So... here's the solution to the camera question:

One is, yes, above the screen on my laptop, as would be expected - marked with a yellow circle. One is outside the shot, on a tripod and looking over the upper edge of the extra monitor. The third one is also marked with a yellow circle, and it's fixed to a cap.

Which I wear. Well, not in that picture, there it's just hanging out on the table. When I do wear it, it looks slightly odd:



However... it means I can show my workshop participants exactly what I am seeing when I am doing things. Which is exactly what they should be seeing when they are doing the same things. And I am really amazed at the difference it makes to explain stuff! Well worth looking a little daft, with a cap with a long USB cable dangling from it...

It's been a very full day again, with more online conference time again, and some more to follow - it feels like it should be Friday already!

The CTR conference covered sensory aspects of textiles and textile work today, which included Alex Makin telling about sensations when embroidering on the Cuthbert Maniple. Her paper made me realise that textile work can often be rather uncomfortable - I've never thought twice about that, however, I just took it for granted that something will hurt if you work too long at one thing, or happen to have bad posture. Usually, I try to plan my worktime so that I can take enough breaks to recover, but it has happened that something went wrong and then I had to work longer hours than I'd prefer. Then, yes, it can get uncomfortable and even painful. I remember very well the notch in my finger that happened after spinning a lot for a long time without a break!

One thing that also helps in preventing pain or discomfort is making sure you have good posture when learning a new (not only textile) technique. Once you've gotten used to slouching while weaving, it is very hard to un-learn that... which is the reason why I pester people in my weaving classes to sit straight. At some point, though, even the best posture will not be enough...

What's your experience with textile techniques and the pain(s) they can cause?

You can tell that I've had a full day if the blog post comes up after 8 in the evening... like today, which included doing some of the usual daily emailing and shop work, then attending the CTR anniversary conference, then going to donate blood, and then...



...then my computer moved into the other room, and some spindles did too, and there were three screens in total and three cameras, and a mouse, and a hot drink, and some water.

And there were people joining me on Zoom, and soon they were all spinning medieval style with spindle and distaff. I'm still amazed on how well this online teaching works - not least, actually, due to the three cameras (and the third screen, which is essential for the use of one of the cameras).

So - here's a challenge for you.

I'm using three cameras in total, one of which I could do without. Two of the three cameras are on this photo, including the one that I'm most happy with, and that makes the course work so well. Can you spot it?

My hair still smells a bit like wood fire... a nice smell, if you ask me. It reminds me of many, many different activities, and lovely times with friends and colleagues, in many different settings.

Yesterday's fire was a true work-fire, though - and since I had a lot of other things to do as well, I didn't get to sit down, relax, and enjoy watching the flames this time around. I didn't even make coffee on top of the spindle whorls, that would have been fun, and it's definitely on my list for the next time!

Firing whorls, the way I do it, is a kind of simulated pit firing. Instead of digging a hole in the garden and filling it with wood and the things to fire, I use a clay fire bowl (which is also the bowl that travels to Living History events with me). The bowl keeps the warmth of the fire nicely as opposed to the metal fire bowls, thus making cooking much more efficient in terms of fuel use. And for firing whorls, it is quite good at simulating the dugout pit.

In pit firing, generally, there's a high percentage of reduction firing (most of the whorls will turn out at least partly black). Temperature control is possible only in a limited way, by choosing how you build up your fire/pit, and what kinds of wood you use, and how long you let the fire burn. In my case, the firing temperature is not very high to quite low, and there is also always some loss of whorls if they get heated too quickly, or too unevenly.

But you want pictures, right? Here you go.

It all starts with filling the bowl with wood, wood shavings and, of course, whorls. It's a bit like whorl lasagna.



I start the fire on top of the whole thing then, trying to heat it up as slowly as possible. When that does not work out as well as intended, I get to hear cracking sounds... which means exploding whorls.



That is not a good sound - but there is some loss, that's just how it is.

Firing then goes on, with me putting more bits of wood on, and trying to have it burn nice and hot all the time:



That takes a few hours. It would definitely be enough time to make coffee on top of the whorls!



Once the firing is done, the bowl has to cool off a bit before I can take out the whorls. Usually I have a hard time waiting long enough, but I don't want to risk more damaged whorls because of taking them out too quickly. Then, once they're completely cold, the ashes and soot have to be wiped off or washed off, and once the whorls are completely dried again, I can weigh and sort them.

Here's the dead ones from yesterday's pit:



About ten whorls that did not make it, approximately. Not too bad - though I've done better in the past!

There's been some looking at files, and more looking at files, and comparing, and downloading old versions. There was me, thinking I had an idea about where to search for whatever would fix the issue.

The issue was the following: I could install a new theme for the blog without trouble, and I actually managed to find one rather quickly that a) displays comments and b) does not look horrendous (and actually took most of the existing style things without me making it first). However, the menus for navigation, both at the top and at the side, were missing, and I could not find out how to get them in.

The solution was delivered, like so often, by the Most Patient Husband of Them All - who listened to my complaints and then asked some questions which led to me testing something just to make sure it would look one way, as I expected - and promptly finding that it did not, thusly pinpointing where I'd need to look and what for.

Turns out that you have to list the theme as one of the allowed themes in a php file in the Joomla! component... and that's actually all you have to do. It's literally add one single line in the right file, and all is set to go.

Well, there was a little bit more fiddling with the looks in one or two bits, but for the main issue - that was the thing. So I could have gotten away without looking at all the files. In theory, because finding that the solution was not in them was necessary for the searching in the correct spot.

Anyways - you should now be able to see the comments again, and hopefully see the blog nicely and properly displayed. If it's not, please do let me know about the issues, so I can try to fix them!

In German, there's the saying "Alles neu macht der Mai" - May makes everything new. Coincidentally, there's a few new things afoot here...

Thing One: Recycling Spindle Whorls! Medieval spindle whorls came in oh so many shapes, forms, sizes and materials... and one of the types was disc-shaped whorls made from broken pottery. This has been on my list for a while now, but finally I've gotten around to getting the tools and the broken pottery to try making them.



These are cut using modern tools, and the material is modern broken pottery. In the best-case scenario, I'll be able to get some potsherds from replica pots in the future... but for now, I think these will do nicely. They weigh somewhere between 11 and 19 g, depending on which pot they came from, and which part of the pot... and I confess that I'm utterly delighted by those.

They have been tested first thing, of course:



I find them a bit too light for starting off an empty spindle, but then I am fond of using heavy whorls for that. They do run beautifully on a half-filled spindle, though!

I'll be making a few more the next days, and then they will find their way into the shop as well.

Thing Two: I've finally decided to take the plunge and try online teaching. I've done in-person courses only up to now, and I do think it's so, so helpful to be able to touch and feel things and not just see them, but with the pandemic going on and on, I'm starting to think that half the deal is better than nothing. So now I'm planning an online spinning course... I am still trying to figure out a few details, but it will be about 2 hours, showing how to spin with hand-spindle and distaff. My biggest question at the moment is how to make sure that every participant has suitable tools and materials - in my in-person courses, I just bring a bunch of distaffs and a pile of spindle whorls so everyone can pick one to use during the course, and then either buy afterwards or toss them back to me. That is not so easy when teaching over distance, of course. Unfortunately, many modern spindles will have rotational properties that don't work well with the distaff spinning style. So... do I send out kits as part of the course? Or do I just offer them as an option, with the possible danger of someone participating with entirely unsuitable tools?

If you're interested in a spinning course, feel free to drop me an email, or comment here - and once I've figured out the rest of the open questions, you will also be able to find info in the shop in the workshops/courses section.

To my unending delight, I've received a message yesterday evening... the travelling merchants have been found!

A friend hunted them down for me, with help of the search engine "ecosia": she found an image in the same style, searched for the name connected with it (Girart de Roussillon), landed on pinterest and found the image with a link to the manuscript there. Thank you so much!

It's Codex 2549 in the Austrian National Library, and it's available as a digital image. See it in all its glory here. According to the explanation, it shows Girart, his wife, and two companions, together with two pack animals. Seems it's not a merchant after all, that guy - he was a count, instead. The original person lived in the 9th century, but became star of a chanson de geste later in the Middle Ages - the Roman de Girart de Roussillon.

So... what do we learn from this?

A: Search engines are not all alike, nor are the methods of the people using them.
B: It never hurts to ask for help. I should do more of that.
C: Illuminations stand in context with the text, and it's really a smart idea to check that context. It does make a difference whether it's a travelling count or whether it's merchants... so I'd like to find out more about that. (Which means deciphering the text on the page, and deciphering the Old French, so probably nothing that will be done just now. But hooray, now I can!)