Castles on the Rhine River

 To celebrate some big milestones in our family, we decided to splurge on a Rhine River cruise.  We visited several cities in France, Germany and the Netherlands, but the big highlight was seeing the castles along the banks of the river.

Here's what we saw, in order as we cruised north from Rudesheim am Rhine to Cologne. Let's see how many of the numbers sights from this sign in Rudesheim we managed to get pictures of.  I should mention that it was a very grey, cold and wet day.  I got very wet out taking pictures and eventually gave up to enjoy the warm cabin on our boat.

33. Rudesheim am Rhine

18. Rochuskapelle

17. Bingen mit der Burg Klopp

32. Niederwalddenkmal

31. Ruine Ehrenfels

15. Mauseturm in Binger Loch

16. Bingerbruck

14. Burg Rheinstein

13. Trechtingshausen und Burg Reichenstein

30. Assmannshausen

12. Burg Sooneck

11. Heimburg

29. Lorch und die Ruine Nollig

10. Ruine Furstenburg

9. Bacharach "Wernerkapelle" und Berg Stahleck

28. Pfalzgrafenstein

27. Kaub und die Berg Gutenfels

8. Oberwesel und die Schonburg

26. Der Loreley-Felsen

25. St. Goarshausen und die Berg Katz (cat)

24. Wellmich und die Berg Maus (mouse)

7. St. Goar und Berg Reinfels

6. Bad Salzig

23. Kamp-Bornhofen mit den Burgen Sterrenberg und Liebenstein (the feuding brothers)

22. Osterspai  und Schloss Liebeneck

5. Boppard und die Kurtrierische Burg

4. Spay

3. Rhens und der Konigsstuhl

21. Braubach und die Marksburg

20. Lahnstein und Burg Lahneck

2. Schloss Stolzenfel

1. Koblenz Kurfurstliches Schloss und "Alte Burg"

19. Festung Ehrenbreitstein

With the rain, it got dark early and it was dinner time, so we missed a few at the end.  Overall, we saw 24 of the 33 on this the map at the top of this post and it was pretty cool to see so many.  I just wish it was a little warmer.

We seem to have seen a few extras.  Here's what I have been able to identify:

Apollinariskirche

Schloss Arenfels

Friedenmuseum

Silk Banner Painting

 I've been making smaller painted silk scarves for years, but I'd always wanted to try something larger.  With the encouragement of a friend, I've now made several banners.  I generally use a resist method (habotai) and modern, heat set dyes.

These designs are based on historical examples.  From looking at many examples, the square or rectangle shape banners mounted from the top seem to be used in religious context.  For what I was interested in, I based my initial designs on examples from Banners, Standards, and Badges (see a digital copy of the book).

Here's a sample.

I first drew out the design on graph paper.  I used leftover packing paper to draw a full size version of the designs and marked the lines in marker to make them more visible.

I had intended to use pre-hemmed scarves, but my friend convinced me to try (and lent me fabric to do so!) using silk yardage.  This was also the first time I tried colored resists to draw the lines.  It was quite a bit of tedious resist drawing, but I think it turned out well.

Here are some in progress pics and the finished (and hemmed) banners.

I had one more banner that I wanted to try.  This is a banner of my husband's SCA arms and is based on the Sackville Pedigree:

For this one I did use a pre-hemmed silk scarf.  My friend encouraged me to try adding shading, so I first painted a silk scarf of Tudor roses with variations of shading.  Then, I moved to the full banner.

Finished banner:

It's been fun to make banners, but the most fun is applying the paint/dye.  This is when your design really comes to life.  However, there is a lot of other work to get to a finished banner, including washing your fabric, planning the design, mounting the fabric (assuming you already have a frame to use for stretching), transferring the design to the fabric, applying the resist (requires patience and a steady hand!), hemming, heat setting the dye, washing the excess dye out and ironing.  I've generally used an iron for heat setting, but for these larger pieces, it makes sense to use your dryer.

A another friend recently asked me to make an antifa banner.  This is the largest one I've done!  I'm generally happy with how it turned out, but the heat setting was not consistent, so the black is a little blotchier than I would like. (Feet are included for scale)

After cutting out and hemming all those tails, I was left with some triangles, so I ran a little experiment on heat setting. Please note that the the top two triangles had two coats of black applied; the bottom two only had one coat of black.  From top to bottom: heat set in dryer on high heat for 60 min, heat set sitting in the sun for 60 min, heat set using iron, heat set in dryer on high heat for 60 min.

The best and most even is the two coats of black heat set in the dryer.  Using the iron on large pieces tends to leave some iron marks or unevenness.  Putting in the sun is eco-friendly, but didn't work quite as well.  You also have to account for the wind if you choose to use the sun.

The color differences won't be as noticeable with lighter colors.

A Summer Cassock

Recently, my husband requested a light weight cloak or cassock that can keep the rain off on a summer day.  I happen to have some summer weight wool, so figured I'd give that a try.

I did a quick water test on the unfulled wool, and water beads on it, but I'll be washing it on hot first to see if I can full it a bit to make it even more water resistant.

His preference is to have sleeves, and he doesn't need this garment to be full like a sleeved cloak, so I'll be making a cassock.  I'll follow my basic cassock pattern, but make the body a little more narrow.  This cassock will include a collar with a keyhole neckline (by request).

And now for the pattern and inspiration pics.

I like the detail of the trim around the buttons at the neck, so I used a while silk ribbon on the blue wool.  

Here's the almost finished cassock.

I need to hunt down a pic of my husband wearing it.  The final product has buttons and button loops and he fills it out better than my mannequin. 

My Buttons

 After teaching at the recent Jamestown Clothing Conference, someone asked me for pictures of my buttons.  I've posted about the research I've done, but only a few of the buttons I've made.  It's about time I fixed that.  

As part of my class, I put together a button sample board to show the variety of buttons between 1550 and 1650, and to make sure that I can actually make them in approximately the right size and the right materials.

So, with no further ado, here are some of my buttons!

(first photo taken by Jane Cadieux)

Jamestown Clothing Conference

We made it.  After Covid delays, the Jamestown Clothing Conference was back.  Chris was able to attend this year (due to my awesome sister watching the kids for the weekend!), and I was a presenter.  It was amazing to be back and to be a part of it, even if there were a handful Covid cases announced in the days after.

The hubs and I attended the natural dyeing workshop and jack of plate workshop at the beginning of the conference, and I got to tag along to the hat making workshop as well!  It was full weekend, especially considering it feels like I've forgotten how to 'people' after the last few years.

I don't know that I have any major epiphanies to share this time around, but I was rather focused on the button workshop I taught (4 times over 2 days).

This conference will always be a special place for me.  It helped me re-find my passion for historical clothing.  I'm so glad we were able to make it.