Going to museums makes me feel cleverer
One of the boons of London is free museums. No matter how many times you've been there, there's always something to see that you hadn't noticed before.
This weekend some of the Thamesreach faithful went to the V&A to be, well, research geeks.
Lady Katherine of Great Chesterfield suggested it - she's on a Tudor textiles research kick right now - so we started in the Textiles study room.
Katherine settled down to take pics of 16th c textiles - silk velvets, silk and gilt brocades, etc.
Lady Nesta dug into the embroidered fabric samples.
Lord Guy wandered about...not sure what he was after.
And our newest newcomer Annora showed up to join us, expressing an interest in 13th and 14th c era. She's also interested in calligraphy - hurrah!
My lord Robert hied himself off to the new Medieval galleries to take pics of crosiers and other bishop-related accessories.
My find of the day was another bishop-ish accessory, something called a sudarium - a sort of like an oven pad for handling a bishop's crosier. While it's listed online, it has no photo - I guess it's not a high-priority item in the textiles room.
It's a triangular piece of brocade, no bigger than a small hand, with a long white linen hanky bit that hangs from it, sort of like a cuff - the cuff is ornamented with strips of embroidery. Not clear if you stick your hand into it like a glove, or just put it between your hand and the crosier staff like a high-end pot holder.
What was interesting was the decoration - 2 strips of German-style geometric embroidery, edged with the teeniest tiniest narrow ware woven trim (which I think I could make on an inkle loom, though original was probably cardwoven). I sketched it out, and want to try it at home (after I finish the current inkle project I guess...sigh).
The triangular brocade bit was edged with a wide-ish flattish fingerbraid (maybe 7-strand?) with a chevron pattern, and tassels, probably silk. It struck me as a sort of effort to use up every scrap of expensive material; perhaps it was the best some burgher could offer to their local church.
It's an early collection item - part of the 'Bock collection', whatever that was, dated 1863, so there's not a lot of info about provenance. Both BM and V&A are crammed with early donations that predate the business of detailed provenances and well-documented sources.
I also sketched a very pretty '5 end silk damask' (don't know what the five ends refer to), that had splendid patterns of whorls and leaves in it, a bit like the leaves I'm trying to draw in penwork inside Lombardic initials. It was a good practice to draw what was really there, rather than the impression of it.
We wrapped up with a pint at a nearby pub, sadly priced for tourists.
Happily this coming weekend is the next MEDATS conference, and the topics look fabulous: 'Stiffening, stuffing and quilting: the extra dimension', giving us a further chance to pack our brains full of textile research goodness.
My Sunday was quieter, and I felt a bit low. I'd finished all my current scrolls (just packed off the last one for delivery at DW this week), didn't have any new ones for immediate use, nothing on TV, and Robert out at Vitus' to re-stash the Vitus-wagn.
I regularly find Sunday afternoons hard to cope with; I don't know if it's the anticipation of the end of the weekend, or the lack of structure, but I'm most prone to moping on Sundays if they're not adequately filled. My best solution, short of busyness, is serious napping.
On the scribing front: I'm glad to finish the last scroll for DW. I was really happy with the calligraphy; I've taken a small step closer to the original with the line spacing, which I found very satisfying. The base painting was ok - still not happy with alizarin crimson, and may have to find a smoother-painting substitute. But the whitework...the whitework still lets me down. More practice required. Will post the images post-event.
My next backlogs are peerage scrolls, and I'm going to have to plan, and practice, a whole lot more before committing to them. For one I'm hoping to collaborate with da_dotty - she's a far better and more experienced illuminator than I am, and together hopefully we can produce something more splendid than I could do alone. The second is another possible collaboration, depending on the text and art style I settle on. We'll see!
This weekend some of the Thamesreach faithful went to the V&A to be, well, research geeks.
Lady Katherine of Great Chesterfield suggested it - she's on a Tudor textiles research kick right now - so we started in the Textiles study room.
Katherine settled down to take pics of 16th c textiles - silk velvets, silk and gilt brocades, etc.
Lady Nesta dug into the embroidered fabric samples.
Lord Guy wandered about...not sure what he was after.
And our newest newcomer Annora showed up to join us, expressing an interest in 13th and 14th c era. She's also interested in calligraphy - hurrah!
My lord Robert hied himself off to the new Medieval galleries to take pics of crosiers and other bishop-related accessories.
My find of the day was another bishop-ish accessory, something called a sudarium - a sort of like an oven pad for handling a bishop's crosier. While it's listed online, it has no photo - I guess it's not a high-priority item in the textiles room.
It's a triangular piece of brocade, no bigger than a small hand, with a long white linen hanky bit that hangs from it, sort of like a cuff - the cuff is ornamented with strips of embroidery. Not clear if you stick your hand into it like a glove, or just put it between your hand and the crosier staff like a high-end pot holder.
What was interesting was the decoration - 2 strips of German-style geometric embroidery, edged with the teeniest tiniest narrow ware woven trim (which I think I could make on an inkle loom, though original was probably cardwoven). I sketched it out, and want to try it at home (after I finish the current inkle project I guess...sigh).
The triangular brocade bit was edged with a wide-ish flattish fingerbraid (maybe 7-strand?) with a chevron pattern, and tassels, probably silk. It struck me as a sort of effort to use up every scrap of expensive material; perhaps it was the best some burgher could offer to their local church.
It's an early collection item - part of the 'Bock collection', whatever that was, dated 1863, so there's not a lot of info about provenance. Both BM and V&A are crammed with early donations that predate the business of detailed provenances and well-documented sources.
I also sketched a very pretty '5 end silk damask' (don't know what the five ends refer to), that had splendid patterns of whorls and leaves in it, a bit like the leaves I'm trying to draw in penwork inside Lombardic initials. It was a good practice to draw what was really there, rather than the impression of it.
We wrapped up with a pint at a nearby pub, sadly priced for tourists.
Happily this coming weekend is the next MEDATS conference, and the topics look fabulous: 'Stiffening, stuffing and quilting: the extra dimension', giving us a further chance to pack our brains full of textile research goodness.
My Sunday was quieter, and I felt a bit low. I'd finished all my current scrolls (just packed off the last one for delivery at DW this week), didn't have any new ones for immediate use, nothing on TV, and Robert out at Vitus' to re-stash the Vitus-wagn.
I regularly find Sunday afternoons hard to cope with; I don't know if it's the anticipation of the end of the weekend, or the lack of structure, but I'm most prone to moping on Sundays if they're not adequately filled. My best solution, short of busyness, is serious napping.
On the scribing front: I'm glad to finish the last scroll for DW. I was really happy with the calligraphy; I've taken a small step closer to the original with the line spacing, which I found very satisfying. The base painting was ok - still not happy with alizarin crimson, and may have to find a smoother-painting substitute. But the whitework...the whitework still lets me down. More practice required. Will post the images post-event.
My next backlogs are peerage scrolls, and I'm going to have to plan, and practice, a whole lot more before committing to them. For one I'm hoping to collaborate with da_dotty - she's a far better and more experienced illuminator than I am, and together hopefully we can produce something more splendid than I could do alone. The second is another possible collaboration, depending on the text and art style I settle on. We'll see!