Here’s two pictures of Bryce working, both from Friday. And here’s what Bryce said in the comments about her time in the workroom:

I had such a wonderful time making lace. I urge all you lacemakers out there to try it! It’s a little fiddly, but not difficult. The people — staff and embroiderers both — are wonderful. The food is as good as they say it is. All in all, a great place to get away from everything for a couple of days. Thank you! I’m hoping to get back!

I’m glad she had such a good time, that is the point, after all, to have a good time doing something you enjoy with other people as crazy I mean passionate and dedicated as you are. Well, that and making the thing. That too.

I mentioned that Wendy is working the prototype of the rose motif this weekend. I wanted to expand on that a little. Before she started stitching, she and Tricia sat down with some detailed photos of this motif, both prints and digital images enlarged on Tricia’s laptop. They sketched out the shape and drew in the direction of work, determining which stitches and and colors should be used. Here are a couple of pictures of that conversation. This took maybe a half hour, give or take, and they’ve done this with a couple of other motifs, too. It’s one of those fascinating things that happens almost unnoticed, I think all those working in the other room had no idea this was going on. I just happened in and thought you’d like to hear about it.

So they decided how to proceed, and Wendy will finish the prototype this weekend as I mentioned. If it looks like the originals we’ll be good to go. If for some reason it doesn’t come out as expected, then it’ll be back to the drawing board to see if a different method will result in a more faithful reproduction, just like the process Mark went through with the spangles. Sometimes this is called experiential archeology. Whatever you call it, it is pretty cool. Likely this level of intense scrutiny would only happen in trying to create a reproduction, which is one of the reasons why I do this sort of work.

Today, one of the sleeve pieces went “out of service”. This is a good thing, not like when that happens to your TV. I am plenty excited.

Out of service means we’ve hit a point where we can’t do anything else on it, until either we get more instructions or more materials. This is the first large piece to go out of service. Before today only the gussets were out of service. All that’s left on them is the gold work, and we’re waiting for the next iteration of that thread for Tricia to test.

Today Susan K finished the plain worms, and the only things left on this piece are 2 columbines, 2 1/2 borages, 1 1/2 birds, 3 butterfly wings, 1 “fancy worm”, and 1 1/2 roses. We’re waiting on directions from Tricia for these motifs: colors, stitches, direction of working, that sort of thing. So, OK, there’s still an awful lot to do here, not to mention the gold work and the oes. But let me enjoy the moment.

Wendy is even now working the prototype of the rose motif and taking detailed photos as she works which Tricia will magic into the awesome individual motif directions we have for the other motifs. Once we have those, we’ll bring this back to do the roses.

Did you catch that “fancy worm” comment? Most of the worms are simply done in ceylon stitch in either red or blue GST. The fancy worms are different, two colors and we haven’t quite determined the stitch yet. The term captured my imagination, though. FANCY WORMS. Is that an oxymoron or what?

I’m a little giddy, I actually worked two and a half leaves today, including one two-color leaf. Woo-hoo. I was working on the right side, which is in one of those huge, unwieldy frames. I stood to work on it, with the frame propped against the big cutting table. Tired now, but very pleased.

Bryce W was here for two days and has taken the first piece of lace as far as it can go. Turns out the 13″ piece for the wing needs 15 motifs and we strung only enough spangles for 13 motifs. Tomorrow Wendy will unwind some of the bobbins and add more spangles so when Carolyn next comes in she can finish off this piece and get the next one started. The lace is well and truly underway. No wonder I’m a little giddy.

Marilyn left a comment the other day, that when she got practiced at the trefoils she was able to do one in three hours. That is really zipping along, and part of the reason they’re called “dreaded trefoils”.

Hey, can anyone recommend a really sturdy needle threader? We keep busting the ones we have and can find. Any suggestions?

More tomorrow.

Embroidery sample received from Debbie A; stockings received from Susan J and Monique N; 2 pair gloves received from Linda F. Riches.

Penny and Shaina spent the day cleaning the office, not the big workroom, but the office. The office is a medium-sized room.  There are two bookshelves, about 12 big plastic tubs that hold fabric scraps sorted by content and color, plus a mess of stuff that has no other home. There’s also a big desk that holds the phone and the old computer, a temperamental behemoth which is currently on vacation in the IT manager’s workshop. The past couple of days I have thanked heaven and Robbin for the laptop many times a day. The office also houses everything I had no other good place for. Plus my filing system is haphazard at best. I usually think I will only remember things if I can see them. Out of sight, out of mind. But the desk had gotten to be an archaeological site – I had to find things based on how long ago I’d last seen them. Not good.

So Penny and Shaina volunteered to “help” which meant they did all the hard work. They moved stuff, filed the obvious, vacuumed, dusted, washed, threw out what needed to go and repeatedly encouraged me when my attention wandered. The office looks absolutely great, and I only have three smallish piles of stuff I don’t know what to do with. One of the piles is left over from the great office cleaning of 2003. The other I inherited from my predecessor, from whom I learned my filing system. Ahem.

Mark made some more spangles today. He worked in the Crafts Center, thus visitors to Plimoth were able to watch and ask questions. I saw him on his lunch break and he said he was having fun. So we’ll have more spangles for next weekend’s session (not tomorrow, a week from tomorrow), plus a great exhibit into the bargain.

The other thing I did today was consult with Kathleen and Marcia about food for the 4/11 – 4/14 session and let them know how many we’re expecting. I’m delighted to say that we’ll have more than a handful of workers next weekend – the first time we’ll have embroiderers and lacers working together. I can’t wait. We’ll be in the wardrobe office, and tomorrow’s first job is to send a note to the participants. There’s still room if you would like to join us.

**If you’re having trouble getting in touch with me, please call if that’s convenient (508-746-1622 X8119) or leave a note in the comments. The office computer’s rest cure means I can access new emails to the jhall@plimoth.org address (ones since Wednesday) but not old ones. So I can’t return emails I got before Wednesday. Plus we have a new spam filter, which works excellently but has kept out some legitimate mail. So if you think I should have written back by now, please call or leave a comment.

I know I promised pix of Robbin’s lace work today, but at the time I wasn’t remembering that I wouldn’t be in the office today. I left them in the laptop at the office. Here instead, is the story of the completion of the Spangle Quest in Mark’s own words. The gratitude, though, is seconded by all of us who Love the Jacket.
Hi Jill,

These are the people that helped me make the spangles happen. First of all Paula Marcoux* introduced me to George Greenemyer. He is a sculptor and instructor up at Massachusetts College of the Arts. George had volunteered for the Marine Dept. and Paula thought I ought to meet him. He is a very interesting and talented guy.

Because of research Wendy and Trica had already done we knew a lot about the process of spangle making. While I could make the tools to cut out the spangles I did not have the tools or ready knowledge to make the stock. That was when I gave George a call. He referred me to Peter Evonuk an artist and fellow instructor at Mass Art. Peter manages their metal smithing studio. I made an appointment with him and he was extremely
helpful. He drew and rolled silver wire to replicate the process we needed and then sent me off to a metal plater that some of his students had used. That required a trip to Attleboro to E. Sweet and Sons, Metal Finishing. I met Scott Sweet the President and owner. He was as helpful and knowledgeable as Peter. Before I left that afternoon Scott gave me a tour of his facilities and personally plated the samples of wire that Peter provided me. So back I went to Boston so that we could experiment and evaluate our results. Peter rolled the wire and heated it slightly to compare to the images of originals that Tricia had taken when we went to the MFA. Our results were close enough to encourage us that we were on the right track. So backI went to Plymouth to order silver wire and prepare it for plating. I called Scott once more and he offered to once again help me. We discussed the adjustments Peter and I had agreed upon and he once again plated my stock as I waited. This was enormously helpful as by all rights he should have made me get in line with all his scheduled orders. In addition to this at the end of the day he refused payment for his generous services.

So it was back to Mass Art. Peter and I were ready to make a final trial. We rolled out one nine inch piece of wire into three feet of beautiful golden ribbon. With those results we went ahead and rolled out the rest of my three feet of plated wire into almost 18 feet of stock to make spangles out of. Altogether it took about 15 minutes. If I hadn’t been so pleased with the results it would have been quite anticlimactic. Peter also refused compensation for his help.

All in all it was the knowledge and time that these individuals contributed that allowed my part of this project to be as accurate and special as the rest of the work that has gone into the embroidered jacket. I can’t thank these generous people enough.

Mark M. Atchison
Blacksmith ~ Interpretive Artisan Department

*Paula has been with Plimoth for a long time. I always have a hard time defining what exactly any particular Plimoth staffer does, and Paula’s no different. She’s worked in several different capacities, including colonial foodways manager, marine artisan, interpretive (land-based) artisan, and a bunch of other stuff without special titles.

Mark brought us 101 spangles. After all the time and effort he and others put in, it may seem like a very small pile of result. But there was great rejoicing.

Carolyn wound bobbins. Due to a greater demand for the lace kits than we’d anticipated and a longer delivery time on the gold & silver lace threads, she had to ration the remaining thread and carefully plan how many bobbins to wind. (Don’t worry, though, more thread is on the way.)

We measured and measured the embroidery pieces to determine how long the lace pieces should be. Carolyn decided to start with the pieces that will go along the shoulder wings.

Wendy and Carolyn strung the spangles onto the lace thread and then wound the thread onto the bobbins.

Carolyn made lace. It seemed to Wendy and me that the work went really fast. Every time we peeked, there was more to see. Carolyn thought it took a very long time. It came out to about an inch per hour.

Robbin’s here today making lace and Melanie Anne is embroidering. I’ll have those pictures Monday. I also owe you one more post from Tricia.

Today was a good day in Colonial Wardrobe. For one thing, we got to see Wendy.

For another, we got to see Mark, and the way cool gilt ribbon. He kindly brought it up to show us and he and Wendy measured it. Over 18′ of gilt ribbon. We figure it’ll make, oh, plenty of teardrop spangles. Mark’s going to make some next week in preparation for the weekend lace trial.

Months ago, Tricia and I identified as one of the objectives of the embroidered jacket project that we could interest new embroiderers in the craft, and encourage people who already embroider to try new and more advanced techniques. That has certainly happened, and keeps happening. A surprise by-product, though, has been the whole Knitting Stockings phenomenon, and consequent spreading of knitting skills.

Here’s Kelley re-footing an old stocking. When the feet wear out we darn them, and when they’re too thin to darn anymore we take off the feet and reknit them from the ankles. When Kelley started working with us in January she didn’t know how to knit at all. Now she’s re-footing stockings. This is testament to the general enthusiasm and optimism running rampant around here, to Kelley’s perseverance and patience, and to Penny’s excellent teaching.

Look what Wendy brought us! This is a pocket or pouch based on the one found on Gunnister man, a 17th-century body preserved in a Scottish peat bog. This is Wendy’s first attempt at knitting in the round, as well as her first attempt at knitting with two colors. Pretty successful, I’d say, especially since she only started it on the last day of the last embroidery session. So that’s two new knitters added to the fold. Pun intended.

After that meeting Mark went away with research and ideas. A few weeks later, which was last November, he arrived in the Wardrobe Department with, in Wendy’s words “a battered coffee can under his arm and a big grin on his face!” Wendy goes on:

The most amazing things tumbled out of that coffee can! Mark had made the tool, a small hole punch, a poker, a pusher and a die! And SPANGLES!!!!!!! They looked like the pictures! What joy!

Here’s Jill again. Since then, Mark and I have talked about how he went about making the spangles. Some of the process is clear from the originals, that they were punched, for example, and from a strip of gilt silver, like a ribbon, not from a big flat piece like a sheet of paper. Some, though, of what he’s done is conjecture. It’s one way to solve the puzzle of how to get this result, not the only way and not necessarily exactly the way 17th-century artisans did it.

Since that day, the trouble has been how & where to get some silver electroplated with gold and rolled to the correct thickness. Mark has solved all those problems, with the help of some new friends. A few weeks ago he and Wendy and Tricia questioned whether the gold layer was thick enough; they solved that too. Friday I got this message from Mark:

Hi Jill,

I have spangle stock in hand and i can have a quantity made for the 29th. I must show you the gilded ribbon it’s cool.

Mark

We are in business.

The next session on March 28 will see Robbin and Carolyn working with the reproduction spangles and the real lace pattern (the repro of the Laton lace, not the equally lovely but not-the-property-of-the-V&A pattern that went out in the kits) to work out any bugs.

I can begin taking real honest & true reservations for the subsequent scheduled sessions. Three lacers who were ready to come in February and got bumped have first dibs, and I will send out an email to them first thing in the morning (unless they see this and get in touch with me first) to find out if they would like to/are able to come for any part of the April 11 -14 session.

The next sessions are:

Friday May 16 – Monday May 19

Friday May 30- Monday June 2

Friday June 20- Monday June 23

If these sessions are not convenient, please call and let me know. I avoided Mothers’ & Fathers’ Day and Memorial Day thinking everyone would have other plans. If your idea of a great holiday is to come make lace, we can work that out. Let me know.

I’ll be scheduling more sessions; we’ll be working through the summer. Don’t worry – the office is air-conditioned and Plymouth has one of the coldest beaches on the Atlantic coast (that’s a good thing). Please feel free to suggest weekends or weekdays in July, August and September that would be good for embroidery or lace making.

We can have two lacers working at a time. Some have asked if they can make lace for one or two days and embroider for the rest of the session. That is absolutely OK, if you do an embroidery sample kit and learn the embroidery procedure. Also, we’ll have the same deal for lacers as for embroiderers, which is that once you’ve come during a session and learned the drill, you can then come anytime, whenever it suits you whether or not we have a scheduled session. Contact Kathy for embroidery and lace kits, kroncarati@plimoth.org or 508-746-1622 X 8114

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns jhall@plimoth.org or 508-746-1622 X 8119 – and yippee!!

Wendy sent me this information from her spangle research. She sent it quite a while ago, but I put off posting it in favor of other subjects. I wanted to save some for when we got nearer to the end of the Spangle Quest. I’m posting it now; think about that.

While researching word origins regarding spangles and oes I came across a book entitled: English Dictionaries 800-1700, The Topical Tradition by Werner Hullen 1999 and published by Oxford University Press. In it is found James Howells Dictionary for the Genteel (1660) and the definition at that time for a “wire drawer” is more of a list of tools associated with the art of wire drawing:

A Wyredrawer; Tiratore de metallic; Trayer de metaux; Tirador de metales’- a hammer,nippers, a rowl pin, an oyl stone, bobbins, purling wyres, a spangle tool, a tool to cut oaes,rocket or small rowles, a serpentine, an anvil, files, the racer, a burnisher

From the above I would suspect that a “serpentine” may have been the twisting wheel. Interestingly there is no mention that I can discern of a lead pan, pitch pan or mat upon which to punch or cut out the spangles. It would not have been done on the anvil, as it would have dulled the cutter quickly.

Additionally it should be noted that while researching it became apparent that the more creative I was with the search terms and spelling the better the results. Examples include:

O’s – oes, oaes, paillettes, paillon, drop, drops, hangers, hangrs, hyngers

Spangles – spangs, paillettes, tags, aguil, drop, props, hyngers, bezants

Wire – wyre, wyer, wir

I was hoping this would yield some additional information if not corroboration to our theories so we could begin the process of testing various methods to create the “spangles”.

Mark had already made one small tool and tested it on some of the “Plate” Tricia had brought in from her stash. His results were right on target and had us all really excited. The next step was for Mark to make a tool in the correct size and shape that we could try to find the right material to use in making the spangles.