Mary Ostler http://www.maryostler.com Elizabethan Wood Butcher & Builder of Things Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:13:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Making Cheese (14-15th century soft cheese) http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/making-cheese-14-15th-century-soft-cheese/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/making-cheese-14-15th-century-soft-cheese/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:10:04 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2485 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.

Soft Cheese Redaction
1 Gallon Whole Pasteurized Milk
1 pint Heavy Pasteurized Cream
1/4 to 1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp. of Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp. of Powdered Ginger
2 Tbsp. of Orange Blossom Honey
So you go and get some milk. The recipe calls for whole milk… In Canada that called Homo milk (3.25%) who knew? The heavy cream is just whipping cream which is 33%MF. Had too look this stuff up, as I am hopeless with remembering these factoids.

Apple Cider is not just used to kill off those pesky fruit flies in the summer (again you learn something every day).

Here’s my heavy duty colander lined with an industrial paint strainer (as I could not find any cheese cloth)

Cook the milk to 190′F

Take the milk of the burner and slowly pour in the vinegar.

Lumpy Kurds instantly…woot. Science is fun. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Then pour the curds and milk into the paint strainer

And hang the bag somewhere to drip for 2-3 hours. You may want to figure this one out first, as it can be trickery than you think. Luckily the sinks tap was long enough to work as a hanging post.

I don’t have a picture of the pressing jig I used. It was basically a colander in a pot with the bag of cheese in the colander. On the bag of cheese sat a plate with about 10 pounds of canned goods sitting on top. This then lived in the fridge for 24 hours. The first batch I only pressed for ~12 hours, and was a fair bit more moist in the final product.

This is the cheese when shook out of the bag. This time I split it into four parts, as I want to try making my own flavored cheese. I also wanted to have a wide selection for the last minute Laurels Prize Tourney or something happening this weekend.

This is the recipe version from the pdf file. Honey, Ginger, Salt, and a little cracked pepper, as I love pepper…

This version has no honey or ginger, but kept the pepper, and salt, plus fresh dill from a garden, and cardamom ( as I have lots from making Turkish coffee as of late). I can’t remember but there might be a little long pepper in this trial too.

I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the third batch. That one has Honey, Salt, Long Pepper, & Sweet Spice ( a mixture for some medieval recipe I tried out last year that has ginger, clove, cinnamon, and ground bay leaf).

From left to right: Plain cheese, Honey Ginger Cheese, Dill & Cardamom Cheese, and Sweet Spice Cheese.

I think I will look into how to make the harder cheeses next.

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/making-cheese-14-15th-century-soft-cheese/feed/ 0 Turkish Carpet Project v1.7 The Math http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/turkish-carpet-project-v1-7-the-math/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/turkish-carpet-project-v1-7-the-math/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:15:57 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2438 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 fairly simple. Each knot will require ~ 2″ of wool to complete the knot. Most of which will be cut away, but I have plans for the woolen offcuts. Pillow stuffing maybe… or even  multicolor felting project. The cartoon is 265 x 445 = 117925 units large. I then did the tedious job of counting the knots in each unique element in the rug, and then count the elements.

Total knots:   117925

Red:  36845
White:  18371
Blue: 12488
yellow: 4343
= 72047

72047 -117925 =  45878 Black knots.

Amounts in feet with a 10% bump to be safe.

Red 36845 x 2″ per knot / 12″ in a foot  + 10% =6754ft
White 18371 x 2 / 12+10% = 3367ft
Blue 12488 x 2 / 12 + 10% = 2289ft
Yellow 4343 x 2 / 12 + 10% = 800ft
Black  45878 x 2 / 12 + 10% = 8410ft

Total  21,620 ft (6590 m, 6.59 km, 7207 yd, 4.09 mile)

The Red wool also has ~4″ of flat weave on both ends of the carpet, and red edging down both edges.
8″ x 16 weft/inch (number pulled out of thin air) = 144 weft + (445 knotted rows x 2weft) = 1034 rows of weft.

1034 x ~36″ (more than finished, but it gives me a large bubble) = 37224″ / 12 = 3102ft

both edges totaling no more than 1″. 445 x2 x1″ = 890″ / 12 = 74ft

The warp will also be made with wool. All of the examples of carpets in the V&A museum from pre-1600 are wool warped. I have been talking to a couple of people experienced with carpet knotting, and have a couple of different recommendations on what to use (they both said cotton, but since I am determined to use wool they gave me other advice too… nice people).

The cartoon is 265 wide. Each grid needs two warp threads to work plus another 4-6 sets of threads for the edge banding (not decided on whether to us two strand weave or three strand weave for the edge).

265+12 = 277 x 20ft (rough size of my warping jig) = 4540  ft

The warp threads will be folded in half when attached to the loom. This will give me enough room for the rug plus a little extra.

Now for the shopping, and then the dying. Looking forward to the dyeing part. Especially the stinky Indigo baths. I suspect that will be forced out into the wood shop.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/turkish-carpet-project-v1-7-the-math/feed/ 0 Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.2 Wooden Bits & Rope http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-2-wooden-bits-rope/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-2-wooden-bits-rope/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:21:19 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2427 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.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-2-wooden-bits-rope/feed/ 0 Art of Seagirt http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/art-of-seagirt/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/art-of-seagirt/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:53:02 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=1918 I was able to day trip earlier this year to the Barony of Seagirt’s annual Daffodil tourney. I posted about the event, but have had this post sitting in the draft folder for months. Its just a series of images of some of the art the Seagirtians had kicking around the site. I had a video of the great Seagirtian tapestry but have seem to have lost it (hence this post in draft for months). I love how they immortalize the winners of the tourney in banner form. I only wish Ulf’s banner had the castrated beaver on the device, instead of the monkey. Multiple daffodils on the  banners show how many times the individual won the tourney.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/art-of-seagirt/feed/ 0 Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.1 The Other Tedious Stuff http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-1-the-other-tedious-stuff/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-1-the-other-tedious-stuff/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:01:15 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2401

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.

The tarp was big enough that I had no place to lay it out to mark were the straps go. Off I go to Ma & Pa’s to use there big back yard. There are a total of 15 straps that need to be sewn to the tarp. The 8 smallest straps will be sewn on the top side of the tarp, and the remaining 7 will be sewn to the underside. If you look close at the picture you can see where the rough placement of the straps will be attached. The underside straps are off center front to back by one panel as the front wall will be pushed up during the day, making a interesting profile on the roof. I also at this point wish I had made the long straps at least 1.5ft longer. I have them really chocked short on the back to give a cooler looking front strap look. Leland added for scale.
The small side wall straps are sewn as to leave ~1ft hanging wall underneath the strap. They are positioned at the tarp seams. This is another reason I cut the panels into ~3ft sections rather than the original fabric 6ft width. This will be a high stress point on the tent, and the seam helps with the pulling stress.
The longer side straps were sewn  at ~30″ at the outer edge of the strap.  When the front wall is pushed up during the day, you will be able to see that unsewn strap section pulled taunt.
The center strap sewing lines all chalked out. I found it was easier to just measure the centerline, and then with a taped ruler mark out the edges than to just try to chalk the edge lines.
 
The only way to get this to sew on my machine is to carefully roll the outside edges towards to center chalk lines. Duct tape would have worked better than the masking/painters tape. It would have eliminated the tape breakage while man handling the beast around.  It did the job, just long enough to sew the strap.
I sewed one edge down, then turned the whole tarp around to sew the other side. I could only manage a couple of inches at a time, as I was always stopping to stretch the fabric out so there was not excess fabric being sewn into the band. Once both long seams are sewn, you can go back and sew across the ends.
Next time: wooden hangers, and enough rope to hang a man.
]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-1-the-other-tedious-stuff/feed/ 0 Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.0 http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-0/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-0/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:00:16 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2378 I need a new tent. I have postponed my building of the Timurid Disked Bell for the time being, and moved on to making a new Bedouin tent. This time I am building one based on the style of tent found in the Northern Algerian regions. In “Tents: Architecture of the Nomads” by Torvald Feagre there is a description and some line drawings of a tent called “Ouled Naïl. It doesn’t list the actual dimensions of the tent, but it does give some details that can help me puzzle out how to make one.

In general the Ouled Nail tent is a large square of material (canvas for mine). The roof cloth is combined with the wall sections.It is split into eight breadths of cloth varying in width from 24″-28″. This means the tarp would be between 16-19 feet in size. The main roof strap being 8-12″ wide, and additional strapping being 4-6″ or smaller in width. The strap bands end with the warp cords being separated from the weft threads near the ends, and then braided into four lengths of cord. There is also a discussion on alternating color patterns in the roof fabric to indicate different tribal bands. One of the more interesting parts to the tent is the fact the tent bands are internal.

My Tent is being made with 11-13oz black canvas from a local warehouse. Decent price compared to fabric stores (not that the fabric stores would have enough fabric for this tent). The size is dictated by the canvas , and in this case the width was just shy of 6 feet. Three panels of that works out to being the 18 feet wide.

Now I took home about 25meters of the canvas. Way more than I actually need, but I will find uses for the excess. That is way too much fabric to fit into my washing machine. Thus I cut the roll into (3) 18ft sections and washed it.

Carpenter squares are your friend. Everyone should have one…. a thousand uses I tell you.

Once washed dried and ironed, I proceed to cut the 18ft sections into ~3 ft strips. This is a lot more work than you probably need to do, but I wanted to try to maintain a multi segment roof thing. Yes 36″ is a lot more than the 28″ of the originals….. It would have cost me  more money in canvas and wasted a bunch of narrow strips.

I then took a panel of 12ft long black canvas (wash dried ironed…yadda) and marked out  strips

(1) 10″x12ft, 1ft marked at each end

(2) 6″x12ft, 1ft marked out at each end

(4) 6″x2ft, 1ft marked at one end

(8) 4″x1.5ft, 1ft marked at one end

Picture of the smallest straps. 6″ will be the strap part, and the 12″ will become the braid cords.

all of the strap work cut out.

Then the long tedious job of sewing the long strips together began. I was happy when I had it all done…. only to realize I had to hem the whole edge….ack. I used simple flat felled seams.

**sewing tip** use canvas/jean needles in your machine. For every bottom spool of thread you use, change needles. Never force the machine. Sometimes you just have to lift the presser foot completely up and sew the thick joint freehand on the machine.

On to the long tedious…what was I thinking part. The unraveling has started, but before that load of fun, I did a quick rolled hem on the machine. I made sure I did a few passes at the bottom of the strap where the cording will be braided.

Once all of the weft has been removed from the warp I got all the loose threads  divided into four sections.

Those sections were then braided into cords. I tested out the cords / strap by hanging by it off a peg in the back yard. Seems to hold up pretty good.

Next part: Attaching the strapping to the canvas (I see fun in my future), carving a ridgepole, and figuring out how I will be making the wooded rope hangers that the braided cord will be attached.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/ouled-nail-bedouin-tent-v2-0/feed/ 2 TOA 2010 http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/toa-2010/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/toa-2010/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:19:11 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2351 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.

My obligatory shot of the newest tent. Many compliments on the bender.

I was super happy to see Mistress Sunjen, and Mistress Megan at the event. Got to take a good close look at the newest yurt made completely with bamboo shoots.

A shot of the Clan getting ready for the A&S processional. One of the few complaints I have on the event was the A&S contest(s). The way it was  ran, structured…etc just made for a bit of a mess. Its still turned out kind of cool…but it could have been SO MUCH MORE. The clan nearly out numered the rest of the groups combined.

The archers getting ready to earn points for there warlords.

The first shoot was a closest to a small target ilimination round. David of Tirine, and Jaqueline letting fly.

Sir Geffrey de Rennes’ sole archer managing to steal a point (Not sure of her name…bad Mary)

a picture of the gadget I built for the archery shoot. The heads bobbed up over a castle wall. David of Tirine managed to decapitate the two heads on the right. Will make a separate post on the gadget soonish.

There was a live steal demo on a pig carcass at the event. The archers got to skewer it first as they figure the target point would do less damage than an axe.

Day 2 had another A&S display with the surviving war parties for points. The Clan showed up in force again, and this time used children as a weapon against a member of the opposition.

The opposition used the “swords to plowshares” theme literly and made a plow out of weapons and a bull mastiff pup as the ox.

Baroness Caitrin giving out the last of her personal champion arm bands. This time the A&S bands went to Fiona, and Jaqueline for the help with making the kick butt eric flagging.

Teh Autocrats thanking everyone that helped out the event.

Baron Griffin Presenting the new Lions Gate Warlord Argyle.

Ruby…. Hussie

Callum Drakar being entered into the rolls of the Lions Claw.

Magnus receiving a long over due AA. Lord Magnus.

TRH presenting favors to people at there very first event.

Tir Righs newest Silver Spark (Childrens awesomeness award)

The newest Tir Righ Lady

Final thanks, and the court is released…

Then the drinking, singing and retelling of tales began anew.

Can’t wait til next year.

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/toa-2010/feed/ 0 Tent Color Poll http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/tent-color-poll/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/tent-color-poll/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:46:23 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2334 I am going to buy the canvas for the new tent tomorrow.

Its a little last minute, but thought I’d let you decided on what color I should make the tent out of.

The most common color for this tent was white with blue or red designs on the outside. There are several images of these tents in blue, yellow, tan, and red. The place I am buying the canvas from is Fabric Time in Vancouver has blue, white, and red canvas listed on their website. I think all three would look awesome and as per normal I am having a hard time making up my mind.  I also predict that I will own this tent (as per normal) less than a year, and a popular choice of color might make dumping later on easier.

Won’t you help an indecisive girl out.

white tents

Best color picture showing blue and red disked bell (awning this time) I could find.


(polls)

**also ** in other tent news…. Since my house sitting gig has payed me in advance, I think I will also buy enough black canvas for an Ouled Naïl style Bedouin tent (The walls and roof are all one piece, and the strapping are on the inside of the roof.

***update*** The people have spoken. As of this morning there are over 50% of respondents calling for the white tent. Red put up a good fight, but I think the colorized light inside the tent was the straw…camel…something. The other thing is I will not be making this tent yet. I was up all night rereading my notes doing the math over and over again….and something is bugging me, and I am not quite sure what it is. With the sense of “wrongness” playing in the back of my head, I think I will move on to the easier to make Bedouin Ouled Nail tent. I will continue to try to figure out what the lizard brain is trying to tell me about my little timurid tent.

]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/08/tent-color-poll/feed/ 0 Persona Thoughts http://www.maryostler.com/2010/07/persona-thoughts/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/07/persona-thoughts/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:42:47 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2325 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!

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]]> http://www.maryostler.com/2010/07/persona-thoughts/feed/ 7 Regency Fightclub http://www.maryostler.com/2010/07/regency-fightclub/ http://www.maryostler.com/2010/07/regency-fightclub/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:56:35 +0000 DirtyMary http://www.maryostler.com/?p=2315 Damn… I need to start hanging out wih these ladies.   Snarf!

Her name was Roberta Paulsen…

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