Mary Ostler

I was asked how the cartoon was coming. The answer… Slowly!

I will be starting a whole new cartoon soon, as this first one was just to work out some pattern issues. The first problem being the lack of a middle section in the original painting., Thanks to a suggestion from Mistress Agnes, I have decided to try  filling it with repeating element from the black border section.

Second issue is filling the strange flattened triangle sections that are part of the centers border. Maybe a squidy Cthuhulu like pattern.

The inner portion of the carpet has to be shrunk by 4 knots the whole way around, This is easily done as there is a 2 knot deep border that doesn’t affect any of the complex pattern bits.

This is a computer cut & paste model of what the carpet will look like when done.

I also started doing the math. There will be ~ 132,000 knots in the carpet (not including selvage and start/ end flat weave sections). Each knot using ~ 2″ of wool which works out to 21,933 feet of wool (7311 yd. / 6685 m.)

Still looking for middle eastern / turkish looms in period, and type of wool, and dye stuff.

Fun & Stuff & Things.

While researching  the Turkish Carpet Project, I found an interesting sub section of the carpet weavers. Turkmen Tent bands are straps that go around the outside of Yurt like dwellings. They are partially knotted just like Turkish carpets but with backgrounds of plain weave. The majority are symmetrical knots but…heres the kicker… The knots happen on the open upper shed. This makes for a jagged edge to the patterns, and a pattern on the back side of the band is obscured.

I made a quick sample to try out the style. The first few wefts were done with the same sized crochet cotton as the warp threads. This caused problems when the knotted sections were incorporated.  The knots were keeping the sheds open instead of cinching down on the weft thread. Once I changed the weft to the same sized yarn as the knots, the problem went away. The knots also had to be at least one double warp in from the edge, otherwise the threads pull free.

The open shed knotting seems to be even more tedious than the normal method. I will have to do some more reading to see if there is a specific reason for knotting the bands in this manner.

Tir Righ Investiture 2010 happened up in Kamloops (Shire of Ramsgaard) this year. There will be a post on the event in the next few days, but wanted to dump the plethora of pictures I took of the Court house now.

This site was a sight to see. The detail to woodworking through out the building was a fantastic surprise. Western Canada does not have a lot of spectacular building to play in. The Majority of our province is under 100 years old. The days of splendorific building were for the most part over by the time the logging and mining camps grew into cities. Small little pockets of awesome here in BC make me want to play in countries that have centuries (milleniums) worth of history.

I am stifling my enthusiasm and letting the images speak for themselves.

20+ images after the jump.

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I have been puzzeling over what the center elelment on the Holbein carpet should be. I think the problem I have had is I have no idea what the size I have to fill is. That means I have to start the cartoon. This may not end up being the final cartoon as I have to match the patterns on the different borders. The center element can be stretched, and the outside corner piece can be stretched or shrunk. Its the black circular pattern on the inside border that has to work out to match evenly.

The way its working out, I suspect the finished carpet will be somewhere around the 2.5ft wide to 4 feet long. The painting has two central panels, but I have chosen to do the single central panel. All the coolness, and half the knotting.

I also did a bit more work on some sample pieces. The grey element on the right represents the color in the painting that I can just barley see. I still am not sure if its dark blue, grey….or a brighter color that has darkened over the last 400 years. I really do not know much about paint color changes in renaissance painting.

A shot of the back side. You can tell on the red & white central pattern that the three warp threads caused problems with stretching out the pattern. The grey thread on this sample is wool, unlike the other colors. It makes for a smother field on the front side. The acrylic wool tend to keep to itself causing an effect that looks a bit more like the ambassadors painting. The final project will be in wool, so I will have to think on whats causing it. Perhaps if I cut the pile down even lower the grid would be more obvious.

. I have been a little busy and /or sick for the last little while. I do have stuff to post, but am waiting for some final finishing.

Sherbert the Entari is slowly chugging along. Its possible it will be done for investiture, but I am starting to doubt it.

I didn’t kill my Mulberry Tree over the holidays. It is starting to bud in the carport. This means the Silkworm project may be only one more year away. It all comes down to how much growth I get this year. I really should get it in a bigger pot soon.

I am working on a turning project for my mom. It involves hundreds of pencil crayons being glued together. I have turned alot of stuff thats been laminated together, but never anything quite like this. It just might kill me =D.

I am building a game board based on a version of Hnefatafl, but it reminds me more of the Irish game Fidchell. I am calling it Boot Licking Toadie in tribute to the whole weirdness of the C______ War politics. The bootlicker with the help of the Toadies have to avoid being captured by the significant Minority all the while trying to suck up to the assorted senechals living in the corners of the game board.

Working on a Pilgrim Badge cast in a stone mold. Stove broke, so I am stuck for the moment.

More research on the Turkish Rug. I think I have my design sorted out except for the center element. Still looking, and thinking of dying my own wool. I have to figure out a rough estimate of the wool I will need, and then figure out if I have enough capacity to dye everything at once. If I can I dye, if not maybe not. Don’t want to thave the colors change mid carpet.

Still going to give the orange turmeric dye one more shot, then I will share the good and badness of my recent dyeing stuffs.

etc….