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.

Classic Guitar for M'Lady Christiana - October 2010

 Sound boards and bracing - bracing made of spruce - sides made of tulip wood. When assembling the sound box, both were slightly convex to create a stronger box and to prevent warping as both top and bottom are made of solid maple.

 Here we see the top clamped to the sides - waiting for glue to set - after set, sanding begun to bring a nice clean edge to the guitar. The neck made of tulip wood was totally made by Christiana from tulip wood from the teachings of carving from M'Lord Kasper. A spook shave bench was used for carving the neck. Bone nuts are applied, and a walnut bridge also made by Christiana was installed.

Here we see the finish project without fret wire and strings - still waiting for supplies as supplies for musical instruments are rather hard to obtain from music stores here in the Okanagan Valley. When completed a photo of the finish project will be posted. To bend the sides - ammonia was used which gave the maple sides a nice golden tone, matching the natural tone of the tulip wood. Inside and outside is finish is a satin varnish. The fret board is of black walnut. Debating on installing a rosette to the sound hole.

M'Lady Christiana's Elizabethan Garment for Golden Swan 2010

The Elizabethan garment was constructed over a period of the months of late August 2010 to October 2010. There is a gray wool kirtle with some black flower patterns on the hem of the kirtle. The kirtle is not shown here. Gold lane brocade fabric makes the dress complete with lining and is trimed in lace. The cloak is shown finished with its fur trim. Below are photos of the garment in different stages of construction.

 Coif with turquise and pearls

 Hats and cloifs made of black wool and lined with black linen. These two were used at Golden Swan 2010

Farringale pattern cut out on white raw silk, and top photo is pattern documentation (Tudor Tailor).

 Corset bodice pattern - based from the Tudor Tailor

 Corset Front

Corset Back

The corset is made from a black velvet brocade. Pockets was made for the boning and sewn with silver thread that is gold plated. This thread is trickly to handle but really gives it a nice touch. Gold trim surrounds the permininter of the corset. The corset was used n Golden Swan to obtain the so call hour glass shape. Pattern designed by Christiana.

 Documentation of Elizabethan outer dress

 Patterns for Elizabethan outer dress

 Detachable sleeve - just to sew it together

This is the dress that M'Lady Christiana wore for the Golden Swan persona challenge 2010. Shown here without the farringale, and kirtle. Hemming to be done later.

Ten Panel Cloaks

 Documentation of 10 panel cloak - Golden Swan persona 2010

 Pattern layout on wool - Black boil wool; M'Lady Christiana's cloak - Golden Swan persona 2010

 Lining for Meredith the haln's cloak - assistant and lady in waiting - Golden Swan persona 2010

 Cloak lining - fun fur - gray wolf - M'Lady Christiana's cloak - Golden Swan persona 2010

Meredith the haln cloak - dark blue wool - Golden Swan 2010 assitant - Lady in waiting

These photos show the ten panel cloaks in construction - for the Golden Swan 2010 - Began making in Sept 2010.

Harp - September 2010

 Documentation and designs for making the harp

 The sound box of the harp - waiting for the glue to set

 Templates for the harp frame

 Sound board - made of baldic birch plywood and a black walnut sound strip

 Harp assemble less strings and  harp hardware

This was a project that M'Lady Christiana was dreaming of for the past four years, and has manage to obtain enough research to build the harp. It is a lot easier to obtain plans and information for guitars than the magical harp. The problem now lays in obtaining the harp hardware, but with presistance Christiana will. Testing the sound box and board with a nylon guitar string the sound is promising. This instrument was enter into the  Machiavelli A&S (SCA) - November 2010, along with the a lute, Spanish guitar, and a classic guitar made in Oct 2010. The harp is made of tulip wood for the harp frame, walnut and baldic birch for the sound board and tulip wood for the sound box. All parts of wood were made by M'Lady Christiana Elizabeth Constable.  Since May of 2011 the harp is now completed and now has all its hardware and is playable. It was also enter at Banner Wars North (Connacht), where is was well received by the judges.

Classic and Spanish Guitar - July to August 2010

Guitars - both Classic and Spanish. The guitars were a joint effort between M'Lord Kasper and M'Lady Christiana; M'Lord Kasper did the guitar action and tuning, installed the frets and bone nuts, and nylon strings and did the final shaping of the necks. The boxes, installation of  electric pickup for the classic guitar, although my lady Ester with her small hands manage to feed the wire through to the bridge. The fret board, and neck were rough shaped by Christiana. The classic guitar is made with solid maple front and back, the sides are of tulip wood, the neck is of tulip wood, the fret board is walnut. The Spanish guitar is totally made of spruce for the sound box, neck is of tulip wood and installed with a walnut fret board. The bridges are of walnut. Christiana made the walnut bridge for the Spanish Guitar.