Finding my Focus

It seems that more has been happening for me in the past 3 years of my A&S journey than had happened in the previous 20 years combined. I have always been passionate, committed and hard working when it came to the arts and sciences. I also always put  research at the center point of all my projects, so looking back I have to wonder what has changed for me? I don't have to look far to find the answer.
One conversation I had changed everything for me. That conversation was the one that helped me find my focus, and once I found out what I should focus on, everything else about my A&S work immediately fell into place and the path I needed to take became very clear to me. The funny thing was, I never knew that not having a focus was the problem that was holding me back.
Many years ago I asked my good friend-and Medieval Aunt-Aurelia to help me find someone to apprentice to in the SCA. I wanted to take my sewing and embroidery to the next level and I felt stuck. I didn't know how to get deeper into research and being self taught I felt I wasn't getting any better on my own anymore. This was before Facebook and I was really discouraged by the Yahoo groups, I hated asking questions on them since there were always some unhelpful people who dominated the group. I was at the time more active in Acre than I was in the SCA and I didn't know many East Kingdom Laurels. Aurelia and I though we should focus on my work on Middle Eastern garb and we were not able to come up with anyone. We decided to let the matter rest and the both of us would keep our eyes and ears open and we knew the right person would eventually be made known to us. At the time my son was just a toddler and then we moved to a new state and I wound up taking a few steps back from medievalism.
About 5 or 6 years ago I really was able to become more active in A&S again and I went to a University event that my Auntie Aurelia was also at. She introduced me to Lady Caterina and told her I was looking for guidance on my A&S work. That day I had attended my very first Athena's thimble meeting and I confessed to her that I had been too nervous to panel the embroidered favor I had made. She made me feel comfortable enough to show it to her and she gave me some very nice feedback and encouraged me to panel it in the future.
After that first meeting our paths crossed often, and the more I talked with Caterina the more I found that we had a very similar approach to A&S and even though she was more skilled and experienced than me, I found it so easy to talk to her about it. I found myself often seeking her advice, and it was her advice that she gave me about 3 years ago that changed everything for me.
We were at a New Years Eve party and we were talking about the first A&S project and my problem with deciding on what to do next. I was unsure if I should work on a garb project or an embroidery project. She suggested I should focus on my fiber arts, She said that was my strongest art and my biggest passion. That statement made so much sense, yet was not something I could have seen myself. I was still thinking about this conversation for days afterwards and suddenly I had a very clear plan in place. I had several A&S project ideas as well as classes that I could teach based on each project. I had always struggled with the fact that I liked to do so many different crafts, but when I looked at it from the perspective as a fiber artist, they didn't seem that different at all. Suddenly spinning, sewing, embroidery and knitting were all just branches of the main focus of fiber.
It was not long before I had decided that my next project would be the period fiber study project, which was really more of a research paper that had some handspun and woven visual aids. I also realized I was so much more confident about my fiber work and it was so much easier to talk about it to other people. Once I realized that fiber study was at the core of what I did it all became so clear.
I knew that I had found the teacher for me, but was I the student for her? She had only recently become a Laurel and I didn't want to push the idea of her taking me on as a student. It took another year of getting to know each other for both of us to realized it was the right thing for both of us to do. I could not be happier with the decision and I feel studying under Padrona Caterina is exactly what I needed to move forward. Together I think we will do some great things.

Linen Fiber Part I

My newest Arts and Science project is a study of Medieval Fibers. My documentation will be a history of where and when the fiber was used and also how it was processed. I will have fibers, spun samples and woven samples to accompany all of the fibers I cover in the documentations. I will post about these fibers as I work on them. The original motivation for this project was to make a display of period fibers and I figured I might as well also make it an Arts and Science project. It has been a great learning experience and I have found out some really cool information. But of course the most fun is to work with the fibers.

 

So here is Flax which when it is woven will magically become Linen.

 

I would like to process my own small quantity of flax from scratch someday, but that will be another Arts and Science project entirely. For now I am using some commercially processed flax I purchased from Halcyon Yarn.

 Singles

 

I purchased a pound of it and since it is a large quantity I have decided to spin it on my Ladybug wheel. I am wet spinning it, which means I am dipping my fingers in water to smooth out the fiber after I have drafted it. I am so surprised at how thin I am able to spin it. Spinning flax is quite a different experience from spinning wool. It feels like straw and you would think that it would be difficult to join the fibers to the spun single but it is actually pretty easy. I have been really enjoying working with it.

 

Singles ready for plying

 

Plied yarn with a quarter for reference

 

 

plied yarn is 17 WPI. It needs to be scoured then dyed.

 

 

I am going to set aside some of the unspun flax, along with 25 yards of spun linen and a small woven sample to go with the Arts and Science project. I plan to dye the rest of it up using synthetic dye (natural dye do not work as well on linen) and then weave up a small plaid table cloth.

 

I still have some more to spin then on to the dying and weaving. Stay tuned!

 

Hand Spun Embroidery Floss Part I

Last year at the Maryland sheep and wool festival I picked up a pound of some beautiful Shetland combed top wool. I have processed some raw fleece but I wanted a really nice wool that I could use to make embroidery floss with. I thought Shetland would be especially good for this as the fiber has a long staple length and with a good wool you can spin it really fine.

I have decided that I would indeed make hoods from the Black Welsh Mountain sheep hand woven fabric I had left over from my Fleece to Flock project that had to be re worked. I will go ahead and finish the fabric as I had intended to for the dress. I am going to make an open front hood for myself and hood for my husband that is decorated with embroidery. The embroidery will be done from my own handspun.

I want to try doing a gradient dying on the skeins. I have a kit with all natural dyes. The plan is to mordant all the skeins at once and then make a strong dye bath of a color. Dye the first skein in it. Then dye a second, and then a third. If I work it right each of the three skeins should be lighter shade of the same color.

 

 

The original combed top. It came from The Little Barn vendor at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival

 

the same wool out of the bag.

 

Lots of skeins!! I mad small 10 yard skeins to use as samples for the Arts and Science display and the larger 25 yard skeins will be what I actually use to embroidery with. I am sure it will last me a long time and be used for many projects.

 

 

I took a really great spinning class taught by Nelda Davis and in the class she told us a great way to scour our yarn after spinning. You fill a pot with warm water, add enough Orvus paste so that the water feels slippery. Add the yarn and heat the water to almost boiling for about 20-40 minutes, gently moving yarn around 2-3 times. turn off the heat then let cool in the pot. Spin the yarn dry and let it hang dry. The yarn comes out really great looking and completely clean. I thought it wise to do this if I intended to dye it to make absolutely sure there was no dirt or grease left in the yarn.

 

I have a pot dedicated to dying. NEVER, ever dye in pots you prepare food in. Since I have a reserved pot for dying I also use it for scouring yarn. It is a very heavy stainless steel pot.

 

doesn't that look yummy? At least I know it is clean.

 

Check back to find out how they dying comes out!

 

Soay Fleece Part I

 

The Soay sheep breed is one of the oldest sheep breeds going back at least 4000 years to the island of Soay off the west coast of Scotland. It is a very rare breed of sheep and I have spent at least 2 years trying to find a fleece to spin. Last year at the NY sheep and wool festival I got to meet 2 fantastic Soay sheep and their shepherds.

 

This handsome fellow is Aragorn. He was so beautiful and friendly!! I was able to pet him and he even let me touch his very impressive horns!!! He was a bottle fed sheep so he is really used to humans touching him. This picture was taken with my old crappy camera and the beautiful color of his fleece does not at all come through in this picture. He lives at Cairn O' Mohr farm and his fantastic shepherds were able to hook me up with 3lbs of fantastic wool from their flock.

It is interesting to note that Soay do not need to be shorn since they shed their wool.

 

 

I was a little nervous when I got the wool in the mail. The fiber is BEAUTIFUL and has hardly any vegetable matter in it, but the locks are so small! I guess I will be carding this wool and not combing it. Still I think it will make something really wonderful.

 

Here is a few ounces after it has been washed. There is a bit of scurf on some of the locks (a type of dandruff some sheep get), but it is not so bad. I have a few more things to finish up before I start spinning this but I can hardly wait. Even though I have 3 lbs of this wool I plan on spinning most of it on a drop spindle. Since it is a very period breed it will be an excellent wool to bring to events and demos where people can watch me spin it.

 

I took a little bit of fiber and spun it right from the clean locks. It was not difficult at all, the wool is really "sticky" so I don't think it will be difficult to spin up even with the tiny lock size. There are a few of the locks next to the spindle so you can see how small they are. It is all part of the fun of working with different breeds of sheep.

 

I will put aside some unspun locks, 25 yards of spun yarn, and a small woven sample for the arts and science project. I plan to use some to weave up some Viking leg wraps for my son, and I will decide what else to make based on how much yarn I am able to spin from this 3 lb bag. If I spin it all on the drop spindle I will have a long time to decide :)

 

A&S display at Pennsic 42

I really wanted to post about this right after it happened because I was afraid I wouldn't remember much of the experience. It is almost 1 year later and I still so happy about he experience. I have always been very hesitant to do any kind of A&S display or completion. Like so many other artisans I take the negative comments I receive too much to heart. I didn't think I would have the strength to sit there and take negative reviews of my work. I was pleasantly surprised to have only received encouragement and constructive suggestions on my project. I had some really awesome conversations with people I would have never met if I had not displayed my work. I think I spent the entire time talking to people about my project.

This past winter some friends and I went to the East Kingdom Kings and Queens A&S champions event in Dragonship Haven and I was really inspired. While most of the displayed seemed so beyond what I was capable of, I was extremely interested in the artisan who eventually became the Queens champion. She had done a study of how the spinning and plying direction changes the appearance of the final fabric. I was able to understand everything she was talking to me about, and even though her spinning and weaving skill far exceeded my own, I thought that the work I was doing on the fleece to frock project was something I could easily share with others. It wasn't long after this that I decided to do the A&S display at Pennsic.

The biggest highlight for me was talking to the King of Artemisia for some time about spinning. He is quite a spinner himself and showed me the fantastic items he was wearing from his own home spun. Some of which was done with Navajo Churro sheep which are native to his lands. After our conversation he presented me with his coin and I treasure it.

Another highlight was having my display featured in the Pennsic Independent. It was a real honor. When I initially talked to the reporter I did not realize they were from the Independent and she came back later after seeing all the rest of the displays and said she thought my project was a great representation of what we do as medievalist.

The greatest thing about this whole experience is getting to meet all the fantastic weavers from the Middle kingdom. I am really a very novice weaver and learned to weave to be able to do this project. Not knowing anyone else who has done this type of project before has been difficult for me, since I have made a lot of mistakes and hit a lot of dead ends. It was really great to talk to some people who knew about weaving and who were very encouraging of the project I was undertaking.

I also have a new perspective on A&S displays and competitions after being involved in it. I always thought the "science" part of "Arts and Science" was what we would think of today as science (chemistry, astronomy, alchemy etc) but now I see the science a little different. My display I think falls under "science" because it is a study of how a dress is made. My display was not about how nicely I spin, or how beautiful my embroidery is. It is what has to be done to take a raw sheep fleece and make it into a dress. I initially felt self conscious about my display because I thought it wasn't "pretty" and now I see that my contribution is not about the "art" of dress making but the science. I never really made the distinction before and it actually came after receiving the only really negative response I got, which was that my spinning wasn't very nice.

That comment really hurt, but I totally agree, this spinning is not even close to my best spinning and it has everything to do with my incompetence with picking a good fleece. It is one of the most important lessons that came out of my project. The quality of the fleece will directly effect the quality of the spinning and the final woven fabric. It seems like something I should have realized before, but I didn't realize HOW much the spinning would be effected until I got a second batch of raw wool that was in much better condition. The second batch made such better yarn than the first.

If there was someone who walked away from my display and their only thought was how crappy my spinning was, then I feel like I didn't present what my project was really about, and when I put this display together I didn't really think about this. I will definitely change my approach the next time I display.

 

 

my very brown display :) on the left is the 1st 4 yards of woven fabric. The little swatches in the middle are samples of : 1)woven fabric, 2) fulled fabric, 3)fulled fabric that was then stretched, 4) sample had nap raised with brushed and cut down to add softness. On the right side is the hand cards I used to prep fiber, washed wool and spun fiber.

I demonstrated spinning on a period spindle to help illustrate just how much work it takes to get 4 yards of fabric. 

what I do best: talk!

I don't think I stopped smiling all day.

Showing the finished fiber sample to the Pennsic Independent reporter.

 

Actually my next display will be very different in many ways. The biggest difference is that this is not longer a fleece to frock project. When I displayed this at Pennsic 42 I only had 4 yards of finished fabric and hoped to get another 4 yards to finish the dress. I had not yet spun up the second fleece I had bought, so I didn't realize how dramatic difference the quality of the fleece would make in the spinning. I continued and spun it all up and then when I wove it I only got 1 yard more since I messed up when I warped the loom. I didn't want to get a third batch of wool and then have 3 different quality fiber in one dress. When I started I thought 1 fleece would be enough for 1 dress for a very short person like myself. Another great lesson I learned from this project. When you use more than one fleece in a project you should mix up the raw wool and mix up the singles before plying so that the final fabric is more homogenous. 

I plan to use the fabric I have made so far will most likely be made into a hood and I am currently spinning some Shetland wool to be embroidery floss that I will dye to decorate the plain brown wool hood. I was very sad to have to give up on the dress, but I learned SO VERY MUCH in doing this project and in displaying at the A and S at Pennsic 42. The next dress will be much more awesome. Maybe it will be there at Pennsic 44. 

Fleece to Frock - Black Welsh Mountain sheep raw fleece to 14th century surcoat

Author's note: This is the tale of my project to make a 14th century surcoat starting with a raw sheep fleece. This was a very long project, and it even sat unworked for a few years. I hope in the future to post these projects in installments while they are in process in the future. Since this is my most important project right now, I am posting everything I have done up to this point. My research for this project will be posted at a later date (like after I figure out what is the best way to post it to this blog). I started this project not really knowing what I was doing and I learned a lot in the process. I purposely used some modern prep in the making of this dress. It was a conscious decision to do so for one reason or another. I have noted it all in my research but not here in this blog post. I welcome your comments and insights if you have done a similar project or if you have some researched information you would like to share. But please be nice :)

I learned to spin at Pennsic 34 (in 2005 for you mundanes). It was not long after that I, like so many new spinners who had come before me, had the bright idea of making a medieval dress from start to finish. Raw sheep fleece to finished dress. I knew that was going to be far in my future especially since I had no immediate plans to start weaving.

 Fast forward to 2011 and the release of the Fleece and Fiber source book. That year all it was all the rage to do a breed study along with the book. I started one too, but I wanted to go a step further and do a Medieval breed study. Here was the start of my research. Along with the book and breed sampler that I got from the Spinning Loft I also got the companion video with Deb Robson. When she got to the Black Welsh Mountain sheep I new instantly that I wanted to make my first fleece to frock out of that wool. Of course it was a rare breed and REALLY rare in North America , but luckily I was able to find a fleece in June (a few months after sheering season) on Etsy at Blue Shepard Farms. I was on my way!!!!

Picture: Black Welsh Mountain sheep

I was super excited to get started. But I had some time to think about how I would go about it. I decided in order to finish the spinning in a "reasonable" amount of time I would spin on my spinning wheel and not my drop spindle. The fiber length was pretty short, so I had to card it. I didn't own a loom but as the cleaning, carding and spinning was going to take a while I had time to deal with how I would weave it. I don't think I originally planned on it being an A and S submission and I had only done casual research on medieval spinning up to this point.

When the fiber arrived it was very dirty, as raw fleeces often are. It was in better shape than I had hoped but I had not been trained in buying and sorting raw fleeces so I just started washing it all. ( I have learned my lesson!!).

picture of fleece the day it arrived.

 

Washing the Fleece

I used Unicorn Scour Power to wash my fleece. I put the recommended amount of soap in a bin of almost boiling hot water. I then placed as much fleece as I could get in a mesh bag without stuffing it and placed that in the soapy water. I let it sit for the recommended amount of time ( I think it is 15 minutes ), then I poured out the very dirty water and bag of fleece into the tub, refilled the bin with hot water approximately the same temp that was just dumped ( I used my best guess, not a thermometer) then added another dose of scour power (again using the recommendations on the back of the bottle) and let soak again. Dumped water and did a couple of soakings with just water and no soap. I could have used a few more soap dips because I didn't get all the grease out of the fleece, but I got the dirt out. I wound up not minding the grease and that all came out in the fulling (see below).

 

Picture: dirty fleece in the mesh bag. It was washed in a Rubbermaid bin in our bathtub.

 

Drying the fleece

When I took the mesh bag out of the tub after its last rinse it took a ride in our washing machine on the spin cycle. This helped to get a lot of the water out. I then put the fleece on these stackable sweater drying racks I got at a linens and things (remember them?) I had to keep and eye on them to make sure the squirrels didn't try and steal my wool while it was drying (it happens, google it). It turned the fleece over periodically while it was in the sun and if I remember correctly it took a few hours for each rack of fleece to dry. The whole washing and drying process took about 3 days.

 

Picture: mostly clean fleece sitting in the sun to dry. You can see all the hay and grass that was in the fleece.

 

Carding the cleaned wool

 I got out my trusty Schacht wool carders and carded up a basket of rolags. To keep my wrists from getting to fatigued an in order to keep from getting really bored I usually card up a basket at a time. Spin that up, then card up another basket. The first basket of rolags really wound up being a sample skein of yarn, because after it was plied I decided it was to thick a yarn to be used for this purpose. It is now part of the samples I bring with me when I demo this project so people can handle the finished 2 ply yarn.

Picture: Basket with all cleaned wool in it with my hand carders on top.

Picture: filling the card with locks.

I recently learned the technique of teasing the locks apart with my hands before I put them on the cards. It helps to separate the fibers so it is less carding to be done, it helps to get some more of the dirt and veggie matter out of the wool locks and it helps to separate out the fibers that are too short .See the little fiber clump in the bottom right of the carder in the above picture? That is from a second cut done when shearing the fleece. That is way to short to be spun and just makes a little lump in the spun single. Guess how I know that?

 

Picture: carding away in my favorite spot on the floor in front of the TV.

Picture: after a few passes with the cards I remove the carded fiber and put it on the opposite card and repeat until it is carded to my satisfaction.

Picture: Good enough for me. Time to make a rolag.

 

I don't do anything special when I make a rolag. I just losen the fiber from the card and then roll with my hands to make a tube. Some people use a pencil or dowel in the center to make a really tight rolag, but since I had a lot of veggie matter and 2nd cuts in these that I had to pick out as I drafted ( I will definitely sort the next fleece better) I didn't bother making a tight rolag.

 

Picture: my basket of rolags ready to be spun.

 

As I look at this picture I realize just how much junk I allowed through in my original rolags. Originally I didn't want to throw out ANY of the fleece I paid good money for, but now I realize that it makes for crappy yarn. There was a 2 year gap between the spinning of the first basket of rolags and the second basket so the final yarn looks much better than my first sampler does. My next fleece to frock will be a much better quality as well. My total hours spent carding was approximately 21 hours. I just finished carding the last batch of raw wool into rolags this week so I hoping that I can actually meet my deadline of having the dress finished for this Pennsic.
 

Spinning wool into yarn
This is by far the most time consuming part of the process. I am spinning on my Schacht Lady Bug wheel using the same backwards draw I would use on a drop spindle. I have also spun some of the wool up on a drop spindle so that I can compare both ways of spinning in my demo material. Other than the fact that I spin a little better on the drop spindle (I have more experience with the drop spindle) it is hard to tell what is what. I also spun on each for an hour in order to get my yards/hour ratio. I am keeping track of all the hours spent on this dress so that I can charge a labor rate and put a price tag on the dress just to compare it to modern clothing prices. I calculated my spinning mileage to be 46 yards/hour on the drop spindle and 70 yards per hour on the wheel. I can use this to calculate how long it would have taken me to do the same yardage all on the drop spindle. So far I have spent 46.5 hours spinning.  Just like the carding I like to mix it up when I spin, so I fill all three of my smaller bobins with singles then I put on my bulky flyer for plying. I don't have to do it this way but I like having the larger skein of plied yarn that the bulky bobbins allow me to have. I have been spinning all the singles Z (clockwise) and have been plying S (counterclockwise). Something I would like to try in the future is playing around with Z and S spinning and the difference it makes in the final weave. I saw a lovely presentation of this at Kings and Queens Arts and Science champions this past year in Dragonship Haven. It was really amazing work.
I have one basket of rolags left to spin then ply it all up, set them and then on to weaving!!!

Picture: My ladybug wheel. The bobbin on the upper right of the lazy kate is textured yarn for another project.

Picture: Singles on the bobbin

Picture: The original sampler yarn that was too thick, but still very nice.

Picture: Spinning up some singles on the ladybug wheel

 

 

 

 

Weaving the finished yarn

I haven't gotten to the point of weaving the finished fabric, but I did do a bunch of samples. In the course of my research I have decided to full (or felt) the final surcoat. I have read some of the ways they did this medieval and I think a more modern way of fulling (felling) the final fabric will suit me better.

I did a lot of thinking about what loom to get. I knew that most of my weaving would be for medieval projects so I didn't mind getting something simple. My biggest consideration was space, we just don't have much space at all so I decided to go with a rigid heddle loom that could fold up. I liked the Schacht flip loom because my project could stay on it if it was folded and I absolutely LOVE my Ladybug wheel and I was guessing the same quality standards would apply to their looms as well. I was right. I purchased the 20 inch width loom because I figure if I am making fabric for garb or cloaks it would be useful to have the wider width available. I also like that I can also add another heddle if I want to give me more weaving possibilities. But not right now, I am still in the very beginning stages. I don't even have a warping board yet, so my decision to make this all one color warp was an easy one :).

 I wove a 5 inch wide band on my rigid heddle loom and wove enough in length to get 3 square samples and one slightly longer one. I decided to keep it simple and used the exact same warp as weft and just using one heddle gives me an even, or balance weave fabric or "Tabby" weave. The Sett is 9epi and 9ppi ( 9 warps strings per inch and 9 weft strings per inch).

 

I plan to show more detailed pictures of the tools and procedures that I use to obtain the finished fabric. Those will happen as I go along with the project. I won't do any more weaving till all the spinning is done, because I am not entirely sure how much yardage I will have. I still don't know how long this surcoat will be.

Picture: My loom all warped up and ready to go.

 

Picture: The first couple of inches of weaving. Hard to see in this light.

Picture: Sample #1 this is a 5 inch by 5 inch piece of woven fabric. I soaked it in warm water with a little bit of soap. Then rinsed it and layed flat to dry. Nothing else was done to this fabric so that I could demo what the initial fabric looks like right off the loom.

 

 

Picture: Sample #2 I took a 5 inch by 5 inch sample from the original piece and hand sewed the edges. Then I felled (of felted) by scrubbing it and alternating it between a bucket of very hot soapy water (the soap was dish liquid) and a bucket of cold water. I did this for about 15 minutes until it shrunk and gave me a fuzzy appearance (this also makes the fabric a little water repellant, a nice plus). The final sample is 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches.

Picture: Sample #3 in researching I discovered that they would stretch out the fabric after fellling to try and regain some of the width and length lost in the process. I was surprised that I was able to easily stretch the fabric with T-pins on a blocking mat used for blocking knitted items. The final sample size is 5 inches by 5 inches so I was able to regain everything I lost in the felling.

Picture: Sample #4 I wanted to simulate "teasling". This is were they use the teasle plant which is very prickly. They would brush the fabric with them to raise the nap then shear it so that it was not fuzzy. This makes for a thinner and softer finished fabric. Having no idea where to get teasles and thinking I would be picking bits of them out of the fabric after brushing it anyway I decided to use a plastic bristled hairbrush. I cut back the nap using a pair of applique scissors. I was not sure if I would do this process on the final fabric for the dress, but the results on the sample are stunning. Black Welsh Mountain sheep is an itchy wool and not meant to be worn next to the skin (hence the surcoat and not the dress). After raising and shearing the nap the fabric is noticeably softer and has a much nicer drape. I can only imagine how laborious it will be to do on the final yards of fabric, but the outcome might just be worth it.

 

Thanks for sticking with this post to the end. From here on the posts on this project will be smaller as I will be updating as I go along. I hope I can keep up my momentum and have it all done to show at the A & S display at Pennsic this year. I have never shown anything in an A & S anything so I am more than a little nervous!!!!