattern is my own. I have included a rough bitmap but I don't think it is a very good drawing. It is a pretty basic tunic with gores.










I think many folks in SCA use a similar tunic design for the under dress. What is extant is mostly just little fragments of weave or trim. Trim helps keep fabric. People are apt to cut off the end of a sleeve and stick it in a trunk for later use. It has given me a few ideas on what is extant and what is not. We keep preaching this 'there is no extant 12th century garb' but there are a few rare pieces and loads of fragments. You can tell a lot from a fragment. One thing I have learned from patterning is that no two people do it exactly the same way. The big thing is achieving the look you want. If you have that planned out in advance, you won't have serious issues.

One thing we have not found with extant pieces is the curved armpit as in my pattern. Extant pieces tend to have diagonal gores or triangles in the armpit. That could easily be done on this cutting diagram by taking the triangular gore out of the corner between the sleeve extensions and the armpit. Squaring off the arm of the dress would be valuable too. Why didn't I do this? I like to take advantage of the bias of the fabric. That kind of stretchiness allows me to wear the same dress, fighting or not. My latissimus dorsi muscle tends to change shape when I am fighting. This has caused me problems in the past. I will make garb and it won't fit because of the muscle. That happened to me during my "Year of the Norse" clothing scare. 8 dresses, two of which still fit.

The sleeves are plenty long and it seems I can get on with lining the cloak and making the over dress. I have been very intersted in doing sleeve treatments from Chartres on my aqua silk, but I am not sure which ones to do. I had better get on it soon.

accessories!

In my quest to be more period, I have been working on some accessories for my costumes. I picked up a bunch of garment leather to do details on various projects, but it was also cheaper than the half hide I bought. I can use the garment leather to make patterns, much like a dressmaker would use muslin. I know I need a tough, leather bag for my every day items. I plan on making an alms bag for money. What is the difference?

Wallets, pouches and purses were used for personal items. It all depends on the time period, where you are going and what your social class is, of course. I am a French Courtier or a nun, depending on how old I feel that day. I have finally decided. There are days when a Dominican Habit and the 13th century do not fit. It is then when you are a 12th century French Courtier. (Not courtesan. I am merely a minor hanger-0n in court.)

I found an interesting 12th century bag for sale that featured a kidney shaped flap. You can see them at http://www.by-the-sword.com/acatalog/images/gh0055.jpg or at http://www.jekylthehidesmith.com/12thCenturyWallets.htm for reference. The picture is lifted from jekylthehidsmith.com but I am giving them a plug. I found a couple of original examples that I am having a devil of a time finding again. It seems that in leather, the bag with the kidney shaped flap was the stylish thing to wear. Fancy alms bags were a must. I will need both. I am also an organization freak so I will be adding tiny wallets for things like money, contacts, medical info and my cell phone (which will be on vibrate at vents.)



I started by creating an outline. It seemed like the illumination pages and the extant pieces did not have a base like we find in a modern purse. These were wallety-pouches. They generally have a strap with a buckle closure or a beaded tie. Some were one points to attach to the belt and some were two. I really prefer the two as is shown in the jekyl piece, but most of the drawings I found were single straps. I wrote the purveyors to see if they had an idea of where they got the design.

My first try was going to be a single point with a simple buckle closure since I have a gazillion buckles left over from the boxes of buttons. I pulled out a brass one that I figured I could live without and that looks period. I took some polish to it and cleaned it up and wow, it looks great. Huzzah for recycling. I basically whipped it up to see how the thing would look if I were to make another. The blue on blue is tough to photograph.

What would I do differently? I would edge the flap. I would also line the final version. I think two points are necessary with this weight leather. I would do a final version of a more durable leather. I would also double over and edge stitch the straps. I also did a curved bottom which is kind of silly. I didn't see examples of that. I think outside stitching or a pounded folded edge seam would be more fun too. All in all, the pattern is only about 1/2 inch off. Of course, if I were smart I would just buy one.

Christmas...

I have a huge case of the I wants today.

Aureelia's Christmas List:

My own bottle capper.
Some wood.
A new shield (GREGGIE!)

Anything on this page:
http://www.revivalclothing.com/catpages/talbot/tal_buckles.htm


Books I need (or think I need.):

Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology of a mass grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461 (Hardcover) by Anthea Boylston (Editor), Christopher Knusel (Editor), Veronica Fiorato


More to come...

Three Colors

Well, not as happy as I had hoped. You can see differences. I think we know now that I will never be a professional. THEY AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE PALE! I am doing something wrong. I have to do more research. Oh, it looks so easy on paper, doesn't it?

Left to right: Walnut with Alum mordant on silk, plain raw silk, fermented cochineal on silk.

Still, they aren't suckage. The walnut is a pretty color. I do like it. It would look smashing under a green or gold wool dress. I have a lot of sewing to do and a lot of thinking over how to get all of this a great deal darker than it is.

kirtle

Dear God I am fat! Whoa, those things in the front are falling fast. Remind me to wear a bra. It never hits you until times like this, does it? I am getting broader by the year. Yeesh. Hey, but that can be fixed.

Let's look at the kirtle. It is 100% silk, dyed for 2 hours in fermented cochineal. The mordant was alum. This can go under a cote or a bliaut. The color does show up in a few illuminations, but I am going to check with Master James. I think they are faded.

The length is good and the arms rauched a lot. HUGE amounts. Maybe too much. I think it is just a tad too bulky. Here is an arm shot. All the seams are frenched and except for a tiny part under the armpits, they are perfect. The tightness around the arms is weird, but I think I can live with it.



Maybe I should trim them? What do you think?

The color in the top picture is more realistic to what the dress looks like. It is a sort of raspberry. This sleeve picture is over exposed and I lightened it so you can see how much is bunched up on my forearm.

Walnuts

I began the walnut dye a few days ago. I steeped the hulls three days, until it was a whimpy coffee color. I then strained the mixture and peeled off the hulls and boiled them for 2 hours. The dye vat took on a murky coffee color, or deep roasted bone beef stock. This is the silk right after I turned it. It has been in 5 minutes.

In the meantime, I boiled five yards of silk with an alum mordant solution. I am told this will be more mahogany. Dying looks much easier on the page that it is in reality. I love this part of the research because I find so many things are NOT things you can simply follow the instructions on and have it come out perfect each time. I am turning the cloth every fifteen minutes as it boils away in the vat. It is actually at a very slow simmer and I keep a polyester net bag full of hulls in there to deepen the color.

In the meantime, it is lampwork, stewing the dried and recently fermented cochineal to see if it can do red or once fermented always mulberry, cutting out the plain silk kirtle and sewing up the pink kirtle. I have learned my french seams and I believe good material helps you learn. Silk needs the added seams. It prevents it from raveling. Now, the neckline is a problem I am not quite sure what to do. The various instructions seem at odds and it is hard to french. So, I do it my way. Go me. This is the kirtle or under dress.

Oh! It has been an hour.
How about a picture on our progress with that dye vat? It is darker, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I am disappointed. Why isn't it super brown?? This is silk! It should be dying a very dark color. It isn't bad though, is it? This is probably the final color and it isn't awful by any means.

I will go back to pinning the pink kirtle.

Bumpy beads

This is my first try at raised bumps. I still have control issues and need practice, but my cousin Jeffy has gladly taken all my old beads off my hands. I am doing custom beads for her for Christmas. It is a fun idea because she can motivate me to do what suits her, which is also a direction for me to practice.

The evil eye project is basically done. I am going to do a couple of bracelets so I will be making more evil eye beads, but not right now. I really need to learn and perfect dot techniques of all sorts and raised bumps are a big deal.

I am also on the search for nice wool and lining for my new clothing. The kirtles are coming along nicely and I should have pictures up later. I am going to french the seams, but only because it is good when working with silk.

Pink Tunic

Eh.. well this is another thing that will end up in Gold Key. The good thing? I used a bunch of scraps except for the trim. The black is a washed silk twill bordered with a black braid. The tunic is sportswear so it will be perfect to loan, when I get to that point. It will be sturdy and wash well in cold water.

It is nice and uniform. The washed silk came from a skirt that I tore the gusset on a few years ago. I stashed it to use for trim. I did the same with a pair of dark jade green pants. I plan on using them later but with a linen dress I have in mind. It kept me out of trouble!

On another note, I gave all my old lampwork beads to my cousin Jennifer. She has ideas and I am going to make the beads and give them to her. Then, she can order what she wants. She wants green, blue and red cubes. They will be very small. She also wants some beads with texture. It was nice because everything she wanted was period.

Dying!

I have been going a little nuts because the dye vat of indigo is stalled out. I need to put the whole mess in a metal container and warm it for a while. I don't want to because it is going to smell awful. I did get a huge container of soda ash from the pool supply place. I cannot say it was cheaper, but I think it may be.

Instead of indigo, today is cochineal. I am working on the colors and seeing what will come of what I am doing. I started with an old sideless made of unknown material. I decided to use this as my test while I wait for one cotton broadcloth to dye and some silk to mordant. Alum is the mordant and I am doing an amonia rinse on the unknown fabric. I mean seriously, no big deal if this doesn't look great.

I started with my dye pot which was 4 ounces of ground bugs that were fermented for about 2 weeks. I intended to dye things within a day but my schedule got busy and I needed the big pot for other things. I plunked my disgusting blend of bugs into a strainer and kept all their nasty little bodies for more dying later.

I can see they will have more life in them. The instructions for cochineal often mention they can be reused. They just have to be dried throughly and bagged. They will not be as strong, but as you can see here, they have plent of life left in them. Or dye that is, since they are especially dead after having been pried from their host prickly pear, dried, ground, boiled, fermented and drained.

One of my problems is this is a late period dye that I will be using on early period clothing. I am not too concerned as that only will be of concern to very informed folks. I am going to be embroidering on scraps of this dye lot for other dresses and probably will put a bit of wool embrodiery on the under dress I am doing for this particular piece.

I am also using rubber gloves to handle the material. This stuff is really chapping and drying out my hands. I think it is the alum. I am also handling very hot material as I am treating it twice. The fabric is simmered in the alum mordant and then I am swapping it right into the vat of cochineal.

Here is the fabric in the vat.

Notice the deep, rose color? This is after about 10 minutes in the cochineal solution. It is developing and interesting color that I am very fond of, so I couldn't be more pleased.

This particular piece is two different fabrics. They both appear to be a cotton/polyester blend. I am not sure how well it will take the dye, but that is what experiments are about. The colors really changed by the time I took them out of the vat. You can see the difference in the colors of the two fabrics.








Then I put it through an amonia rinse. This is to set and alter the final color. I did this in the washing machine and now it is showing every little mistake in my dying. You really have to get in there and turn everything and rotate the fabric for even coverage. The end result wasn't quite as pretty as what I pulled out of the dye vat. You can see the mistakes and it isn't nearly as dark.

It isn't horrible though and it has far more character. The distinction between the fabrics is blatant though. I will take pictures of it on me after I find something to put on the sides.

Evil Eyes!

I found cute documentation on these. Ward off the evil eye. I sat down with my torch and made 12 the first night. I am going to make more to give to my feast helpers as a thank you. They ranged as trade items between India and Denmark it seems. They were very popular in Turkey and still are. Plus, this is a great way for me to learn my rudiments.