Medieval Weaving Tools!

* Edit July 7, 2013: this page seems to get a lot of hits, so I've finally added pictures and updates.

I just visited Isis & Machteld's wonderful blog Medieval Silkwork where Isis posted a manuscript illustration showing a bobbin-winding tool. (Check it out, Sarah!)

* Here is the direct link to the post about the bobbin winders: Winding Up Part II

There is something very similar in a painting in the National Gallery, London: Penelope with the Suitors, by PINTORICCHIO c. 1509. I've been meaning to make a test version for some time, except I mainly think of it when I am in immediate need of winding a bobbin, so I end up using my rotary drill instead of building a new tool.

* Small version of Penelope (follow the link to the National Gallery for a large one): (pending)

* My bobbin-winding setup: (also pending; I think something is up with Blogger)

I spotted Penelope's bobbin-winder a year or two ago when I was poring over the pages of Broudy's "Book of Looms," looking for tape looms. That hunt was inspired by finding this Bandwirkerrahmen in the wonderful collection of Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur. (I don't seem to be able to link directly to the image, but you can copy & paste "Bandwirkerrahmen" into the search box.)

* I can't find where I'm sure I downloaded it, and today Bildindex doesn't allow that; hopefully the permalink above really is permanent. But here is a picture of a similar, though less fancy, tape loom being used: (also pending because Blogger won't load it; I'm stopping for today...)

On a similar note, while reading "The Unicorn Tapestries" by Margaret B. Freeman I spotted a few small looms; one was this one--another Penelope, this time at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is a tapestry from the late 1400's. (Search collections for "Penelope.")

Once my house hunt reaches a successful conclusion, I envision more space for tools and making tools. And more space for bookshelves! :)

* Still no house, and I officially gave up last year. :( I did move to a larger apartment, but I've strenuously resisted expanding the bookshelf situation in case I have to move back to a smaller one.

Retroactive Posting

Battery issues etc. and not getting around to posting even when I happened to remember to bring the flash drive...not helped by still not having internet at home. Which now I'm not going to set up until I moved, which of course predicated upon finding someplace to move to. So far the house hunting rule seems to be:

I like a place: and:
it is too small, it needs work, I can't afford it, and/or it is not in a location I like

I obviously just need a lot more money.

Back when the painting class was going to start, I had a quandary about what to pick. I decided on a pomegranate, and then found out Kim was thinking of doing that, and I decided of course I needed to do something different. (Like somehow different pomegranates painted by different people wouldn't be different.) I decided on an artichoke, and then Sarah posted about artichokes, so I knew I'd picked the right thing. Right. Here are some artichoke paintings so you can get an idea of the technique:


By the time my artichoke had finished serving as model/muse, it was rather too desiccated to be eaten. It lasted a surprisingly long time!

On Weather, Reading and Painting

I am always writing blog posts in my head--it's a hazard of the lack of internet access at a time when I'm thinking of writing, or a lack of inclination and time when I'm online (which is at work). There is odd weather again today which disagrees with my sinuses--like yesterday, today is intermittently sunny, rainy, and snowy; yesterday included hail, and today had something that was somewhere between sleet and hail but more the consistency of miniature snowballs.

Wait! I have remembered. The other morning I found Princess picking out what she wants to read next. She must have finished all the books on the floor.


I myself am reading The Coptic Tapestry Album by Nancy Arthur Hoskins and, intermittently, Speiser's Manual of Braiding and also numerous novels. (Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog--go read it!)

On to the pictures. I have been thinking a lot about oil painting lately; it is a distinct pleasure to work on something that provides basically instant gratification! I'm not sure why oil paint has such a reputation of difficulty, because it is delightful to work with. Yesterday was the last class, and I missed it because I was completely unaware of the time change. I painted at home, though, so that's all right.

Introducing Princess!

Here's a picture of my kitty:


Isn't she adorable? :)

As you may have guessed, I do indeed now have a digital camera! It's a Canon PowerShot SX110IS; a point and shoot with lots of things to play with--including a 10X optical zoom. There have been technical configuration/internet access issues, so I have a backlog of images--yes, random art & project pictures, not just kitty pictures!

There has sort of been house hunting progress--realtor obtained, preliminary loan approval, internet ogling. However, the next step is to compile the data from last year's expenses, to see how much I can actually afford. My budget is not that compatible with prices in the housing market--at least with prices for cute/cool places in reasonably convenient locations. I don't feel like being patient. I want to find something now, move, paint it and get curtains, and plant things. For now, I'll have to settle for something like, oh, washing my dishes.

The Picture, and a Surprising Development

Here's the embroidery picture--between being extra busy at work (end of the month, and my supervisor is abroad) and forgetting to bring my flash drive, it seems to be taking me extra long to get around to doing any personal computer stuff.


The New Development: the apartment complex has just raised my rent. This I could handle; after all, largely due to their disorganization, I seem to have missed the last one. However, they have also decided to have us all billed for the utilities previously included in the rent (water, sewer, and garbage). This new bill, of course, is based on math and not on actual usage. I was pretty sure I knew what my decision was going to be, and then I talked to the apartment complex manager, and became completely certain: I am now officially House Hunting.

I am reasonably certain that the timing is due to the fact that I have nearly reached the state of minimum entropy, maximum efficiency of my current residence.

Guess Who?

There has been an unintentially long hiatus, which I will not describe at the moment (my laptop informs me that 25 minutes remain in the battery). Lots of snow around Chrismtas made life very...exciting...in a city that does not have a plan to deal with snow.

Last Sunday was the first meeting of the oil painting class Kim and I are taking--we got our supply lists, then went to Art Medie and bought lots of goodies (paints, containers, brushes). Our first hands-on class is tomorrow!

A few days ago, with a bit of desperation to work on *something* but not something requiring much of any thought, I started embroidering on one of the painted cloths from last month. Embellishing a painted surface goes way faster than embroidering everything!

Drat. It appears I cleverly did not actually save my scanned picture to my flash drive. I'll have to add it Monday.

Pictures!

Sunday afternoon I finally got in gear. I cleaned all the arachnid detritus out from between the windows, and I cleaned off my project table. Then, in order to be able to put away the textile paints, I had to paint the fabric. Because of the expanse of empty table available, this was possible (amazing). Back in July I had this idea that it would be fun to have a new embroidery to work on during my trip to Florida, something like, say, a mermaid. Reason stepped in heavily, and I concluded that I didn't have time to start something else, and I wasn't going to have much time on the trip anyway.

The paints and cloth have been waiting since then, and now here she is:

Then, since there was paint left over, I painted this. It is hideous, but I like it anyway. Then, since I still had paint left over, I painted this: And then there was STILL paint left over, and I painted these.

Then I was really hungry and pretty tired of painting, so I did not use up the remaining bits of paint.

Notes on painting on fabric:

1. painting on colored cloth: thumbs up
2. I was reminded why gesso was invented--fabric is bumpy
3. This time, I will remember to iron the things BEFORE I wash them.