For the exhibition in Bad Staffelstein, I made video snippets to demonstrate both how the textile techniques look "in action" and to give a small impression about how time-consuming textile works can be. Here's one of the four snippets I made, showing tablet weaving in twill structure, done with modern weaving tools (also known as butchered playing cards). I translated the text into English - it's German in the exhibition, of course.

It's no teaching video, but it does show my weaving setup and work procedures - so tablet weavers might be able to see what I'm doing and how, and others hopefully still get an impression of how long such work takes, and that it's not the tools or any machinery that make the pattern, but the brains and hands of the person working.

The opening of yesterday's exhibition went really fine, and people came in all during the day to see the exhibition and look at the different textile techniques - so I call yesterday a success.
The Altstadtfest was very nice as well, with gloriously sunny weather and a lot of people strolling through the streets, eating, drinking, listening to music, watching crafts presentations, and generally amusing themselves.

Here are some photos from the exhibition:


Preparing for the opening - I'm sorting out my hairnet for demonstration of the technique, and you can see the demo band for tablet weaving (twill demonstration), still secured with a clamp and unattached, in front on the table. The brand-new wonderful table, by the way, that will accompany me to markets, events and any occasions I need a medieval table. I'm so happy about it!


This is a picture taking during my introduction speech for the exhibition - I was showing a snippet of spinning with the drop spindle to make people realise how much time is needed for making just the threads for weaving. This usually works very well, and it did also in Bad Staffelstein.


This picture was taken right after the official part, with the honorary guests and the gentleman of the bank who opened the exhibition. On the photo, you see two "royalties" at once - the "Korbkönigin" (Queen of Basketwork) from Lichtenfels, the German "Capital of Basket Making", and the "Thermenkönigin" (Queen of thermal springs) from Bad Staffelstein. And my colleague Marion, dressed medievally as well, who helped to draw people in and explain all day long.

So because yesterday was nice but exhausting, and I'm really tired today, I'm taking a day off. No work requiring brains today, hooray!

Today is an exception to my normal posting rules, since you are finding mostly German text here - it's the info for the workshops at Cave Gladium. Our idea was to offer a learning space and opportunity at the Cave, since that is a time and place where lots of living history people are already together, so travel costs and extra organisation time for the participants would be really, really low.

Since the info about the workshops seems to have gotten a little lost in the forum pages at the Cave website, I'm posting the description here again. So if you are interested in attending a show fighting workshop, or would like to learn how to dye with plants, or how to forge a knife, or how to weave 3/1 twill on tablets without counting and sticking to a pre-made pattern, or learn a few new loop-braiding patterns, you can This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. At least the forging and textile workshops should also be possible in English, if there should be any language problems.


Schaukampf - aber richtig
Unter diesem Motto freuen wir uns, in diesem Jahr einen Workshop anbieten zu können, der zeigt, dass es nicht einer blutigen Nase und ein paar ausgeschlagener Zähne bedarf, um auf höchstem Niveau einen Zweikampf zum Besten zu geben. Dabei werden alle Aspekte der Sicherheit und Erhaltung der eigenen Gesundheit beachtet, ohne damit der Begeisterung der Mitwirkenden und der Zuschauer Abbruch zu tun.
An drei Tagen werden die Grundlagen des unbewaffneten Kampfes, Fallen und Rollen bis hin zum Schwertkampf vermittelt. Das Ergebnis wird am Ende des Workshops in einer kleinen Choreographie dem Publikum präsentiert.
Voraussetzungen: Es ist durchaus hilfreich, wenn der Teilnehmer bzw. die Teilnehmerin über eine durchschnittliche körperliche Fitness verfügt und schon einmal ein Schwert in der Hand gehalten hat.
Mitzubringen sind: sportliche Kleidung, festes Schuhwerk (Trainingswaffen werden gestellt)
Kursgebühr: 140,- € pro Person
Zeiten: Freitag: 16 bis 20 Uhr
Samstag: 9 bis 12 Uhr
Sonntag: 9 bis 12 Uhr

Brettchenweben mal anders
Keine Lust mehr, einem festgeschriebenen Schnurbindungsmuster zu folgen? Neugierig, was sich mit Brettchenweberei und einem ganz einfachen Aufzug alles anfangen lässt? Im Workshop webt jede/jeder ein Band zum spielerischen Ausprobieren in zwei kontrastierenden Farben. Der Kettaufzug lässt verschiedene Diagonalenmuster und Köperbindung zu, die mit etwas Hintergrundwissen zu den Grundlagen der Köperbindung frei kombiniert werden können.
Voraussetzungen: Der Kurs ist kein Anfängerkurs, sondern richtet sich an Brettchenweberinnen und -weber, die bereits etwas Erfahrung gesammelt haben.
Mitzubringen: Zum Aufziehen der Kette werden helles und dunkles Garn benötigt; empfehlenswert sind nicht zu dünne Webgarne, etwa in Stärke von Sockenwolle. Das helle und das dunkle Garn sollten jeweils auf zwei Knäuel gleicher Größe aufgeteilt werden, weil dies den Aufzug stark vereinfacht. Pro Knäuel werden mindestens 25 m Lauflänge benötigt (reicht für eine zwei Meter lange Kette). Mitzubringen sind außerdem, falls vorhanden, 12 Vierlochbrettchen.
Kursgebühr: 70,- € pro Person (ganztägig)
Material bei Bedarf bitte vorbestellen
Zeiten: Samstag 15.08.2009

Schmieden bei David Schütze
Der Einsteigerkurs ist für Menschen geeignet, die von der historischen Technik der Metallverarbeitung fasziniert sind, sich aber bisher nicht aktiv damit beschäftigt haben. Vorkenntnisse sind nicht erforderlich. Werkzeug- und Materialkunde werden ebenso vermittelt, wie die grundlegenden Techniken des Schmiedens und ein kurzer Einblick in die Geschichte des Handwerks. Die Teilnehmer stellen ein einfaches Messer selbst her.
Voraussetzungen: Einsteigerkurs (keine Vorkenntnisse notwendig)
Fortgeschrittenenkurs (mit Vorkenntnissen)
Mitzubringen sind: --
Kursgebühr: 140,- € pro Person (Einsteiger)
210,- € pro Person (Einsteiger)
incl. Material, Werkzeug und Versicherung
Zeiten: Samstag 15.08.2009

Färben bei Sabine Ringenberg
Pflanzenfarbe ist ein faszinierendes Thema. Wie wird sie auf der Faser haltbar gemacht? Welche Unterschiede gibt es beim Färben von Seide, Wolle oder Leinen? Auf diese Fragen gibt der Einsteigerkurs von Sabine Ringenberg Antwort. Mit selbst gesammelten Pflanzen wird die eigene Wolle oder Seide gefärbt. Dabei werden die gängigsten Beizverfahren ebenso behandelt, wie die Nachbehandlung und weitere Verarbeitung des Färbeguts. Vorkenntnisse sind nicht erforderlich.
Voraussetzungen: Einsteigerkurs
Mitzubringen sind: Eigene Wolle kann gefärbt werden
Kursgebühr: 85,- € pro Person (eintägig)
zzgl. Färbegut
Zeiten: Samstag 15.08.2009, Beginn 09.00 Uhr
Sonntag 16.08.2009, Beginn 09.00 Uhr

Fingerschlaufenflechten
Flechten mit Schlaufen statt mit einzelnen Fäden hat in den letzten Jahren an Bekanntheit gewonnen - ist aber immer noch nicht sehr verbreitet. In dem Kurs werden verschiedene Flechtvarianten, zum alleine oder gemeinsam Flechten, erlernt und geübt.
Voraussetzungen: Einsteigerkurs
Mitzubringen sind: ---
Kursgebühr: 45,- € pro Person (halbtägig)
incl. Material
Zeiten: Sonntag 16.08.2009, Beginn 09.00 Uhr

Things are also progressing with the Textilforum planning, even if there was a long silence in the last weeks. The metal "cookie cutters" for making the experiment spinning whorls are in production, the wool is already waiting for September, and while there is quite a lot still to prepare for the experiment, there seems to be no catastrophe lurking around the next corner.

There's also progress on other parts; we now have two very interesting lectures for each evening programme, covering a variety of aspects; so one of the things on my to-do-list today is getting the Forum website up to date and mailing around to keep people informed...

Though really beautiful, our current tent is not very well suited to show-and-tell or sale of goods on medieval markets or events. So I'm saddled with the need for an additional market stall to take with me when I'm on my own for a market. And that, as usual, brings all sorts of problems.

First of all, the medieval markets we have here today are mostly show-events for the enjoyment of visitors, both contemporary and LH*-visitors, while a more comparable event to the real medieval markets/fairs would probably be a modern (business) fair or one of the old-fashioned "Jahrmärkte" where there are mostly stalls selling things and only some muncheonettes and very, very few amusement rides (like a carousel for children, and that's it). So for the medieval market, there is a lot of logistic but very, very varying sales figures for the sellers (while stuff to munch on is always bought).

Today's medieval markets are roughly split into two sorts of events: Those for the modern visitors and those for the LH folks. Both types are, of course, frequented by both groups, but usually an event has its focus on one of the groups. Markets for modern visitors will either offer information (or should I write infotainment, since it is usually perceived as entertaining) and a few goods for sale (that might or might not be on sale for actually selling a lot, but also for displaying things on offer in the middle ages). That is a good visitor-oriented market. If it's a bad one, it looks a bit like Disneyland trying to go into the past: Usually some non-medieval music somewhere, foodbooths liberally using potatoes and other modern food, and the stalls are obviously geared towards selling Hollywood-medievalistic-seeming trinkets to unsuspecting visitors. Sprinkle this with a generous serving of bad clothes, clichés and misinformation, and you are done. These can be a really bad experience.**
Markets geared towards LH folks ("Lagermärkte" in German) usually have lots of non-selling LH people there for their enjoyment and a large market area with booths and stalls selling mostly things needed (or wanted) for LH purposes. Those events are where you can buy naturally dyed cloth and yarn, hand-made copper-alloy pins and needles, buckles and brooches, boxes from wood, plates, beakers, glasswares, leatherwares, you name it. Target buyers for the stalls are mostly LH participants and visitors. In case you ever wondered, this is where we do lots of our shopping, planning, and drooling over things too expensive, not in our time or not in our status range, but still so beautiful they are worth sighing over.

So the LH markets are more like a modern business fair in some respect and as such closer to the real medieval market (probably minus the hundreds of large tents on the camp areas). And like the sellers going to the markets a few hundred years ago, today's sellers are faced with rather large logistics problems.

As a seller, you need a place and way to present the goods and some space to sleep. You need to hide your own clothes and paraphernalia somewhere (like a chest or covered basket), you need to bring decoration and, of course, the goods. All that stuff has to fit into a vehicle for transport and you have to be able to set up your tent or stall in an adequate time and preferably without lots of helpers. And for those who like it authentic today, there's not too much documentation.

Since bringing stalls would have been a huge logistic effort in the middle ages, but stalls are regularly seen on pictures, I'm wondering - were those stalls semi-permanent fixtures, set up in spring and taken down after the last market in autumn? Were they stalls of regular market sellers from the region? Did sellers for a larger market with wider catchment area bring their own stalls and booths? Everything - cloth and wood - or just the cloth, cutting the wood parts from nearby? Did they bring cooking gear (I'd doubt it) or did they buy their food? And how did the stalls look like? What worked for what kind of profession or offered goods?

While I'm wondering about that, I'm trying to design a stall that will at least look plausible to the not-too-critical eye. And meets my requirements: Fits in the car (this limits the maximum length of the poles); is made of cloth, wood and leather with little or no metal; can be closed completely for nights and for bad weather; small yet offering enough space to display/sell, show-and-tell and sleep; cloth from linen, tightly woven so no water comes through, and half-bleached for enough light inside the stall; with a crossbeam for hanging garments in the typical medieval way of garment presentation at a tailor shop; and if at all possible, can be set up by me on my own (which also limits total height, since I cannot reach higher than 2,15 m without something to stand on.

So after a lot of planning and great fun while tinkering (and even fun doing the maths required), I present to you: My model of the future market stall. The small chopstick figure beside the table, that's me, and the tall chap (or chop?) is a 2 metre tall visitor (who had to duck a tiny bit for coming in). It doesn't have the side parts, of course, but there's a crossbeam with a dress hanging over it and my future table with a display stand on it and there's even a curtain to close off a little space for sleeping and storing stuff in the back. And all on the rather small footprint of ca. 2,5 on 2,5 metres. I like it!



* Living History, of course. I warned you several times in this blog that I'm lazy, didn't I?
**Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which kind it will be just from reading "Medieval Market There and Then" on a poster. There could be money made with a detector, I guess...

Today's blog is a little later than usual, because I came home rather late from the Lamboy-Fest in Hanau. In case you are living in the Hanau area, I can tell you: it's well worth a visit. A colourful, beautiful street festival with music, walking acts (creative and fun walking acts with stunningly beautiful costumes) and loads of exquisite international food. And, of course, we added our "mobile museum" to the scene, on a totally well-suited location. Our "artisan's market square" was on the little square in front of the Goldschmiedehaus in Hanau, right inside the Lamboy-Fest area and yet separated enough by the change of city topography to be something special.

We had lots and lots of visitors, and I found myself either drinking, eating, or talking, demonstrating (again) making of medieval hairnets. Filet, I find, is very well suited for demonstrating medieval textile stuff, because it catches people's eyes and makes them linger. And then they are mine to talk to! (Insert maniacal laughter here.) But I also had quite a few talks and explanations about medieval sewing and garments - and a lot of visitors asked me whether there are any customers for my filet work nowadays. Which was a wonderful opening for me to explain about textiles as status symbols and that most people today will decide in favor of the modern status object when deciding whether to invest the sum (about 700 Euros upwards) in a medieval knotted hairnet or in Gucci sunglasses, a new-fangled TV, a new computer, a pair of designer jeans, you go on with the list. And that to my regret, knotted hairnets usually lose this contest today - while in the middle ages, there would have been many more customers!

And isn't that a nice way to drive the importance of medieval textiles home to unsuspecting visitors?

A huge box blocks the entry to my study - wool for the spinning experiment has arrived! We now have wonderful wool for the experiment, one very fine Merino and one medium-fine wool, all beautifully prepared, thanks to the Wollmeister. With the last batch of test whorls it now really feels as if serious progress is taking place.

Speaking of which, since I'm off to Hanau tomorrow for the "Lamboy-Fest", I'd better make some serious progress on the rest of my work...