String Notes

I really want to go to this year’s Textilforum in Germany in November: the topics this time are right in my area. But I can’t. You could still go, though: the call for papers has been extended to August 7.

Whether you can head off to Germany or not, I have something else for you: Laura Thode and I are back at work getting the Complex Weavers archaeological textiles study group off the ground. We had a successful kickoff meeting at the CW meeting in Reno earlier this month, with nine people in attendance, and we have draft bylaws submitted for approval.

Full participation is limited to Complex Weavers members (but it’s worth it for the journal, let alone the study groups), but currently the email list is open to all. We anticipate having our newsletters and member contributions available to the public, much like the former medieval textiles study group. Please join us.

The 2017 European Textile Forum will be held in Mayen, Germany, November 6-12, 2017. The theme this year is silk use and manufacture.

I wish I could attend again; I haven’t been to a Textile Forum since the first one in Eindhoven. But my personal travel time and funds are going to a Viking excursion to Finland, Sweden, and Iceland in August, so not this time either. (Not that I’m complaining, mind!)

The Textile Forum is an unparalleled opportunity for meeting other serious fiber re-enactors and historians. Please check it out.

I have a paper on tablet weaving in the proceedings volume from the first and second conferences, Ancient Textiles, Modern Science, alongside many fascinating articles, if you are interested in the topic but unable to attend.

On this day in 2013, the velocikittenraptors came home. World, meet Norathar and Cawti.

Tiny, TINY velocikittenraptors!

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Cawti aspires to be a stuffed animal, and she is always ready for her close-up.

Norathar is hard to photograph, because she is always in motion, and usually on top of anything she can climb.

They are both utterly wonderful cats, and I’m glad they came home with me four years ago.

Spies! Shipwrecks! Crown jewels! And a yellow silk dress…

From the inestimable Sara Lamb: “A master craftsman is not one who makes no mistakes, a master is one who can repair mistakes so no one else knows they happened.”

I think this is working again!

I’ve been traveling a lot, and otherwise swamped, and hadn’t gotten back to fixing the last bits of site moving chaos.

Okay, honestly, I hadn’t noticed the bit preventing me from logging in until I tried to wish the velocikittenraptors a happy third birthday. And then it took another couple weeks to get the chance to sit down and fix the problem.

I can maybe even tell you all about my new loom! And travel photos, and and and.

blog sits empty for more months, as tumbleweeds blow through

A petition to save a textile museum (and here’s a great deal more info from Katrin):

The Textile Museum of Lyon is threatened with closure, which undoubtedly constitutes a major asset catastrophe. The indifference of the city of Lyon and that of the Ministry of Culture and Communication make possible a scenario that remains for many inconceivable. The Textile Museum of Lyon is one of the most prestigious and important (if not most) institution in the world dedicated to textiles in terms of quality as quantity. It represents the textile heritage of France and is an inexhaustible source for research as well as a place of inspiration for the current textile design. There must be opened for the good of the city, the region and the influence of France.

Can you relay this petition: https://www.change.org/p/madame-fleur-pellerin-3-rue-de-valois-non-à-la-fermeture-du-musée-des-tissus-de-lyon. Thanks for your help and your support.

Audrey Mathieu

There are a couple days left to download Woven into the Earth. I downloaded my copy promptly, but forgot to mention it here.

Also from Katrin, some other free archaeological goodies from Estonia.

Look at that! A great heap of new frame looms! Those are part of my preparations for the Fiber ArtsFest to be held in Huntingdon, PA, on September 18 and 19.

What am I teaching?

This!

And this!

And this!

And this!

Look like fun? You still have time to sign up for classes.

Two years ago today we brought home a pair of curious creatures.

They were so very tiny!

Continue reading →

I’ve been saving things to post, some for rather a long time, and I’d like to get them cleaned up and out of my way.

• Pennsic Fiber Arts Pavilion: For those of you in the SCA, Fiadnata is organizing a pavilion at Flaming Gryphon’s camp in Block W-07 for all of Pennsic. It will be available for all Fiber Artisans to use for gatherings, classes, and general socialization. (Facebook page)
• Archaeologia Cantiana Online (Kent Archaeological Society).
• Via Carolyn Priest-Dorman, Ancient
  Monuments Laboratory Reports online. This is a two-step process. First, browse the British National Archives to find a title of interest. The link will tell you that the report is not available online. But don’t despair: Go to google search and in the search box put:

  site:services.english-heritage.org.uk

  and the title of the report you’re seeking. The PDF should be the first search result. (You can also assemble the URL using the publication year and index number, but I’m lazy.)

• More from Carolyn Priest-Dorman: a new blog featuring write-ups of her textile research.
• From Grace Hatton, a series of photos of a Sami weaver from the Norskfolkemuseum collection. The next link will take you through the series.
• Via Christina Duffy on Twitter, these images of the seal tag attaching the Great Seal of Henry III to the Magna Carta (1225; BL Add MS 46144).
• More Sami weaving, this time videos. I obtained the link from Nancy Ayton.
• Arelate Studio has a new website, and all of Nancy Spies’ books, including Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance, are available as PDFs.
• There’s a new book on the tablet-woven stole and maniple from Arlon. (I haven’t seen it yet.)

That should keep you busy for a while, until I get the next batch organized, or perhaps even do some real blogging.

I’m only writing this once.