Author Archives: Eirny

Making a Cool Storage Box – Part 1- Choosing your Box

Posted on by

M3361S-3034

A few weeks ago I wrote a little blog about how to put a liner in a coronet so that it will fit better, and I mentioned that another thing that I usually do is make a storage box for the coronet. At first I thought, how many people actually need a box for a coronet, but then I thought well lots of people need a custom storage box!

Over the years I have made storage boxes out of all sorts of containers – sturdy cardboard boxes, cigar boxes, plastic containers, the “tubes” that good whiskey comes in – basically just about anything that was the correct size for the project. My initial interest in this area was because I enjoyed covering boxes with fabric or twine and making them look cool (that is another blog), but then I started trying to make storage that was better quality on the inside.

Most of the storage containers that I have customized recently have been made using the inexpensive wooden boxes that are available at the big box stores. The most important thing, of course, is to make sure that the container is the right size. Now this may seem simple, but you need to consider how much “extra” space you need in the container. Does the item that needs to be stored have accessories that will also need to be stored? Is there enough room for padding? How fragile is the item, and how generous does the padding need to be? Are you planning to line the inside of the lid as well as the inside of the bottom of the box?

Once you are certain that you have the right sized storage box you will need some additional supplies. The big decision is how rigid the interior of the container will be. When I make a box for any sort of crown, headpiece or tiara I usually use sturdy foam that comes in 1 inch thick sheets from Home Depot. I started using this material because I had some left over from another project, but having used a couple of other types of material it is now my preferred foam. It cuts well with a sharp knife and can easily be covered with fabric.

Some folks prefer foam rubber type products. I have not found a way to make this sort of “foam liner” pretty. If you are just looking for a box that will hold something securely, especially something fragile, soft foam can be an excellent choice.

When you are choosing your interior materials you need to decide how you will hold them in place. I prefer a high temp hot glue gun. Before I work with any material that I haven’t used before I always check the glue to make sure that it will stick and not melt the foam or fabric.

So grab your thinking cap, and your supplies and start planning out your new storage box.

Wrist Clasps – What are they and How to use them

Posted on by

What are Wrist Clasps, how are they used, and who used them?

First of all – what is a wrist clasp?

Etsy 38 close

This is an example of a formed metal sheet wrist clasp set.

The mechanism of a wrist clasp is a metal hook and eye closure. The closure is used to close the wrist opening on a tunic. Now wrist clasps are not all literally hook and eyes in appearance, but that is how they function – there are two pieces to each clasp, a hook plate and an eye plate. The Wrist Clasp sets can be cast, formed sheet metal, or formed wire.sheet metal wrist clasp

 

 

 

 

 

When I first began investigating Wrist Clasps I read an article online about how reenactors hated to wear Wrist Clasps because they were hard to use and they didn’t stay closed. Well, I thought about that for a while and decided that there was probably a good chance that someone was doing something wrong with the way the clasps were being used. Now first let me say that I am probably much older than most of my readers. I remember when wearing stockings meant wearing a garter belt, not because you were trying to be sexy, but because that was what there was – panty hose had not been invented yet. So, I have the concept of things being a bit fussy, particularly things associated with women’s clothing and even more specifically dressy women’s clothing. But if a thing is going to be used, it must be functional. It may require some occasional adjustments, but it must be functional.

Now, one of the problems that we have as reenactors is knowing what people wore on an everyday basis, verses what they were buried in. I never knew that my grandfather had a suit until I was at his funeral. He was buried in a suit, but never in my 14 years of knowing him had I ever seen him wear a suit. Did Vikings and Anglo Saxons wear wrist clasps in everyday life, or just for “fancy wear”? Well, in all honesty we really can’t be sure. If we assume that most folks did not have a large selection of clothing and wrist clasps were considered to be a regular part of a decently dressed individual’s clothing, then the wrist clasps had to function. So what were the reenactors doing wrong?

I made a copy of a basic sheet metal wrist clasp, and I played with it. And it worked. It worked just fine. I have a tunic with wrist clasps on the cuffs. They are a little hard to close, but they usually stay closed all day, without any adjustments. They are not uncomfortable. I had someone explain to me that Wrist Clasps were uncomfortable because the metal dug into their wrists when they leaned on a table. How much time did Vikings and Anglo Saxons spend leaning on a table? I don’t spend much time at all leaning on a table. I designed my sleeves to open along the outside edge of my wrist, so that the wrist clasps would show when my arms hung down straight. I made the sleeves fairly tight at the wrist, so that closing the clasps was a bit difficult, and the tightness of the sleeve held the hook of the Wrist clasps firmly in the “eye” of the receiver plate. They worked. They worked just fine.

From a historical standpoint, Wrist Clasps are considered to be an important piece of dress accessories for both Vikings and Anglo Saxons. Wrist clasps appear to have originated in Scandinavia.  They were brought to Great Britain in about 475AD, probably by Norwegian Vikings. While commonly called “Wrist Clasps”, some people think that Viking men in Scandinavia used them as both wrist and ankle closures. I have not seen definitive proof of this. Women wore clasps at the wrist and the bosom, and also occasionally appear to have used clasps to close pouches. Traditionally it was believed that once the Vikings arrived in Great Britain, only the women continued to wear the clasps. One of the problems with this conclusion is that recent DNA research shows that the majority of Viking men who settled in Great Britain took local wives, who would have been Anglo Saxon. Anglo Saxon woman wore wrist clasps.

Among Anglo-Saxons the wrist clasps were often used in combination with tablet woven bands on cuffs and in some areas (Lincolnshire) leather bands replaced the tablet weaving. In the East Anglia and Cambridgeshire regions an additional triangular piece of metal, known as a “gusset plate” was used to cover the slit area of the sleeve opening.

seam gusset and clasp

Another interesting difference between Viking and Anglo-Saxon use of the wrist clasp was the method by which the clasps were attached. The Anglo-Saxon women sewed their clasps on, while in Scandinavia the clasps were frequently riveted to the clothing.

Vikings and Anglo-Saxons have three types of Clasps in common:

  1. Basic Hook and Eye Form
  2. Cast geometric or zoomorphic form
  3. Formed Metal sheet rectangular clasps

Here is an example of a simple cast Anglo Saxon Wrist Clasp Set

 

 

 

Silk Banner Workshop – Part 2 – Painting and More Tips!

Posted on by

Making silk banners and flags can be exciting, rewarding and fun. In part II, we’ll continue information about how to make silk banners and flags.

Your silk fabric is prepared, your artwork has been traced with gutta, and your gutta has dried. I realized, after I had published the previous edition of the Silk Banner workshop that I may not have placed enough emphasis on how important it is to make sure that your gutta is PERFECT. What exactly do I mean by perfect? If the gutta lines are too thin the silk fabric dye may be able to “sneak out” of the area inside the gutta. Remember, this system works like a coloring book. If you want crisp lines and edges you have to stay inside the lines.

The gutta lines should generally be about 1/8 inch wide. Slight unevenness is not a problem, but any spots that are thin or any gaps MUST be repaired and allowed to dry BEFORE you use your dyes.

COLOR! – Now it’s time for color for your silk banner! I recommend small disposable plastic cups to hold small quantities of dye while you are painting. You can wash them if you want, but if they aren’t cleaning up well enough, you can always throw them away.

You can use regular paint brushes or disposable foam paint brushes to apply the dye. Have a selection of brush sizes to make it easier to control the application of the dye. The disposable foam brushes are really good for painting large open areas of color. Be sure to rinse the brushes thoroughly before you resuse them. I always check my brush by squeezing it gently with a WHITE paper towel. If there is any dye left in the brush it will show up on the paper towel.

This picture shows our work table in between uses. Note the two by fours on the table. They are NOT used while the artwork is being traced onto the silk fabric, but they are critical during the painting process. The dye will go through the fabric. If the silk banner is in contact with the table surface, the dye will run along the table and “escape” from the areas where you want it to be. This will cause blotches of color where you don’t want them. Note that the surface of the table is covered with a vinyl table cloth. Whenever a banner is removed from the work space, you need to lift it straight up so that any dye that is on the table top will not be smeared on to the banner where you don’t want it. You need to check to make sure that no dye is left behind on the table surface. Wash the table and dry it if you need to. Paper towels are your friend! Dye from the table will transfer to the next banner that you work on there.

 M3361S-3034

Patience is a virtue! Take your time and plan which area of the banner you will paint first. DO NOT RUSH! Do NOT overload your brush – a drip becomes a permanent “feature” on your banner. It is better to walk around the table or move the banner frame to give better access to all areas of the banner than it is to do a lot of reaching. Remember that if you move the banner frame for better access you need to lift it straight up and make sure the table surface is clean before you put it back in place on the table. If you want to you can cover portions of the banner that you must reach across with a piece of paper or plastic. Just remember that the dye underneath the paper or plastic MUST be dry, or you may transfer dye where you don’t want it.

Make sure your hands are always clean – hand lotion can add oils to the silk and prevent absorption of dye. Spots of dye on your hands can transfer to the silk where you don’t want it.

If you are painting a large area of color on your silk banner, it is preferable to keep a “wet edge” on your dye. That means try to keep all of the edge of the area where you are adding the dye damp with dye. If your environment is particularly dry, or hot, or both, this may not be possible. The result will be a slightly blotchy colored area. DO NOT FREAK OUT! Once the entire area is painted with dye, you can add a second coat. This coat will even out the intensity of the color and eliminate most of the variations. Remember, if you are making a silk banner or flag that is designed to be hung on a pole and blow in the wind, most mistakes will be “invisible” because the banner will be moving most of the time!

M3361S-3034

Here is a silk banner in process at our last workshop.  Note the white PVC frame, the rubber bands with binder clips, and how nice and straight the edges of the fabric appear. Remember, having the silk fabric under even tension is a key to making a great looking silk banner. When the designs were particularly complex, or large, we found that we got better results if we allowed the banners to dry in between painting the different sections. In this case we knew that we were going to put our baronial colors around the outside of the silk banner (white, blue and green squares). This area of the banner was allowed to dry before the center design was painted onto the banner. In general, it is best to wait until an area of color is dry before you paint the area next to it. If you drip a drop of dye on a dry area it will generally NOT spread very far, and you may even be able to reduce the “damage” by blotting it gently with a paper towel. If the new dye is dripped onto an area of color that is still wet the drip with “run” quickly through wet dye and make a much bigger mess.

This picture shows a long banner in process. Each section of color was allowed to dry individually before the next area was painted. Note the frame and how the rubber bands and binder clips were used to hold the edges of the fabric in a nice straight line. Painting one section at a time also allowed us to make design decisions as the banner progressed.

M3361S-3034

Setting the Dye – Once the dyeing of the silk banner is complete, the dyes have to be set.  Setting the dyes makes then “water proof. If you don’t set the dyes, they will wash out the first time that they get wet. I actually know some folks who spent a considerable amount of time painting some truly lovely silk banners, which they did not set. They took them to an event and hung them on poles. It rained. They watched in dismay as all of their beautiful handiwork “melted” off of the banners. You don’t want to do that!

Each type of dye will have specific setting requirements. Be sure to read your instructions THOROUGHLY before you use a dye or paint. The products that we used, Dye-na-flow silk dye and Seta-silk silk paint,  both need to be heat set with an iron. I have friends who have heat set dyes successfully in a clothes dryer, but I also have friends who have had problems with the dryer overheating the gutta. This caused the gutta to transfer to random locations leaving a black or silver mark.

I always use an iron to set the dyes on silk banners. The instructions for our products suggest that you let the dye dry for 24 hours and then iron each section of the silk banner for 2 to 3 minutes. The banner is placed face down on the ironing board. I prefer to place a piece of fabric, like an old sheet, under the banner. Use a pressing cloth – another piece of clean disposable fabric on the top of the banner. You should work in small areas, moving in a circular motion so that you don’t scorch the silk. The idea is to have each section of silk stay hot for a full 3 minutes to ensure that the dye sets correctly.

heat setting a banner

Once the dye has been heat set, you should wash the banner in hot water with Synthrapol. This special detergent will lift away any dye that has not bonded properly to the fibers. I usually air dry my banner.

Now all you need to do is attach ties to the edge of the silk banner and put the banner on a pole. There are many ways to hang a banner, and as we discussed in Part 1 of this article, how you are going to hang the banner should be a part of your design. The banners that we made were all designed to have ties put on an edge and then the ties were tied to a banner pole. This diagram shows just a few of the options that you have for hanging your banner.

banner example

Random tip. Say that you want to have a silk banner that is not a square or rectangle, or you have a piece of silk that is not hemmed. You want to have the freedom to do creative things, but you DON’T want to have to hand hem the edge of the silk. What can you do to keep the silk from fraying and have it look good? Gutta! This simple diagram shows the process.

Gutta seams

In this case I am simply creating two long thin banners.Draw two lines of gutta and cut between them! Obviously you need to let the gutta dry before you do any cutting. I also recommend doing all of your painting of dyes before you cut the banners apart. If you are simply putting an edge on a single piece, then just trace as close as you can to the edge of the fabric with the gutta. The gutta acts like a super Fray Check!

I hope that this blog inspires you to make a silk banner of your own. The Dharma Trading Co. website has plenty of ideas, tips, and tutorials, especially if you are looking for something beyond the basic “how to”.  I have included a couple of other pictures that I hope may clarify some of the previously mentioned processes.

This picture shows the square banner with the center area design painted in.

M3361S-3034

Here is an example of a piece of art that we used for a banner. You can see that the artwork is simple with clear lines that have been traced with a magic marker. This was the art for the horse banner in the previous picture.

M3361S-3034