Pine Needle Basket

 Coiled Basketry has been found worldwide in a variety of indigineous cultures including Uganda, England, Australia, and many regions in the United States.  They form a very tight container and can include delightful colors and patterns.  Along the western states, these baskets have been made from the long Ponderosa Pine needles.  Trees will naturally shed a great number of these needles each fall and they can be collected from the ground.  

I collected these needles at our SCA Principality's Fall Coronet in Chiloquin, OR.  The first step is to make sure most of the needles are fully intact and mold-free, and it's best for them to be completely dried before beginning.  Once that is assured, soak the needles in warm water for at least an hour or until they are a little more pliable.  As the basket gets wider, this is less necessary, but it keeps the long needles from snapping.  

The materials you'll need for this are:

~Lots of pine needles (I used a large, double handful for this tiny basket)

~Thread of choice - waxed or sinew is preferred, I used embroidery floss

~Needle

~hollow threader - large feather shaft, tightly rolled piece of paper, portion of drinking straw or pen exterior.  The interior circumference of this will determine your fiber bundle size.

    When the needle bundles fall from the trees, they have a papery covering over the tree-end.  This should be removed from each set of needles before working.  Stuff the tube with needles so they are all going the same direction, lining up the tree-end on one side.  The tube should be snug, but not so tight that the needles can't continue to slide through.  With all the tree-end (connected) needles, start tightly wrapping with your thread, tucking the short end under the wrapping.  Continue this for about an inch before folding the wrapped area over as pictured above.  Thread needle on long end and past through wrapped areas several times to secure.  Continue wrapping and stitching until secure.  

    As you work, add more pine needles going the same direction into the center of the tube bundle any time it loosens up.  When you run out of thread, try to tie a new strand on in a way that the knot will be covered as you continue to work.

  

  After the center of your coil is tightly secure, continue wrap needles around and secure with stitches by going around the new and back under the last coil round.  It will look most consistent if you put each additional row's stitches coming through the stitch of the previous row, splitting it.  Eventually you will need to add extra stitches in between.

    Continue until the base of your basket is the desired size. 

At this point, you will need to pull the needle bundle on top of the previous row as you stitch along in order to begin shaping the sides.  Continue in this direction until the desired height is achieved.  Continue stitching around until all needle ends are tacked down.

  

    Enjoy your coiled basket!  I found this to be very strong and sturdy.  It could hold very tiny things without them falling through, perhaps even liquid if it was made well.

Quick Garden Pickles for War

Last week, our family joined our SCA kingdom in a war against our neighboring kingdom.  Fighters took to the field in their heavy armor beneath the summer sun and fought for their homeland and glory.  And when it was over, we were there with water and pickles! 

Pickles (the vinegar pickle juice in particular) has been found to be very beneficial to athletes and those who work in hot environments.  Not only do they provided needed electrolytes to better utilize the water you drink, they also can reduce muscle cramps!  While cucumber pickles are lovely, it was fun to switch it up with this fun giardiniera, or garden veggie pickles.

Passing out pickled veggies on the battlefield sidelines between scenarios

While you can use whatever veggies you have on hand, I chose carrots, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and cauliflower.  The bell peppers were probably in the highest demand, but they all seemed to disappear rather quickly!

Ingredients for 1 gallon:

~6 large carrots, sliced 1/4” or less

~1 head of cauliflower

~3 bell peppers, sliced in 1/4” strips

~1-2 onions, sliced in 1/8” strips

~5 cloves of garlic sliced thin

Brine:

~2 c. Apple cider vinegar 

~4 -5 c. water

~4 tsp. Salt

~4 tsp. Sugar

~1/4 c. Pickling spices  (the one I use contains coriander, cinnamon bark, mustard seed, ginger, fenugreek, bay leaves, dill seed, red peppers, cloves, fennel seeds, black pepper, and allspice.)

Bring brine ingredients to a boil in pot on stovetop.  Fill four quart jars evenly with veggies.  Once brine has boiled and allowed to cool slightly, pour evenly over veggies, ensuring all are covered with the liquid.  You may add more vinegar or water as needed. Make sure all spices make it into the jars as they like to stick to the pot.  Cover and allow to cool at room temperature overnight, then place lids and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks.  

Also good on the feast table

For more reading on the benefits of pickles, see this article from Cleveland Clinic: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/6-health-benefits-of-drinking-pickle-juice

Historic Paints on Metal

 Historic Paints on Metal

June 15, 2024

Muirenn inghean Uí Cléirigh (Katie Kelm)

As far back as ancient Greece (900-31BC), soldiers began to carry elaborately painted shields. As time went on and helmets obscured identities in the middle ages, some armor-wearers with the resources to do so started to paint their helmets as well as their shields with their personal devices.  This practice spread to the rest of their armor and continued into the Renaissance.  But how did the paints that were perfected for manuscripts and frescoes work on the plate metal?

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast paints that would have been available in the middle ages as they function on metal.  In reviewing the results, those who wear armor might make informed decisions as to the method they choose to use in making their period paint.  Nine different paint types were used for this experiment: water, full egg, egg yolk, glare, linseed oil, hide glue, egg tempura, gouache, as well as a modern acrylic paint to compare.

Materials: For all of these paints except the modern acrylic, a roughly powdered, gold ochre from Curtin, Oregon, USA was used.  They were applied to an abraded tea kettle base to mimic the texture and curve of plate armor elements.  It should be noted that nearly every recorded recipe for any one of these paints differs slightly from each other.  Each artist has their own preferences of texture and function.  In this experiment, relatively simple but documentable versions of each paint formula was used, but may be adjusted to suit need.

Process: To begin I made a Gesso base layer to paint over half of the surface in order to compare the difference between a bare surface and one with a foundation.  The gesso was created by combining equal portions of hide glue (may also use fish glue) as a binder and chalk (calcium carbonate, may also use slaked plaster) as an inert pigment.  To this, a drop of honey was added as a humectant to increase smoothness and plasticity.  These were mulled together until mixed, but for future projects I would recommend mulling more thoroughly, until the consistency of softened butter.  

To mull, a hard flat surface (tempered glass cutting board) is needed in addition to a muller.  Intentional mullers may be purchased from glassworkers, but a flat topped, glass, electrical insulator accomplishes the same results.  First make a small pile of your dry materials in the center of the board and create a little well in the center.  Into this well pour your liquid ingredients.  With the flat surface of your muller, grind the materials against the board in small, ever-widening circles to blend and further reduce the particle sizes.  If it becomes too spread out, use a palette knife or spatula to bring the solution back to the center and repeat.  This process can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour, depending on how smooth you want your final product to be and the hardness of your dry materials.  This process is used to create all the paints as well.

After application, the paints were allowed to dry 48 hours before being  tested.  Adhesion was determined by how well they adhered to the metal and covered the area.  Durability was tested in a scratch test done by wooden chopsticks, a drop of water applied by fingertip, and flexibility by being hit with a rattan sword. 

Once the gesso was dry, I began creating paints and painting two patches on the kettle of each type: one on the bare surface and one over the gesso.  The most simple paint was first, which is simply water mulled into the ochre powder.   As seen in the furthest left image above, the coverage was decent once it dried.  However, it readily shed large patches as you can see in the scratch test in the center, and it immediately dissolved in a drop of water.

The simple water paint over gesso performed in almost exactly the same manner, although it didn’t scratch off quite as easily.  

The next set of paints include eggs.  To begin these, I first needed to separate the egg yolk from the whites.  With the whites I then processed into a glair as pictured above.  The purpose of this process is to create a solution with uniform consistency that can last quite a long time.  In fact, it is considered to improve in quality as it ages.  To make glair, whip egg whites until they create stiff peaks.  Tilt container and allow to settle.  This may take anywhere from a few hours to a full day.  A slightly yellow liquid will accumulate at the bottom that should pour off apart from the remaining froth.  This is glair.  Some recipes call for a drop of honey for increased elasticity or a drop of vinegar for preservation purposes.

 

Paint made from eggs is considered very strong, but can crack over time. Although I excluded adding honey for these tests, it may be added to all the egg-based paints to increase elasticity and longevity.  Above shows the glair paint (made by mulling glair with ocher powder) on the bare metal.  The adhesion was relatively minimal.  Multiple layers helped but only where it did not wipe off the previous layer with the brushstrokes.  The second image shows the scratch test removing the full area and the last image shows some lifting with the water test.

 

The glair over gesso adhered slightly better.  No paint came off in the scratch test, and the scratches can barely be seen.  However, it did lift with the application of water.

The egg yolk adhered thickly and consistently, even over the bare metal and took a second coat without dislodging the first.  It did readily scratch from the unprimed surface, but was unmoved in the water test. The increased fat content of the yolk increases its ability to repel water.

Over the gesso layer, the yolk performed even better.  It adhered well and could barely be scraped off in the scrape test.  It also showed the same water repelling properties in the water test.  This is the first mixture that I could imagine being used as a relatively sustainable and viable metal paint process.

The next paint is called full egg, but it was made by combining the yolk and the glair together with the ochre.  While it adhered comparatively on the bare metal, the scratch test performed similarly to that of the glair, removing a whole section, and the water solubility of the glair caused some lifting in the water test.  

These characteristics were improved with the whole egg paint over the gessoed metal.  The adhesion was more uniform, the scratches were almost imperceptible, and the water only slightly lifted the paint.

Linseed oil is made from pressed flax seed.  It was used to make oil paints beginning in the late middle ages and through the renaissance.  While boiled linseed oil is fairly readily available, artists during this time were known to let it “harden” between 2 to 20 years to increase the viscosity.  I went into this next test knowing it would be a thinner paint and may not fully dry.  This swatch, pictured above, was allowed to dry 48 hours before testing. The oil is effective in saturating the color of the pigment, causing it to appear darker.  In the test seen above on bare metal, the adhesion is expectedly thin and scratches off quite easily.  However, because of the nature of the oil, it was very resistant to water.  

Despite its thinness, the oil paint adhered surprisingly well to the metal with the gesso layer.  Its scratchability also improved slightly and water resistance remained the same.  

Next up, the hide glue was tested, first on the bare metal.  Hide glue is often used for its added strength and adhesion.  I did cover the bare metal fairly uniformly, and only was scratched at the absolute edge of the chopstick.  However, since it is a water soluble solution, the pigment was lifted during the water test.  

On gessoed metal, the hide glue performed even better.  While possibly slightly less uniform, I was unable to scratch the pigment off at all.  It did still lift in the water test, so this might work as a decent temporary paint.

Now we come to the egg tempera paint.  This paint was the most popular formula to be used for frescoes and panel paintings as well as a number of manuscripts.  It is known for its spreadability and durability.  In my test photos, there are two swatches in each.  This is because my first proportions were unbalanced, leading to an especially dry paint.  After adding more of the liquids, the texture was my favorite of any of the paints that I tested.  It went on so smoothly and thick where it adhered.  

To make tempura paint, mull pigment powder with equal parts whole egg and linseed oil.   Adjust as needed.  On bare paint, the refined consistency (lighter colored paint swatch on the right of each individual photo) applied very smoothly and showed great coverage.  While it did scratch off, it stuck to itself.  This lifting may be due to fresh oil and not entirely hardened dry.  The paint was completely waterproof.

On the gessoed side of the kettle, the tempura didn’t stick quite as well, perhaps due to the coarseness of the surface. But where it was thick enough, it spread on smoothly and evenly as before.  Only one stroke of the scratch test lifted the paint, and it maintained its resistance to water.  This is the second paint I would recommend for metal armor.

One of the most common paint-making methods for medieval scribes is gouache, which mulls the pigment with dissolved tree resin.  Gum arabic seems to have been used the most in surviving manuscripts, though there is documentation of the use of other stone fruit trees such as cherry and plum.  While the gouache adheres well enough to parchment and paper, it is evident in the first photo how it is already pulling away from the bare metal.  It easily scratched off and quickly dissolved into the water applied.

Painting the gouache over the gesso greatly improved its adherence and it was so strong, I was surprisingly unable to scratch it!  The gouache is still water soluble, though.  This would be my top choice for a temporary armor paint.  

Finally, I decided to test modern acrylic paint in the same manner.  This is a plastic based paint that is often used by modern reenactors for its ease of use and durability.  Though this paint had very small pigment particle size in comparison the ones I made, it did not have very consistent coverage when applied in a similar thickness onto the bare metal.  It partially scratched off and, though it’s waterproof, quickly sloughed off the metal when water was applied.  

The gesso base only improved its performance slightly.  Adherence was about the same, and the scratch did not go all the way through the paint, though some still lifted with the water.  

Finally, an overview of all the methods on modern paper.  It’s interesting to note that the ones that did the poorest on the metal appear the most appealing on paper.  The kettle was hit repeatedly with a rattan sword, and all of the paints maintained enough flexibility to avoid cracking.  This aspect is likely to deteriorate with time.

Conclusion:

Different paint making methods are useful for different applications.  For a strong, temporary metal armor paint, the gouache over gesso or hide glue over gesso would probably be the method of choice.  But for a long lasting paint that will not drip away with rain, sweat, or the blood of enemies, you will probably have a more enduring paint with the egg tempura or the yolk paint over gesso.  An additional overlay of egg may further increase the paint’s longevity.  Further study topics may include any improvement using more finely ground pigments or non-rock pigments as well as the effects of using well hardened linseed oil or aged glair.

Resources:

1. Castel d’Avignon, M. OL (AEthelmearc) ( 2006). “An Introduction to Paint Making” Last viewed 6-15-24 from https://www.angelfire.com/pa/allthat2/scriptorium/paint.html

2. Breiding, D. (2003) “The Decoration of European Armor” Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Last viewed 6-15-24 from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/deca/hd_deca.htm#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20earliest%20decorated,France%2C%20Germany%2C%20and%20Austria.

3. von Hefner-Alteneck, J. H. “Medieval Arms and Armor: A Pictorial Archive.”  Dover.  Last viewed 6-15-24 from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dWS8AQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT9&dq=medieval+painted+armor&ots=sT4Mp6Btgz&sig=79UEjd4NXWeQy0rIyyVIG73cRuQ#v=onepage&q=medieval%20painted%20armor&f=false

4. Sparks, J. C. “Medieval Illumination Recipes”  last viewed 6-15-24 from https://www.jcsparks.com/painted/recipes.html#Gesso

5. Kroustallis, S. (2011) “Binding media in medieval manuscript illumination: a source of research” ResearchGate.  Last viewed 6-15-24 from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefanos-Kroustallis/publication/288624580_Binding_media_in_medieval_manuscript_illumination_a_source_of_research/links/5beabe37a6fdcc3a8dd21b18/Binding-media-in-medieval-manuscript-illumination-a-source-of-research.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ

6.  Rotschopf (2015) “Medieval paints and pigments for practical application”. Last viewed 6-15-24 from https://wh1350.at/en/tutorials-en-all/11366/

7. 
   

   Schadle, K (2021) “History of Egg Tempera Painting”  Last visited 6-15-24 from https://www.kooschadler.com/techniques/history-egg-tempera-2022.pdf

Bog Hat

 

I've been wanting to make myself a sun hat for about a year now.  I'm not a basket weaver, so I started researching and testing materials that grow in abundance where I live, twining ropes and making mini baskets.  

Most examples of sun hats in the Middle Ages seem to be made of straw.  In the SCA (Medieval recreation) my persona is from 11th C. Ireland on the west coast where large scale grain agriculture was less likely.  But there are coastal sedges and swamp rushes in the bogs, conveniently, the same variety that grow wild here in Oregon.  There are many instances of these rushes being used for basketry in the area, and this includes a few references to hats.  

Early this spring, I foraged the thin Pacific blackberry vines, pasture rush, and lakeside sdges and hung them to dry.  The day before I began, I soaked them in a bin of water to soften them.  I began with a simple weaving of the thorn-stripped vines, and twined a few rows of the rushes.  This was accomplished by maintaining a strand of at least three stalks at all times, twisting and weaving through the spokes. I  propped this on a bowl and used the sedges for the vertical part of the hat.  They were chosen for their length, however these were more brittle and difficult to work with.

When I reached my desired depth, I re-wet the spokes and added more to allow fanning as well as reinforce the walls.  By this point I had run out of the sedge and was back to using more of the rushes.  I gently bent the spokes to a 40 degree angle to achieve the flat brim and continued to twist and weave until it was wide enough.  I wove in the ends of the spokes to finish.  The hat was quite heavy at this point, but that changed drastically as it dried.  Once completely dry, I trimmed any long ends, except for the seed heads at the edge of the brim, which I left for character.  

I wore it first to this years' Egils Skallagrimson Tournament in the Barony of Adiantum (outside Eugene, OR) and it worked great!  We had quite a bit of sun and this hat kept me cooler and free from burns!  I'm excited to make another for my husband now.  It will be a little bigger and (hopefully) a little more uniform.  I received many compliments on it as well as requests to teach it to others.  Perhaps that will come after a little more practice!