Mary Who?
** *updated August 2010***
Mary Ostler is the SCA persona of a mildly unfocused, slightly deranged, somewhat ireverant, builder drone located in the Kingdom of An Tir, The Magnificent Principality of Tir Righ, Barony of Lions Gate.
Mary Ostler’s real world persona is a mildly unfocused, slightly deranged, somewhat ireverant, builder drone located in the Lower mainland, of the glorious province of British Columbia, in the adequate country of Canada.
What exactly do I do? Just about anything as long it doesn’t involve, Children, Horses, Dancing, & Onions. Things that are currently nibbling at my brain include Nomadic tents, Beer, “Ambassador’s Rug”, Wood turning, Woodworking, Bruce Campbell, bacon, and the never ending obsession with the TURNIP!
In persona happy land, I am slowly migrating my persona from Cavalier English, to 15-1600 near eastern.
I am also apprentice #5 to the always fabulous Mistress Agnes Cresewyke, so if you have complaints about me, you should forward them to her, so she can slap me aside the head and tell me to grow up.
If in your reading of any of my posts, you come across things that you would like more details on, please just ask. I am not a particularly eloquent writer (Spelling & Grammar mistakes everywhere) but am enthusiastic about getting people to build awesome stuff.
Cheers & Turnips
Dirty Mary
You can get in contact with me by emailing me at 42vince@gmail.com, or leaving a comment on this site.
Please to see there is another guild out their interested in the same items, however My lord Kasper and myself concentrate more on Norse Man caving (relief carving) and Elizabethan Furniture joinery. I believe that you may be the same person, that the A&S deputy of guilds may had mention, back at the August Investiture, in forming this guild. If so we are willing to talk to you about merging the two together.
Thankyou
Lady Christiana Elizabeth Constable
hi Mary…we’re interested in your Bedouin tent experiment…did it work and how long did it take? we need one built for a project we’re currently working on, and we have very short time frame. It needs to look as authentic as possible (goatskin lookalike?) and we are in Vancouver. Any advice or suggestions?? look forward to hearing from you…Shirley
I made the Bedouin over four days. Thats a 3-4 hours everyday, but I am sure I could make one now in a day if I had too.
I summed up the experience in a series of posts.
http://www.maryostler.com/past-works/bedouin-tent/
I think the things I would do differently next time are, I would use a thicker canvas, It would be black (the white canvas just ain’t right), It would make it at least ~12×22′ (the current one is more 9×22), and the roof beam should either be bent to make a nice Berber round roof angle, or no roof beam to look more like a tribal nomadic Bedouin tent. The material on the original was a fairly loose roughly made fabric. Rain wasn’t a huge issue in the desert, Canvas for Canada is the way to go.
The original tents are all goat hair woven wool fabric. I don’t think goat skin would look right for Bedouin. Roman army tents yes, certain yurt like structure…leather maybe… Bedouin goat hair, no leather.
Specific questions are easier to answer.
Hi Mary – I stumbled across your website while looking for Bedouin tents. And yes, until I found your site, I had nothing but a few photos of the tents and no information on how to build one. I want to make a lightweight version for a summer day hike in Death Valley, CA. My plan is to find a lightweight synthetic fabric that will provide UV protection. Notwithstanding your comment regarding a larger tent, I think I will make mine about the same size as yours, since its primary function will be to provide shade for myself and my companions. I have three questions; 1. Did the center pole end up being about 6’6”? 2. What is the height of the shorter side poles? They look to be about 3’, but I can’t tell for sure. 3. Lastly, I tried to find authentic Bedouin clothing on the internet, but ran across the same lack of information problem. Did you by chance look for clothing, or have any suggestions. Best Regards, Gary
Hello Gary,
1. The center poles ended up 6′6″. This is the largest size I could go and still have them fit inside my truck canopy.
2. Side poles are 36″ long. Long or shorter would be personal preference.
3. I am current making female ottoman turk garb. Not really a good example of bedouin clothing. My sources are other women in the area I live in that also have made ottoman turk garb. Sorry… not much help there.
The center ridge pole is not absolutley needed. You could make do with just the two center poles. I would just wrap the ends in a piece of cloth/ shirt… so they don’t poke into the cloth to badly.
Good Luck