The Final Stick-Purse - From Kingdom A&S

It was May 2012 that I first posted on this blog about starting to do some research into the stick-purse. Almost three years later it's finally done.

The pictures below are the final project as entered at Kingdom Arts & Sciences on April 11. The dimensions are exactly the same as the original pouch at the Fries Museum (handle length, bag hight and bag diameter are all the same). The bags are made from 3-4 oz milled veg tan, which is a bit too thick for the design but I couldn't find the right kind of garment-weight chamois leather, so this was the closest I could get. The handle cover and draw strings are made from 2-3 oz veg tan goat and the base of the pouches are made from 4-5 oz veg tan cow.

The colours on the handle and the draw strings are my period leather dyes that I worked out based on period dye manuals (red, green, yellow and black).

The conversation at A&S was really good. I got a few suggestions for some tweaks to make my purse even closer to the original (changing the way I did the top of the handle, some ideas on getting the thinner chamois to work, restringing the draw strings on the pouchlets reversed to how I have them) but overall it was a really great conversation. The big thing I would change is the leather itself, as a thinner leather would allow the draw strings to close better on the pouchlets.

Next step is that I hope to test out the purse at an actual SCA event to see if it would replace the cash box at gate. I bet it would work.

There's not much more I can do on the research front unless I can get more pictures from the museum on how the bottom and backs of the pouches are constructed. I may have to see if someone can stop in at the museum and see what it looks like. Otherwise, I think the design is pretty darn close to the original.

Original artefact at the Fries Museum

My Kingdom A&S Project

Wrap-up From Practicum

Yes, I know. Practicum was in February so I'm late. What can I say, I was getting ready for Kingdom A&S.

Anyway, before I do my wrap-up for A&S I thought I should catch up on missed posts.

This year at Practicum I taught a class on period leather dyes for the first time. It was based on the dye research from the past few years and was really just intended to be an introduction for people to:

1. Show that coloured leather was indeed available in the period the SCA covers
2. Share recipes available for many period leather dye recipes
3. Pass on some of the lessons I've learned from my experiments if they would like to try some of the recipes themselves.

Overall I'd say the class, which was more of a discussion session, went pretty well. I had about 6-7 people in the class and people seemed keen to learn about the subject.

The rest of the day I spent learning bookbinding with Mistress Tarian. It was hard because I kept having to bounce in and out of the class (we had a Baronial Council meeting at the end of the day as well, which took a chunk out of the time). I didn't get to covering the book with my leather but the rest pretty much got done thanks to Tarian helping to keep me caught up while I was out of the room.

Sadly, I mixed up the order of my pages so the book is all scrambled. Guess I'll have to do it again. :)

Here's a pic of the setup early on in the day:

Prepping for Kingdom A&S (with picture)

Kingdom A&S is coming up fast, we're now essentially three weeks out. The deadline to get all entries registered is the end of March.

I've been on the fence since I didn't think I'd have enough time to get all of the work done on the stick-purse but I've made a big-time push in the past week and a half so things are looking more positive.

Last night I finished the stitching on the final of the four pouches. That's the bulk of the hard work, so I think it may get done.

Here's a pick of the pouches in my work basket.

Final Stick-Purse in Progress - The Four Pouches

Next steps are to cut out all of the pieces to be dyed, so the handle leather and the drawstring straps. Then I have to do up some new batches of my various period dyes and dye the leather before assembling it all together. I also need to take a look at my documentation from QPT and make sure its updated with the details of the final project. Last time I also added a page to explain any changes that were made since QPT, which went over well with the judges. I'll probably do that again.

So, still a bit of work to do, but it may just get done in time.

Update heading into Practicum

I guess its been a while since I've done an update. Lots of little tidbits to update on:

• While we were in the UK, Maggie asked if I could do a leather badge for her like the ones I made for her parents. Except with a rainbow. So Maggie's getting a rainbow badge (shhhhh, don't tell her). I started the sketches to figure it out, I think I'll throw a trillium on there too so its clear she ours, even with her cute little British accent. :)

• I've made some progress on my final stick-purse. I'd been stalled for a while so its good to get it going again. The leather I'm using is still to thick, so its really hard to do some of the hand-sewing, but its thin enough that it folds the way I need it to, so it will work. It's just a bad combination of design and materials that's making it a pain in the butt to finish.
  
  This past week, I managed to finish the first pouch, just need to dye the draw strings and weave them in. Just three more to go, plus the handle.
  
  I'm still contemplating whether to go to Kingdom A&S so I want to keep pushing to get it finished in time, just in case I do go. 

• Practicum is this weekend in Ottawa. This is a really big arts and sciences learning event with classes all over the spectrum (including a few fencing classes this year).  I'll be teaching my new class on my period leather dyes, so I've been working on finalizing my hand-out lately. Eventually I'll publish it online as a resource too.
  
  I'll be spending the rest of the day taking a bookbinding class from Mistress Tarian. I'm really looking forward to since Tarian really knows this stuff and does fantastic work! I've been wanting to learn this from her for a while now. Since my next project might actually be a book with a filigree cover like the ones I saw in Dublin, it's perfect timing too. That's assuming I'm any good at it of course. :) Plus, I'll get to use some of the goat skin I bought for my stick-purse that didn't work (it was to thick but will be perfect for a book cover).

I'll try to do a post Practicum update next week on how my class went and nay changes I want to make, plus maybe some pictures of my bookbinding project.

Win a custom rapier sheath - Fundraiser for a research trip for Lady Emelote

As some readers may know, Lady Emelote participated in a CBC fundraiser for the Ottawa Food Bank last year and as part of the program was granted her food wish of cooking at Hampton Court in the Tudor Kitchen. This is very rare and a huge opportunity for her (and for us as she has promised to pass on what she learns). Here's the link for more info on how this all happened (and how to donate).

The one catch is she needs to pay her way to England and expenses while she's there, and that's where this e-mail comes in. The economy is tight for everyone so I thought I'd offer some incentive to help Emelote out. :)

You may have seen my rapier sheaths in previous posts (if not there are pictures in the photo album page at the top of the blog). As a fundraiser to help Emelote get to Hampton Court, I'm going to do a draw for a custom rapier sheath. You can help design the tooling pattern and then we'll do it up to fit your sword in the colours you like. There are currently only six in existence (including the prototype that I use) so this is a limited time offer!

So, for every $25 you donate, you will get a token in the draw. No limit on how many tokens a person can have, just based on how much is donated. So if you donate $50, you get two tokens. Just let me know when you've made your donation and I'll add you to the draw. You can comment on this blog post or send me an e-mail to let me know.

Please feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested. It doesn't need to be limited to Ealdormere, we want as many people in the draw as possible.

Once the project is done and delivered I'll post pictures on the blog (with permission from the recipient of course).

Here's a link to the Campaign on fundraizr.com: http://fnd.us/c/9vat2

Let's get Lady Emelote to Hampton Court!

Starting my Research on Leather Filigree

Leather filigree or cutwork  is something I've never done before but after our trip to the UK this fall I'm thinking about doing it as my next type of leatherwork I want to explore. It will fit well as a way to decorate many of the types of items I've already been learning to make.

Basically, the idea is to cut out pieces of leather from your item so that you can see the underlying material. Often, the cutwork leather will be layered with a coloured piece of paper or fabric, so that the nicer colour will show through (often a colour that you couldn't produce on the leather itself). In the case of shoes, the cut-outs would reveal the colour of the hose being worn underneath.

There are lots of artifacts with cutwork or filigree. You often see it on shoes, jerkins etc. However, the most impressive I've seen was from the really cool Islamic leatherbound books at the Chester Beattie Library, which is what's really inspired me for this research. The level of detail was incredible (we're talking extremely complex patterns cut-out so that there was only milimeters of leather left between the shapes). I have no idea how they did it (but why not learn). Of course, something tells me its also going to lead me down the bookbinding path as well. :)

So as a starting point, I thought I'd gather some period examples of leather filigree here, along with links to useful information and more modern how-tos.

Period Examples & Documentation

Online article on the use of filigree in book covers from the 15th & 16th century: http://islamic-arts.org/2011/filigree-bindings-of-the-mamluk-period/

Article on the bookbinding of the Ottoman Empire: http://www.home.umk.pl/~tsb/sites/default/files/numer9/rukanci.pdf

The Chester Beattie Library Guidebook (which we bought on our trip): http://www.cbl.ie/Shop/Guidebook-to-CBL.aspx

Pinterest board of filigree/cutwork artefacts: http://www.pinterest.com/DafyddapAlan/leather-filigreecutwork

Modern How-Tos and References
Discussion on Leatherworker.net about how to do filigree: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=33670

Projects and A&S Goals for the New Year

While there were some highlights (like finally getting the stick-purse project to the point where I had something to show off at QPT), overall 2014 wasn't nearly as productive as I had planned. Particularly later in the year, with travel and real life stuff taking over much of my time, I feel like there were long stretches where I didn't really do much in the workshop. I know Avelyn feels the same, with most of her hobby time being taken up with officer positions.

So with 2015 now here, I thought I would put down on paper some of the things I want to get done this year. If past years are any indication, if I get even half of the stuff done it will be an accomplishment, and there will be other projects I take on that weren't planned that will take up large chunks of time. So, in no particular order:

Personal A&S Stuff

1. Finally finish the stick-purse (potentially for A&S in April)
2. Finish developing and teach my class on period leather dyes (submitted for Practicum in February)
3. Publish my leather dye research and experiments more formally online so people can access it for their own research and use
4. Decide on next major project for future QPT/A&S and start planning (possibly leather filigree work based on the period Islamic book covers we saw at the Chester Beattie Library - maybe as a scroll blank?)
5. Do groundwork research on possible Pent theme to see if its feasible (does it hit the right categories etc.)
6. Get the helm padded and strapped, and finish modifying my kit so I can finally start working towards getting my armoured combat authorization
7. Get Avelyn's leg armour back in shape so she can get back on the field
8. Finally make some banners or pennants or something for events.
9. Continue uploading my UK artifact pics on Pinterest for people to see (still several thousand pics to go).
10. Try to find a blue leather dye recipe that works (in the summer when I can work in the garage and vent it properly)
11. Make a pouch with a kraken design on it
12. Make a rainbow badge for Maggie :)

MOAS Stuff

1. More consistently get the Twitter account going and do up a plan to promote it.
2. Investigate idea of setting up group "research days" at local university libraries.

Non-A&S Stuff

1. Start getting out to rapier practice more regularly
2. Get my bow inspected and getting ready for the archery season now that I have arrows
3. Do a better job of both sending in award nominations and tracking them so I know which ones are still needed