The European Textile Forum has been in the planning for a longer while than usual this year, due to the - again - scarcity regarding catering possibilities in the lovely place that we usually hang out in. After a certain point in the year, this makes me more and more anxious. The Forum, after all, is a full week, and the people who participate have to plan for this week in advance - taking off work, for most, and this should be done well in advance for most people. So I've been biting my nails for a few weeks now (figuratively, but still).

To my very great relief and utter delight, it looks like this is being resolved now, and hopefully I can do the final calculations soon, and all things will be set into motion. 

Resolving this, just like the last time, was done by asking what feels like a gazillion of people. I am, in general, of the opinion that most problems can be solved by finding the right people. This, however, can take time. A large network usually helps, but even then you have to ask everyone (or what feels like everyone) and hope that they have someone in their network, and that said person will come back to you.

Of course I didn't only ask my friends and colleagues, I also wrote to a number of different possible people or institutions that could have been an option. And this is where I'm actually rather disappointed, as there were some companies who are offering meals for companies or institutions (so they are obviously professionals in that regard), but my inquiries never got an answer. Not even a short "sorry, we don't do that kind of thing". I know that there's no right to getting a reply (and I have a few dark spots on my vest myself, when a request or mail just fell behind and then was forgotten at some point - and if that was one of yours, I'm sorry, I do try hard to answer to every mail, but sometimes I do fail) but it is getting harder, after a while, when you ask people and instead of a "no" there's just... silence.

But enough complaining - I am a very happy woman today! (And if you're interested, there's more info on textileforum.org, where there will also soon be the CfP and the registration form and so on. Focus topic of the year is "knots", which means that I will face one of my arch-problems, because I am fantastically bad at remembering knots with only a very few exceptions...)

After a little bit of a tech hiccup (that, if you ask me, should not have happened, but at least it got fixed relatively quickly) I'm very happy and relieved that the blog is back, with very little extra shenanigans for me to do. Phew.

I am still technically on blog hiatus, though, and will be until November 17 as planned. But since I'm in the blog checking for its okay-ness, you might as well hear from me.

I am deep in the preparation for the Forum, so there's stacks of stuff here and there, waiting to get sorted for packing. The wood is already in the car, as is the big coffee maker; the clamps are waiting to be loaded, the yarns are almost all stuffed into suitable boxes, and I have had the motivation needed for untangling (well, mostly) all of my unfinished tablet woven bands. There's also a stack of books that will travel with me.

So. Much anticipation. Lots of packing still to do. See you here later in November! 

I received a slightly weird email yesterday with some inquiry about the ETF. The European Textile Forum. You know, this tiny, lovely, utterly historically-focused week of madness that I have the honour of organising.

Well... apparently, it somehow got to be listed on some weird event website, and now it's listed there as 

"The European Textile Forum, set to take place in the charming town of Mayen, Germany from November 3 to November 9, 2025, promises to be an inspiring gathering for professionals and enthusiasts in the textile industry. This week-long event will feature a diverse lineup of workshops, discussions, and networking opportunities, designed to explore the latest trends, technologies, and sustainable practices in textiles. Attendees can expect to engage with industry leaders, gain insights into innovative materials, and participate in hands-on sessions that highlight the artistry and craftsmanship inherent in textile design." 

Erm. You got the week-long right, but somehow missed a beat with the latest trends thing. Unless you got stuck in, you know, let's say the 11th century and are now surprised to learn about those new-fangled late medieval trends.

Also, industry leaders. You'll definitely find some really, really good people there. But... somehow I have the feeling that it's not the industry that website is talking about. 

And then, to make things even weirder, I found out that Mayen seems to have snuck over across the pond for our Forum in 2023, because it's listed as taking place in Birmingham, USA. (Apparently we also were quite schizophrenic, too, if there were more than 500 people there. I only counted a few more than a dozen, and I'm pretty convinced that I did attend exactly that event.)

Now I'm wondering if that listing explains the occasional very weird mails and registrations I had for the Forum in the past years, with people from far away proposing some presentation about some very modern process and how to make it more sustainable. 

Funnily, also, the link promising to explain how the event got to being listed there leads... nowhere. Well, to a 404, but basically the same.

I've put in a request to delete this event listing now. I'm all happy for the Forum to get exposure, and for people to know about it, but then at least add a link to our own website, and a correct description, thankyouverymuch.

After a few logistical issues that had to be solved, I'm absolutely thrilled that we finally have a date, place, and focus topic for the ETF 2024. Hooray! We will indeed be in Mayen again, and it will run from November 4 to November 10. Our focus topic will be "Edges and Embroidery".

The European Textile Forum started in 2009, and from the start on, it was intended to connect practical and theoretical aspects of textile research. There've also been quite a few archaeological experiments throughout the years - and I'm already looking forward to find out what we will be up to this year in November!

You can find out more about our Forum 2024 on the Call for Papers page, and you can register for the Forum week here.

And now I'll go and celebrate a little more that things have been solved, and the Forum will happen in November!

The dyeing instructions and experiment protocol have been successfully tested:

The results? Two beautifully dyed objects, one set of instructions with notes and corrections, and I've already managed to do the fixing-up and the instructions are sent out. 

(The result this time turned out to be a rather orangey colour, by the way. That might be due to the pre-treatment, or a different batch of madder, or the different alum, or the water, or whatever. Madder. Might drive one madder and madder...)

Now it's time for me to wait and see what will happen. I'm already looking forward to getting the first of the samples and be able to compare them to the original reference. And, well, I guess I could also think about when to start my own homework...

Here's a better picture of the outcome of our dyeing tests for the variations between different madders and different waters: 

So. Can you see differences? What do you think? 

I'm back from the Forum and my recuperation afterwards - much needed, and much appreciated, and now it's tackling all the emails that have accumulated, and sending out all the orders that came in, and then... back to normal work plus the Forum homework.

And oh, there's homework. We ran a total of four experiments and one dyeing test during the week (yes, madness indeed). One was the continuation of Micky Schoelzke's exploration of fake purple that she started last year (you can read about that on the Forum homepage). Then I had the splendid idea of trying out mordanting with horsetail (equisetum arvense), which was an experiment on its own. Then there were the dyeing tests - a first trial at reconstructing some early modern recipes for dyeing knitted caps, with the three great providers of red: madder, cochenille, and kermes. Micky had an experiment with madder as well, a spin-off from the fake purple research, using madder root that had been pre-treated in different ways.

And then, of course, there was the Madder Baselines experiment. We had the staggering number of 35 different water samples for testing the dyeing outcome and the influence of the water on the dye result... so that was huge, and ate up all the time available, and then some. Especially since the experiment went not just as planned.

It was rather clear when we were getting ready that the amount of goods was very large for our small beakers - but there's the decision to make between having very small samples (where any fluctuations in amounts of madder, or the quality of the teaspoonful you are using compared to the quality of the second teaspoonful for the next sample will make more of a difference the smaller your samples are) or having larger samples and larger amounts of dyestuff but running the risk of uneven dyeing. 

We decided to go for larger samples and the risk of spotting... which, in retrospective, was not a good decision, as spotting was very, very prominent. So we went for the afterbath - which was another mordanting run, and another dye run. That did not satisfy us with the results, so we decided to use the waters that we had more of to do a second run, with more liquid and thus less of a risk of uneven dyeing. Another batch of samples to make, another mordanting run, another dye run.

And then we had to test the different madders that we got - mordanting and dyeing in de-ionised water, to make things all even and comparable. 

Long (very long!) story short: We did get to see some differences depending on the waters used, but they were not as pronounced as we would have expected them to be. There's also a difference between the different madders. Now the last factor that would need to be checked is... the Human Factor. Because the speed with which you heat your dyebath, the temperature, they also might make a difference. 

Fortunately, most of the Forum participants volunteered in taking part of this experiment, and dyeing a sample at home. Which is why this happened today:

I harvested some more madder from the garden yesterday, and today it was dried enough (I sped the process up a bit) to be ground, and now it can finish dyeing... and then there'll be a test run of my instructions for the volunteers, and then these can be sent out. 

And then we'll see. I am very, very curious if there will be differences visible - after all, it's the same madder, the same samples, the same mordant, the same instructions, and the same water (de-ionised water for the win!). 

What's your guess? Will we have differences? Or will it all look the same?