An SCA Elevation in the Time of Covid

At 12th Night January 2020 Their Royal Majesties of Atlantia floored me with a Writ to contemplate joining the Order of the Laurel at Gulf Wars.

Like any new candidate there was squeaking and planning and ordering fabric and writing invitations and a hundred other things.

Then, Covid.

Gulf Wars was cancelled, and I won’t lie, I cried over a dream that fell apart. We were on military orders to leave Atlantia and head to Drachenwald. Now what?

With Their Majesties indulgence and a lot of work from my amazing peer, Mistress Marion, a virtual vigil and elevation was planned. My husband conspired with them and it became a magical affair. I wanted to share with you what worked, what was hard, and what didn’t work as well in hopes that it may be of assistance as the shutdowns due to Covid linger on.

Vigil:

https://www.facebook.com/libby.cripps.5/videos/10159303298102784/?t=0

My vigil was amazing. I had come from West Kingdom to Atlantia and a virtual vigil allowed me to talk to people from Alaska to Italy. I spent hours laughing and crying and listening to amazing wisdom. Many long time peers commented that being able to hear everyone’s words was incredibly special.

What worked (set up):

We set up a dedicated room for my vigil in a spare bedroom. It was decorated much like a vigil tent with banners, decorations, drinks, and snacks. There was a display of my work and of gifts from others who had prepared them for the vigil.
We set up two devices – a laptop at head height gave me a comfortable way to talk to guests and speakers through zoom. A phone mounted across the room live streamed the entire thing on Facebook.
We planned a full evening, and planned it ahead of time. I had time to mentally prepare to be on stage for 6 hours.
Like the room, I dressed in a special vigil gown.
My hubby provided tech support (turned the phone sideways so the video would be right side up, answered questions, etc).
My peer used a pro Zoom account to allow us unlimited guests / time frame and shared the link but set the call to require approval for guests. This let her make sure notables and Their Majesties would be able to access the group.

What worked (vigil)

The notable speakers were part of the opening of the vigil instead of the elevation ceremony.
My husband acted as hands for Their Majesties and they directed him as such.
My peer managed the speakers – unmuting and directing each person to speak in their turn. She used two devices for this, one that was “her” and one that stayed on the guest list screen that she used to control and monitor the audience and chat.
After the vigil officially began, Marion kept a running list of the order of guests to speak. We went by order of joining the chat. Zoom makes this slightly challenging as it automatically sorts guests into alphabetical order – instead of time joined.

Lessons learned:

The only thing I’d have changed was to have my peer and her husband there with us. The audience was amazing, the speakers were phenomenal. I have a video of my vigil and so much wisdom to carry forth with my journey. That is truly priceless.

Elevation

https://www.facebook.com/libby.cripps.5/videos/10159306068802784/?t=0

The elevation was more challenging. This was one of the first virtual courts, and we learned valuable lessons (like don’t put laptops in the sun! lol). There was still a lot of awesome.

I got dressed early and we did a mini photo shoot down the street in my gown, but no regalia. I shared these photos just before court began.

The tech set up was similar to my vigil. There was a zoom conference laptop with Their Majesties, and a mobile phone streaming to Facebook. Their Majesties were streaming on YouTube.

My family was again planned to act as hands for Their Majesties, and all were in garb. This is also the one thing I’d change, I would have loved to have my peer there if we couldn’t have had regular court.

Keep it a surprise! I had seen my wreath, but the rest of the regalia and the scroll were amazing surprises that made the day a treasure.

After the ceremony, we did additional photos with regalia. These were so much fun to share!

The Takeaway

If I had one piece of advice for anyone planning a virtual court or ceremony it’s get rid of the mundane. Creating a space where the sink full of dishes, the tv, etc aren’t in your face is very helpful.

Have some support. The hubby refilling my cup or fixing the camera was priceless for a long vigil.

We can create our own magic in times when the world won’t let us create it together. Below is a photo album of my little bit of magic.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me!

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SCA Documentation made easy

Documentation is the scary word of A&S competitions and display. It definitely doesn’t have to be! This is my sample form that may be helpful. Mistress Marion (Ellen T Hopkins) sent me her article early on my A&S journey and it was incredibly helpful. Becca Huck taught me to include a “what went wrong” section.

The biggest “trick” is visual simplicity. I’ve had judges comment that “you didn’t say why you subbed” or “what about x” and my instinctive response is “well on page 4,paragraph 2..” and I realized that didn’t work.

This simple design is like a cover sheet, I use it even with more thorough supporting documents. But it answers the most common questions at a glance.

For ease, here is the same form in PDF and MS Word formats:

Documentation Example PDF

Documentation Example MS Word

T-tunics 201

When I first began playing in the SCA I had NO IDEA how to sew, much less actually make clothing. I had an entire family to garb, and very little skill in doing so. I fumbled and bumbled and stressed my way through it.

Then Gulf Wars… 10 days… 3 people, including a fighter that would wear multiple outfits a day and a toddler who’d wear several each day as well. We needed clothes, a lot of them. I was on day number next of threatening to throw the sewing machine out the window and run away when I vented my frustrations to my laurel. Who raised an eyebrow and said “just make T-tunics!” My mental picture of an overlarge t-shirt wasn’t flattering on anyone, and I was vain enough that it mattered. “No really” she said “go look at the fighting tunic Jon borrowed from Elesar. It’s just a t-tunic.” I went and looked and it was like fireworks exploded in my brain. Here was a simple shaped 2 piece garment, that looked Good.

Fast forward a bit, and I’ve gotten a lot more experience making garb, but I still very frequently create T-tunics, and it always boggles minds how they can look. So by request.. t-tunics 201:

These are all T-tunic assembly:

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By T-tunic I mean as few pieces as possible. Generally the sleeves and body piece are one piece. Sometimes additional length is added to the sleeves or gores to the sides. These should still fit well, and pass easily for historically representative garb.

Here is a booklet I created for teaching a T-tunics 201 class. I hope it is helpful, andplease do not hesitate to reach out with any questions!

The booklet is designed to be printed double sided, flipped on the short edge, and folded in half.

T-tunics 201

Going Minoan (or Mycenaean!)

A few years ago the California summers had me digging for SCA garb that was cooler than Viking. I mean, there are European countries that are hotter so there HAD to be cooler garb, right?

Greek or Roman was a common suggestion, but I felt blimpy and weirdly bundled into that much fabric. Textiles from the time period were much more finely woven and had a delicate draping quality that the mass produced linens available today do not have.

Enter Minoan! Vestia Antonia Aurelia caught my eye with her phenomenal work creating Minoan style garb and I began piling up research. Life happened and my interest got sidelined a bit.

Vestia has several really awesome collections giving a lot of insight and information:

Then Southern Summer, oh that muggy, heat filled, maximum humidity death by heat and water….

Back to Goin’ Minoan research! This time I started with a broad collection of cultures and imagery from around the Minoan islands in 1300 BC. Mycenaean and Minoan cultures had a lot in common, and a lot of trade between the two islands. One particular fresco caught my eye.

The Mykenaia, found at the Southwest Building at Mycenae, is rather uncommon in that it shows a frontal view of the front of a dress, and one that seemed to indicate a bolero style jacket on the top.

Bernice R. Jones has done a lot of research into Minoan, and her information on this fresco was invaluable. You can find some of her work here: AJA Online Article 21

Above is Dr. Jones rearrangement of the fragments, and this is her suggested reconstruction:

I began with the bolero style jacket. It has a deep V back and the most fabric efficient method of making it is to take a simple rectangle of fabric, and cut a V into the center bottom of it. Fold the edges up to create sleeves, add some trim, and voila:

Fitting notes: This took a few tries to get right because the arm-scythe is actually a deep angle.

The width of the fabric is your measurement elbow to elbow
The height of fabric is your arm gusset + seam allowance.
Fold fabric in quarters and mark the center edges on the bottom and both short sides
Draw a V going up from the center bottom. The top width of the V should be your measurement from side seam to side seam.

The top still didn’t fit quite right, so after looking at a lot of fresco images, I decided to add a second row of trim to the top of the bolero:

This changed how the back hung and stiffened up the shoulder line in a way that kept it in the right spot.

The dress fitting was comparatively easy. They seemed fairly snug fitting in the top but room enough for easy movement (several frescoes show figures bending, walking, moving, etc with legs farther apart). The top had a deep V neckline, but in this fresco was clearly covering the breasts.

One very common element in Minoan women’s clothing is either ruffles or fringe on the bottom of skirts. I didn’t find striped linen in a red/yellow/gold so used these cooler colored stripes to create the offset patterned like in the fresco. From a weaver perspective, either of these would be easy to weave.

For a final step I made beaded necklaces and bracelets to wear with the dress.

I noticed in the fresco that the beaded necklaces did not extend over the bolero. I’m curious if they may have been pinned into place similar to viking beads. “The Archaeology of Greece” by William R. Biers lists a variety of wire fibula shapes found in Minoan digs. I tried this for my bolero, pinning 3 strands of beads to the sides. This worked really well and kept the bolero from riding backwards.

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Another neat resource is a video of a hairstyle: Ancient Hairstyles

Note: TRIM! Minoans sure loved it! They most likely were using tabby weave trim, such as can be done on an inkle loom or rigid heddle. There is a lot of yardage of trim on this garment, and more coming on the apron.

Look for part 2 🙂

Going Minoan: The earliest European cultures

Goin’ Minoan album is live!

The first page consists of short notes about the civilization and area

The next section of pages are images from the island, the ruins, and the frescoes there.

The next section consists of reproductions by Jones (major authority!) and a few inspired paintings that are particularly well done.

The colored edge drawings are mine – I started with the basic shape of a woman and outlined the various dresses we see in the fresco images. This helps compare the overall shape and layers of the dresses.

The final pages are jewelry, hairstyles, and shoes to finish off the look.

Enjoy!

12th – 16th Century Tablet Woven Brocade Class Notes and Handout

One of my favorite classes to teach is Brocaded Tablet Weaving in the 12th – 16th Centuries. I bring handouts to the class, and when available, also use projectors to add to the class.

Both files are long, and use a lot of color, so I have attached them here for download. Please feel free to share and use with accreditation.

Presentation Notes:

12th – 16th Century Brocade Tablet Weaving Presentation

Handout:

12th – 16th Century Brocaded Tablet Weaving Handout

Which loom to chose?

One of the more common questions among beginning tablet weavers is what loom to purchase or build. Starting a new hobby with a $80+ investment can be a bit intimidating, especially if you just want to try it out.

Here are the looms I use in my preference order, along with notes about each.

1. This is the simplest loom I use, and my favorite. Its 2 vertical pegs, each a 6″ piece of a 1″ dowel, pushed into a board. I have several board lengths from 24″ to 48″. They’re incredibly portable and durable. Using these is very close to the Oseberg-style vertical looms used throughout most of the SCA time period.

Using these does mean measuring your warp on a different surface. I usually use chair legs on the table.
I hook a drawstring pouch over one peg to hold shuttles and thread when traveling or storing my loom.
These are wonderful for brocade or missed hole techniques because the cards rest on the surface of the loom and don’t twist around.
There is no easily adjustable tension. For small changes I’ve twisted the warp around the peg a bit, or tucked something under the end of the threads to add a bit of tension to them.
Josefina Alfdis Nelson commented that she uses one like this too, with a great suggestion! “But I tie a slip knot in the warp and tie it to the pegs with lucet cord. This lets me adjust the tension by tightening or loosening the cord rather than the whole warp.”

2. The inkle loom was my first purchased loom, and its still a wonderful workhorse. The style is entirely modern and there’s nothing quite like it used in SCA time period. However, it is portable, very beginner friendly, and adaptable.

Warps can be measured directly onto the loom without a separate warping board.
A pouch looped onto the first upright can hold shuttles or threads.
Adjustable tension – enough said!
Circular warps or speed warps make setting up the loom fast.
The cards hang on the threads without a supporting surface, this can make them prone to unintended twisting or movement in lower tension setups.
The space between the front peg and the top peg on the front arm is your working area. Depending on the size of the loom and your pattern, this can make dealing with twist frustrating as it will have to be pushed back over that peg.

3. There is some evidence of box looms like these being used late in the SCA period. They’re also very portable and have a lot of easy tension adjustment. However, they can be more of a challenge to set up. (The um, unique, weaving here is courtesy of a very eager 4 year old.)

Warps must be measured separately before being put on the loom. There is an album on my Facebook page (Libby Cripps) on how to warp up and begin weaving on this type of loom.
There is no where for tension to go, patterns must be reversed or twist neutral to weave.
It’s important to keep the warp neatly stacked up when rolling it onto the loom. Uneven warps can cause tension issues later in the weaving project.

4. Oseberg style loom. This type of loom is 2 upright poles with some kind of spreading base and feet holding them up. Some illuminations show a center horizontal shelf as well. The name comes from a Viking ship find that contained one of these looms, while the style continued to be shown in illuminations all the way into the 16th century.

Warps do need to be measured separately before being set up.
The larger size takes up more work space and is less portable.
Most of these today are designed to disassemble easily for transport.
The weight of the cards has a lot to do with the tension on this type of loom. Loose tension can also make cards want to slip out of order and flip around to the outer side of the pack.
Loose uprights can also cause changing tension as one is weaving.
The weaver works from the side of the loom instead of the front, this is different than most modern setups and can be disorienting.

5. These type of board looms were one of the first I was introduced to. They’re fairly simple to make – a 48″ board has several end pieces trimmed off of it, then stacked up and drilled through. Carriage bolts are used to secure them. The warp is threaded back and forth through the boards to hold tension.

Like the peg and Oserberg-style loom, these can hold warps of any length. Excess can be rolled onto bobbins or chained crochet style.
Cards do rest on the board surface, making this easier to use for brocade or missed hole technique.
Advancing the warp or adjusting the tension requires mostly disassembling the loom and redoing the setup. This can be time consuming.
Keeping even tension can be challenging.

Other Options

Warp Weighted: One of the oldest styles of weaving is using weights, generally of clay or stone, to keep downward tension on a warp that has been attached to a fixed surface at the top. This technique can accommodate any length, and does not require complex equipment. I don’t have photos or use a loom like this as I have small children and dogs. Dangling weights would be the coolest toy of 2019!

Courtesy of Ann Karen Gronbeck-Peterson, this is one style of warp weighted loom shown in later period illuminations. She gave the following woodworking instructions:

This is about 4 feet tall, with the sides & bottom made of 1 X 4 lumber. It is about a foot wide, a couple of inches narrower than my shuttle, so that the shuttle can be parked in place when I’m not weaving. There is a piece of bark-on Silver Maple about 2 inches in diameter at both the top & about 6 inches up from the bottom. The top piece of Maple is fastened in place a couple of inches from the top; with 2 nails in each end of the Maple, through the side boards so that it is stable. The bottom piece of Maple is cut about 1/8″ shorter than the top one, & has only one nail through the board into each end; and to allow for winding on of finished weaving, a hole is drilled through one side of the board frame & into several spots of the end of the Maple for a pin to hold it from unwinding. I use a wooden clamp to attach the bottom board of the Loom to a 3-legged table which I made.

Backstrap: This is another no equipment needed way to try out tablet weaving. Attach one end of the warp to your belt, and the other to a fixed surface. (I used a stationary bicycle my first time!) By leaning forward or backward you adjust the tension on the warp. There are backstrap kits that add use bars to tie the warp onto with hooks to go over your belt.

Starting and Finishing Tablet Woven Bands (and some other hacks!)

On Facebook there is a wonderful group of artists called Historic Tablet Weaving. It’s an amazing source of knowledge and inspiration. One of the posts that pops up fairly frequently I see in several other band weaving groups is how to start or finish bands so that they don’t unravel. I made these two videos:

Beginning Tablet Weaving

Ending a Tablet Woven Band

I hope these are helpful!

In addition, one of my favorite “hacks” is to deal with twist by warp weighting some of my cards in a pattern. For example, Ram’s Horn is a commonly used pattern that has two cards that build up twist constantly, while the rest of the pattern remains twist neutral. Warp weighting just those two cards allows me to continue to weave quickly, while easily handling any twist build up.

Squirrels and Birds and Rabbits OH MY! a Viking age animal brocade band

Elisenhof E-415 Brocade Tablet Woven Band

Historical Basis: Elisenhof was an 8^th century settlement in northern Germany. There are 254 textile finds from the area, mostly poor to medium quality. The record of these finds was published in 1957 in Die Textil-Und Schnurreste Aus Der Frühgeschichtlichen Wurt Elisenhof by Hans-Jurgen Hündt. To the right is a section of the photograph of the band. Sadly, the band itself seems lost to history.

When examining these photos and drawings in the book it is apparent that a lighter warp was used with a darker weft. The weft is thicker than the warp, and brocaded to create stylized animal shapes. The band is about 14.5” long and varies between .5 to .7 inches wide.

The band has 20 pattern cards and no border cards. The cards were threaded with tightly spun S threads. The threads were incredibly fine, only .2mm thick (most sewing thread is about .3mm). The band and brocade threads are wool in several shades of brown.

Of note, the band was attached to an interesting arrangement of tighter and looser packed threads along with a braid. Also of interest is that there does not seem to be a supplementary or main weft, but the back of the band shows the brocade weft jumping back and forth across the band rather than always entering neatly from one side and using a second thread to hold the band together.

Tools & Materials:

In Period:

Dark copper brown and light brown wool spun at superfine thread weight
Tablet weaving cards
Brocading shuttle

My work:

Blue and White wool thread (Jaggerspun 2/20 wool) in tribute to Atlantia
Tablet Weaving Cards
Brocading shuttle
Inkle Loom

Notes:

Commercial fibers are generally spun in a S twist, but then plied (two fibers twisted together) in a Z or clockwise direction. This neutralizes the twist and could be one reason bands made with commercially produced wool do not have the strong texture of the original band. I was unable to source wool spun so finely in an S spun direction so used the smallest I had on hand. This accounts for the size difference between the original band and mine.

There were no references to tablet weaving cards in the finds at Elisenhof, however from other finds such as the Oseberg ship and Birka trade city, we know that bone, leather, and wood tablets were all used in the 8^th century. I used wood cards on this band.

As with the cards, only speculation could be used to decipher what style of loom was used to weave a band with once it’s removed. The Osberg ship find, also 8^th century, contains a loom where the band is woven between two upright poles. The inkle loom I chose uses a similar tension method, but with a horizontal orientation instead of a vertical one. This wouldn’t change the weaving method or the finished project. It may affect how often reversals are needed to handle tension or to push tension out the loose threads at the back of a straight warp.

Technique:

I began with Hans-Jurgen Hündt’s research as I had the book from a previous project. The animal shapes in the diagram at the back were intriguing as was an all wool brocade band.

Also, in honor of Atlantia, I selected white and blue as my band colors. Like the original I used a lighter background with darker brocade threads. The brocade weft in the original was triple ply to make it thicker than the warp threads. I used doubled thread for my brocade weft. As I wanted to keep the back of the finished project neater, I chose to add a border and supplemental threads to allow me to keep the brocade hidden in the middle of the band.

I warped 24 cards in pure white, wove a header, then used a fine shuttle to thread first the supplemental thread, then the brocade thread through each row. When I needed to change threads, I ended the old and began the new thread on the middle of the back of the band.

What went wrong:

I chose to weave directly from the original drawing of the band rather than recreate the pattern into a more familiar style and work from it. Though the drawing (included below) is incredibly detailed, it did still leave questionable areas where the notations did not make much sense from a weaver’s perspective. Also the inclusion of broken threads made counting challenging at several spots along the band. Unweaving wool is incredibly challenging as it really loves to felt when twisted into a tablet woven band.

Next time I’ll:

I enjoy the animals from this band and will use the pattern again. However, modern aesthetic leaves me wanting to finish edges and tops so that they form smooth outlines and there are no uneven edges. I will also probably use silk as it is my preferred weaving material. I also want to experiment with colors in brocade. The dark blue brocade weft made the white look greyish where it passes in between the cards. I’m curious to see if and when this color change will show through on different materials, thicknesses, and colors of threads.

Bibliography

Hansen, Egon. Tablet Weaving: History, Techniques, Colours, Patterns. Hovedland Publ, 1990.

Hundt, Hans-Jurgen. Volume 4 of Elisenhof: The Results of the Excavation of the Early-Historical Marsh Settlement at the Elisenhof in Eiderstedt 1957/58 and 1961 / 64. Long, 1980.

15th Century Tablet Weaving: Brocade and Pearl Placement

Continuing my research on the Cod. Pal. germ 551 I have a theory about the pearl placement as described in the first section of the book.

The first several patterns are described as roses, rosebuds, or little roses along with a “wecklein” for each which looks like a leaf or stem. I don’t have a good translation for that word yet.

Most of these roses have lines describing where the pearls are to be inserted in the band, and these come in two very distinct fashions.

Type 1 reads like this: Raise 9 tablets, take the 10th and place one pearl therein.

Very simple right? The one note is that “raise above” means the warp thread on top, not the brocade thread. Otherwise this is an incredibly simple description of where exactly to place the pearl on that line.

Type 2 reads like this: Raise 3 tablets, and take 2 under and over 3 tablets and take 2 tablets and place a pearl therein.

This is a much more complex explanation and is what is the basis of my theory.

The pearl-holding thread could also be a decorative element in the band.

In which case, I would take my brocade thread inside the warp for 3 tablets, over the warp for 2, back under for 3, and then place my pearl. This would create an additional brocade thread on top of the warp.

Evidence: While there are no actual extant bands from this book (to the best of my knowledge) there are bands from the same time period that use multiple colors of brocade thread to create and accent patterns. One example is the 15th century band on the chausible at the Ösmo church, Stockholm, Sweden. (http://historiska.se/upptack-historien/object/95622-masshake-av-textil/).

Additionally, we see a very common standard of balanced patterns in embroidery, weaving, and trim throughout this period. The patterns themselves are evenly balanced from side to side. Ignoring the extra over and under steps results in a band with pearls lumped on one side and the other left blank. While it can be erroneous to apply modern sensibilities to period taste, 180 pages of patterns in this exact manuscript show a preference for evenly balanced designs.

Current Steps: I’ve been working to create a Rosetta Stone of sorts. Many of the words and phrases are repeated throughout the manuscript and I’ve been slowly transcribing the handwriting, typed words, and translation as provided by Mistress Drea of Atlantia. I’ve also begun drafting patterns keeping these revised thoughts about pearl placement in mind.