Mary Ostler » Misc. Madness http://www.maryostler.com Elizabethan Wood Butcher & Builder of Things Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:33:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 PVC NEY http://www.maryostler.com/2011/01/pvc-ney/ http://www.maryostler.com/2011/01/pvc-ney/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:34:08 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2583 A while back I asked someone what a good Turkish instrument I should play, taking into account I have difficulties trying to reestablish a set finger position once I have moved my hands. I took guitar for years, and always seemed to have huge issues with getting lost on the fretboard. I was told I should look into the NEY flute. I was even pointed to a web page where a guy tells you how to may a PVC  Ney. After reading Kees van den Doels webpage I have been meaning to try my hand at making one, and I finally got around to it. Bonus Points for Mr. Van den Doel living in Vancouver.

I had a massive amount of white pvc pipe from the bender tent experiment kicking around. Its not the same as the pipe that the instructions call for, but its close. Why buy when you can recycle.

I cut the pipe down to size with the band saw. Used a piece of paper wrapped around the pipe to keep the end  line straight.

He askes for a taper to be filed away on the inside. My normal taper reamer that fits the drill press was just a little to narrow for the job. I used this monster instead to slowly cut the inside taper. Never had the chance to use this bad boy before. It has a ratcheting mechanism in it. Did a fairly decent job, but could not get right to the outside edge as it started to bow outerwards from the weight and pressure.

The next step was to burn finger holes into the pipe using a 9mm drill bit end. Well I tried it, heating the bit with a lighter, then an alcohol fuel lamp and then a torch. They either didn’t work (not hot enough) or worked too well (torched bit  over melted the scrap piece of PVC pipe I tried it on)…. so….

Thank you Drill Press. Fast, Clean, and relatively quiet. You are my second favorite tool.

The holes were drilled as acording to instructions. I believe the hole on the back side is a slight bit off dead center, but I don’t think it really matters. I put a dowel plug in the back hole to prevent it from rolling of the table saw.

Next was making the pvc pipe look like a reed by adding narrow waisted points to simulate where the leaves on the reed were. Alcohol Lamp and some twine did the job. Roll the pipe near the end of the flame to heat it up. Then while its still flexible twist the rope around the heated section and keep the rope turning around it intil the pipe gets ridgid again. If you dont keep turning the pipe the narrowing will be lopsided. Strangley the soot deposit works to make it look a bit more non PVC pipish.

I seem to have missed taking a photo of the mouth piece part. I cut up a clear bottle of pop and wound it around the mouthpiece sectionand fastened it with a bit of scoth tape. This is to help get the reed to index between your front teeth. I have very little gap between my teeth so this was a must for me.

 The final thing I did was add some whip lashing around all the narrowed sections, and the mouthpiece was also lashed to hide as much to the shiny pop bottle material as I could.

So thats my attempt at a PVC Ney Pipe. I have since spent about 5 hours trying to make it work. I have got one squeak out of it, but thats it. I did take it out to the shop and try the air compressor line on it to see if there is sound. Yep there is a nice sound out of the thing… but its hard to hear over the air lines hissing.

Next up a KABAK KEMANE or a Coconut rebab (inspired by Shareefs rebab)

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2011/01/pvc-ney/feed/ 0 Siege Engine Boules http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/siege-engine-boules/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/siege-engine-boules/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:12:47 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2004

I have an evil plan to run a siege engine boules/ golf tourneys at up coming events. Since I have only so many weekends off before camping season starts, I needed to get on with it.

I cut up one 2×2 board into (2) 20″ lengths, (6) 8″ lengths, and one 11″ section of 2×3. Two of the 8″ sections had 45′ angles cut off them. These will be used to help support the uprights.

The 2×3 piece of wood then has notches drawn on, by plunking a 2×2 piece in the corners. Once traced, I then used a carpenters square to straighten the lines out a bit.

The notches were cut out on a band saw

The 20″ lengths were marked 3/4″ in from both ends, and 1/2″ from the sides. I then drilled pilot holes, and countersunk them so we can cover the screws later on.

Assembly starts with the bottom base screwed together.

I then place the uprights on the base, and took the angled supports to figure out were I wanted the uprights to sit. I then took a pencil and marked the uprights position.

I drilled two more holes through the base on each side (pilot holes, and countersunk)

The uprights then were fastened with more screwage.

Before I started playing with the supports, I decided to attach the strike plate to the uprights. This way I could rest the onager uprights flat on the bench.

At this stage I place the supports in place, and since clamping angled piece a can be difficult, I used painters tape to hold the upright in the right place. Lots of tape is good! (forgot to take a picture… my bad.

Angle pilot holes and countersinks at 90′ to the supports.

I marked the tension rope hole approx 1″ back from the uprights. I think I should have gone a bit farther back as the strike arm now angles back slightly. I am not sure, but I think you want the strike arm to have a slight forward angle optimally.

Since this cheap nasty 2×2 is made of super soft hemlock (I think) I am using metal washers to protect the sides. I also drilled to smaller holes either side of the rope holes. This will keep the pressure rod in place.

Everything I need but the tension rope. 2 washers, 2 pins, 2 pressure rods (allen keys). I also have hammered in a nail atop of a 12″ wooden dowel. Just need to cut off the end.

The first one is almost done. The rope is small 1/8th braided stuff.

The final step is glueing in some dowel plugs to cover up the screw heads.

The first two are done. I only need two for siege engine boules, but a few more if I run a golf tourney later on.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/siege-engine-boules/feed/ 0 Todays Surprise http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/todays-surprise/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/todays-surprise/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:26:16 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1983 I got home from work today and there was a strange small box waiting for me at the front door.

Inside the box was a gift pack from Yurt Alert. A while back I found a listing on the kickstarter web site for a Crochet Yurt Project.  Kate Pokorny was attempting to make a self supporting crochet yurt. She was fund raising money to buy the 500 lb’s of wool she was going to need. The deadline was coming up, and she was so close to her goal, I decided to anti up some cash for the cause.

Well the gift box had a minture crochet yurt, a picture of a sheep, and some fleece.  Awesome… The whole thing  just makes me laugh.

I also did a quick runner to LeeValley. I picked up a carpet boules set for this weekend. A story tape measure that Lee Valley released as there annual Aprils Fool prank. I am super glad they decided to make real story tape measures to sell as they normally don’t produce there pranks. I have plans.

The big score was the red ochre pigment. I had searched there site last week looking for their pigments only to find they had discontinued the product. Well, there they where sitting on the clearance bench. I am kicking myself for not buying the yellow ochre while I was there. May have to go back next week, but knowing my luck it will be gone <sob>. I am using the red ochre with linseed oil on the eric stands.

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/04/todays-surprise/feed/ 1 Status Update http://www.maryostler.com/2010/02/status-update/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/02/status-update/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:56:55 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1714 . 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….

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/02/status-update/feed/ 0 Turkish Carpet Project v1.2 http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-2/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-2/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:05:31 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1679 *** Yoinked from my other blog ***

I tried out another sample for the Turkish carpet project.  This time I tried using the Persian knot. It goes faster than the Turkish knot, but it doesn’t tighten up the same way. In fact it seems really loose until you weave the thread between the rows.  I think the Turkish knot leaves a more square look to the final product, and the ambassador painting has a grid feeling about it.

I also chose to do a full element from the holbien rug. This way I can roughly compare size to the original painting. From knuckle to finger tip is approx. half of the circular element, which is just about the same size as

The thing I also learned from the larger sample, was just how important the tension especially at the sides of the warp is. I tightened up the left side way to much. I didn’t really see the problam til I was a fair way in. I think part of the problem was the new loom I made for the sample. The cropped image is from the highest DPI image I could find, and cropping and zooming elements has shown a darker color, but most surely not black. I havent seen mention of charcoal colors or dark greys, so I am wondering if its a blue that has just changed color over time. I don’t know much about paint colors and stuff ,so more stuff to research.

It is basically two sticks with some readi-thread at each end. This way when I stringed the loom I kept an even thread EPI, much like a reed on a normal loom does.

I also found a secondary image painted by Holbein, that has a carpet that is very similar in style to the ambassador carpet. It gives some clues for the edging around the center medallion.

Now I have to figure out what the center medallion will look like. I have found a data base of pre-1600 carpets in art, and it is giving me some ideas, but still not happy.

I also would kill to find an image of pre-1600 carpet weavers in art. I want to make an accurate loom if I can, but its all specualtion at this point.

Also have to play around with types of wool, and dyes used in turkey to try to duplicate the colors in Holbeins paintings.

More research

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-2/feed/ 0 Turkish Carpet Project v1.1 http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-1/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-1/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:01:27 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1676 *** Yoinked from my other blog ***

The first sample had a knot grouping of  14×6 knots per inch. That produces a rectangular pattern.

After a suggestion from myss_minx on replacing the weft crochet threads with fine thread, and spreading the warp threads slightly,  I have gotten a pattern of 12×9 knots per inch. Still not completely happy. Would like to get the row count higher. Thinking of unraveling the three ply and using two ply to see what effect that has.

Made a quick cartoon of some of the patterns on Holbein’s painting Ambassadors.

My sample is copied somewhat from the corner insert latice section.

12×9 back saide

Front side. The individual pixels are just about square.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-1/feed/ 0 Turkish Carpet project v1.0 http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-0/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-0/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:59:10 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1674 *** Yoinked from my other blog***

So I have a project itching away at the old brain. I have recently been staring alot at Holbein Turkish Carpets. Maybe its the colors black, orange red, and white that make me think….gawd it would be cool to try and make one of those. I started looking into it too see what was involved. It looks simple enough, just long and tedious….

So before I went all crazy on this new subject, I thought I would try my hand at making a small sample.  This is at  roughly 14 knot / inch. The ones in the V&A museum average between 9.5 – 16 knots / inch. I used the Turkish style symmetrical knot as opposed to the Persian asymmetrical knot. The Persian knot supposedly  makes a nicer finished rug. I used super cheap  Acrylic wool for the test.

Much to think about. This would be an ambitious project even for a small prayer mat.  What kind of wool, dyes that were used, style of loom used in turkey in the 16th century, Design elements, cartoon,  yadda, yadda, yadda.


*****more*****


The previous picture had a nap of ~1.5-2cm. This is after I took a razor to it, and got it down to ~.5-1 cm. The pattern is a little more defined. Going to try to use my dog shears to get it all down to ~.25cm.

I also have to figure out why the rows are so far apart. The knots across are good, but the spacing between the rows needs a alot to be desired.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/turkish-carpet-project-v1-0/feed/ 0 How to make a cheap and easy sorguç ( aigrette ) http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/how-to-make-a-cheap-and-easy-sorguc-aigrette/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/how-to-make-a-cheap-and-easy-sorguc-aigrette/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:37:56 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1663 I seem to be slowly getting into the whole Turkish ottoman thing. Since I am currently weaving a hat tie, I decided to try to make a sorguç (Ottoman Hat Plume Holder thingy).

Mistress Safiye has made an amazing sorguç made out of silver using as many period methods as she could. Its a big slice of all-right, but I want to make one cheap and fast that doesn’t look to bad.

I gathered a couple of aglets I had from a Tudor costume. Originally I got a pack of 100 from Fire Mountain Gems , but I am sure you can find individual bolo tips for a lot cheaper. I bought two beads at a local craft store, and the peacock feather has been kicking around here for a while.

I used pilers to bend over the tab ends.

I took the aglet to a local Micheals and found a bead that looked right and fit the aglet.

Hot glue into the interior.

Bead now solidly on.

I had a mangy old peacock feather. I ripped off all of the feathers and gathered them together keeping the ends close to the same point.

Take a piece of thread and make a loop, keeping a short end just off of the feather bundle

Take the long thread end and wind up the bundle from the bottom and end just short of the loop. Take the winding end and send it through the loop.

Grasp the short end of the thread and pull into the loop slides under the wound section. You want to get the loop and the winding end to be in the center of the winding section.

Cut off the thread ends and cut the feather ends.

The red thread bundle is tight enough to not require any other methods of securing it in the metal bead. The yellow bundle is a little loose, so a small dab of hot glue fixes that.

Workable aigrette

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/how-to-make-a-cheap-and-easy-sorguc-aigrette/feed/ 0 Caliper Holder http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/caliper-holder/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/caliper-holder/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:40:48 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1649 Having recently converted my electric lathe to a pole lathe (ok Bungy…but its close) I discovered a new place to put my calipers. Normally I loose my calipers under heaping mounds of sawdust. Now I hang them from bungy’s  from the bar I use for my pole lathe. Yea accidental goodness!

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/01/caliper-holder/feed/ 0 Home Made Lathe Index Plate http://www.maryostler.com/2009/11/home-made-lathe-index-plate/ http://www.maryostler.com/2009/11/home-made-lathe-index-plate/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:06:24 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1454 The project I am currently working on has some decorative elements that require breaking the rounded spindle into evenly measured segments. The lathe I own did not have a built in indexing system, and neither does any of my chucks. It is possible to wrap the spindle in paper and then try folding the paper into evenly space segments, but the results have a lot to be desired. I decided to make my own indexing plate from stuff I have lying around.

homemade lathe index plate

Using a faceplate I don’t use, a pencil, some circular graph paper, liquid paper, a hacksaw blade, and a carpenters square.

homemade lathe index plate

My face plate is black, so pencil lines will not show up. I have no white paint at the moment, but I do have liquid paper.

homemade lathe index plate

Using Circular array graph paper (actual humidity graph paper) I centered the face plate. This paper was broke down into 84 segments. This number allows me to get alot of different numbers divided into it. With a compass, protractor, and ruler you could make your own graph paper. It doesn’t need to be uber acurate, but alot better than eye ball’n it.

homemade lathe index plate

Once I had made the marks, I used a carpenters square to straighten out and darken the lines.

homemade lathe index plate

The index wheel is now attached to the lathe. I used a hacksaw blade  tape to the top of the control panel as the indicator.

homemade lathe index plate

The pin hole in the blade makes for a view port for the index markings.

homemade lathe index plate

Pencil taped to a square (tape in the wrong direction in photo) at the height of the pivot point to the lathe deck. The short arm rest across the deck.

homemade lathe index plate

The Pencil making the first marking. 84/7 markings =12 segments.

homemade lathe index plate

Not that bad for a make shift tool.

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