Mi Contra Fa

Sheepskin case

Decided to go with the sheepskin.  It has the advantage of giving me experience working with real leather.  It ended up not saving me any money - once I got to IKEA, I saw that the sheepskins could vary significantly in size and shape (which should have been a 'duh' but there you go).  So rather than hope that I picked one that matched mine at home, I bought a set.

Which are slightly too short for the lyre, it turns out.  I'll either use the scraps or my old skin to make a flap over the top, I think.

I traced around the lyre (on the skin side) with a pencil, then put the skin fur-side down on the top (bumpy - has the tuning pegs and strings) side of the lyre, to see how much additional was needed to wrap around the edges.  With the wool adding fluff, it looked to be about an inch.

I used a knife to cut from the skin side.  I eyeballed the first skin, then used it as a pattern on the second skin.  It would have been smarter to find a compass and actually expand the lyre tracing out by an inch on all sides, or make a paper pattern, or something.  I think I got away with it, but it was sloppy.

I dug out my waxed linen thread from Tandy and an assortment of leatherworking needles.  The needles with the diamond cross-sections that cut the leather? Didn't really work. So I dug out the awl.  That worked.  I reached for a needle that was stuck through a bit of chamois on my sewing kit - maybe from the 2009 embroidered leather game board project? it was threaded with the right wool - to guide the thread through the awl-hole.  Then I discovered that the needle would go right through the leather fine on its own.  I just need to use pliers to pull it all the way out.

Trying to stuff all the wool into the body of the bag is an ongoing thing.  I got to thinking there was too much wool at the seam and started clipping it, which made it harder to keep the fibers inside the seam.  Once I had a bit of seam (and some binder clips), I held my breath and put the lyre in - fit! About an inch of space at the bottom, which I attributed to a giant pad of wool, so I turned the bag inside out to trim it down a bit.  In retrospect, that was probably just the peg for the tailpiece. Whoops.

I'm using a blanket stitch, about 1/8" from the edges and about 1/8" - 3/16" apart.  I think I saw that suggested on some "make your own shearling coat" site?  Most historical leatherworking websites assume leather, not fur - I'm not really sure how saddle stitching, for instance, would work in this case.  I guess I could shave the hide around the edges?

I had some reservations about putting the seam right at the bottom - if I'd used a folded piece of hide for the bottom, and then butted two pieces to lengthen it on either side, I'd have two seams to divide the weight of the lyre instead of one.  But then I picked up the lyre and remembered that the thing weighs maybe... half a pound?  At worst, I should maybe reinforce the center bottom, because that tailpiece peg is going to concentrate all that force at one spot.

I think I'll order that BORG Mora weaving wool Mistress Brianna mentioned and tablet weave a carrying strap, and whatever strap(s) are needed to tie down the top flap.

Fur sure

Based on (if I remember rightly) some beaver hairs preserved underneath the "Byzantine bowl" with the lyre fragments, it's thought that the Sutton Hoo lyre was interred in a beaver fur bag.

My lyre rides around in a bag made out of quilted cotton with polyester batting.  I embroidered a little circle of running spirals on it to dress it up a little, but... the bag is over ten years old and could use an upgrade.

I am not splashing out $60-$100 per skin for at least two beaver skins.  In some far-off future, when I have some idea of what I'm doing, maybe.  There are "craft cutter" coats for sale on eBay (fur coats to ratty to wear, being sold to be chopped up); current bidding sits around $20 but I don't know what the ending spike is like. Then there's the $30 S/H.  Not a killer, but for $50-$60 for sheared beaver (not exactly what I want) is twice as expensive as either option below, and still not exactly what I want. Not sure that's worth it.

Ages ago, I bought a RENS sheepskin at IKEA, I think with the idea of turning it onto a carrying case.  Well, IKEA still sells RENS, and for cheaper than any sheepskins at Tandy Leather.  $30 for another one, and I could stitch two together into a padded case.  (I assume the fur goes on the inside, to cushion the instrument.)  Maybe paint the leather, I don't know.

OR, about 2/3 a yard of faux beaver would work, too.  'Bout $20 plus S/H, probably. Need to make a linen or woolen cover to hide the fabric backing of the fake fur.  On the plus side, could embroider it (although I suppose I could also make a similar cover for the sheep).

This is one of those tricky trade-offs with no obvious answer.  Beaver is what there's evidence for, but it's certainly not unreasonable to take the idea of "using fur as natural padded bag" and substitute a less expensive fur (hair?).  It's also not unreasonable to use a good quality faux fur, I think.  That would have the right look, and most folks would never know.  But it is, in point of fact, plastic.

No need to rush the decision; I'll at least sleep on it.  I don't know which idea pleases me more.

 

Made a coif

Dimensions carefully calculated using the "how much fabric is left over from the dress?" method. 

It's styled much like the Jorvik silk coif, in the same herringbone linen as my new overgown - rectangle folded in half, top rear corner cropped.  I'm not really sure if the fit is right at all - it'll pass, but if I were making this out of more than enough cloth, I might size it differently.

Front and bottom edges are rolled hems; I made two four-strand braids of 20/2 linen thread and rolled them into either side of the bottom hem as ties.  I tried flat-felled seams for the first time.  Not too bad, aside from the turn at the clipped corner.  Even that looks all right from the outside.

I've found that a coif makes keeping a heavy veil on easier, but my current one is a later style from Revival Clothing that's got more shaping.  It's a nice coif and fits well, although I'm not too thrilled about the thick nylon cord ties on it.  I've been knotting those behind my head, which does some odd things to the coif, so... let's try this one.

Note to self

I've had full-blown laryngitis since KASF.

I am officially too old to write off a froggy voice as something that'll clear up tomorrow, so it's okay if I push it today. >.<

So, what's next?

Various things on my plate to prioritize:

Things already started:

• Online SCA artist community development
• Lyre how-to videos
• Scroll text competition
• Revise and expand documentation for current performance practice
• Update website
• Organize Storvik PerfArts nights

New things/Old things coming back:

• Sew hangerok/smokkr (Class for this at Sergeants and Scholars, but it's not til May)
• Make linen band for new gown
• Pick up calligraphy again?
• Try embroidery (maybe ask Janina for a lesson?)
• Mark 3 mineral ball

...as much as the "new things" are very shiny, I think I need to address the open projects first. It's a lot of admin stuff, but I keep putting it off so it never gets done.

KASF 2014: The good, the bad, the ugly

The Good

So much good!  I didn't spend as much time in the exhibits as I would have liked, but just breezing back and forth to the bathrooms, I got a glimpse of a lot.  Such beautiful works!  And a hawk!  We apparently have a falconer in Atlantia, which is exceedingly cool. (She got a Silver Nautilus; I couldn't hear, but I expect it was for being an exceedingly cool falconer.)  A nice lady demo'ed a warp-weighted loom for me.  It's a simple piece of equipment (uprights, crossbeams, sticky-out parts) with a really complex set-up (so many pieces of string!).  Someday, someday...

I saw many people I was glad to see, heard only a fraction of the music I would have liked to have heard (Clan Cambion was jamming with PAGE, how cool is that?), and had a tasty lunch.

My class went well, and folks told me it was helpful.  When I demurred that, if a librarian couldn't help someone find information, I probably couldn't, I was firmly told, "Yes, you can. You're Teleri and you're magic."  :D

I met Julian (I think? So hard to hear in that place!) the Deputy KMoAS for the North, who was interested in lyres, and his friend who was making a talharpa.  We lyre geeked for a bit and I demo'ed my playing style for them.

I got superfantastic feedback on my woven wares at Pentathalon.  Mistresses Molly and Brianna joked that they were going to Statler and Walforf at me, and we sat down to fiber geek.  I have recommendations on fibers to try, rules of thumb for the size of the brocading weft vs. warp, ways to make warping my Beka better, ways to bring the band in tight.  (And I should write those down before I forget.)  They heartily recommended the NESAT series of conference proceedings (I actually tried to buy NESAT X from the David Brown Book Company, but they didn't actually have it, the liars), and said that might give me more evidence for silk in England.

A very nice Viking Laurel told me my wool belt wasn't nearly as uneven as I feared it was, hurray!

Overall, I think my scores are better than they were in 2009.  Progress!

Master James of Middle Aston announced a scroll text competition.  I dimly remember the last one - was it really ten years ago? - and I think I should do something for this one.

The Bad

After my class, my voice just kept deteriorating.  I entirely lost it by the end of the day, so I opted out of doing my two stories.  Very disappointing!  Very, very disappointing!  From the art side of things, that was the only real downside.

I put in my labradorite ball and my lyre improv; their documentation was almost nonexistent and they were scored accordingly.  Which is totally fair - they were not up to the level of my other entries.  It's just infuriating to have good entries that I've spent hours on that I can't do!

Maybe next time, I make videos.

The Ugly

That site could hardly be more hostile to performing artists.  I didn't really mind that it probably didn't get above 50 degrees inside - that's why I'm wearing wool.  I did sort of mind that they ran out of parking (because of a concurrent event) and I had to schlep my gear a fair half-mile from car to building - but that was out of their control, so no sense in fussing.  But the place is loud and the acoustics are poor for most of the exhibition space. The hall with the kitchen wasn't bad (and that's where Cambion/PAGE were) but neither the classes nor Pentathalon were there.  (And I suspect that trying to make myself heard in my class didn't help my voice.)

Feedback that may not be on my judging forms that I should write down right now

BORG Mora worsted wool, 20/2 weight - try this for wool weaving

Try tripling silks in each hole for brocading with the 1mm gold

Try doubling the width of the silk band and repeating the pattern to see if that helps the brocade straighten up and fly right.

Generally speaking: Brocade weft should be 2x as wide as warp threads.

Use a biggish piece of something disposable at the start of weaving to 'draw in' the warps. (Brianna mentioned "mop cotton" - from mops?)

Put butcher paper or brown craft paper in between layers of warp on the box loom to help with tension problems (Brianna) OR use manicure sticks for the same task (Molly).