So how far did I get on the skirt during the weekend? Here's the progress pic: 

I had about 5 cm of the starting part woven, so weaving in the extra cord for holding the loops was done on site - and all the weaving that follows, and the cording, and the ring-making. The pic makes it very obvious that the cording and ring-making take more time than the weaving, and hence the rather great reserve of un-corded loops. This, by the way, was my workplace: 

I swapped the setup around after that image, so that I was facing the other way - this would have sat me with my back to the main path, and thus to the public. The other way around I had a nice view on the horse showing Bronze Age tack and on the musician explaning (and playing) his instruments, and the fisherman with all his nets and hooks and things. 

And as usual I have no pictures from during the day, as I completely forgot or was too busy explaining and working. I didn't get to have a nice stroll around to take pics of the other stations either, so no images from there. The curse of the soloists! 

 It's back from summer break and straight into action here - on the weekend, I will be going to Syke to show how a bronze age corded skirt was (probably) woven. I'll be demonstrating all day on Saturday and Sunday, and I'm looking forward to many questions!

I'm not sure where in the museum I will be, or whether I'll be sitting on a table or on the floor, but I will definitely wear no shoes for the weaving - I need my foot to hold the measuring stick and my little toe on one foot to keep hold of one of the loops for starting the next bunch of strings...

The event is running in the Kreismuseum Syke on Saturday from 10 -18 o'clock and on Sunday to 17 o'clock. There's going to be a bunch of demonstrators there, plus the museum itself is a very nice place to visit, so if you're up north and free for the weekend, don't miss it! 

You can find out more about the event on the homepage here: 

https://www.kreismuseum-syke.de/veranstaltungen/bronzezeittage/

The "Ice Prince" is the burial of a two-year-old boy from the early Middle Ages, dubbed like that because the burial was lifted en bloc - and to keep the layers and items and fragile textile remains from moving and getting damaged, it was frozen with liquid nitrogen first.

There's a podcast in German about this, where Tracy Niepold (my wonderful colleague and conspirator in so many textile ventures) is interviewed about her work on this exceptional find. You can listen to the episode here.

 I found out at NESAT that I had completely missed a new book coming out last year - about the archaeological textile finds from Prague Castle! The book is written completely bilingual in Czech and English and spans textiles from the 10th to the 18th century. 

You can order it directly from the publisher's webshop here, or through your friendly book-dealer of choice. With almost a thousand pages, it's definitely a larger book, and I'm very much looking forward to it! 

If you have looked into the history of trousers, chances are high you stumbled across the find from Thorsberg. They are remarkably well-preserved, and they have a very curious pattern that results in a nice, form-fitting, leg-hugging fit. (Which means that you can show off your legs as the wearer of these trousers, and enjoy the view if you are a spectator.)

As a result of a research project of these trousers, there's a 3D simulation of them done in sketchfab, and you can have a look at them from all angles. It's fascinating, and I was thrilled that the model looks very much like the reconstructions that I made a few years ago when worn by the Most Patient Husband of Them All. 

You can take a look at the model here, and there's links to the research behind it and the academia profiles of the researchers as well.

I'm off to the EAA conference in Belfast! Which means that a) today has been a whirlwind of getting things sorted out so everything is ready for me to leave, and b) I will be off the blog for a while.

However, to keep you amused while I am gone, you can check out the brand-new publication now available as pdf about "Fashioning the Viking Age". That was a research project that included reconstructions of Viking Age textile tools and Viking Age garments - and the first two volumes are finished and downloadable for free on the project's web pages. 

And with this, I'm off to conferencey adventures, followed by some family stuff - so I will be back on the blog on September 12.

Sorry for the unannounced blog silence yesterday - I was off on a field trip, and I had planned to blog on the journey in the train either going there or coming back, but both trips were spent doing other work-y things instead.  

It was a lovely trip, and it included a brief but intense visit to the BNM - where we had a look at the garments from a noble grave crypt in Lauingen, dating to the 17th century. The textiles are very well preserved, and they are rather spectacular due to a number of reasons - but what fascinated me most was the fabric used for the garments worn by Pfalzgraf Philipp Ludwig.

The fabric looks a little like a herringbone pattern fabric with a lot of bands sewn on - but it's woven in one piece, and the bands are a kind of uncut velvet, construction-wise. Here is a very bad close-up picture:

It is beautiful, and fascinating, and the three of us spent a good while in front of it trying to figure out how it might have been made. I'm again and again intrigued by the creativity used to make so, so many different kinds of fabrics...