If anyone of you is looking for a way to widen the skillset and learn a heap of new things as autodidact, I can only recommend running a conference with an archaeological experiment. It is amazing how many things you can hone on that - including not only computery stuff like database wielding, but also things like photographing.

I spent the day yesterday behind the camera and a photo-tent (for good lighting). In the photo-tent? A sheet of paper with orange millimetre-grid and changing motifs (but all of them similar, and very wooly). And I progressed from photos like this,


when I started fiddling with the settings,



to this as the final result:



All photos are taken with a very long exposure time and a very small aperture to get a high depth of focus. I'm very happy that my camera has a setting exactly for things like that, which means that once I set up the label and wool cop, I only have to press the button once and then wait until the camera on its tripod has taken three pictures with slightly different exposure time...

Today I will take the rest of the photos, which is easy work but more than a bit boring, since the long exposure time means that it takes about two to three minutes for each item to finish. And in that time, I can more or less just stand around and be bored...

First feedback about the book is coming in - and it is making my day, all the positive comments on the book. Add that to just having had a wonderful weekend, and I'm feeling a lot like taking the day off for celebrating and relaxing. But, alas, that is not possible - there's too much work forming interestingly-shaped heaps both in my brain and on my desk, waiting more or less patiently for my attention.

So... no partying on, except in spirit, but instead preparing for the final analysis step of the Forum 2009 experiment, preparing stuff for Forum 2010, and doing a myriad other things too... one after the other.

If you are looking for me and can't find me, just watch out for a moving heap of work - I'm probably buried beneath that and having a quiet snack on emergency chocolate...

Do you know that feeling that to some events, there is something like a secret topic? One of the main chat-topics at Freienfels was quality in crafts and the ability or lack of that ability to discern good craftspersonship from bad craftspersonship and good material from bad. It seems to be a thing very much on the surface of the mind of many sellers and of many crafters at the moment - both joy about the fact that there are still people who value good craftspersonship and sadness about them being quite few and often restricted to medieval markets and fairs.

That is, in my opinion, largely due to the fact that even basic skills in craft things are not much valued in most parts of society today. It is no longer obligatory for girls to learn how to sew and embroider or for boys how to carve and build little wooden boats, giving both sexes at least a small grounding in fine motor skills and a glimpse into craftspersonship. After this gender-specific basic instruction in crafting had been in use for a long time, I was one of the lucky generation(s) when I was in primary school - because in my time, all boys and all girls had to learn how to crochet, sew, embroider, saw, file and drill, in the aptly named "Handarbeit und Werken" (Handarbeit referring to "traditionally feminine", textile-centric work, and Werken to "traditionally masculine" work involving hardware and wood). Back then, I mostly hated the Handarbeit part and especially sewing by hand - there are machines for that, after all! However, these lessons gave me the basic knowledge about seams, stitches and textile work and they schooled fine motor skills. Some of today's schoolchildren do not get any of these lessons anymore - and that does indeed show when they try to get started with the stuff. While I will gladly accept the necessity for the next generation(s) to get acquainted with electronics in a young age and develop their computer skills, I think that neglecting a basic craft instruction is not good at all. For example if you don't know how to mend clothing, you can either walk around with the torn garment or throw it away and buy a new one. And if you have never tried your own hand at making something, how will you be able to evaluate good quality?

There is a special, deep joy in seeing a masterly piece of crafts, even if you know you can't afford to buy it. I have had tears coming into my eyes quite a few times, standing before a thing awesomely well made - a knife forged to perfection, a felt bag masterly done in a very difficult technique, a pair of shoes where every seam, every stitch spoke of the abilities of its maker, a spherical wood capsule that closes just firmly enough, turned to perfection on a lathe. The ability to perceive good quality of material and craft does not come by itself, but has to be trained - it is easiest to see for somebody who has already dabbled into that specific craft, because then you will know or at least have an inkling of the difficulties in making the piece. And then a masterpiece of craft - it can be well and truely mind-boggling.

I am sorry for everybody who has not gotten some grounding in basic craft skills when still a youngster, and I am sorry for everybody who cannot get this joy through craft perception for at least one single craft. And then, quite related to that... I am still hoping that the awareness of good quality and the appreciation of craft skills will creep back into our society, and I am expecting the day that a well-made handcrafted one-of-a-kind item of good material will again be something to show off your status - because that is when we craftspeople will be sought after once more. And when joy through craft perfection and craft perception will again grow in our world.

Things here are slowly getting back to normal - the washing machine is working hard to clean all the linen stuff that I wore during the last week (which is lots), and I'm stowing away tools and supplies that I had in use. There's some stuff to mend and clean too, as always.

Freienfels had a few wonderful, amazing highlights for me. I was involved in a children's project where 3rd- and 4th-graders from schools in the district had one full day to spend at Freienfels, with special programme. Part of that programme was a three-hour workshop in a medieval craft - felting, basketmaking, potterymaking, blacksmith work, and so on. My crafty disciplines for the children was spinning and fingerloop braiding.

We all had a new group on each of the three days, and as always I found it amazing how different groups of workshop participants are. You can't see into a person straight away, but from the way that somebody handles difficulties and tools, and from the way somebody works at a craft, you can get a tiny glimpse at the character of that person. Apart from that fascination, I was quite disappointed in modern children's fine motor skills. Especially the very first group I had at Freienfels was a nasty surprise, since on my last workshop with that age group I must have had very talented children or children with well-honed fine-motor skills. However, I managed to teach every single child during those three workshop days at least one variation of fingerloop-braided bands - and that is definitively a good feeling. It especially makes a highlight for me since I had a few children in there who really had to work very, very hard to get into the braiding motions - but they were very strong and very determined, and they all made it. It makes me proud that they did not give up but persisted - since that is a quality that everybody will need during all of life, and I feel privileged in having helped them develop their persistence.

All these children now have a braid or several to prove that they did not give up but mastered the challenge. My hope for them is that the next time they are close to giving up, they will glance down on their braided bracelet and remember... and then boldly go on to persist, to master the next challenge, and turn their life into their own, wonderful adventure.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man day spent very productively must inevitably be followed by one much less productive.

Following this truth, I did (of course) not get done everything I had hoped for yesterday. Still, gold thread has been wound off into portions, "get-hooked-on-goldwork"-kits have been assembled, things have been aired out and packed up and put together and planned.

So. Today I have to take care of some mails and then I can start getting all that stuff into the car... and I'll be off tomorrow! Since this means no blogging until Tuesday or Wednesday the week after next - when I'm back and hopefully recovered - I will at least leave you with few links.

First of all, there's an exciting new research project on textile and clothing terms in unpublished medieval sources at the University of Westminster.

Secondly, the workshop list for the Textile Forum is now completed and online - so if you are interested in learning about stone-age bast twining techniques, couched embroidery, traditional one-piece footwear, twined knitting and much more, get yourself registered for the Forum!

 I spent yesterday doing all those preparatory things that need to be done before the first market of the season - dragging out the wares and demo stuff, checking them for good condition and packing them into baskets and transport boxes; cleaning and waxing my shoes; gathering together the cooking stuff and planning on what food to take; packing a tent with the small stuff for the tent and camp - bag o' pegs, hammer, axe, some ropes and so on. I have watered all the baskets that were needing some moisture, and thus I hope to squeeze in not only the last preparations of things to sell (couched goldwork embroidery kit, anyone?) but also an hour or so for the most urgent paperwork.

And another thing on my list today: Find a good way how to transport all those books... from here into the car, and then from the car into the TGV once it is set up. Ideas, anyone?

First of all, thanks for all your comments, congratulations and felicitations - they make me extra happy.

Today, tomorrow and Thursday I will spend doing all the stuff that I had planned to do last week - checking the wares, packing decoration and supplies, buying some foodstuff so that I won't starve in Freienfels, and doing soma last-minute preparations. I'll also do the rest of preparations necessary for the kids' workshop on spinning and fingerloop braiding that I will be giving there - and I am totally looking forward to that!

Since that is plenty to do for the remaining days, there won't be much else happening here. However, this is just once more proof that the week before the season starts has to be insanely busy.... because that is one of Murphy's Medieval Market Laws: You never get everything done during the winter.

Which reminds me of one of my favourite Living History jokes... says one LH guy to the other: "Oh, I will sew a new tent in the winter, and a new tunic, and a cloak - and I will build a bed, too." Answers the other: "Wow. That week before Freienfels is going to be really busy!"