Art Car Parade

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Art Car Parade taking donations. There were many interesting and strange cars. I got a front row seat for the parade though. I recommend going if you haven't before. I didn't take any pictures since I was busy volunteering, but it was fun. The heat didn't help though. Sunburn happened.

Metal Styli

I made my first two metal styli for wax tablets. I took a piece of hair pin stock, cut it in half and flattened out each end. I was trying to point the other end by heating, but the pieces were just too small to hold on to and try to pound. I ended up using a bench grinder/sander to point the end. showed Nate (one of Danr's other students) how to make the points. One still may need a little more straightening. The stylus on the left is better. They are also too small to polish on a buffing wheel so that will need to be done with a Dremel. Here's a picture of those. If you want to see more, there's an earlier post with a wood stylus. Click on the image to see it better.

I went to get Harry Potter #7 last night. I didn't stay up all night to finish it. I dressed up as Ginny Weasley as a Hogwarts student, just for fun. What else can you do with long red hair? It got my picture taken a couple times. Since the lines were long, I took my blackwork with me. Several people were fascinated by it so I talked about that.

Before getting in line I went to look at the latest issue of Piecework. There is a brief review of The Tudor Tailor in it, which I've got already. I also found some information on Medieval/Renaissance embroidery from Lagartera, Spain that was influenced by Islamic Embroidery. I plan to find more on that. It combined satin stitch and the double running stitch. I didn't buy the magazine since the only pattern in it is something I wouldn't stitch.

Warriors and Warlords

Another Warriors and Warlords has come and gone. There was a general lack of volunteers throughout the event which was unfortunate. I think the two areas most lacking was for marshals and the clean up crews. I had only three volunteers. People started helping in later with loading the firewood due to the storms coming in.
I arrived late Friday night after picking up Nate Otto, one of Danr's other students. He helped me set up the G-tent and unpack which he enjoyed. Due to getting there so late Friday, I didn't do anything. On Saturday, I participated in the Baroness' Whim which was just a blast! At 12:30 I stopped due the heat. From about 2 till 4, I was working on carving the next set of wax tablets at Artisan's Row. A few people asked what I was doing. Herr Janvier was also giving his mead making class at the same time. Lucia and I finally set the price for her blackwork commission. That's about all I did except for hang out and bother TJ. I partied with Warda for a while. I wasn't up exceedingly late due to the amount of work I knew I would be doing the next day.
I did get a Baelfire for my blackwork! Yay! I had to be bribed to go to court by Samia. She finally gave me the Arabic script for my tiraz bands. I hate sitting there when I could be much more productive sitting elsewhere.

New Blackwork Pattern!

It was so busy at work today, I spent the morning coming up with a blackwork pattern for the compass rose, one of Northshield's populace badges. This afternoon, barring being busy, I'm going to work on my corset. Then it's off to WW! Pictures will be posted of the new pattern and other things as soon as I feel like doing that, probably Sunday night.

More Projects

Over the weekend, I finally got back to work on my corset. I've sewn it closed and have started hand stitching on the front and back cover fabric which is just plain, white linen. I wanted something embroidered, but didn't have anything on had to use. I just want to get this done.
The lightweight persian coat is nearly done. It doesn't quite close in the front, but probably will in a few months.
I finally made my own carving bench. I bought a piece of about 8-10 inch wide, 3 foot long value wood from Menard's for $0.50, glued and nailed on a piece of 1 x 2 I had left from something else. It goes on top of my rectangular stool, and I sit on it to hold it in place. It should work nicely for carving wax tablets. The sheepskin gets folded back over to make it more comfortable. It needs two 1 x pieces put on the other end at a 90 degree angle to carve at an angle. It's similar to holding a piece of paper at an angle when you write. Sometimes its just easier.