In the last years, I had the pleasure of doing demonstrations and having museum cooperations that involved quite a bit of travel. There was work to be done in Brandenburg, Lübeck, Emden, Berlin, just to name a few of them. It's lovely to travel there, get to see those places, meet the people and (important part of any travelling I do) sample the local delicacies. 

I'm just as delighted, though, to have a museum cooperation just in front of my own doorstep for a change, though. 

So I am very happy to share with you the  news about an exhibition coming up in my local museum, the Stadtmuseum Erlangen:

I will be doing demonstrations of early textile techniques on the vernissage of the exhibition on May 21, starting after the official opening. There will be additional demonstrations on September 10 and on October 22, starting at 14:00 - plus one for the "Long Night of Science" on October 21, starting at 20:00.

I'm very, very much looking forward to this already. Almost no travel time! (There might still be sampling of the local delicacies, though. I will take any excuse for having delicious food of both the sweet and the savoury type... and Erlangen does offer nice specimens of both. Bonus: No exploring and luck necessary, I already know places to go to for the good stuff!)

Somehow time's always too short to get all the things done. Case in point? One of the many, that is? 

I've had a revamp of the distaff spinning kit in the pipeline for a while, and there has actually been progress, but it's not completely finished. One of the reasons for that is the Most Patient Husband of Them All, who did a proofreading stint of the draft and had a few very sensible comments... one of them being about the unequal lenght of the pieces of combed top on the distaff band in the dressing instructions photos.

So "new photos" got on the list... and they have happened this week, so one step further along. 

Since I wrote the last distaff dressing instructions, I've changed my process a little, and it now includes unfolding the top.

Most of the pieces of combed top you can get commercially produced are a rather solid, thick band of fibres. However, there's usually something like a seam in the middle of it on one side, and it can be unfolded, leaving you with a wide, thin band of wool - something that is nice to use for dressing the distaff, and unfolding the top also helps in loosening up the fibres a little where they were compressed due to storage of the top. It works well, too, with just the folded tops, but I think it's even better when taking this extra step.

It's fascinating, by the way, to look back occasionally and see how different processes evolved over time - sometimes by chance, sometimes due to some problems, sometimes due to a change in materials, or getting more familiar with a certain material or preparation. 

Here's some stuff for the Germans among you (or those happy to travel and having some German...)

First, another weaving workshop in Krefeld, run by Barbara Thomas, who will teach about early composite fabrics. The workshop will be October 16-20, and you can find more information about it here. 

Second: There's an exhibition about Pestilence and Cholera in the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg - it's opening on Sunday, April 23. The topic? Plagues and how they were handled in the Early Modern Age. "Pest und Cholera" will run until July 2023.

And now I'll get back to my current project - finding evidence about how turning up in just your undergarments was regarded in the Middle Ages...

It's getting spring-timey in earnest - the cherry trees are in full bloom now: 

There's also a good amount of flowers doing their job: 

And the little cat is, of course, also enjoying the good weather. She's been having some health issues recently, some of them related to food intolerances getting worse as she ages, and some of them probably related to stress with other cats outside, so it's nice to see her relax and enjoy some sunshine. (We're working on both her health issues, and there's been some improvement already, but Madame does not find all the food that is good for her delicious enough for her palate. Sigh.)

If you like colours, especially those of the past, well, here's a Call for Papers for you: 

The CTR, The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, The National Museum of Denmark, and The Danish School of Conservation are jointly hosting this year's conference on Dyes in History and Archaeology (DHA 42) in Copenhagen from October 31^st to November 3^rd.The call for abstracts is open with the deadline being the 1^st of May of 2023, so please consider sending your proposal! 

Here is the link for the conference website with all the necessary information: Dyes in History and Archaeology 2023 DHA42

I'm very, very tempted every year to go to this conference... even though I'm no dye specialist. But, well, the colours! The chemistry! The magic! I won't manage to go there this year either, as it's way too close to the European Textile Forum week and I will be doing the necessary prep work at that time, but some day I will surely make it.  

Well, that time passed quickly...

There was colouring of eggs, and nice leisurely breakfasts, and some cooking, and some meeting with friends, there was the first ice cream parlour visit of the year for coffee and, you may have guessed it, icecream.

I finally managed to sow some more seeds, and there was even time for a bit of gardening. Like always, though, there's a bunch of work left to do, and the Easter holidays could have been twice as long without us getting bored.

Now it's back to work, but at least I have a nice view on the tulips blooming in the garden - the first ones are already sticking out of the lawn and in full bloom. (Since we are not really mowing the lawn anymore during spring and summer, I stuck some of the tulip bulbs that were not thriving in their former place into the lawn last year - and it looks like they are much happier there!)

There's a bunch of other flowers too, and the neighbour's bees are visiting them with gusto.

Oh, and speaking of bees - now is the time when they also need water, so if you want to help your neighbourhood bees, you can provide them with a source of water where they can safely land and drink. A flat bowl with rough surface will do, or a large jar with enough wood sticks or twigs stuck into it that the bees can land on the wood and crawl down to the water.

Just in case you, like me, are planning travels (there's conferences and workshops coming up, and I'm looking into options for getting there and back again) but would like to try and see how it would be Roman Style... here's a Route Planner based on the Tabula Peutingeriana, which is a medieval copy of a Roman map.

There you go. But don't expect the planner to provide you with routing to the nearest airport! ;) And if you prefer looking at the real thing, here's the digitised version in the Austrian National Library.