Open Fire Cooking at Coronation

It went okay! I still have not got the hang of this class, I definitely haven't perfected any of the recipes to be class-timing-friendly. I either need to figure out a new system or run this as a demo rather than a formal class. On top of that, it was hotter than hades yesterday, so maybe no open fire cooking until fall/winter!

But some really awesome people showed up and I feel like I made some good connections. The attendees were a really great group, everybody was super into food and willing to actually make the class hands-on which was fabulous. People seemed like they were having fun and the food was tasty, so I call that a win. I was much less awkward than I was at DMDT (soooo glad I gave myself a practice round).

I also finally bought some fire tools from Grendel! I got a long fork and some tongs. SWEEEEEEEET!

I can't believe how perfectly it feels like our whole camping set up is coming together this season. Sadly, though, now that we actually have our stupid tent working, I've found all the design flaws that make me want to save my pennies for something better soon. Argh! I guess I liken it to all the garb I've made that didn't really work -- you don't start out knowing what will and won't cut it. We didn't make the tent, but you get the idea.

Aww, how cute: I'm turning into a perfectionist!

I sewed a second doll and her dress last night / today. But then I got the dress on and it was just all wrong. I somehow messed up the size and shape even though it's a stupidly simple pattern and I thought I was exactly copying the blue dress that worked perfectly.

So... I started over. After completely hand sewing the whole thing. I'm really proud of this! Normally I would find a way to make it work or call it good enough and I'm finally dedicated enough to say, no, this reflects me and I want it to be great.

This time I was much more careful in measuring and cutting out the mini dress. Hopefully I'll have a minute tomorrow to get the sewing done. I had also briefly debated making some additional clothing and accessories for each doll but I decided that I'm not there yet. Soon.

I may modify the failed dress into a Viking coat for a future doll, though :)

Unrelatedly, I made a pie for the weekend with the following filling: ground pork, bacon, green apples, onions, cheese, spices. I can't wait to eat it.

One doll finished!

Rag doll for largess
Originally uploaded by laurelfactorial

Here she is! Linen body, wool dress, wool yarn hair, linen thread, embroidery thread, polyfill stuffing.

I rank her as "flippin' adorable" and am quite proud.

Modification of the doll plan

After one attempt, I realized that drafting a doll pattern is beyond me. So I googled "rag doll pattern" and found this. I simplified the feet (made the legs the same shape as the arms just bigger) and sewed one in "natural" (unbleached) linen fabric with matching thread. I've started stuffing it, and now I need to embroider on the face, add hair, and sew up the stuffing holes. Then, of course, clothes. But once I get a little farther I'll at least be able to take and post some pictures. woo!

Dolls for Largess

I occasionally dabble in doll making, mostly of the polymer clay fairies and gnomes etc. type (you can see some pictures here). As such I've long harbored a sort of half-hearted interest in learning more about medieval dolls. After reading that one of the items specifically requested by TRH-soon-to-be-TRM for largess is children's toys, I decided that was motivation enough to actually do a little research and try my hand at it.

For this project I decided to do enough research that I feel like what I create is plausibly period but I am okay with not doing competition level research. I found this pretty cool article online about medieval dolls by a SCAdian, which was exactly the broad overview I was looking for. I decided to make a rag (cloth) doll as it is within my skill level and I think more durable/usable for a kid.

A little more poking around found pictures of medieval toys and playthings, which ultimately led me to a picture of a very early (Roman) rag doll from Egypt. Surviving cloth dolls are extremely rare, so I've decided to loosely base my dolls on this pattern.

Okay, I'm exicited about this project. Ha! I love how that happens!

I'll post some pictures as I get further in the process including line drawings of the pattern I plan to use.

Not much to update

That's why there haven't been any updates! I've been working on... well, basically nothing. But I'll be at July Coronation and I should be teaching open fire cooking again. It will basically be the same class as I did at DMDT, but obviously updated based on the improvements that suggested themselves.

Should be fun!

I had really wanted to do some largess for Coronation, too, so I think I'm still going to try for that -- possibly pincushions (but I don't want to steal Svava's thunder!), pouches, handspun yarn (like I don't have plenty of this sitting around that I could donate, ha ha), or spindles. We're going to a group of friends campout this weekend so I should have some time for handwork, perhaps this will work out after all.

Branching out

I've talked Anne into going to archery practice with me tonight! Woohoo!