New chainmail earrings and bracelet. From a kit from Blue Buddha Boutique. Aluminum, so very shiny. and light weight.

Zombie lobster! Oh, no!!

Fabric Off the Loom

Got the first of 5 fabrics for a Tibetan panel coat done. It will eventually be apiece for my COE-W part 2 and have kumihimo braids all over it. The theme for the coat is "Fire Dragon." This fabric is a Swedish lace, with orange and red in the warp and yellow in the weft. I had a towel from a sample exchange that always reminded me of living flame, even when I would randomly happen to take the towel out of my linen closet. This fabric is based on that. It is 20 ends per inch and 15 picks per inch. Yarns were all around 2000 yd./lb. and ranged from 6/2 to 5/3. Wove 5+ yd., 11 inches wide.

Vacationing with a Police Officer/Relative

We are spending this spring break with my cousin by marriage, Ron, who is a canine officer. Here I am in the bullet-proof vest and a rifle. You don't get to see Vendo, the police drug dog. He lives with Ron and is really a member of the family. We have just gotten done with having Vendo do his whole thing of finding drugs in the backyard. Vendo thinks this is great fun and would do it until he dropped.

My Japanese Kosode for the SCA

Finally had pictures taken of my first real set of Japanese kosode for wearing in the SCA. I had made a couple of sets before but this is the first set that was really color coordinated and made with all natural fibers. The time period would be very late 16th century. This would be appropriate garb for a well to do merchant's wife or perhaps everyday wear for a minor samurai's wife. The first layer is linen. This is a rather "old fashioned" choice since cotton was widely grown by that time and was preferred to linen because it was easier to process and was less scratchy. The second layer is a very light denim. That's right-blue jean material. It certainly is indigo dyed cotton and is therefore very period. It is a twill but the twill line is not very obvious. I have a few scattered hints twills and other simple weaves were to be found in period Japan. It was not all plain weave! I hope to do discharge dyeing on the blue kosode so it will have scattered white designs on it. Outer layer is a print fabric, not indigo dyed, but the shade is pretty close to what indigo would have been. The print is probably too complex for what would have been available in period.

Queen's Prize Tourney, part 2

My second length of fabric for a kosode was a bit more traditional. It was done in cottolin-part cotton and part linen, because the cost of all linen would have been prohibitive. Although it is not intended for someone of the samurai class, they would have liked it because they always loved the look of dark blue indigo. This was Bockens Nialin brand of cottolin. Sett was 20 ends per inch. Beat was 16 picks per inch. It was 16 inches wide after washing. I wove 9.5 yards.