Sayyeda al-Kaslaania's Arts of the Middle Ages

Super easy facings for tunics

2019-03-11T19:29:00.000-05:00

Super easy facings for tunics
March 10, 2019

Start with a grid-marked quilting template, 12 inches by 18 inches.

Find your favorite neck-hole; if you've been making garb for a while, you might have one of these in your sewing kit. If you don't you can just copy mine based on the measurements. This is a good size for my partner with an 18 1/2 inch collar size; and for me wearing a women's size 22 plus.

The hole is your STITCHING LINE, not your cutting line. If you have a favorite neck hole, trace it and add seam allowance. Note that the hole is located 4.5 inches down from the top edge, and the shoulder line is offset by about an inch front-to-back.

NOTE: If you're confused about why the neck isn't centered, lay out a t-shirt. You'll see more of the hole is in front of the shoulder seam, instead of being equal front-to-back.

I've cut narrow slits in my template where I mark out shoulder seams, plus center front and center back. You can spot the slit right below the label "shoulder line". Trace the marks with chalk or slivers of soap (I like soap because it washes out, but doesn't brush off as fast during sewing).

I cut my facings at 12" x 18". If you want a keyhole facing instead, you can add 2.5 inches from the edge of the circle and down the slit.

On the garment, sew your shoulder seam together, but don't sew the rest of the body together yet. It's much easier to do this when it's flat. Iron and finish your shoulder seam. (Practice making these facings with a few scrap pieces of fabric first. Sew two pieces together to make an imaginary shoulder seam, and then sew a practice facing to it.)

Carefully line up the shoulder seams to your chalk marks, and make sure to center the facing left to right. If you put it on the right side of your fabric, it will not be seen when you're finished.

Pay extra attention that the center slit is straight on the grain of the body-side of the garment. Sometimes I pin right down the line to see if it looks straight when I flip it over, then go back and pin across.

USE YOUR PINS.

Stitch on the circle. At the center front slit, stitch an eighth of an inch away from the line. Turn and make two right angles at the bottom, not a V.

Does your circle look wonky? Does your neck slit look straight on the other side of your sewing? You can fix it now, before you cut your fabric. That's what makes this super easy, because you're not sewing two curved and cut edges to each other. You're sewing two flat pieces of fabric together.

Cut the neck out, leaving a seam allowance. You can see that my edges along the rectangle are already turned on my facing. Sewing the facing and garment right-sides-together puts your facing on the inside of the garment (hidden).

Cut the center slit. In the corners at the bottom, cut into each corner, but don't cut through the thread.

Cut notches across the corners. Clip into the seam allowance around the circle, but don't cut the thread.

Start turning the facing towards the middle

Tuck all the parts through, turning out the corners carefully. In this example, the camel-colored wool is the right side of the fabric, and the facing won't be seen. If you want to know why the body panel is so narrow, check out my pattern for general 11th century tunics across Europe and the Middle East.
It's linked from the front page at idlelion.net.

Flipped through so the seams are all on the inside.

Ironed to within an inch of its life. I'm an advocate that pressing your seams while you sew is what makes your clothes looks neat and well-made. Turn off the steam while you're doing this. You can still blast the steam with the button when you want it, but you're less likely to burn your fingers doing the futsy stuff if your steam is off.

This facing will be stitched around the edges by hand so it's not visible when it's done. In this case I'm adding a linen facing to a wool tunic.

1066 in Japan- a very brief overview

2015-08-14T09:49:00.005-05:00

Getting started with Heian period Japanese garb (794-1185)
Aka: 1066 in Japan- A very brief overview
Julia May, with inspiration from Kay Marszalek

Let me start with the basics: I am not a scholar in Japanese material culture. Our Prince has a Japanese persona. While we, of course, assume our King and Queen will have a long and distinguished reign, some folks wanted to get Japanese garb together—just in case! (tongue-in-cheek).

Baroness Khadijah offered to teach an introductory class on Japanese garb. The material she has available to share is in paper format, instead of electronic. After attending her class, I have tried to reconstruct some of that great knowledge with web-based information. My goal is offer a “starter package” which honors the culture and people whom we are recreating but does not get into finer, and important, details. I welcome comments which contribute resources for the finer details.

What we readily know about clothing in this period is that there are few illustrations of it. The armchair researcher will be surprised, delighted, and frustrated that uncredited line drawings from one manuscript are used by many of the sources out there.

http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/wayou/index.htm
The site “The Rebirth of the Tale of Genji: The Costume Museum” appears to be quite popular, and one can easily see why. Clothing of court persons, both men and women, are depicted in color re-creations, as well as line drawings which are labeled with the names of individual garments. Clicking on the fuzzy “Explanation” button yields fantastic garment-ese translations. Unfortunately, the site has not been maintained in the last several years, and links are starting to break.

http://www.fibers.destinyslobster.com/Japanese/Clothes/japoutfits.htm
“Anne Liese’s Fibers and Stuff” offers a breakdown of the types of clothing worn by individuals of different ranks. Some of it appears to be borrowed from “The Costume Museum”, but there are other images available as well.

http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/garb/index.html
“Yusoku Kojiysu Ron: A History of Japanese Clothing and Accessories” is a difficult site to enter. From the link above, click on the upper brown box in the center of the page. This should bring you to a framed website which is difficult to copy links from. It has greater detail about men’s clothing (women’s has not been fleshed out) and an excellent color chart. Clicking on “Kasane No Irome” provides Western dates for the Japanese seasons. The seasons would dictate appropriate colors to wear.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.758943530868387.1073741924.122744754488271&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.800256613403745.1073741936.122744754488271&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.794837213945685.1073741932.122744754488271&type=3&hc_location=ufi
The Facebook page Kyoto Fan has posted a rich collection of public photographs from recreations of three Heian period ceremonies, including some layers of dressing.

As for making the clothing, a few websites are available with cutting and construction plans. SCA participants will recognize similarity with Western panel and gore construction.

Pants http://fibers.destinyslobster.com/Japanese/Clothes/japmakewomenshakama.htm
http://mistress-of-disguise.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-make-heian-era-formal-court.html
http://www.fibers.destinyslobster.com/Japanese/Clothes/japmakemenshakama.htm

Robes. Robes are special because each layer is cut slightly different from the last, so that the edges of each layer are visible. This appears to be quite an involved process which likely would take a pair of people several weekends to complete for/with each other. This site “The Kosode: a Japanese garment for the SCA period” by Lisa A. Joseph has many documented resources, references, and explanations of choices made.http://www.wodefordhall.com/kosode.htm

http://www.wodefordhall.com/
This site by Lisa A Joseph is considered a go-to for serious garb research. I found that as I "wandered" through the other sites I could start to get a feel for the garb. This site ties it all together, and provides details which help you see things you didn't know you should look for on other sites.

Joseph also has a gallery of SCA folks’ modern reconstructions of Japanese garb in period. http://www.wodefordhall.com/samurai.htm

Tunic for an Elevation in the Norse Style: Material Culture 30: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

Tunic for an Elevation in the Norse Style: Material Culture 30: A&S50 Challenge
Orchestrated by Baroness Samia
Completed by Dame Marwen's Super Team
Julia May

At Twelfth Night 2015, Baron Viði was placed on vigil for the Order of the Pelican. His wife, Dame Marwen, began coordinating efforts for his sitting in state, and the ceremony of his elevation. Many efforts were abuzzz, headed by many able people. Several additional sets of hands were made available to assist on these projects.

We began with the image of King Cnut, in the lower right corner.

King Cnut and Queen Emma presenting a cross to the altar of New Minster, Winchester, Stowe 944, f. 6. British Library, London. See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2011/06/the-new-minster-liber-vitae.html#sthash.uat0Bdzq.dpuf

And used a tunic pattern which Viði found to be comfortable already. This style is one of my favorites because it is well suited to luxury-sized people. The center panel is not as wide as the shoulders, therefore it's not slumping down the arm as though the wearer is "dressed in dad's clothes". It also allows for a better fit around the upper torso, providing greater ease of movement (as a side note, this same pattern appears in the Middle East during this same time period). Many times the tunics are seen with sleeves too long for the arm and ruched at the wrist. Viði's preference was a tunic with standard-length sleeves for his comfort.

Norse tunic pattern. http://simbelmyne.us/sca/court/norse-tunic-pattern.htm

We used a silk-wool twill for the body of the garment. Mistress Cassandra provided the brocade for the facing, and we selected two silk taffeta fabrics to use as the accents. Finally, blue silk Trebizond, garnets, and pearls were used for details.

Vidi heralded by Lady Ejya who composed a Norse poem to celebration the occasion, and flanked by the archery community. He is wearing a belt made by Dame Marwen, Norse pants made by Lord Njall, and shoes made by Master Hrodir.

The shape of the facing and the additional adornment was informed by the 11th century manuscript "'The Arundel Psalter". British Library, Ms Arundel 155, Fol. 93r. Detail.

http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=5

In all, many hands were utilized in completing this outfit. Baroness Amalia, Baroness Ellen, Duchess Anne, Honorable Lady Una, Lady Ulricka, Mistress Gunnora, Lord Njall, Maaster Hrodir, Dame Marwen, Dame Siobhan, Mistress Cassandra, Baroness Eruiaut, Baroness Ekatrina, Countess Guinevere, and more.

Painted tent flange in a Middle Eastern style: Material Culture 29: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-08T11:15:00.002-05:00

Painted tent flange in a Middle Eastern style: Material Culture 29: A&S50 Challenge
Julia May

Several years ago, my husband and I made a canvas tent for camping. This year I took the opportunity of some extra free time to paint the flange of it.

Photo by Cynthia Bergman

I was inspired by images of camp from the manuscripts of the Maqamat al-Hariri. This is a secular collection of tales about rouge as he move through life. Many of the manuscripts are heavily illuminated. Several come to us from the thirteenth century[1].

St Petersburg Inst of Oriental Manuscripts Ms C-23 fol.43b. An old man and a young man in front of the tents of the rich pilgrims, from 'The Maqamat'. Dated to c. 1200-1250.

Seeing the two tents which are white with blue adornment (our tent is made of white Sunforger canvas, which should generally be left white to maintain the great properties), I decided to paint a "negative" image of white lettering on a blue background like the tent on the left.

A Qur’anic verse carved using the Kufic script, from the Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt. From https://starsinsymmetry.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/history-the-kufic-script/

I am not a skilled calligrapher. My husband and I found a font that was similar to the Fatimid Kufic script on this Mamluk-era mosque. We scaled it to fill an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, and added a grid behind it at the height we needed for the height of the fabric. I used a plastic sheet made for quilting templates to create a frame for scaling the image. I then altered the font we found with elements I could discern from the hand used to decorate the mosque.

Instead of the traditional Fatimid prayer inscription, "Health, Blessings, and Prosperity", we used the prayer, "Health, Blessings, and Safe Weather." A friend provided the translation for me.

[1]Bolshakov, O.G. "The St. Petersburg Manuscript of the Maqamat by al-Hariri and its Place in the History of Arab Painting". Manuscript Orientalia: International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research, Vol. 3 No. 4 (December 1997): 59-66

New Stone Settings for a Baronial Coronet: Material Culture 32: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-07T16:13:00.000-05:00

New Stone Settings for a Baronial Coronet
Material Culture 32: A&S50 Challenge
Julia May

Baroness Anplica was given a wonderful gift from her friend, Baron Lyulf. With the help of Baron Frederick, Lyulf made her a baronial coronet when she became a Baroness of the Court. Using nickel-plated stainless steel, it flared nicely, and fit her perfectly. He knew that he did not yet possess the skills to set the six hand-cut lapis stones that she used for pearls, so he thoughtfully glued them into place with an adhesive which would be easy for a future artist to remove. The stones were displayed, and the piece could easily be updated at a later time.

Some time later, Anplica took it to a local jeweler who could make settings for the stones. They bid it at $65 per setting, a very reasonable price for the amount of work it would take, but outside of Anplica's budget at the time. She turned to her newly-minted silversmith friend for a second opinion. I let her know that the local jeweler was offering a reasonable price, and the final product would likely be more professional than I could produce. However, I would take it as an opportunity to learn new skills if she would buy the materials. She was sold.

I used rubber cement to apply copier paper to one side of the silver sheet, then traced around each of the stones. Rubber cement stays in place while the silver is being sawn, and the paper retains the ink better than the silver does.

The bezel wire is cut to shape for each stone. Since they're hand-cut stones they are slightly irregular and each needed to be custom fit. Once the bezel wire is soldered and tested against the shape of the stone a final time, it is soldered to the back plate.

Once the bezel is soldered into place, I carefully cut away the excess back plate, I also determined that I could save weight if I cut a hole in the back of each setting. Then the piece is filed and polished.

Here are four stones in different steps of the process. The last one is not yet set into the bezel, the bezel must first be attached to the coronet.

The bezels were riveted into place. I drilled holes in the top and bottom of the back plate of each bezel. Then I lined them up with the coroner and drilled corresponding holes in each location. I used silver wire in the same diameter as the holes to make rivets which were flared by hammering. Once all of the bezels were in place, I could start setting the stones.

Baron Frederick was generous to assist me with polishing the coronet when the bezels were set. I do not have much experience with ferrous metals, and I was uncertain if my fine metal polishing equipment would be appropriate. He brought armor polishing equipment and a multi-tool to an event and showed me his process. I am very grateful for his help.

Coronation Tunic for King Hrodir III: Material Culture 31: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-07T08:33:00.000-05:00

Coronation Tunic for King Hrodir III: Material Culture 31: A&S50 Challenge
Orchestrated by Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
Completed by House Wortham and friends
Julia May

King Hrodir III and Queen Anne II of Northshield

In preparation for his Coronation, when Hrodir was asked what clothing inspired him, he pointed to the Coronation tunic of King Roger II of Sicily.

Blue Tunicella (Dalmatica). Palermo, 2nd quarter of the 12th century. Blue and red velvet, gold embroidery, gold appliqués with cloisonné enamel and filligree, pearls; l. 141,5 cm, 343 cm wide at hem. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum http://www.khm.at/Archiv/Ausstellungen/nobiles/en/02/main.html

I enlisted the help of Baroness Deja, Mistress Ainsleigh, Mistress Gunnora, and Lady Niamh to determine the best resources for copying the adornment. We quickly determined how to do it, and that it would take hundreds of hours more than we had.

Instead, we looked to our stashes of fabric to see what would suit a King, and consulted the Queen's Royal Clothier, Mistress Cassandra, on the colors she was choosing for Queen Anne.

We settled on the silk brocade as primary ornamentation which would be used for both, and selected colors to coordinate. The black is a velvet brocade provided by Baroness Deja. The tan silk-wool twill (bottom of the picture) was in my collection.

I used my favorite tunic pattern (opens a .pdf) to make the garment. This pattern is great for prosperous men because the center body panel is narrower than the shoulder width. The shoulders don't slump down arms with the pattern, allowing a neater fit and great ease of movement. The pattern was used throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages.

While the Honorable Lady Lyneya was tablet weaving the alpaca/silk trim for the neck line, I started making the tunic. Functioning by rote, I made the facing wrong. Thankfully I had enough fabric that I could make a new one!

The original tunic has an offset neck opening.

Meanwhile, many artisans started working on adding pearls to the brocade pieces. We finished each section of brocade individually, then appliqued the final pieces to the garment. This allowed several people to be working on the pearling at their own homes all at the same time.

Mistress Gunnora and Lady Niamh worked out the design for the cuffs. Baroness Ellen and I worked out the design for the sleeves. Mistress Cassandra provided the enameled "coins" in the sleeves.

Together, dozens of hours were put into this garment. Baroness Ellen, Baroness Deja, Lady Niamh, Dame Siobhan, Dame Marwen, Dame Medb, Baroness Khadijah, Baroness Amalia, Baroness Ekaterina, Lady Ulricka, Lord Oswald, Sayyeda Samia, and others all laid pearls and jet beads in little rows for hours. We created garb fit for a King.

Prince Hrodir III, claiming his right to the throne of Northshield

Nordskogen 40th Anniversary Twelfth Night Site Tokens: Material Culture 28: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

Nordskogen 40th Anniversary Twelfth Night Site Tokens: Sterling silver rings in a period New Years style
Material Culture 28: A&S50 Challenge
Created by the Barony of Nordskogen
Julia May

33 dozen rings, sorted by size. A mallet and an mandrel are available for minor resizing.

Dame Siobhan stewarded the Twelfth Night celebration with heralded the 40th Anniversary of the Barony of Nordskogen. She put out a call for volunteers to design a memorable site token for the event with a budget of $1,200. Baroness Samia al-Kaslaania, the Honorable Lady Niamh ingen Dhomnail, and Lady Lleucu verch Gwilim submitted the selected bid.

Silver finger ring. 15th century. Winchester Museum Collection Object number: WINCM:AY 204. Adorned with foliate and reads "en bon an". They were given as New Years gifts in the 14^th and 15^th centuries.

More examples of this kind of ring can be found on our Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/jm0358/en-bon-an/

For ours, Lady Kolfinna Hrafnkelsdottir was the calligrapher, and Lady Lleucu was the designer. We utilized Rolling Mill Resource to laser engrave paper plates.We then used the paper plates to make an impression on sterling silver sheets.

Testing the pattern and pressure on copper first.

The plates were annealed and cut apart into strips. The edges were butted together, and three-four people began soldering the butt-edges together. The rings went into the pickle (chemical cleaner to remove flux residue). Two people used mandrels and mallets to make the rings round.Several people cleaned up the rough edges, then the rings were bound together by size and put in a tumbler to polish. Finally, Max Black was added to darken the lettering, they were stamped with "925", and the rings were given a final polish.

From right to left: 1. stamped and annealed ring strip 2. ring strip folded for soldering. 3. ring just out of the pickle 4. ring being polished 5. finished ring with letters darkened. In the background is a charcoal block, used to reflect heat back to the object being soldered.

1. Soldering the joints: the rings are covered with flux and laying on a charcoal block. 2. Out of the pickle: the rings are shaped so they're easier to solder, and now need to be rounded. 3. Solder joint. 4. Rings cut unevenly need to be filed smooth.

Volunteers spent dozens of hours working on the rings.


33 dozen rings doesn't look that that many.

But it does take a lot of volunteers to make 408 sterling silver rings for an event. With the support of Baron Edward and Baroness Deja, territorial Baron and Baroness of Nordskogen, and Dame Siobhan, the event steward, over 35 people contributed time, materials, love, and effort.

Lord Bastien and Lady Coquette; Master Cadwallon and Baroness Amalia; Lord Wulfstanus and goodwoman Renee; Lord Bazyli and Lady Helena; Lady Nezzetta; Lady Lleucu; Baron Thomas and Baroness Angelina; Lady Jenne; Lord DelNefre; Mistress Angeli; Lord Geirfold; Duchess Petranella; Baroness Jutta; Lady Ulricka; Lord Marcus and Lady Kate; Lady Kolfinna; Lady Ysabel; Lord Finn and Lady Cynthia; Lord Byron; Honorable Lady Una; goodwoman Kathy Unasister; Lady Niamh; Baron Fredrick and Lady Gwenllyn; Lord Oswald and Baroness Samia.

a Recreation of an Ayyubid Women's Face Veil Cairo: 1171-1250: Materal Culture 27: A&S50 Challenge

2015-07-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

a Recreation of a possible Ayyubid Women's Face Veil Cairo:A Recreation: 1171-1250
Recreation by Julia May
Photos by Chris Schumann
Revised September 2018

The paper describes the possible recreation of Middle Eastern headgear from the Middle Ages which is suitable for a wealthy woman to wear while attending ceremony in an urban public venue.

Figure 1 Ms C 23, Maqāmāt al-Hariri, detail. St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies. Dated 1225-1235. Note: woman in buraq, upper left.

More than half of a Cairene Jewish woman’s trousseau consisted of head gear in the eleventh century [1]. The Scholar Yedida Stillman suggest that similar experiences has would be had by Islamic and Christian women of the same time period and location. [1.1]

Despite many extant images of women; and many extant written accounts of garments, researchers today cannot discuss with certainty the connection between the named garments and the depicted garments. Even pioneering work such as Stillman’s analysis of scores of trousseaux does not provide the details that a re-enactor looks for [2]. For the purposes of communication, I have used the speculative names for garments that other researchers have agreed upon.

The most prominent feature of this headgear set is a full face veil, likely in the style of the medieval burqa. Today’s garment bearing the same name is very different from its medieval counterparts. It does, however, serve the same purpose: concealing an adult woman’s face.

I chose to make several pieces for this face veil ensemble, include a kerchief and a head veil. The attempted recreations are matched intentionally, as headgear garments in trousseau lists are commonly listed as matched and coordinated. Overall, garment ensembles could consist of up to 15 matched pieces [3].

Full face veil— burqa, to conceal the face

Figure 2 Extant face veil, Eastwood.

My re-creation goal was concealing the identity of the model so she could attend a public ceremony (SCA court) but without heat-stroking during the summer. The probable-burqa style was chosen over other faceveils because its narrow shape permits breezes to get by.

Recreated burqa

During the Middle Ages, it is believed that the burqa was as wide as the face. [3.1] Based on extant finds and extant images, it is made in two pieces, upper and lower, connected in three places: at the bridge of the nose, and outside each of the eyes. Along the nose there is a ridge seam created to shape the garment to the face. In the two extant garments, the upper and lower pieces of fabric are touching each other; however, period images do not always portraying this same proximity [4].

The extant garments are unfinished, both in the same way as each other [5]. Despite this, I chose to finish the whole length of the veil and make it shorter for a few reasons. First, both of the veils were coarsely made overall; they may have belonged to poor women who did not have time or inclination to complete the garments.

Second, my garment will typically be worn so that the hem is visible, whereas the existing garments are believed to always be concealed beneath a large overwrap [6]. These two garments (the burqa and the overwrap) went hand-in-hand during the Middle Ages. In the modern context of the SCA, women generally do not wear the body-concealing overwraps while out-of-doors. Women in the SCA spend more time out-of-doors than wealthy women are described as having done in the Middle Ages.

Third, Vogelsang-Eastwood describes this garment as sometimes being decorated with beads, coins, chains, shells and so forth [7]. Having worn other face veils of my own construction, I believe that this sort of adornment would help to keep the veil under control while walking or standing in a breezy area, functioning like the weighted hems on draperies. I believe the added weight is an alternative to the additional length, which would provide the same function.

Kerchief—mandīl, foundation headwear

According to trousseaux records, most women had several head-kerchiefs, called manadīl (singular mandīl), in their head-gear collections [8]. It is described as one of the foundation garments available for head-gear, and often served as the foundation for men’s turbans as well. This kerchief type of mandīl protected the other head-gear from the oils of the hair and skin. Another option for a base-garment would be a skullcap. I selected the mandīl for the flexibility of passing it along to another person to wear in the SCA. In the Middle Ages, the word “mandīl” is also used for a number of napkin- and towel-like objects; some are garments, others are household linens [9].

To wear the re-creation of it, this is folded into a triangle and tied around the hair-line with a double knot at the base of the neck.

I make little braids (antenna braids, located about where a Martian's antenna are) to have a stronger foundation for pining veils into place. The mandil is about the size of a modern kerchief.

Veil—Bukhnuq, to conceal the hair

The description of this veil occurs in a woman’s trousseau as a garment “whose primary purpose is the cover the neck.” In my speculation, this garment was triangular because a triangular shape would allow the garment to “covers the head, [go] down along the cheeks under the chin, and falls over the shoulders” as is described in Stillman’s research. It would remain a comfortable, tug-free neck covering when “the two ends might be brought again over the head and there attached [10].” This could be achieved with little waste by cutting a rectangle crosswise and sewing the two short ends together.

Figure 3 Suggested design of the bukhnuq.

My re-creation of wearing the ensemble:Two small standard braids (not French-style) are made at the crown of the head. The hair is gathered into a pony tail, braid, or bun and secured. The re-creation mandīl is tied around the head. The burqa is tied around the head so that the eyes are exposed. Finally the re-creation bukhnuq is draped over all, with pins securing it to the little braids at the crown of the head.

The bukhnuq pinned to the antenna braids, and wrapped with the two ends over the head.

Fabric Choice for Headwear

Many trousseaux survive from this period and give us a snapshot of women’s wardrobes at the time of their marriages. Several of the garments listed have the fabric described as “jari al-qalam” (literally, "the flowing of the pen") which is defined by Stillman as a fine pinstripe [11]. Another trousseau indicates that an entire ensemble of garments is made from one striped fabric [12]. In the Islamic Middle Ages, many matched garments were a sign of prosperity, this being a period where textiles were liquid assets and sale of second-hand garments was a thriving trade [13]. Therefore I selected a fine fabric with narrow pinstripe.

The trousseaux also tell us that people in this period had a “tremendous range of highly refined dyes [14].” Blues (and whites) were the most common of these colors [15]. Extant textiles, excavated at Quseir al-Qadim (a port city used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries), also show a preference for blue and blue-and-white textiles [16].

Linen was chosen because it was the most produced fiber of Islamic Egypt. Most of the textiles excavated at Naqlun (eleventh and twelfth centuries in Egypt) were linen [17]. Further, trade records indicate that “flax was produced in greater amounts than all other fibers combined[18]” during this period.

For the anchors and ties on the burqa, I did not copy the methods used in the extant garment above (several strings stitched over cross-wise, see Figure 2). Instead, I used lengths of corded silk. This choice not only maintains consistency across the piece, it also served as another step to raise the quality of the garment above the coarseness of the original. The silk fibers chosen have a “sticky” feel to them—with the goal of clinging better to the hair of a weekends-only (and therefore less experienced) veil-wearer.

The Ensemble

Overall, this ensemble of headwear meets the needs of the modern re-creationist while staying true to the original designs and goals of the Middle Ages. I believe the departures I make (in size and closures) do not significantly alter the feeling of the garments.

[1] Stillman, Yedida K. “Female Attire of Medieval Egypt: According to the Trousseau Lists and Cognate Material from the Cairo Geniza”. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: University of Chicago, 1977.
[1.1] Stillman, Yedida K. “Importance of the Cairo Geniza Manuscripts for the History of Medieval Attire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 7, Num 4 (October 1976): 582. "Jewish and Muslim women dressed alike during the Fatimid and Ayyubid period. This is not too surprising since the sectarian Fatimids showed a comparatively tolerant attitude toward their dhimmi subjects.... The Geniza trousseaux give every indication that the Islamic sumptuary laws for dhimmis were also not enforced. The same garments are mentioned in the Muslim sources."
[2] Stillman, Yedida K. “Importance of the Cairo Geniza Manuscripts for the History of Medieval Attire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 7, Num 4 (October 1976): 579-589. Note: For a modern comparison, saying, “there are 4 neckties in x colors,” does not indicate how a necktie was worn, when it was worn, how it was cut on the bias, how it was tied, or which specific garments it was worn with.
[3] Cortese, Delia and Simonetta Calderini. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press, 2006.
[3.1] Collated from a number of sources. Baker, Patricia L. "A History of Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East." Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Arts), School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, 1986. Page 179.Mayer, L. A. Mamluk Costume: A Survey. Geneve: Albert Kundig, 1952. Page 73, and describing the burqu' as covering the face below the eyes.Stillman, Yedida K. Arab Dress from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times: A Short History. Edited by Norman A. Stillman. Boston: Brill, 2003. Page 142.
[4] Eastwood, Gillian. “A Medieval Face-Veil from Egypt.” Costume/London Costume Society 17 (1983): 33-38.
Stillman, Yedida K. Arab Dress from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times: A Short History. Edited by Norman A. Stillman. Boston: Brill, 2003. Page 82, referencing: Scene in a mosque; illustration from the 7th maqama of al-Hariri Maqamat, manuscript copied and illustrated by al-Wasiti, executed in Baghdad 1237. MS. ar. 5847 f. 18v., the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

[5] Eastwood.
[6] Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian and Willem Vogelsang. Covering the Moon: An Introduction to Middle Eastern Face Veils. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2008.
[7] Vogelsang-Eastwood.
[8] Stillman, “Female Attire".
[9] Rosenthal, Franz. “A Note on the Mandil” Four Essays on Art and Literature in Islam. Leiden, 1971.
[10] Stillman, “Female Attire".
[11] Stillman, Yedida K., Norman A. Stillman, ed. Arab Dress: a Short History. Brill 2003, p 59.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Goitein vol 1, p 222-3, 245.
[14] Stillman, Yedida K. “New Data on Islamic Textiles from the Geniza.” In Patterns of Everyday Life. Edited by David Waines. The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: 10th ed. Ashgate Variorum, 2002, p. 204.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Earl, Graeme. “The Textiles: Quseir al-Qadim Project.” University of Southampton, School of Humanities. 2000. http://wac.soton.ac.uk/Projects/projects.asp?Division=1&SubDivision=2&Page=17&ProjectID=20 (accessed 4 April 2011; now inactive).
Helmecke, Gisela. “Textiles with Arabic Inscriptions excavated in Naqlun 1999-2003.” Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean/Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Warsaw, POLOGNE 16 (April 19, 2004): pp195-202. http://www.pcma.uw.edu.pl/fileadmin/pam/PAM_2004_XVI/218.pdf (Accessed 19 April 2001).
[18] Goitein, S.D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.

Inspired Craziness-- Cloisonne Pelican book plate: Material Culture 26: A&S50 Challenge

2015-06-30T17:44:00.001-05:00

Inspired Craziness-- Cloisonne Pelican book plate: Material Culture 26: A&S50 Challenge
Created by Baroness Marwen, Baroness Euriaut, Baroness Samia
Julia May

King Vladimir II and Queen Petranella II saw fit to honor the Honorable Lord Viði Hovdestad by placing him on vigil for the Order of the Pelican in Northshield early in 2015. Many friends were ecstatic to assist in preparation for the ceremony, garb, a vigil space, food, a cloak, and a vigil book.

While planning the vigil book, Marwen and Samia spun each other up into a crazy project idea. The Honorable Lady Una Duckfoot generously volunteered to make the book, while Marwen, Samia, and Euriaut were going to make a cloisonne enameled cover. Between us we had made a handful of enamel pieces, so we had no idea how afraid we should be of this project.

Baroness Siobhan Medhbh O'Roarke found an image online which inspired all of the volunteers as Viði-esque. Baroness Ellen de Wynter drew line art from the image. Marwen and Samia ordered fine silver and enamel. The Honorable Lady Niamh ingen Dhomnail advised us in the design.

We spent hours wrestling with the enormous cloisonne wires and watching videos posted by Rio Grande. Marwen was also able to use her Zing engraving machine to etch the design on sheet of fine silver so we would have lines to follow.

The first layer of enamel is typically a clear base coat. We had enough experience to know that it was possible to be too light in this application and ruin the piece from the start. Unfortunately, that made our application a little too heavy handed. The border cloisonne is more than half full with the first layer of enamel, and the hard fusing enamel has a yellow cast on the fine silver.

We applied all of the cloisonnes. We were quite pleased with our progress!

Colored enamel is carefully applied to each of the cells.

The first layer of color added.

Tiny silver balls were made from "dead" cloisonne wires.

The balls were laid into a subsequent layer of glass.

After several firings, we realized we had developed a problem. The trivet we were using could not support the full weight of the piece. It was warping by slumping around the trivet. Viði made us a new set of trivets, pictured here, where we placed the work upside down and fired it in an attempt to slump it back to shape.

(The colored stripes are the counter enamel. We used Pam East Counternamel, a fantastic product that's part glass, part cement, and part magic. We were applying the counternamel too thick, but weren't worried because it was the back. We have since learned that the uneven application likely contributed to our slumping problem.)

We had less than a week to finish the project, and we had already put in about 100 (novice) hours at this point. We researched large enamel pieces in Linda Darty's book The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration. A small section describes smashing the molten glass piece with a steel block to flatten it, while hoping it didn't effectively explode.

Our choices were to either display this as a piece of "what could have been", or smash it. We decided to be brave.

Marwen got out an old iron which does not have the safety of turning off when it's on it's face. We used a jeweler's steel block, a hot pad, and a trivet. We heated the iron on high for several minutes.

Three of us were required for the smashing. Samia would pull the enamel out of the kiln and place it on the hot block. Viði would close the kiln door. Marwen would do the smashing.

It worked!! The enamel was flat enough to apply to the book cover, and we could bend the corners flat with pliers.

The finished piece. This is after the last stoning, and before the final firing (you can see the dull areas prominently on the nest).

It was a wild experience, and we were crazy to give it a try!

Order of Defense Medallions for Northshield by House Wortham

2015-06-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

Order of Defense Medallions for Northshield
Create by House Wortham and friends
Julia May

House Wortham was selected to make the first four Order of Defense Medallions for Northshield. Three for the premieres of the Order, and one Legacy.

We started by perusing images of extant enameled jewelry from the later Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Many of the later-period images we could find represented basse taille enameling.This beautiful technique requires skilled carving of the base metal before carefully placing glass in the correct areas.

Musée national du Moyen Âge, France. Medallion with the bull of St Luke. Translucent enameling on basse-taille silver, Catalunya, second half of the 14th century. Credit line: Bequeathed by François-Achille Wasset, 1906. Accession no. Cl. 14719
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/306174474639681915/

Based on our collective experience, we elected to use champlevé and cloisonné enamel. Champlevé is the practice of creating wells in the metal surface for laying in glass. Cloisonné is bending tiny wires of silver which are fused to the surface of the metal to make wells. These styles were used throughout the SCA periods, but occur in higher concentrations before the fourteenth century.

Champlevé is removing metal from the piece to create wells for the glass to lay in. It can be carved away or etched away; some artists fuse a pierced sheet of silver to a flat piece.
Victoria and Albert Museum, England. Plaque. Copper-gilt, champlevé enamel; Aragon, Spain, 1420. Credit Line: Given by Dr W.L. Hildburgh. Museum number: M.25-1954
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127034/plaque-unknown/

Lord Phillip and Lady Marion generously tried milling the original line art released. The milling machine they used is not calibrated for such fine detail. We were able to enamel on the piece to cover most of the milling marks, but the image was not as crisp as we had hoped.

Cloisonné is the application of fine bent wires to a base of glass. The rectangular wires are .25 mm wide and 1 mm tall. The ground glass used for the enamel is shipped in grades of fineness. The glass is laid in place onto a pure metal foundation with water and capillary action. The foundation is put in the kiln at 1450° for two and a half minutes to fuse the glass into one solid piece.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Four Enamel Plaques. Cloisonné enamel, silver-gilt, jewels; French, ca. 1300. Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917. Accession Number: 17.190.595a-d.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/464502

With milling off the table, we moved to bending the cloisonné wire. Baron Robin devised a simplified design for the cloisonné that still read as a rapier visually. You can see the completed and set cloisonne piece on the table. The piece in process has a layer of base glass on it. Then the bent cloisonnes are glued into place with an enamel adhesive, because the surface of the metal is domed.

On this piece, the fine particles of yellow glass bled over into the black glass and blurred the clean lines of the design.Since this piece was sadly removed from circulation, we used it to test the application of the laurel- shaped copper wire. Laying the copper onto the fused glass and firing worked to sink the wreath into the glass just enough to secure it in place.

Here, you can also see more design adaptations created by Duchess Anne. In this piece, some of the cloisonné wires fell over in the kiln and fused out of place. The pock marks in the glass around the wires were made when we tried to pry the wires out of the molten glass. The surface tension was too high for the tools we had available.

Enamel is fused to fine silver or copper, both 99.99% pure. Pure silver is not sturdy material for jewelry structure, so jewelry makers use sterling silver (92.5% silver and 7.5% copper) for structural elements. Sterling silver is considerably stronger and makes sturdy settings.

This setting is marked in two places where the solder flowed up the bezel, preventing the bezel from forming a neat, smooth line around the set piece.

This bezel setting melted in two placed. The limitations of our shop required us to use two torches to heat the large silver setting enough for the solder to flow (technically, it’s “brazing” instead of soldering). There was a learning curve to getting two torches to work in concert. Both of these pieces will be scrapped and recycled.

For the legacy medallion we wanted to swords to be boldly visible, planning on gilding the silver with gold. We sought the assistance of Master Danr to learn about etching the metal to make champlevé. From there, Master Viði and Lord Oswald succeeded with electro-etching in ferric nitrate. Master Geoffrey, The Honorable Lord Robin, Lord Oswald, and Dame Marwen developed the design for etching. Dame Marwen cut resists from vinyl which we applied to the fine silver so only parts of the silver would be removed.

The last step was plating the sterling silver pieces in 14 karat gold. We employed an alchemist, The Honorable Lady Thuri, who is a goldsmith by trade and owner of Whiplash Designs. While the period method of gilding is reportedly quite easy, it involves burning mercury and releasing heavy metals into the environment.

The cloisonné and enamel were made by Baroness Ellen, Dame Marwen, Baroness Gunnora, Baron Richard, Baroness Ainesleah, Baron Robin, Duchess Anne, Baron Geoffrey, Baroness Claire, Baron David, Countess Guenievre, Baroness Amalia, Baroness Ekaterina, Baroness Euriaut, Lady Aneka, Lord Oswald, Sayyeda al-Kaslaania.

In addition to the people already named, the following individuals supplied moral, technical, spiritual, and financial support. Lord Malcolm, young Zane Malcolmson, young Garrett Malcolmson, Lord Njall, Lord Phillip, Lady Marion, Baroness Cassandra, Master Cadwallon, Baroness Angelina, Baroness Siobhan, Duchess Petranella, Master Danr, The Honorable Lady Thuri, Master Peter, Baroness Ivetta.

Stuffed Dormouse recipe and redaction

2014-08-05T21:54:00.000-05:00

Stuffed Dormouse
Redaction and discussion
Sheika al-Kaslaania
August 2014

Stuff the mice with minced pork, mouse meat from all parts of the mouse ground with pepper, pine kernels, laser, and garum. Sew the mouse up and put on a tile on the stove. Or roast in a portable oven. Translated by Patrick Faas from Apicius.

Faas, Patrick. Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome. Shaun Whiteside, trans (from Dutch). University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Dormice are a protected species nowadays. In Roman times, dormice were housed in specially designed giant clay vases with ledges along the walls for the rodents to run. Modern substitutions include both chicken and pork, I chose to use chicken to offer different flavor from the stuffing.

Pine kernels, or pine nuts, have had flavor problems over the last few years so I elected to omit them.

Laser is a spice that was eaten to extinction sometime in late antiquity. Its flavor was compared to both asafoetida and garlic.

Garum is a fermented fish-based sauce. Modern recreations have been compared to soy sauce.

Other than that….

Here is a redaction for “stuffed” “dormouse”

3 Chicken breasts
1 c cooked pork
3-5 cloves of garlic
½ tsp asafoetida
3-4 Tbls soy sauce
Black pepper
Olive oil

Take 1 cup of leftover pork (shoulder, butt, loin) and mince with 3-5 cloves of garlic. Add ½ tsp asafoetida, 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce, and black pepper to taste.

Take 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and slice them the long way to get two thin and wide pieces of chicken. Place small portions of the pork mixture into the center of the chicken pieces and roll them up like a tortilla around the pork. Place them seam-side down in an oiled baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F.

Goat stew with verjuice, Hummadiyya Ibrahimiyya: Food Item Ninteen: A&S50 Challenge

2014-07-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

Hummadiyya (stew soured with citron pulp) Ibrahimiyya
Goat stew with verjuice
10th century, Baghdad

Take 4 ratls (4 pounds) of fatty meat from [slaughtered] kid, cut it into chunks [and set it aside].

Take about 1 ratl (1 pound) of boneless mean meat from its thighs, or use its kishtamazija (tenderloin) and a small amount of its tallow or fat tail, or whatever you wish. Pound the meat [in a stone mortar] and cook it in a pot on burning coals until it is done. Sprinkle the meat with a sour liquid such as lemon juice, wine vinegar, sumac juice, or citron pulp. Continue cooking the meat until all moisture evaporates. Take the pot away from the fire. Make sanbusaj (filled pastries) using this meat [for filling] and stiff dough, which you have kneaded very well. Set the filled pastries aside.

Alternatively, you can fry the pounded meat in oil and mix it with masl (dried yogurt whey), cilantro, and coriander seed. Make sanbusaj using this meat mixture and the prepared stiff dough. Set them aside.

Now wash the [set aside] chunks of meat and put them in a pot along with a handful of soaked and split chickpeas (mufallaq), 2 pieces of cassia –about 2 dirhams by weight (6 grams), and one piece of galangal—about 1 dirham by weight (3 grams). Add as well, chopped cilantro, a suitable amount of white part of fresh onion (bayad basal), 1/3 ratl (2/3 cup) sweet and mellow olive oil (zayt ‘adhb), and a little salt. Add juice of citron to the pot, enough to cover the meat, and cook the pot until the meat is done. Add some dry spices such as coriander seeds, black pepper, and a little bit of ground ginger.

Gently add the prepared pastries (sanbusaj) to the cooking pot and wait for a short while until they are done then add 1 dirham (3 grams) chopped fresh rue leaves. Leave the pot on the remaining heat of the coals until it stops simmering, and ladle it.

[Instead of using citron juice only] you may mix it with juice of sour unripe grapes or juice of sour apples. The dish has also been made with [sour] Levantine mulberries (tut Shami), small sour plums [ijjas], and rhubarb (ribas).

In fact, if you mix mulberry juice with black murri Razi, then cook the dish the way you do with rakhbina, and add spinach to it and serve it, the eater will easily mistake it for a delicious true rakhbina and spare himself its harmful and putrefying effects.

Source: Nasrallah, Nawal. Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. Islamic History and Civilization ed. vol. 70. Brill, 2007.

Sheikah al-Kaslaania’s Redaction
Hummadiyya (stew soured with citron pulp) Ibrahimiyya
Goat stew with verjuice
10th century, Baghdad

1 lb kid meat, ground (or lamb)
Sumac, 2 T.
Pastry (wonton wrappers, 1 package)
Optional:
               Dried yogurt whey
                Cilantro
                Coriander seed
4 lb kid meat, cubed
chickpeas, peeled (two cans)
Cassia cinnamon sticks, 2
Galangal, 3 grams
Cilantro, ¼ cup packed
White onion, peeled and chopped, 1 medium
Olive oil
Salt
Citron juice (or verjuice, or rhubarb juice), 10 ounces
Coriander seed, 1 Tbl
Black pepper, 1Tbl
Ground ginger, 1 Tbl
Fresh rue, several sprigs

Add the ground sumac to 1 cup of water. Simmer for 20 minutes to reduce the water and extract the sumac flavor.

Fry the ground meat in olive oil. When meat begins to brown, add ½ cup sumac cooking water, but allow the sumac itself to settle to the bottom first. Cook until the sumac water has evaporated. Let meat cool. Follow package directions for using wonton wrappers. Seal the edges in the shape of a tiny samosa (tetrahedron). Cover and refrigerate.

Brown the cubed meat in olive oil. Place the browned meat in a pot and add chickpeas, onion and spices. Cover with half strength verjuice or the extracted juice of rhubarb. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for two hours. This simmer time is needed to break down the connective tissue in the stew meat.

At this point, the stew and the samosas can be cooled and stored separately overnight.

Bring the stew to a boil. Add samosas and cook for 15-20 minutes. The meat in the samosas is cooked so this is simply to bring them to temperature. Do not overcook or the samosas will begin to disintegrate. Add fresh rue and serve.

Notes:

Preparing meat in the Middle Ages
The medieval mindset in the Middle East believed that all meat inherently smelled bad before it was cooked. Washing the meat was a tool for removing the fragrant “scum” from the outside of the meat, as skimming the cooking water removes the scum from the inside of the meat. However, modern safety standards do not recommend washing raw meat, as the practice typically only serves to splash germs around the kitchen.

Furthermore, although the recipe doesn’t call for browning the goat meat, “the preliminary technique in preparing meat for stews, called ta'riq, which al-Baghdadi religiously followed in all his meat recipes, gave us the impression that that was the only way to do it.”

“Literally, ta'riq means 'sweating.' Before adding liquid to the stew pot, meat was first briefly fried in rendered sheep's tail fat. In the process, meat first releases its juices (i.e. sweats), which then evaporate, leaving behind the meat swimming in its fat. This was believed to eliminate undesirable meat odor zafar.” Caliphs’ Kitchens, p 23.

This recipe, having been collected by al-Warraq, does not indicate ta’riq is required. I elected to include it because our modern mindset enjoys the savory umami flavor browning creates.

Recipe alterations
The kid meat I picked up came as bone-in chunks. I decided to roast it at 325 for 25 minutes to cook the meat away from the bone. I then stripped the meat into the cooking pot and discarded the bone.

I elected to use ground lamb, rather than kid, in the samosas simply because I can purchase it already ground. Likewise, I already have verjuice on hand.

Sour-savory flavors
Sourness, or tartness, as a flavor is considered savory in the Middle East. A distressing experience can be had by a US-raised person tasting a Middle Eastern sour cherry fruit leather and finding it salted instead of sweetened with sugar. Whereas sweet items, such as prepared dates, are almost cloying sweetened but have zero tart flavor.

When we think of the climates of Baghdad and Cairo, it isn’t really surprising that sour, vinegary, and tart flavors are incorporated into many of the staple meals of the region. Sour foods, such as pickles, oranges, and sekanjabin, help us rebalance our electrolytes when we’ve spent part of the day sweating.

Using the bias of woven fabrics: Advanced T-tunics

2014-01-25T21:19:00.004-06:00

Using the bias of woven fabrics
Advanced T-tunics
Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
February 2013

Clothing is amazing when we stop to think about it. In the middle ages, someone spent hours weaving threads back and forth to carefully craft yards of fabric. Plus there was all the time taken to spin the fiber—and even to harvest it. People then decided they had enough extra time to make curtains, blankets, napkins, mattress covers, and rugs! Textiles were considered liquid assets in the middle ages, as good as money. They were passed on in wills, recorded as taxes, and gifted in dowries.

Woven fabric is composed of warp and weft threads. Warp threads run the length of the loom and are strong enough to be worked under tension. Weft threads are passed up and down through the warp (or through a warp shed) to bind the fabric together.

The grain line always follows the warp of the fabric. Conveniently, this can be identified by the selvedge edges, which also follow the warp of the fabric. Selvedges typically don’t unravel. Measuring from selvedge to selvedge yields the width of the fabric (modern fabric is typically 44/45”, 54”, and 58/60”).

The crosswise-grain follows the weft of the fabric. On modern cotton broadcloth, warp and weft threads are generally identical. On other fabrics, the crosswise grain is considered weaker than the grain.

The true bias is 45° from the grain. This cuts across both the grain and crosswise grain equally. When cut, this edge will distort quickly when handled. Caution should be used to keep a bias edge from stretching while one sews.

The garment bias is anything other than a 45° angle. An isosceles triangle is an example of a typical bias used in garment construction. Caution should still be used to guard against stretching the bias.

A gore is a triangle with two edges sewn into place, and one edge left free as part of a hem. As a triangle, at least one of the sides will be cut on the bias. A garment will tend to fall in folds and “flow” towards the bias edge of the gore. You can use this to your advantage to accent or diminish aspects of your body shape.

“Side flow” is applying a gore so the straight edge is stitched to the body panel. This keeps straight lines down the center of the body and visually creates more fullness toward the outside of the body. This can balance a natural fullness in the center.

“Center flow” is applying a gore so the bias edge is stitched to the body panel. This will smooth the fabric over the hips and draw the weight of the fabric toward the center

Tunic in the style of a 10th Century Norse Skald: Material Culture 25: A&S50 Challenge

2014-01-25T21:06:00.001-06:00

Tunic in the style of a 10th Century Norse Skald

Material Culture 25: A&S50 Challenge
Samia al-Kaslaania

A friend requested a barter commission for his Norse persona. The criteria were that it be suitable for a skald (bard) to wear, and mainly be red. For reference I primarily utilized Gale Owen-Crocker’s book Dress in Anglo-Saxon England.

Having said that, I reached outside of Owen-Crocker’s text to find the pattern used. The basis is an adaptation of Middle Eastern garb from the same time period. Marc Carlson shares an extant version of the same panel-and-gore pattern from the European Middle Ages (noted as a few centuries later). I made the choice because I find the cut more flattering for prosperous men. The otherwise common pattern has the body panel cut as wide as half of the fullest measurement on the trunk. On a luxury-sized body this makes the shoulder seams sag halfway down the bicep, and can feel frumpy to the wearer. In further support of my choice, in the redrawn images Owen-Crocker offers, garments are generally fitted around the body, which can be seen under raised arms (with a few exceptions).

Figure 1 Calendar, London, British Library MS Cotton Tiberius B, v. fol 4r.

The idea that this cut of tunic is known to the Norse is not impossible. Owen-Crocker discusses that furs were traded with the Islamic lands at this time. Gifts of clothing from local leaders are common in the Islamic lands at this time, and the practice grew to include the merchant class power-brokers as well. Norse traders plausibly could have received tunics as gifts from their trading partners in the south.

Tunic style choices and deviations, based on Owen-Crocker:
·    This tunic comes to below the knee, which is in the common range for the 10th century court scenes.
·    The hem is cut level to the ground to match the redrawn examples Owen-Crocker offers, thus avoiding the “shark-bite” shaped hem.
·    In keeping with images from this period, the hem is intentionally quite full for someone who is not in warrior gear.
·    The sleeves are not so long so they can be pushed up to show wrinkles at the cuffs. While most period images likely display wrinkles at the cuffs, the modern person wearing it is also a volunteer who moves tables and chairs. Therefore he requested standard length.
·    The neckline is “keyhole” style. Whether or not period images show this kind of access slit at the neck opening, all of the garments have close-fitted necks which would require some sort of additional opening.

The construction is a combination of modern and period techniques. The seams are sewn with a machine, and then finished by hand with decorative stitches so that only hand-finishing on the seams is seen on the outside of the garment. The seam decoration is the Mammem herringbone stitch, from a 10th century Danish find at Hedeby. These are worked in Silk Splendor embroidery floss, three strands. The choice for silk decoration was driven by the concept that the skald is an important member of a royal court—he is the historian, spin doctor, and praise-bearer in this period.

Figure 2 Tenth to eleventh century, life of St. Radegund. MS 250 Fol 24r. Bibliotheque Municipale, Poitiers, France

In addition to the decorative seam finishes, this garment is adorned with tablet weaving at the neck and cuffs. The fiber is 100% wool from the retired DMC De Medici collection. The pattern is a simple 7-forward-7-back, with same-color border cards. This simple repeat produces a nice chevron pattern that lies flat when removed from the loom. The fine quality of the wool fibers coupled with the simple repeat allows it to be curved around the neck and steam-shrunk into place.

Finished Tunic

A Curious Thirteenth Century Blue Folding Stool

2014-01-19T16:36:00.002-06:00

A Curious Thirteenth Century Blue Folding Stool
Muqima al-Kaslaania with work from Sayyeda Urtatim Al-Qurtubiyya
January 2013

While helping a friend look for an image source, I spotted this stool (the lower figure sits on it).

Folio from an Arabic translation of the Materia medica by Dioscorides. This Arabic translation is dated to 1224 in Baghdad. The original is housed at the Freer Gallery of Art, of the Smithsonian Institutes in Washington, D.C.
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/zoomObject.cfm?ObjectId=46284

From this image alone another researcher, Sayyed "Uncle" Rashid, believed it could be a common ceramic drum stool. Similar items are known from the period.

This stool is housed at the Freer Gallery as well. Painted stone. Eleventh century; Raqqa, Syria.
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=F1911.1

However, my friend Sayyeda Urtatim discovered another image from the same manuscript, this time housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

"Preparation of Medicine from Honey: Leaf from an Arabic translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides [Iraq, Baghdad School]" (13.152.6) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/13.152.6. (December 2011)

And I discovered a third.

Folio from an Arabic translation of the Materia medica by Dioscorides. This Arabic translation is dated to 1224 in Baghdad. The original is housed at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institutes in Washington, D.C. Item number S 1986.97.
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=S1986.97

Finally, Sayyeda Urtatim discovered this fourth image from the same manuscript.

"Leaf from an Arabic translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides ("The Pharmacy") [Iraq]" (57.51.21) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.51.21. (October 2006)

At first, I identified that each of these is situated near a cookpot, but it's actually a pharmacy or pharmacist in each image. All are blue, but because all are displayed in the same manuscript that could be a convention of the artist. Could it be a depiction of metal?

It looks to the modern eye like a folding stool, with the balls acting as hinge points. Other thoughts?

Wow!! Thank you, Rachel. Researcher Rachel Shaw saw this post and did the simplest search imaginable: "Islamic folding chair". She found this:

Image 32 a, b. Folding chair, Persian, 12th century, and detail. Private Collection, Teheran. As it appears in: Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1972; p. 301.
http://books.google.com/books?id=d-4slWpMYV8C&lpg=PA299&ots=q78JGVKPk3&dq=islamic%20folding%20stool&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q=islamic%20folding%20stool&f=false

A Fatimid Hexagonal Neckline?

2014-01-18T13:57:00.000-06:00

A Fatimid Hexagonal Neckline?
Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
January 2014
Revised September 2018

I have accumulated several images of hexagonal necklines. As I look at them with an eye to recreate one, I notice that they all appear to have distinct facings, in other words: they're not just shaped like a hexagon, they also have an outline that possibly represents a facing 1 -1 1/2 inches wide. Some are adorned, some are just a different color from the garment.

Having made a garment with this shape neckline, I am cautious about it's use. The facing requires clipping at every point in the hexagon, making it very weak around the neckline, almost fragile to pull on and off the body. Scholar Margaret Deppe suggests that the artist could be attempting to depict a square neckline.

11th century Fatimid bowl. Woman dancer. Identified as a woman because she has painted-in eyebrows; curls at the temples; performing the 'dance of the veils'. Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Inventory number 46.30.
http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1225

11th century Fatimid bowl fragment. Woman playing a lute. Identified as a woman because she has painted-together eyebrows; an 'isaba around her head gear (decorative band with a loop at the back); curls at her temples.

Late 10th-early 11th century restored bowl. Lute player. Likely woman, unknown headgear causes hesitation. Otherwise has painted-in eyebrows, and curls at the visible temple.

10th-11th century Tunisia. "Bas relief with a prince and a flute player" sculpted marble. Right side figure likely a man because of shape of crown; "king pose" convention, typically used to depict rulers. Museum of Bardo, Tunis. Inventory number E 16.

http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=450

11th century Fustat (near Cairo). Fresco on stucco. Identified as a man because of turban; "king pose" convention; lack of temple curls; lack of painted-in eyebrows; researcher's thoughts about the location of the fresco. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo. Inventory number 12880.
http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=803

11th century plate. Figure has conflicting gender markers--turban, painted-in eyebrows, curls at temples. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/horemachet/380410339/in/set-72157594510322599

11th century plate. Figure has conflicting gender markers-- Possible exposed navel?, turban, painted-in eyebrows, curls at the temple. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/horemachet/375913187/in/set-72157594510322599

12th century Fatimid painted ceiling panel. Likely depicting King Roger II of Sicily. Note: "king pose" convention. Capella Palatina, Palermo, Sicily. In sutu.

Ayyubid Urban Woman’s Garb, an Interpretation: Material Culture 24: A&S50 Challenge

2014-01-09T22:39:00.003-06:00

Ayyubid Urban Woman’s Garb, an Interpretation (Cairo, twelfth century)
Material Culture 24: A&50 Challenge
Sponsored by Baroness Ellen de Wynter
Artist: Sayyeda al-Kaslaania

My model is a wealthy patroness of the Kingdom, Sayyeda Hannah. She employed me, under the sponsorship of Baroness Ellen de Wynter, to create a Middle Eastern outfit suitable for her rank that she could wear to a ceremony in a public venue.

Her outfit features a full face veil, the burqa. The garment bearing the same name in modern context is very different for our medieval counterparts. It does, however, serve the same purpose: concealing the face by swathing it in fabric serves to protect the honor of the family.

More than half of a woman’s trousseau consisted of head gear in the Middle Ages[1]. Researchers today can do little more than speculate about the connection between the named garments and the depicted garments. Even pioneering work such as Yedida Stillman’s analysis of women’s trousseaux does not provide the details that a re-enactor looks for[2]. For modern comparison, saying, “there are 4 neckties in x colors,” does not indicate how a necktie was worn, when it was worn, how it was cut on the bias, how it was tied, or specific garments it was worn with.

Figure 1 St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies. Ms C 23, detail.

Other headgear elements include a kerchief and a head veil. They are matched intentionally, as headgear garments in trousseau lists are commonly listed as matched and coordinated. Overall, garment ensembles could consist of up to 15 pieces[3].

The headgear is augmented by an undertunic, a tunic, and an overwrap.

Full face veil— burqa, to conceal the face

My goal was concealing the identity of the model so she could attend a ceremony in public without

Figure 2 Extant face veil, Eastwood.

heat-stroking her in July. The burqa style was chosen over other faceveils because it allows for easier use of modern eyeglasses, and permits breezes to get by.

During the Middle Ages, the burqa is as wide as the face. It is made in two pieces, upper and lower, connected in three places: above the nose and outside each of the eyes. Along the nose there is a ridge seam sewn in to shape the garment to the face. In the extant garment, the upper and lower pieces of fabric are touching each other; however, extant images do not always portraying this same proximity[4]. The distance I included allows for the eyeglasses of the model to be worn comfortably.

While the existing garments are unfinished in the same way as each other[5], I chose to finish the whole length of the veil and make it shorter—despise two extant pieces to the contrary—for a few reasons. First, both of the veils were coarsely made overall; they may have belonged to poor women who did not have time or inclination to complete the garments. Second, my garment will typically be worn so that the hem is visible, whereas the existing garments are believed to always be concealed beneath a large overwrap[6]. In the context of the SCA we do not wear the large concealing overwraps while out-of-doors that women did in period. These two garments (the burqa and the overwrap) went hand in hand during the Middle Ages.

Third, Vogelsang-Eastwood describes this garment as occasionally being decorated with beads, coins, chains, shells and so forth[7]. Having worn face veils of my own construction, I can say that this sort of adornment would be beneficial to keep the veil under control while walking or in a breezy area, functioning like the weighted hems on draperies. I believe this added weight is an alternative to the length, which would provide the same function.

Figure 3 Child's Tunic as it appears in Scarce, Jennifer.

Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East.

London: Unwin-Hyman Ltd, 1987, p. 118.

Kerchief—mandīl, foundation headwear

Most women had several head-kerchief mandīls in their collections[8]. It is described as one of the foundation garments available for men’s turbans as well. This type of mandīl protected the other head-gear from the oils of the hair and skin. Other options would include skullcaps. The mandīl was selected for the flexibility of passing it along to another person to wear in the SCA. In this period, the word “mandīl” is also used for a number of kerchief- and hand towel-like objects; some are garments, others are household linens[9].

Veil—Bukhnuq, to conceal the hair

In my speculation, this garment was triangular[10]. This shape would allow the garment “whose primary purpose is the cover the neck” the ability to do so as it “covers the head, goes down along the cheeks under the chin, and falls over the shoulders” and remain a comfortable, tug-free neck covering when “the two ends might be brought again over the head and there attached[11].”

Figure 4 Child's tunic from the Mamluk period.

Jameel Center at the Ashmolean Museum,

Univ of Oxford. No. EA1984.353.

Fabric Choice for Headwear

Many trousseaux survive from this period and give us a snapshot of women’s wardrobes at the time
of their marriage. Several of them list the fabric jari al-qalam (literally, "the flowing of the pen") which is described by clothing expert Yedida Stillman as a fine pinstripe[12]. Another indicates that an entire ensemble of garments is made from a common striped fabric[13]. In the Islamic Middle Ages, matchy-matchy garments were a sign of prosperity, this being a period where textiles were liquid assets and sale of second-hand garments was a thriving trade[14].

These trousseaux also teach us that people in this period had a “tremendous range of highly refined dyes[15].” Blues (and whites) were the most common of these colors.

Instead of copying the method of creating the anchors and ties, I used lengths of corded silk. This maintained consistency across the piece, and served as another step to raise the quality of the garment above the coarseness of the original. Not only was this a faster option, the specific fibers used have a “sticky” feel to them—with the goal of clinging better to the hair of a weekends-only (and therefore less experienced) hijab-wearer.

Tunic—Thawb

Garments from the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages were generally loosely fitted tunics for both men and women, augmented by unseamed rectangular lengths of fabric. Yedida Stillman refers to this as a Pan-Islamic style of dress because the basic elements were the same across Islamic communities, excepting Persia.

The shape of this tunic garment is drawn from extant sources[16]. I find it allows for greater movement because it fits a round body instead of a flat one. This works because the sleeve and side body intersect in an unusual way (see Appendix A). The pattern I chose to use is copied from several extant sources[17]. Tailored clothing such as this was a mark of an urban-dweller in the Medieval period, and fitted garments are listed among items in period trousseaux[18]. This pattern is strikingly similar to contemporary European clothing, and was intentionally selected for that reason (as the model also wears Saxon garb). One could speculate this is either from a confluence of ideas, or the active Mediterranean-European trade system.

Figure 5 Woman with sleeveless dress,

head veil wrapped around her shoulders.

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

MS. Arabe 5847 , fol. 138v. Detail.

Sleeveless undertunic –Badan

The badan is a short, sleeveless tunic often mentioned in women’s trousseaux[19]. Descriptions include white garments with a single-colored border decoration. I believe an illustration from a twelfth century Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī[20] depicts this garment (fig 5). In this image, the woman’s scarf is wrapped around her hair and drapes across her shoulders, visually connected by the decorative band.

Wrap--Izār

The overwrap is a required garment for any woman leaving the house in an urban setting[21]. Of the several options available, the izār is a large rectangle of fabric geared toward being enveloping. Often they are plain garments, usually of wool, and can double as a blanket. This izār is purchased from a used clothing merchant, a common practice in the Middle Ages[22].

[1] Stillman, Yedida K. “Female Attire of Medieval Egypt: According to the Trousseau Lists and Cognate Material from the Cairo Geniza”. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: University of Chicago, 1977.

[2] Stillman, Yedida K. “Importance of the Cairo Geniza Manuscripts for the History of Medieval Attire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 7, Num 4 (October 1976): 579-589.

[3] Cortese, Delia and Simonetta Calderini. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

[4] Eastwood, Gillian. “A Medieval Face-Veil from Egypt.” Costume/London Costume Society 17 (1983): 33-38.

[5] Eastwood.

[6] Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian and Willem Vogelsang. Covering the Moon: An Introduction to Middle Eastern Face Veils. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2008.

[7] Vogelsang-Eastwood.

[8] Stillman dissertation.

[9] Rosenthal, Franz. “A Note on the Mandil” Four Essays on Art and Literature in Islam. Leiden, 1971.

[10] This could be achieved with little waste by cutting rectangle crosswise and sewing the two short ends together.

[11] Stillman dissertation p 124

[12] Stillman, Yedida K., Norman A. Stillman, ed. Arab Dress: a Short History. Brill 2003, p 59.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Goitein vol 1, p 222-3, 245.

[15] Stillman, Yedida K. “New Data on Islamic Textiles from the Geniza.” In Patterns of Everyday Life. Edited by David Waines. The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: 10th ed. Ashgate Variorum, 2002, p. 204.

[16] Godlewski, Wlodzimierz. “Naqlun: Excavations, 2000.” Polish archaeology in the Mediterranean/Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Warsaw, POLOGNE Vol. 12 (April 19, 2000): p. 149-161. http://www.centrumarcheologii.uw.edu.pl/fileadmin/pam/pam_2000_XII/53.pdf (accessed 19 April 2011). ; Ellis, Marianne. Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. Ashmolean Museum: University of Oxford, 2001.; Syria, Materia Medica of Dioscurides, 1229, Two students; frontispiece. Iraq or Syria; Alphonso X's Book of Games (In Spanish: Libro de los Juegos" or "Libros del Axedrez, Dados et Tablas) commissioned between 1251 and 1282 A.D. by Alphonso X, King of Leon and Castile.

[17] Ellis, Marianne. Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. Ashmolean Museum: University of Oxford, 2001. ; Syria, Materia Medica of Dioscurides, 1229, Two students; frontispiece. Iraq or Syria; Alphonso X's Book of Games (In Spanish: Libro de los Juegos" or "Libros del Axedrez, Dados et Tablas) commissioned between 1251 and 1282 A.D. by Alphonso X, King of Leon and Castile.; Baghdad, Maqamat al-Hariri, Late Eleventh to early Twelfth Centuries.

[18] Stillman dissertation.

[19] Stillman, Yedida K., Norman A. Stillman, ed. Arab Dress: a Short History. Brill 2003.

[20] Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Ms. Arabe 5847, fol. 138.

[21] Stillman dissertation.

[22] Goitein, Vol. 1.

SCA Pyxis Medallion: Material Culture 23: A&S50 Challenge

2014-01-07T22:14:00.000-06:00

Research and Design of an SCA Medallion

Sayyeda al-Kaslaania

Boar’s Head 2013
Revised September 2018

Figure 1 Completed Pyxis Medallion

I am honored to have been recognized by King Tom and Queen Sigrid as a member of the Order of the Pyxis. As a member, I am invited to wear the symbol of the order: (Fieldless) A cross clechy Or within and conjoined to an annulet argent.

Recognized for research and recreation in the Middle Eastern arts and culture, I wanted to wear a symbol that honored the order while also coordinating with the specific Middle Eastern culture I research, Fatimid Egypt in 1066.

Figure 2 Fatimid pendant, 10^th – 11^th c, 2.9 cm. Aga Khan Museum, assn AKM00594

I started with a silver cross-shaped pin. It was created by designer Lois Hill, who specializes in granulation and filigree techniques. The granular ornamentation of this cross is,by happenstance, marvelously in keeping with the styles used in the Fatimid period. In fact, a researcher has remarked how this style (which sometimes modernly is so-called “tribal”) flourishes in the Hellenic period of the Mediterranean, and then dies out until the Fatimid period. It enjoys about two hundred years of Fatimid popularity before dying out again.[1]

I commissioned designer and goldsmith Kelly Williams of Whiplash Designs to create a frame for the cross and convert it to a pendant[2]. She created a piece based on several designs from extant pieces, and used lost wax casting techniques to make it.

I have not been able to find Fatimid-period jewelry with the pearls intact, however Byzantine, and Hellenistic, (and even Victorian) jewelry all use a very small pearl size for this purpose. Kelly also plated the cross itself in yellow gold to make the pendant match the symbol of the order.

Most Middle Eastern pendants on display in museums do not include a method to suspend them for wearing. I have located two extant likely-Fatimid examples of chains. The first was auctioned from Christie’s Auction House. The second is housed at the National Museum in Damascus.


Figure 3. Fatimid silver necklace, 12^th c. Length 30 ¾ inches. Christie’s Sale 440-7428 “Art of the Islamic and Indian World.” October 23, 2007: London, King Street. Figure 4. Brooch 7 cm (detail reveals approx. 3 cm). Fatimid style, 11^th century. National Museum, Damascus. Inv. ع 5881 , detail.

I am not an expert in the technique trichinopoly chain work (frequently called Viking wire weaving) but amateur historical researchers Sefa Farminsdottir and Svein Turnheim believe it is possible the necklace in Figure 3 is made with this technique (each has said they would need different photographs to determine for certain). The chains hanging from the pin pictured in Figure 4 were determined to likely be a different style of chain work. These chains indicate that complex chain techniques were sometimes used to display Fatimid-period jewelry.

The silver necklace chain used in my Pyxis piece was an uncredited donation to a silent auction at the SCA event Haire Affaire in 2011. It is silver wire worked with the "Viking" wire weaving technique. It sports a modern clasp and two faceted Swarovski-style beads.

Figure 5. SCA registered Pyxis image for the Kingdom of Northshield.

Figure 6. Bead, diameter ¾ inch. Fatimid style, 11^th century. “Heilbrunn Timeline of Art history” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Assn. 1980.456,7. Showing "beaded" bumpy-style granulation decoration.

The resulting necklace meets my personal criteria. The glamorous styling is an homage to the prestige of the Order of the Pyxis and can be worn during court events. The granulation styling keeps with the period design and flavor of the Fatimid era. I am thrilled to wear it in the context of the SCA. I want to be sure to emphasize that I did not make a single element of this jewelry, but assembled it from among the skills of other fantastic artisans.

Figure 7. Byzantine Gold, Pearl, Emerald and Spinel Cross, Early 7^th c. 1 5/8 inches long. Christie’s Sale 444-2375, “Ancient Jewelry”. December 9, 2010: New York, Rockefeller Plaza.

Figure 8. Byzantine gold ring with decoration. Garnet cabochon and surmounted with seed pearls. Measures size US 7 and UK M, weighs 10 grams Dated circa twelfth century.
https://trinityantiques.co.uk/collections/the-celts/products/eautiful-byzantine-gold-garnet-ring-circa-12th-century-ad

Figure 9. Islamic Egypt, eleventh/twelfth century. Pair of earrings. Seed pearls and gold filigree. Height x width: 1 1/8 in. x 1 1/8 in. Detroit Institute of Arts, accession number 1986.100. https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/part-earring-49363

[1] Jenkins, Marilyn. “Fatimid Jewelry: Its subtypes and influences” Ars Orientalis 18 (1988): 39-57.

[2] http://whiplashdesigns.com/.

Fatimid Pectoral Decoration?

2013-11-10T10:51:00.000-06:00

Fatimid Pectoral Decorations?
November 2013, revised July 2016
Revised September 2018

Recently I gathered several extant images of Fatimid people into one folder. Reviewing them side by side, I was intrigued to find an unexpected theme in them. There frequently appears to be a pectoral decoration on tunics. The adornment seems to appear on both men and women, however in many of the images the decoration is not clearly defined.

Please share links to images you might have with this detail.

http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;eg;Mus01;38;en

Name of Object: Large dish

Holding Museum: Museum of Islamic Art Cairo, Egypt

Museum Inventory Number: 14923

Dimensions: Diameter 40 cm

Material(s) / Technique(s): Ceramic with metallic lustre decoration over a glazed surface.

Date of the object: Hegira 5th century / AD 11th century

Period / Dynasty Fatimid

Samia's note: This one is interesting because there could be a bare belly as well. The figure is likely masculine because of the turban, the wide-set eyebrows, the lack of curls at the temples.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/horemachet/375913187/

ICM-36 Fatimid 28cm 11th cent. CE SVI270107 web

"All the Fatimid ceramics are from the Islamic Ceramics Museum (ICM) in Cairo, a beautifully kept collection in a beautiful palace. We photographed all the Fatimid objects and shall post them as they are edited. By the way, this is one of the very few museums where photography is allowed without SCA permission." http://www.flickr.com/photos/horemachet/375913301/

Samia's note: This one is interesting because there appears to be a bare belly as well. The figure is not gender-defined. There is a typically-male turban; typically female grown-together eyebrows; something like a sideburn, but not the typically-female curl; apparently long hair.

http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1225

accessed 1/23/11

* Title/name : Bowl with female dancer

* Production place : Fatimid Egypt

* Date / period : First half of the eleventh century

* Materials and techniques : Ceramic with lustred decoration on opaque glaze

* Dimensions : Height 6.7cm; Diameter 26.1 cm

* Conservation town : Washington D. C

* Conservation place : Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art

* Inventory number : 46.30

Samia's note: Likely a female dancer. Typically-female grown-together eyebrows; typically-female curls at the temple; some scholars believe the scarf-dance pose seen here is typically-female.

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=F1941.12

Plate Purchase F1941.12

12th century, Fatimid period

Earthenware painted over glaze with luster
H: 7.0 W: 9.2 cm
Egypt

Samia's note: Probably male. Hunting scenes (with birds of prey) do not appear to include women in this period. Typically-male turban; typically-male wide-set eyebrows.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/horemachet/380410401/in/set-72157594510322599

ICM-13 27,5cm 12th cent. CE SVI270107 web

Samia's note: Probably male. Hunting scenes (with birds of prey) do not appear to include women in this period. Probably a beard, as it does not cover the nose like a veil generally would; typically-male wide-set eyebrows; indeterminate head wear.

http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1102

accessed 1/23/11

* Title/name : Dish with giraffe

* Author : Attributed to ‘Muslim’

* Production place : Egypt

* Date / period : End of the tenth to the beginning of the eleventh century

* Materials and techniques : Clay-paste ceramics; lustred decoration over opaque glaze

* Dimensions : Diameter 24cm

* Conservation town : Athens

* Conservation place : The Benaki Museum

* Inventory number : 749

Samia's note: Probably male. Other work scenes from near this period show that men will hike up the tunic when working while women will not; typically-male wide-set eyebrows; indeterminate head wear.

Naming conventions of the Medieval Middle East

2013-11-04T20:07:00.000-06:00

What’s up with your names?

Sayyeda al-Kaslaania

November 2013

In the Medieval Middle East, names were treated differently than they were in Europe. While everyone is given a name at birth, that name is reserved for close friends and family in adulthood. It was even considered rude to use a given name. Unfortunately for us that means that few first names were recorded in historical records.

If not called by their names, how are people addressed?

People are called by where they’re from. al-Baghdadi is the man from Baghdad.

People are called by what they do. Maryam al-Astrulabyya is the astrolabe-maker of the 10^th century.

People are called by whom they birthed. umm Ayyub is the mother of Ayyub. abu Nasir is the father of Nasir.

People are called by who birthed them. ibn Sina is the son of Sina. bint ‘Isa is the daughter of ‘Isa.

Knowing who you fathered or who fathered you helps us to know men’s names. Tradition does not typically invite the honorific of who your mother or daughters are, however. We therefore learn fewer names of women than men.

People are called by their titles. Sayyid and Sayyeda are used in place of Lord and Lady in the SCA. You might read about Sitt al-Mulk, a woman in the Fatimid Caliphal palace. “Sitt” means “great lady” and al-Mulk mean “the sovereign”. Sitt al-Mulk served as the regent for her minor child, thus earning the title Great Lady of the Sovereign.

The tricky part about women’s names is that many of the women whom people were writing about were slaves (people did not normally presume to write about honorable women. If they did write about honorable women for some reason the appropriate titles are used). These women took on assigned or assumed names which were often what we might think of as stage names. For example, Sukkar for the woman called “Sugar”, and Ziryab for the man called “the Blackbird”. Without knowing Arabic, it can be difficult to discern what names are real and what nicknames are Honey or Silk.

Seeing some of the examples, we now understand that a person can reasonably go from being “the son of X” to “the man from Y” to “the father of Z” in a lifetime.

Therefore, Sayyeda al-Kaslaania, born Samia bint ‘Isa, is called by her title “Lady” and nickname “the woman with idle time”. When she is in direct service to the Queen she can be Muqima al-Kaslaania, taking the title “woman of the palace staff”. When she’s with her friends she is simply called Samia.

Beef with quince and jujubes: Food item Eighteen: A&S50 Challenge

2013-11-03T10:32:00.002-06:00

Zirbaj with quince

Beef with quince and jujubes: Food item Eighteen: A&S50 Challenge

Sayyeda al-Kaslaania

March 2010

Take some cooked meat, and some coarsely crushed chickpeas, and cook [some more]; then add the broth of the meat, vinegar, honey or sugar, some saffron, some quinces [cut] into pieces, and some new apples, also cut into pieces. If you like, [put in] some peeled almonds and some jujubes, or else pistachios and mint. Let thicken over the fire and serve.

Another version: follow the same procedure, with a little starch to thicken [the sauce]; the color remains yellow.

The recipe is translated from a thirteenth century Syrian text called Wusla ila al-habib fi wasf al-tayyibat wa-l-tib, "The Book of Relation with the Beloved in the Description of the Best Dishes and Spices". The original author is unknown to us now. As it appears in Zaouali, Lilia, and M.B. DeBevoise (trans). Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A concise history with 174 recipes. University of California Press:Berkley, 2007.

Beef with quince and jujubes

1.25 lb beef roast

olive oil

8 ounces beef broth

1 can chickpeas, coarsely crushed

1 quince, cored, peeled and cubed

1 apple, cored, peeled and cubed

2 T honey

3 T white vinegar

pinch saffron

6 jujubes, pitted and chopped

Cut the beef into stir-fry sized pieces and brown with olive oil in a large skillet. While it browns, use a potato masher to crush the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas, broth and vinegar to the pot and cook for about 20 minutes before adding remaining ingredients. Peel and core/pit the fruit. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes.

Serve over pita bread.

Notes:

* "Meat" is always red meat, and usually not lamb in historical Middle Eastern cookbooks (lamb and poultry are specified in recipes). Goat, beef and camel are also acceptable “meats”.

* New apples would be opposed to apples with russeting (before we started genetically engineering apples, they used to get dull and "russet" colored after week in the pantry-- still being edible).

* Since both corn and potato starch are new world, I'm curious what sort of starch would have been used to thicken this. Bread crumbs are clearly spelled out in other recipes from this collection, so I doubt that's it.

* I browned my beef in sesame oil, which worked fine for the temperature but gave the meat an unexpected flavor. I think I would stick with olive oil for red meat in the future.

* Jujubes, also called Chinese dates, have long been known in the old world.

* The jujubes were an unknown quantity for my family, so I kept the volume low. They’re difficult to pit once they’re dried (dried jujubes can be ordered over the Internet from Texas). The flavor is near a date or a plum before cooking, although less flavor overall, and sweet.

* I would try to get fresh jujubes next time. The skin toughens up on the dried pieces and provides a texture in the dish like dried chili peppers in a stir-fry.

* Quince are a fruit related to apples, but they’re inedible in their uncooked state. They can be obtained from Middle Eastern markets most of the year, and many regular groceries will be able to order a box of them for you during apple season.

Anglo-Saxon women's pattern development - a potential recreation

2013-11-03T09:26:00.001-06:00

Anglo-Saxon women's pattern development - A potential recreation
Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
March 2011, revised August 2016

The pattern I developed for this Anglo-Saxon garment is nearly identical to my interpreted pattern for standard Middle Eastern garments of the Middle Ages. The largest influence on this choice is the way it flatters the luxury sized body. When a luxury sized person makes a t-tunic that starts with the center body panel as half of the fullest measurement, the shoulder seam droops toward the elbow, the gores can to cling to the hips, and the whole thing can look like dressing-in-dad's-clothes, instead of a custom-made garment.

These garments instead take advantage of the natural flattering lines on the body. The center body panels are as wide as the point-to-point measurement; the intersection of underarm gussets and side body gores is set just at the visually narrowest part of most luxury-sized bodies, i.e., the ribcage just below the bust. The underarm gusset allows room for the fullness of the bust without forcing the eye to it, and sleeves are gently angled to a narrowed cuff. The garment sweeps gracefully over all the parts of the body. By foregoing a belt, the lines of the garment all draw the eye to the face. The garment hangs naturally from the shoulders, so there is no tugging or discomfort. The costume becomes custom fit clothing, and looks very much like the drawings in Gale Owen-Crocker’s book, Dress in Anglo-Saxon England.

This cut is similar to Nockert Type 5, explained further on I. Marc Carlson’s site http://personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/tunics.html

The trick to fitting women is to get the breasts comfortably supported. Wear a well fitting bra and tighten the shoulder straps some before taking measurements. The point-to-point measurement is taken while the bra is on, and seam allowances are added to that. The measurement to determine the location of the gusset/gore intersection is taken from the top of the shoulder. Let the tape fall over the bosom and looking from the side see where an imaginary line drawn from the ribcage measurement (bra band) would intersect the tape. Don’t make the tape follow the curve under the bosom because the garment won’t be doing that, so the result would look unfitted.

Here's directions for using making and using this kind of pattern.

Anglo-Saxon-Style Woman's Garb: Material Culture 22: A&S50 Challenge

2013-11-03T09:09:00.000-06:00

Anglo-Saxon style Woman's Garb: Material Culture 22: A&S50 Challenge

Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
March 2011
Revised September 2018

This past fall, I had opportunity to make Anglo-Saxon style garb for the escort procession of Anne, Queen of Northshield. Given the name of my blog you can rightly assume that Anglo-Saxon is not my specialty. I have a ringer of a resource, however, and I highly recommend it as readable and accessible: Owen-Crocker, Gail R. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, revised edition. Boydell Press; Woodbridge, 2004.

One of the things that immediately stood out to me was the apparent Byzantine influence on Anglo-Saxon dress in the 8^th -10^th centuries. It’s a very subtle influence—certainly not as much as the 7^th-9^th centuries--, but the minimal decorations that were chosen for women’s garments in the period exhibit it, in my estimation. I believe there is similar influence on Sicilian and Abbasid dress during the same period. Given the wealth and power of the Eastern Roman Empire, as the Byzantines called themselves, this is not surprising.

Elements of Garb

Based largely on Owen-Crocker's research, women’s Anglo-Saxon garb of this period follows the standard formula found across the Western and Middle Eastern world at that time: Two distinct visible layers of tunics, at least one head covering, covered legs, and a cloak or wrap over all. Jewelry was common; however I noted a distinct lack of necklaces in this period. I will discuss the choices I made for this garb, and encourage to reader to seek out scholar Owen-Crocker’s tome for expanding her knowledge.

Tunics

As part of the retinue/retainers for the Queen, we were directed to wear muted versions of the Northshield patriotic colors at the top layer (black and gold, muted to grey and pale yellow). I selected a herringbone tropical weight wool in dark grey for this project. I also made hosen and a new veil. For the undertunic I used an existing gold linen Byzantine-style tunic from my closet. The cloak is simply my regular rectangular wool wrap, and my existing shoes leather turn-shoes were nearly perfect for presenting my estimation of the period look. The jewelry was also selected from my wardrobe.

After examining the images from Owen-Crocker’s book, and from Internet searches, I choose to modify my existing Middle Eastern tunic pattern—already designed to accommodate a luxury sized body (the following post will explain this in more detail). Knowing that I would need to be able to set up break-down thrones and tote many things, I selected a modest sleeve style that gently narrowed to the wrist. I also elected to make a scooped neckline, rather than my standard slit neck. In extant images, women’s veils cover their necklines.

Veil

For the veil I purchased “veil weight” linen from on-line and was very disappointed. Once washed, the fabric looked distinctly like cheese-cloth; the linen fibers appear to have been cut before spinning and produced a “hairy” look that more resembles cotton. The yarns were not as fine as I would have preferred for a veil, and were loosely woven. Being tight on time and resources I advanced with this fabric anyway. I cut two rectangular veils from 2 1/3 yards of fabric, each 30 inches wide, and used Eithni’s Magic Veil Stitch http://eithni.com/library-htm/ to finish the edges.

Wrapping an Anglo-Saxon veil from this period appears to be tightly prescribed, judging from the images included in Owen-Crocker's research. The “tails” of the rectangular veil appear to always be on the right shoulder, with the tail falling straight off the head staying in front of the crossed tail, rather than being “held” by the tail that passes across the body. For this Minnesota girl, quite accustomed to wrapping modern winter scarves tightly, the difference causes pause every time I dress.

The veil is secured to the head with pins. Owen-Crocker explains that while pins are rarely depicted, extant pieces indicate that their use was quite common. I used glass-headed pins made by Master Ivan Matfeevich Rezansky, of Jararvellir. Having a modern haircut means finding creative ways to attach a veil to my head. Working from the crown of my head, I make two little standard braids. If I held them up, they would look like antenna poking out from my head. Then I finish my hair as I normally would. These little braids are where I secure my pins.

Footwear and accessories

Owen-Crocker suggests that footwear for women was typically ankle shoes with a slightly pointed toe, in black leather. The leather shoes that I wear for Middle Eastern garb meet the description except for the color, so I was lucky there. Lacking these shoes, I would have worn felted slippers. The hosen I made have a separate entry in this blog, above.

The brooch I selected was made by Raymond’s Quiet Press, a place I highly recommend for timely, affordable service and excellent products. My earrings were drop pendants of amethyst, and I wore a Byzantine style ring. I will probably make a wire wrapped ring such as those mentioned by Professor Owen-Crocker for future wear with this outfit.

An Interpretation of Urban Middle Eastern Clothing Layers

2013-11-03T06:35:00.003-06:00

An Interpretation of Urban Middle Eastern Clothing Layers in the Middle Ages
Sayyeda Samia al-Kaslaania
December 2011, revised November 2013
Revised September 2018

Yedida Stillman, clothing researcher of the Middle Eastern types of the Middle Ages, identified a pan-Islamic style of dress (which excludes Persian culture) throughout the Medieval Middle East and Mediterranean.This pan-Islamic style would extend to the dress of Christians and Jews living under Islamic rule. [1] What we take away from this is:

Pan-Islamic dress style was common in the Middle Ages for most of the Middle East: al-Andalus (Islamic Spain), Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, the Maghreb (North Africa not under Egyptian control).
Separate and distinct styles of dress would be found in Iran (Persia), Constantinople (Byzantine, then Ottoman), and the Far East.

Different Recreations of Middle Eastern Garb Styles

2013-11-03T05:21:00.000-06:00

What's the Difference?
A quick and simple comparison of different recreations of so-called Middle Eastern styles
Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
11/3/13

From left to right:

Ottoman Turkish woman about 1550. Long-sleeved green undercoat coat (hirka), entari (outer coat), pants (shalvar), hat, scarves. Leather buckle shoes. Unseen gomlek (chemise) with long sleeves. Undercoat fastens closed with lacing, form fitting, sleeve fitted to wrist, slightly long for arm intentionally. Overcoat, short sleeves; fastens with fabric buttons and loops, front corners turned back and tucked into belt to reveal contrasting lining (also appropriate to let down). Shalvar pants fitted to ankle; decorative cuffs and side panels. Belted over all with fabric sash. Hat is structured “fez” style, concealing the hear in a bun, hat pinned to bun. Scarf tied around hat to keep it in place.

Ottoman Turkish woman, late period. Chemise, coat, hat, veils. Low boots. Unseen vest (yelek) and pants (shalvar). Coat fastens with buttons; form fitting; exaggerated tails are purely decorative now, with additional adornment, tucked into belt; short sleeves. Sleeves of chemise are much longer than arm (to express wealth), and fitted to the wrist. Belted overall with sash. Scarf tied kerchief style to conceal hair; small square veil (mandil) draped over head. Hat (tarpun) adorned with feathers; held in place with two scarves. Landed Baroness wears a coronet.

Early Middle Ages Fatimid woman: undertunic, tunic, coat. Felted shoes. Scarf wrapped kerchief style around the head for a base. Rectangle wrapped wimple-style to conceal the neck and bosom. Two scarves pinned to the top of the head (the black one is sheer and needs to be “lined”). Coat does not fasten, fully lined. Cuffs turned back. Unbelted. Unseen: Pants (sirwâl) held by a decorative drawstring (tikka). Accessory: woven fan. Large rectangular wrap would be the next layer for out-of-doors.

Early Middle Ages Fatimid man. Undertunic, tunic, pants (sirwâl) held by a decorative drawstring (tikka). Tunic has tiraz on right arm; cuffs are not tight to allow for more air flow. Leather shoes (khuffs), leather belt. Belt favor (mandil) embroidered with blessings. “Pillbox”- style soft hat is the bare minimum a man would wear outside of the house (turban normally worn over it). Accessory: cross-over bag. Rectangular wool wrap would be appropriate over garment.

High Middle Age Mamluk man. Undertunic, tunic, coat, pants (sirwâl). Fabric belt tied over all. Turkish style-riding boots. Felt cap wrapped with a turban. Coat fastens with frogs, short sleeves, style is much more fitted than earlier. Another fitted coat, or a rectangular wool wrap would be the next layer.

Thank you to the Lady Aziza, Baroness Eva, Lord Oswald, and Master Gevehard for posing with me.