Getting Ready!

Stuff is accumulating here and there, I am checking the lists, getting things ready (such as filling liquids into all kinds of containers), doing a bit of writing work (with a lot of help from the little cat, who is hanging out on my desk and napping on my arm), and generally getting very excited about the things to come.

Most has arrived in time, or gotten finished in time, such as the Equisetum Arvense slurry (which was made according to instructions for gardening use, where it gets to shine as plant-strengthening potion, but in my case it's of course intended for mordanting tests) and the kermes (yes, there's actually a chance I will see kermes being used!) and the bran water (thanks to my trip to Romania, where I got the hints on how to make it). It looks like the bran has a pH of about 4 once it's nicely fermented, which is about what we got when we put the alum into our mordanting baths for the Pompeii dyeing experiment.

There's something like a rough schedule as well - knowing how dye experiments go, it makes no sense to plan it in excruciating detail. It looks like we'll have enough space and enough stuff if we figure out the logistics on site properly. (Run a little practical conference on dyeing, with a bit of an experiment here and there, and you might suddenly find yourself the proud owner of 50 lab glass beakers. You know. As you do.)

With that said... I will be off the blog tomorrow to give me a little more time for getting things sorted and packed up - and then, as you've probably guessed, there will be blog silence for the Forum week and some recovery time afterwards. I will be back on November 22!