Pictures are up!

I have put the photos of the 12th Night A&S up where people can see them without having to log into the Northshield gallery, and also the C&I work that I have scans or photos of (there are a handful of photocopies that have yet to be digitized and uploaded) and a photo of my seax that I made at Quest 2006, for Wulfgyðe (my Angle-in-the-Danelaw alter-ego who is woefully underdeveloped) There's a photo of me filing it somewhere that I should put up. I apologize in advance for the purple hair.

Also I have finally found the notebook from 12th Night 2003 so I will be putting up those redactions as well.

Embroidery part 2

My collar embroidery is almost done!! All I have left is the pearling. Yay!! It got cut out and sewn to the gown on the way to Crown in Dreibrucken (Wilton ND) and in the hotel room. It was done before midnight. I need to sit down with the dress and the white marking pen and put the dots for the pearls in and then I can start sewing pearls. It will look remarkably like Edwin's tunic. Hopefully, to the average viewer it will look identical to Edwin's and nobody will notice the oddness at the back where I had to do some easing to account for the fact that the pattern was taken off the keyhole neckline template which is nice and flat. My shoulders slope (so much so that I should have done Victorian re-enactment--they're perfect for it) thus the top of my gown is slightly conical rather than flat like a normal person's would be, and a flat circle has a little too much fabric in it to fit over a cone nicely.

Therefore, I need to take the keyhole template and turn it into something that will fit on my gown, then I will have two separate patterns, one for normal people and Edwin, and one for me. Mine will be in two pieces so there is the possibility that it will fit in a small space when drawn out on the ground fabric, and the thought of carrying around a smaller embroidery frame is a pleasant one.

Embroidery, part 1

These are Edwin's collar and cuffs for the Crown outfits, fully pearled. The brooch is a commission piece from Gaukler Medieval Wares in BC.

The embroidery is done in split stitch with two strands of white silk embroidery floss on dark blue linen and ~4mm button pearls sewn with silk thread. The pattern is from a 12th century German altar frontal--the cuffs have it as-is, the collar is adapted for the shape.

Cheese biscuits, take 1...

The original, from the Dutch cookery manuscript "Wel ende edelike spijse", dated to approximately 1484.



1.21. Dough to make "pipes".
Take cheese from Gouda and eggs. Grind together with white flour. Lay it on dry flour and make small biscuits of it.

The other recipes are quite detailed about what one is supposed to do, then there's this one. What do they exactly mean by "make small biscuits," anyway? So this first attempt they will be drop biscuits.


2 eggs
1/2 c flour
1 cup finely grated Gouda cheese

Combine eggs and cheese, add flour gradually to make a sticky dough. Line a pan with parchment, sprinkle with an even coating of flour. Drop dough by spoonsful, flatten to 1/4" thick. Bake 15 mins at 350F.

Edwin thought they were too rubbery, but Edwin is notoriously picky. Edwin also thinks they should have salt in them. They are also bright yellow due to the notably intense yellow-orange yolks (from free-range chicken eggs) and the pale yellow cheese.

Next attempt: subject cheese and egg to the blender to better approximate grinding and then mix in the flour. I'm also thinking about trying them as more like a cracker than a biscuit. One could also reduce the amount of cheese, but one change at a time.

I have a thing!!

"a glutton for books"

That's what the title means. If you've seen my library you know from whence I speak. Anyway, this is meant to be an actual project diary and repository, since my project LJ has turned into a really fancy to-do list.