Mary Ostler

So First Dye job up to bat is the yellow wool. It is the smallest individual color on the carpet, and since I am not that familiar with dyeing, I figured it would be a quick tutorial on how to dye. That and if I totally munk it up, its not going to cost me a [...]

I have finally bought most of the wool I need for my project. I still have a bunch more to buy, but I want to spread the cost of the wool out over a few pay checks. I will be dying the wool four colors, and the fifth color i will be leaving the wool [...]

 I finally decided to just buy the wool for the carpet. I have been waffling on the exact wool for ever, and if I don’t start soon, this might turn into a 4 year project. I calculated how much of each color of wool I needed, and had to wind them to the right size [...]

I have the cartoon, I have a loom, I have the right amount of hedles (my order arrived a couple of days ago). Now I have to figure out how much material I will need to complete the rug, and how much of each color I will need to hand dye. Determining how much was [...]

The project has been at a bit of a stand still as off late. The main hold up was the loom. I have been pulling out my hair trying to find either an image or a decent description of a near eastern rug loom in period. The closest I could find were a few images [...]

Well the verdict on this weekend is in, and it was 4 kinds of goodness. Friday & Saturday I got to hangout with Agnes and some of the aprenti. It was a two day work on A&S stuff gabfest. I got a start on the final carpet cartoon, the wooden board games in the barony’s collection have [...]

I got to go to Daffodil Tourney this year. I’ll be posting soon about the annual Seagirtian event, but I thought I do a quick post on my entry into the A&S tourney. The contest was “items inspired in some way by the theme “daffodil”. Since I only decided to go to the event the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]