Starting to think about Solstice

Yes, I am in the middle of prepping a feast, not to mention trying to get garb made for my kids. They only go to a few events a year and they always grow in between so I have to start from scratch every time. I decided to take a break from all of the required stuff and took a break and played with some beads. It probably wasn't great for my schedule, but I certainly feel refreshed. After I got about half way into it I decided that it would be perfect to go with the red fabric I picked out for making my Solstice dress. Rather nice when playing around accidentally accomplishes something useful.

I grabbed a bunch of randomness from my bead box, but I'm rather pleased with how it worked out. I had bought the silver plated plaques to decorate a Rus hat several years back and they have been staring at me ever since. I very rarely use silver, so I didn't have any great ideas, but it also meant that I wasn't saving them for any reason and didn't have to dither about whether this was the best use of them. Often taking things from my stash can be a negotiation with myself and I'm afraid to use the good stuff in case some better use comes along. Anyone else have that problem? I hadn't planned on having silver with this dress either, but I very much like the girdle, so I'm reconsidering the color scheme for the dress. Besides the silver plaques, which are Jill MacKay that I got on something like 90% off clearance, there are two shapes of flame jasper, some silverish beadspacers that I'd sorted out of a bulk lot that was supposed to be gold but didn't have good plating, some magnetic hematite rounds, glass pearls in both white and grey that I got for 70 cents a strand, and freshwater pearls dyed an iridescent blue/green/black that I got on an 80% off clearance. It's wonderful when all the super cheap clearance purchases come together and actually justify themselves and the fact that I have a stash. As I need about twice the beads for a girdle that a non-plus sized person needs, making a girdle is normally a significant outlay of money. This one wasn't so I'm rather proud of it for that reason alone.

Now, on to the fabric in the background. That's going to be the dress for Solstice. I've settled on doing a veste over a sottana, like this portrait of a lady and her little girl from the school of Veronese. I had considered doing the more common style with a doublet under the veste, but to be frank, I'm afraid of trying to fit the doublet. I've already got a sideback laced pattern that I love and fits, so this way I can concentrate on the veste. I'm going with the red for the outer dress. Now I just have to decide on what color I'm making the underdress. Black and steel grey are not my normal choices, but I'm sort of drifting that direction. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any.

Via

Making chardequince

A few years ago, I was sitting at fighter practice when a friend mentioned the fuzzy, hard, mystery fruit that one of their trees was growing. I just so happened to have been reading C. Anne Wilson's The Book of Marmalade, and thus could easily identify it as a quince. Before marmalade was made from oranges, it was made from the rather magical quince. The friends were kind enough to let me have the produce from their tree that year and since. I've had a lot of fun trying out some older recipes. They are moving next month though, so this will be the last year I get to play. That thought has made me sad enough that I've decided to plant my own quince tree. I'll have to wait a few years, but I know it will be worth it.

Quince aren't a popular fruit today, but medievally, they were known as the Queen of Fruit. They've been cultivated longer than apples. There are even legends that quince was the fruit that tempted Adam and Eve.
Full of tannins and pectin, quince don't get soft and juicy. They do get a beautiful floral aroma, however, and they smell amazing. They are a late fruit, not ripening until October and the first frosts. Cooking them is easy. Cutting them is not.

It takes a rather sharp paring knife. Much sharper than the poor neglected knives in my kitchen. I did have a sharpener in the back of the drawer, however, so that was easily remedied. The recipes I have for chadequince, the sweet and spicy quince paste I am making, calls for quartering the quince and then boiling them. I decided to do a finer chop, hoping it would make putting them through the sieve later easier.

The fruit in the picture has been cooking a few hours and is nice and soft. I'll put it through a fine sieve (and cheat a bit and put it through the food processor as well.) Then it goes back on the stove with equal amounts of sugar to fruit by weight.

There are a variety of recipes. I found several in the marmalade book I mentioned earlier, as well as here. There seem to be at least one in all my late historic cookbooks as well. I figured I'd try out a few options since I has quite a few quince. The first batch was sugar with heavy spices (clove, allspice, cinnamon.) I love the flavor, but was disappointed by the color. The spices turned the paste much more brown than I would have preferred. One of the best things about cooking quince is watching the magic of it turning color from the warm yellow gold of the fruit to a beautiful pink/orange/rose as it cooks longer.

For the second batch, I did something much more like Portugese membrillo. This form of quince paste is still popular for eating with salty cheese. It is the quince, sugar, and a bit of lemon juice and vanilla. I love the color, but the flavor isn't quite as exciting. Really nice though (at least from the spoonful I snuck as I filled the molds.

Chardequince was put into decorative boxes/molds in the Elizabethan period. Since I don't have any of those hanging around, I decided to try out some of my jelly molds. They are much larger and deeper than those made for quince, but I had them on hand. I'm hoping they'll look nice on my dessert table for the Fairytale Feast I am cooking for Toys for Tots in November. I've got them in drying out and setting now, so we'll see how it goes.

In the mean time, I made a small version shaped with a large cookie cutter to try. Not as decorative, but it is nice and thin and I put it in a warm oven to speed it up a little so it was set and ready to eat this morning after I made it yesterday. Here's the picture before I cut into it. It lasted about 5 seconds once my son tried it and shouted "Come on guys, it's CANDY!"

Gonfalon

I've been sewing a bunch, just not finishing much, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to show something I finished. My husband and I worked up the heraldry for the house we belong to in the SCA. Basically that means I told him what I wanted after I researched it and conflict checked, and he tweaked it so it looked better. We're in the process of registering this, so this isn't the officially official blazon, but I THINK this works up to something similar to: Azure, on a pile rayony throughout issuant from dexter chief Or a serpent glissant sable. I'm a bit iffy on where the throughout and the rayony go in the heraldic sentence to be honest. Yes, I know, making banners and such is jumping the gun with an unregistered device, since the College of Heralds could want changes and this could end up being a bunch of junk that looks nothing like the final device, but I had fun anyway. Having to make another one of the officially official device won't be the end of the world.

No, the right steamer is not curved-- it just decided to turn and this was a bizarre angle in the first place. I was utilizing hooks on my front porch and trying to dodge my lilac bushes to get a picture. Picture notwithstanding, I'm pretty pleased by it.

Since, as previously stated, this might not end up being official, I took the opportunity to be a little crazy and made a parade banner. Our house has a large number of late Italian personae, and I've always wanted to make a gonfalon. They are modernly used for ecclesiastical purposes. but this type of flag with streamers hanging from a crossbar was originally used by medieval Italian communes and guilds. The name comes from confalone, a meeting held in Florentine neighborhoods where each neighborhood had its own flag. Eventually the flags took on the name of the meeting. At least that is the scoop according to Wikipedia. I didn't feel like doing real research, I just liked the excuse to make a velvety, sparkly, fringy banner with tassels.

The base is an uncut blue corduroy and I appliqued scraps of the gold brocade from my IRCC 2 dress on to make the pale. The snake is black linen canvas. I did use an accurate form of medieval applique with gold interlooped cord I made couched down along the edges of the applique. This 14th century banner with the arms of the Dukes of Savoy uses the same technique. As does this 16th century heraldic applique from the Museo Lasaro Galdiano

Applique was very popular for heraldic use because of its speed. Being able to quickly produce hangings and trappings for parades, festivals, and other uses was important since these things were often not intended to be permanent and there was not enough lead time to embroider or weave. Paint was often used as well, but applique seems to be a step up since it takes just a little longer and requires more materials.

This should have its maiden voyage at Crown Tourney next weekend and I will try to get someone to take some pictures of it in use.

I think I have a crush on Pellegrino

Plate from Pellegrino

As usual, I'm neck deep in modelbooks. I've been looking at various interlace designs for use on the Ursula dress, since the original pattern has some heraldic significance. The d'Este's got a fad going (as they were wont to do) and so there are quite a few examples of period versions to choose from. Right now I'm chewing at Francesco Pellegrino's La Fleur de la Science de Pourtraicture Et Patrons De Broiderie. Facon aribicque et ytalique.  (Full scan of Harvard's copy is available at that link, so you too can drool. Or maybe that's just me. . .) Kathleen Epstein mentions this as the first collected pattern book of this type of embroidery design for couched cord work in her introduction to German Renaissance Patterns for Embroidery, a facsimile of Nicolas Bassee's 1568 modelbook. Earlier strapwork and couched patterns certainly existed, and Durer had some published as individual sheets around 1506, but Pellegrino's 1530 book published in Paris seems to be the first collection.

Probably because I'm really not a counted blackwork fan (yes, I understand that it is heresy to say that) I adore the swooping curves and floral ornaments of these designs. More that that, however, I love the thought of how fast they work up with surface couching. Not to mention how much fun they would be to paint, since Arabic calligraphy is where the designs came from to begin with. They'd be lovely done in applique as well. The type is very similar to the pattern I used for the leather applique on my turquoise squirrel lined muff. Imagining similar borders worked up with cording and some wool or leather applique is rather exciting.

And then there's the girdle. I squeeed rather heavily when someone on the fabulous Facebook Elizabethan Costuming group posted links to a Flikr page from the V&A's blog containing gorgeous closeups of the textile girdle in the V&A's collection. You absolutely must go look at them.  The girdle is T.370-1989 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, dated between 1530 and 1580 and listed as either Italian or French. I've considered making it before, but the closeups of the knots and green silk convinced me it has to happen soon. Aurora from The Earth is Flat also reminded me of this 1530 portrait by Pierfrancesco di Jacopo Forschi with a similar girdle tied from cord.

Via

It is a 1530's gown with a similar style to my Ursula dress, so it has the amazingly unusual advantage of being a project I can do that is actually in line with my current project instead of a random tangent. See, it was meant to be!

Pad stitching

Progress around here is about as exciting as it looks. I'm on hour umpteen of the embroidery and about the same on the padstitching for my new bodice.

As I really can't justify in any historical way the boning I've been putting into my bodices, I'm trying something new.  My super pudgy body that has gone through 3 pregnancies (one of them twins) and the bustline that reflects having fed all 4 of those children doesn't really think this is the best idea. I figure I have to give it a shot however, just to say I tried.

Last weekend I wore my brown sottana. It is a self boned open front that was intended to be worn with a corset. I have dropped a couple of pounds since I made it and wanted to see how the V would work on me without a corset.

Photo by Laura Davis

It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either. My bust stayed up pretty well.  The largest issue I had was that the dress only has one set of lacing rings and it pulls the lining out. There's a possibility if I put in eyelets and lace that way that the problem will be solved. I certainly can't wear it as open as I originally intended it to be, but it seems like it can be a totally serviceable dress. And it gives me at least a little hope for how the open front will work without boning.

I, once again, want to wail about loads of handwork hidden from the light of day. It makes me grumpy to do stuff I can't brag about. I'm stitching through 2 layers of canvas and a layer of wool felt to make the inside stiffening that will then be sandwiched between fashion fabric and lining. It is certainly creating some texture. I think it is having some effect. At the very least, I feel like it is making the shoulder straps sit better.

50 seems like a nice round number

I still have loads to do on the mermaid bands for the camicia neck and cuffs, but they are coming along.  I have about fifty hours in to them at this point. I still have about a gryphon and a half to go with the backstich in the purple silk. Then there are four mermaids to do in the green silk. Then I've got to do some satin stitch and couching in gold. I have absolutely no idea how much more time it is going to take. I played with the gold on one cuff just a little in order to decide on whether to plan for gold, but I am nowhere near finished with what I want to put in. I'll probably put some gold on the centers of the mermaid tails and maybe some in their hair. The design looks a bit bare and I think it needs some bands on the edge, but there's not enough space on the linen strips, so those will need to be worked once they are attached.  It probably needs some lace as well.

Fairy Tales!

Lion from a felted tapestry I made last year with the Fiore animals

Another reason I love my persona? It gives me an excuse to research just about anything. I'm helping plan (and doing the feast for) our local group's November event. It is always a toy-raiser for Toys For Tots and we try to have a compatible theme. This year we are doing a fairy tale theme. Since many of the most familiar tales we still know were published in the 16th Century by Italians, I'm in heaven. I took a class in college on the history of children's literature and as a result always thought fairy tales began with Perault. Even the WIkipedia article agrees (ha!) He was beaten to the punch by the appetite of the Italian presses for things to publish. Giovanni Francesco Straparola published his 2 part book of 75 tales in the 1550's. It includes the oldest version of Puss in Boots (Constantine Fortunato) as well as others. Perault borrowed many of them for his collection. Giambattista Basile's book "The Tale of Tales: Or entertainment for little ones" was published pothumously in the 1630's and includes Cinderella and Rapunzel. I just got Out of the Woods: The origin of the literary fairy tale in Italy and France, which discusses many of the themes as well as why these tales came out of Venice, and am currently consuming it.

I'm also trying to decide on a menu. I keep going back and forth between a feast selected from Platina's "The Temperate Voluptuate" in keeping with the Italian origins of the tales or if I want to pick and choose recipes from times and places based on individual tales.  Plotting it out is giving me something to think about as I keep embroidering away on my mermaid cuffs.  The new camera is here so I'll post pictures of my progress in just a bit.

And, just in case you happen to be in Utah November 9th, here's the event announcement.

We invite you to join The Province of Arrow’s Flight on November 9, 2013, for Toys For Tots, our Signature Event devoted to generosity, history, fairy tales, and the child in all of us.

Rapunzel, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Goose who laid the Golden Egg, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. The stories charm every child anew and yet are timeless. Legend goes that Emperor Constantine’s mother Bertrada of Laon was called Regina pede ancae or “Queen Goosefoot.” She was known for her stories and love of children and as her tale evolved the nickname shifted to “Mere l’Oye” or Mother Goose. 16th century Italy finds the first publication of The Pleasant Nights by Giovanni Straparola and The Story of Stories by Gianbattista Basile where old tales, including those just mentioned, are first collected and published.

Bring your favorite tales to tell for the bardic and participate in storytelling and crafts based on stories throughout the day. Participate in our I Spy scavenger hunt, finding characters and treasures hidden in the stained glass decor. Youth, heavy, and rapier fighters can save the fair maiden, foil the dastardly witch, and create their own legends in scenarios based on classic stories. While away the afternoon by attending some wonderful classes on fairy tale subjects, or teach your own, then end the day with a sumptuous feast featuring subtleties like 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie and Cinderella's Coach as well as seasonal favorites like gingerbread and baked apples.

Also planned: lunch fundraiser, youth activities, contests, games, prizes, and more. Watch for details!

Directions: From I-15, exit 278 for American Fork Main Street, turn East. Drive for 1 mile and the destination is on your right.