Mary Ostler

I recently got back from a house sitting stint. I always enjoy house sitting due to the fact I can cook whatever I want. While on this last gig, I tried my hand at making soft cheese. It was easy, tasty , and worth the effort. I liked making it enough I decided to make another batch, this time straying from the recipe to add my own spices, and such.

The base recipe I got online in an article from someone in the SCA

14-15th century soft cheese.

I  had wanted to finish this tent in time for Tir Righ Investiture at the end of August. I am now confident that I will be able to do a test run at SYGC this weekend. This works out better, as I will have a chance to work out some bugs before investiture. I will be cutting some corners to make the new deadline. The first place to cut corners is the strap hangers. I had intended to do a very thorough job on these, as the Bedouin didn’t have a lot of wooden things for me to make… and I like playing with the wood workings tools. The good stuff will just have to wait.

graphic from "Tents: Architecture of the Nomads"

First thing I did was scavenge through the wood pile for some wood that could handle the job. I have lots of pine, hemlock, fir, and ply, but none of those wood would either be strong enough or look right. Then I found the left over hard wood skid rips I had cut when I was making Mistress Agnes’ x-chair. No idea what species of wood it is, but it cuts easily on the band saw and is insanely strong… Perfect. They were also already cut to 3/4″ thick  1.5″ wide… double perfect. I cut out segments in  5,6 & 10″ lengths to match the rough size of the strapping. After that, all it needed was a quick doodle and some band saw work. I used the first piece as a template for the rest of the hangers.

I saved even more time by ripping the hangers in half, reducing the band saw work in half. I then proceeded to stand on the new thinner piece to see if it would break… nope. Damn this wood is strong.

I did a quick check to see if they looked right with the braided cord.

Looks kind of like a skeleton rib cage.

graphic from "Tents: Architecture of the Nomads"

Moving on the the ridge pole. The one illustrate in the book for the ouled nail tents looks to be no longer than 2ft and has some strange carved, & cut out areas. I like the void in the center part, as it would be a great place to tie a lantern from.

Grabbed a Douglas Fir skid runner and chopped it down to a 2ft length, and quickly doodled out a design on the side. Once all the bugs are worked out on this tent, I will be replacing this post along with the strap hangers.

The doodle side profile cut out on the band saw.

I marked a recess line on the bottom of the ridge pole. I left more wood in the center than is illustrated in the book as I was worried about the mortised triangle that goes through the ridgepole. Its a soft wood, and the chance to breaking the bottom out is great, so a bigger buffer was in order.

I love my chisels. Lee Valley rules… just say’n.

The through mortise was a pain. Had a lot of muckin about to get it to work. The 1″ chisel cut the edges, and the 1/4″ chisel worried out all of the chips.

Lantern rope will be threaded through the hole.

I went to three different shops at lunch today trying to find 3/8″ sisal rope. Its a common item at hardware stores and Canadian Tire but everyone was out of it today. I could have bought the 1/4 sisal, but decided to get the nylon rope instead. The nylon rope can quickly have the cut ends melted to prevent unraveling, but the sisal would all have to be whip lashed. Since the 1/4  rope will be replaced at a later date (such as when I make new hangers) I am going with convenience over periodness (weeping uncontrollably).

I can already tell I made the hangers a little to short. The illustrations all show the  braided cord angled out farther than the strap width… Learning, learning, learning….

Next Post: Poles, and set up.

I finished the 18ft of  unravelling canvas. What a pain. My Fingers are numb. It will look awesome, but I highly encourage everyone to skip this step and just sew the canvas directly to the wooden hangers.

Read more »

The first incarnation of  Tournament of Armies happened this weekend. I was rolled into the welcoming embrace of the Clan MacAndrew war band. Led by the Clan Warleader Caemgen (who happens to be the only heavy fighter in the clan) the clan did amazingly well.  With a good band of mercenaries heavies, rapier fighters, Artisans,  to supplement the MacAndrew Archery / service supremacy we ended up as the second place points leader. If not for the way the tourney was organized, the MacAndrews would have walked to battle leading a large army of vanquished skill fighters. Instead we got rolled into the Steinars Warband.

Bunch of pictures from the event. Read more »

For the first 10 years or so in the SCA I considered myself extremely late period English. It was kind of working for me. Due to me… being me, I ended up wearing almost exclusively Men’s clothing. Give me a dress even mid calf level, and I will find a way of face planting within minutes of putting it on. I choose a more cavalier style of dress so I could have a big wide brimmed hat (sun is evil). I knew who I was, where I lived, who lived with me, what we did (or easier what we wouldn’t do) for money. I had the whole persona in my head down to very small details (even if I chose to not play according to them).

In the last year or so, I have started getting more interested in Near Eastern (Turkish?) persona stuff.  Yet there are still things that I am finding difficult… so a love/hate list is in order.

Love

1., I love the Turkish clothing. I get to wear pants (shalvar), and the gomlek’s hem (chemise) is low enough to look feminine yet high enough I don’t hurt myself. I over heat VERY easily, so I love the Chirka (vest) lots of ventilation at the chest and no sleeves.

2., Bright Colors, Clashing Colors, HUGE patterns… Awesome.

3., Coffee – Do I need to say why?

4., Automata – OK so that’s a bit more Persian… it still satisfies my gadgetry lust.

5., Floor lathes – I love wood turning, and I have yet to dabble in this style.  Plans are in place.

6., The multitude of science related stuff that poured out of Persia, and turkey, and Greece is fascinating.

DisLike

1., No Hats with brims (women). This could end up the deal breaker for me. I burn just thinking of the sun. I have pasty white skin, light colored eyes, freckles everywhere, and have lightish redi-brown hair. The sun is my enemy. I find it baffling that in an area that experiences the amount of sunlight that the Near East does…. Brimmed hats are not around. I have taken to wearing a mongol cap with a huge fur brim wedged well into the eyelid area to try to filter out some of the sun…. It really is killing me.

2., Little furniture can be documented on anything other than palace furniture. I love working with  wood. I find the limits of lower/middle class stuff I can build kind of depressing.

3., Language – I am semi-fluent in English… much less so in French. That’s were all my language skill ends (other than asking for the Canadian embassy in multiple languages). Much of the research I have done is through google translate. Not a very handy method of research, and I often wonder at how good the translation is.

4., Familiarity -  I know very little about the history of the region. I grew up with English history, and what little was said about the near east had gone in one ear and out the other. I know so little that when I go to try to find basic information on the region I get completely flummoxed by the names, terms…etc.

I really want to start working on my persona, but am somewhat overwhelmed in a general sense. Specific crafts and skills I can focus on…. but the bigger picture just a blurry mess at the moment.

Any thoughts? Suggestions on books, websites to help me out?

I have sort of chose late period Turkey as it seemed a little more approachable at the moment… but I am not married to it yet either.

Help!