Web Links to Mistress Christiana Elizabeth Constable's Sites

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Mistress Christiana Elizabeth Constable

A Touch of Renaissance

http://elizabethanwoodjoineryandcostume.blogspot.com/

Christiana Elizabeth Constable Persona DocumentationGolden Swan 2010.
A documentation based on historical information and research to design a fictional persona for a lady of means during the mid 1500s to1590s

http://elizabethanprojectsca.blogspot.com/

Phasiani lacus Manerium
Tudor era from 1457 to 1603 AD interest group in re-creating through creative anachronism within the Duchy of Connacht - Adria

http://mannorofpheasanthollow.blogspot.com/

Medieval and Star Pavilion Design and Construction Techniques12 spoke Medieval pavilion, 6 and 8 star pavilion
http://medievalpaviliontentconstruction.blogspot.com/

Projects made from Jan 2011 to July 2011

A gift was needed to 12th Night a local medieval shire event for the Shire of Appledore. A small chest made of birch and maple and velvetined lined. The lady that received the gift wil be using it for storage of beading projects.
The inside of the gift box - given as a gift Jan 2011.


Some of the members of Phasiani lacus Manerium say that Mistress Christiana brings the kitchen sink. It is true that Christiana does bring the sink, but she does bring other items as well to make a tastey meal. Shown here is her spice box holding the many different spices that she uses in the culinary arts. She will soon be making a new spice box and is hoping to attain more glass bottles like the ones shown in the box with the silver lids

The dry goods kitchen box is shown here, and aids in the storage of all goods needed to make a deliteful meal. The chest is made and finish to high the mundane items and is part of Mistress Christiana's culnary kitchen setup for those weekend events.

Here shown is the entire setup with all the cookery items needed to make a meal, and to prepare medieval foods as well. In shopping around at aution sales she can across edging that is made of a vinyl rubber of which she used to prevent damage both to the vehicle and to herself. By fluke the table shown forward, fits in a car perfectly, thus no need to use the truck to transport displays to different demos and craft shows. Since than Mistress Christiana has added one more table like the one shown. The table to the right is the sink table and allows for basic cleaning and dispensing of water from a 20L water bottle. When they say Christiana brings the kitchen sink they are right.

The tables shown here are designed like those of banquet tables thus allowing for quick takedown and setup, and are a lot more durable than mundane tables brought from the store.

Mistress Christiana display used both at Canada Day 2011 -Vernon and at the Vernon Museum during Medieval days.

Medieval Village - Canada Day 2011 - Vernon, British Columbia, looking unwards from Mistress Christiana's pavilion.

A new and stylish Medieval garment similar to those of the Renassiance period. Made for Mistress Christiana by Christiana, which includes the petticoat, detachable sleeves, and the outer dress.

A photo take of Mistress Christiana's Renaissance dress - May 2011

Another garment for those hot summer days following Renassiance. Taken at the Wolfgang event in Vernon - June 2011. Mistress Christiana also taught a mini course on blackwork needlework at this event.

Woodcraft projects from May 2011 to August 2011

Elizabethan Chest - description below.

A gift from Mistress Christiana Elizabeth Constable to the reining duke and duchess of the Arch Duchy of Connacht. Mistress Christiana was working on the concepts of making kneeling benches to give a classy look to the royal court. Kneeling benches are based off of a web surf looking for a cornation stool of which Christiana based these loosely off a King Edward VI. These kneeling benches were presented to their graces at Imperial Wars (Adria - Duchy of Connacht) on a Saturday evening while around the bard fire. These benches were put into service the on Monday of the event during closing court. Finishing is done with a ground pigment stained suspended in an oil based oil. Next time will try suspended the pigment in linseed oil. The throne chairs in behind the kneeling benches were not made by Mistress Christiana.

For Imperial Wars 2011 arts and sciences enterly Mistress Christiana presented the X chair, based of diagrams, plans, and instructions from a medieval furniture book, and also from a Roman furniture book. The chair is a knunkle type joint where it forms the X. Carving of the chair's details also from diagrams from the medieval furniture book were carved by Mistress Christiana and finishing is from ground pigment suspended in oil, but also a poly finish was applied to protect both the wood and stain from weather elements. This style of chair was used in England in the 1500s and there is referrence on the internet showing that this style of chair was used in the cornation of King Edward VI. To keep the weight down and cost down, pine was used in the construction of both the chair and the kneeling stools that sits in front of the chair. From her entry in the arts and science Mistress Christiana earned 29 points. This arts and science project was enter for war points.

Camelot Vinyards Demo 2011 - Through a deal with the a local supplier in Kelowna and a little work Mistress Christiana attained a new 10ft x 10ft popup pavilion for the August Demo. Her older popup is smaller, and the frame racked from winds and transport was beginning to how its wear. Shown here in the photo is a small sampling of Mistress Christiana's many talents in the crafts.

Another view of the chair and kneeling bench that was used at Imperial Wars. In the making of these items, there were three kneeling benchs and one chair made for Imperial Wars, of which two were given as gifts to their graces of the Duchy of Connacht.

It has been a while, but Mistress Christiana was getting tired of dragging mundane suitcases to events, that were the entire weekend, and close to where she lives mundanely. During the month of May 2011 she begun construction of a new chest based off of internet photos of some Elizabethan chest. The chest to keep the weight down was made of 1/4 inch plywood, with some 1/2 inch and 5/8 spruce plywood framing materials. The legs are with oak veneer over pine and are mounted in such a way to prevent tearoff of the legs when slid out and in the truck. Although still in design state, a special dolly is been designed that locks under the base with wheels to prevent this problem from happening and thus should make unloading and loading a lot easier. The chest has been also divided into three lower sections which also aid in supporting the frame of the cabinet, and a deep cedar tray also provided. Historical garb of Mistress Christiana is stored in this cabinet when at events, and the chest is lined in thin 3 inch pine boards. Top is a lift off lid, but will be undergoing some changes come the winter of 2011 - 2012 to modify it to a hinge lift lid. In loading and unloading the lid had a tendency to fall off and with it been hinged will prevent this problem. The hammer was used to drive tent pegs in and was left on the lid, for when the photo was taken, it was time to take down the pavilion.

Lots of things have been happening over the year since Feb of 2011, as the members of Phasiani lacus Manerium and myself Mistress Christiana Elizabeth Constable had left one creative anachronism group and joined with the Adria Empire, the branch known as the Arch Duchy of Connacht which has recieved its official title sometime between October and Novermber of 2011. Been in a smaller group, has entitled Mistress Christiana to be able to participate at least once a month, but more ready twice a month during the summer, and this has allowed her to expand and concentrate on creating more wonderful things of wood and textiles.

Christiana's new tent - completed May 2011

Photo taken on the weekend before the Canadian long weekend know as Victoria Day n May 2011. It has been given the name the beast, but it is a little sweetheart to set up and take down at Medieval events, however one needs an area approx. 30 ft x 40 ft to set up the beast, because of the guide ropes to hold the pavilion stable. At this particular event wind gust were estimated at 80K on Saturday, of which one person's popup pavilion did decide to leave the ground. This style based off of medievel research seems to prove that this style can take the stress of wind gust.
The sun porch - also the cook area for outdoors, is attached to the 12 spoke pavilion and serves as a grand entrance to the pavilion. The brown box in the background is used to hold the canvas of the pavilion and does require 2 box measuring aprox. 32 inches length x 16 inches high x 19 inches wide. Reason for these dimessions is for earier packing on the 3/4 ton truck, and helps to make a level platform when the furinture is packed beside it, and on top. No wasted space in packing. The second box mention is for the inner drapery panels, divider drapes, and the bed canopy for those cold evening nights.

The sitting area, using furiniture that Mistress Christiana built perviously except for the brass table which was a gift from a friend, when he moved to Sask. The heraldry in the background was used in SCA events, but now is retired, as Mistress Christiana has new heraldry to take its place. Photos of the heraldry will be taken at a later date, as the flags, will take time to make.

Looking way up we see the basic frame that makes the 12 spoke medieval pavilion possible. These are secured by holes drilled into the tinkertoy where all the spokes come together on the main pole. Further guide ropes are used to secure and transfer the load to the center post, and hairpin keepers are inserted thought holes at the top of the tinkertoy and through a slot that is on each of the spokes. This prevents possible failure of the spoke coming out of the pocket hole in the tinkertoy and allows for the installation of the sun porch so that the weight and wind drag does not pull out the spokes; in this case 5 spokes are involved.

The inner linning which is attached to outer panels and in between is a water proof membrane that prevents mositure from coming from outside into the inside, especially during showers and rainstorms. The membrane also serves another purpose and that is to prevent the wind from blowing through the threadcount of the fabric panels. There is three panels with a possible openning to allow for hot days, and allow the breeze to travel through and keep the pavilion cool, but on those cold evenings these openning can be closed, and heat retained because of the membrane and the inner pannel serving as insulation. Below is the ground mat made of the same material that the wall membrane is made of and prevents mositure from coming up through the ground, and to be able to keep ones feet dry. Just don't spill anything on it as it will not allow the spill to seep into the ground, and this is the reason why it is cut short of the walls, so that rainwater does not have a way to travel inside the pavilion.

The entrance to the pavilion, which allows for a wide openning and thus allows for movement of furniture with a dolly, and room to move in setting up. When the drappery is added, there is basically four sections in the pavilion; the solar - medieval term for bedchamber; the dressing room; the sitting room, and finally a storage room that is contained behind the headboard, and is accessable by the sitting room.

A model of the spoke frame work for a new tent. As Mistress Christiana prepare to build a new pavilion, and retire the three pavilions. Christiana have now (mainly the seams of the canvas is shot from wear and tear) started to design a new pavilion that is completed May of 2011. In mundane life Christiana design houses and furniture, and she does not believe in paying for information over the Internet (this is a mundane thing that happen to her in the past that she does not trust e-commerce). With her knowledge of architecture and designing she set herself to designing a new pavilion. Once she have worked the bugs out of the pavilion construction a new web site will be set up with all the formulas, patterns, and engineering to construct this kind these pavilions. Once built it will be 20 feet in diameter and house a kitchen, bedchamber, and an area for teaching. This will greatly reduce the amount of time needed now to setup and take down at different events, and has room to stand up inside without bashing her head through the roof. The covering will not be of canvas, as this is heavy, and can be rather expensive. In her searching she has found lighter and stronger materials that can take wind and rain, and let in more natural light. Keep in tune for this new website as the tent is constructed and posted. The website is http://medievalpaviliontentconstruction.blogspot.com/

Leather work - ongoing

Finding patterns is easy for bags, gloves and belts, and what started off was when Meredith the haln asked about a Norse belt back in Feb 2010. With the aspect of finding someone that was close by to make the belt, and the cost: this was the kick start into a new craft. Although Christiana had a little experience in tooling leather she never thought of making projects with leather. Here is shown is Christiana's bag that she, cut, dyed, laced and stamped the leather. The belt is also made M'Lady Christiana. Her next project in leather work after completing the research will be a set of either Elizabethan shoes or clogs. This will depend on the equipment she has on hand to do this kind of work. If successful she  will post this project. For those interested, searching the web and also speaking to a couple of leather worker the cost is around 400.00 dollars for a pair of shoes. 400.00 buys a lot of leather.

Psaltery - November 2010

 Plans to make the psaltery

 Sound braces

 Clamping of the sound box

 Celtic circle pattern to be traced out around the rim of the sound hole

 Psaltery without the anchors and sound bridges - if one looks carefully one can see the Celtic circle pattern at the rim of the sound hole.

Psaltery waiting for pins and to have the Celtic pattern burned into the birch Baltic plywood. A rosette will be installed over the sound hole once carved and after the pins and strings and action is completed the instrument will be ready to play. This instrument will have 15 strings. The unit was designed in the first week of November and ready for hardware with the second last week of November 2010. After installation of rosette and the burning of the pattern the unit will be finish with a natural varnish finish.

The psaltry completed December 2010, complete with the Celtic knot burned into the wood, finish applied to the wood, and strings installed. It is possible a carved rosette may be installed later on over the soundhole.

A more comfortable Elizabethan Garment

In these photos is shown a more comfortable fitted Elizabethan dress from the 1560s. At the Golden Swan it was said that the garments that were used was too much sky and not enough earth. With some surplus cloth on hand and sharp wits in dealing for the materials not on  hand, this garment is totally made of natural materials, reflecting of what was available to the English Middle Class (Artisan) the of Elizabethan era. Patterns research was obtained both from Janett Arnold, and the Tudor Tailor to design this garment. Description of the garment - Outer dress - brown wool and lined with linen. The cloak is of Milton brown wool with black linen lining and fur trim. In this persona Christiana would not be able to obtain a fur trimmed cloak but they were available from a flipper (we call these pawn brokers in today's society) as people would pawn their clothing to obtain a loan. The coif and the apron are made of heavy weight white linen, and may have blackwork applied in the future to both. Pattern is still to be decided on. Underneath the apron although not shown here is a medium brown course weave wool, and a red wool petticoat. The bum role is from another one of Christiana's garnets,but works well with this garment. According to photos of paintings from the 1560s to 1570s artisan class ladies, which were consider  the lower end of the middle class would not wearing farringales, and that they did not come to be until the late 1570s. The Elizabethan corset also for the wealthy to do did not come out till the 1570s.