Attempting a Medieval Pottery Style

Where is this year going? I have been continuing to both craft and research, but just haven't found the time to post about it. I've been working on a stocking. I'm up to the heel now, which feels like it is taking a very long time, because the needles are so small. I'll post a picture when I finish the first sock. I've also gone back to spinning, after a year of not picking up a spindle (how did that happen?). It feels good to have the spindle in my hand again.

The other thing I've been up to is trying my hand at a bit of pottery. At our local big event - Wars of the Roses - there is always an arts and sciences challenge. This year the challenge was to create something inspired by The Canterbury Tales, or Song of Roland. Having recently been in England, I chose the Canterbury Tales. After reading my copy of the book, I found my self overwhelmed by too many inspirations. I decided to fall back on the setting for the story - traveling from tavern to tavern across Kent.

At the time the story was written, anthropomorphic pottery was in style. I decided to try to make my own. What fun!

  

Anthropomorphic “face jugs” were made in southern England beginning in the mid-1200’s They were highly popular, with surviving examples being found all around London, and as far away as France and Norway.  Examining artifacts, it is clear that each one was unique. While the facial expressions differ, most are characterized by a beard, ears and nose that stick out, and arms and hands added, often framing the face. 

  

The first two are in the British Museum, the 3rd is in the Cloisters.

These jugs tended to be small, approximately 11-14 centimeters tall (although the center jug is 39 cm), which worked to my advantage as a beginner. Many are finished with a green mottled glaze, although some are various shades of mottled brown or dark red. Many of the insides are glazed in a creamy yellow-tan color.                                  

    

This style of pottery was made in the 13^th and 14^th centuries in Grimston, Kingston-on-Thames, Kent, Cambridge and Hertfordshire. The speckled green glaze is typical of pottery coming from the kilns of Essex.

These fanciful medieval vessels all began as wheel-thrown, with the anthropomorphic details added after the jug was shaped. I am not skilled on a wheel, so my examples were completely hand-built. After looking at many dozens of examples, I worked to create jugs that were in the same style, but I did not attempt to make an exact replica of any extant piece. Just as with the originals, I began with the basic jug shape and then added the arms, hands and facial features. I chose a white clay base to be close to the Mill Green-ware and Kingston-ware examples. I attempted to find modern glazes that were similar in color to the originals.  Here is the result: 

 12 cm tall

 this one is only 6 cm; unfortunately, it lost a lot of detail when it was glazed

 13 cm tall

I learned that pottery is always a surprise. How moist should the clay be to be able to shape the forms, but still be structurally sound? Will it dry without cracking? How much will it shrink in the kiln? Will the handles be strong enough and comfortable to hold? Will the details, carefully added when the clay was wet, still be visible after the final glaze comes out of the kiln? How many coats of glaze are enough? Will the color be as expected? If I made my own glaze, could I get closer to the medieval glaze? So many questions! I'm excited to try some more experiments.

The Reason for Weaving

Women have been spinning and weaving for many, many millennia. Weaving for clothing, for sails,for bedding, for sacks to carry things...the reasons for weaving are multitude. The cloth that is made does not need to be beautiful to fulfill its purpose. But I think that artistry is a basic human need. Whether one thinks of the plaid skirt worn by the Huldremose bog woman, or the elaborate brocaded silks worn by Elizabethans; Navajo rugs, or the intricate patterns created by Peruvian backstrap weavers, it is clear that weavers have always planned to make their work beautiful.

While wandering through the Metropolitan Museum last month, I came upon an exhibit of utilitarian articles made by nomadic tribes from the area around Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Every piece had a very ordinary purpose - to carry their belongings from place to place. But the pieces were anything but ordinary. The weaving technique for each piece was chosen to suit the need of the object it would carry. Most of the pieces were executed in the sumak technique. This means that an extra weft thread was wrapped around the warp threads - over two threads, then back around one, or over four, back around two. This adds strength, makes a very dense fabric (needed when you are carrying things like salt or flour), and creates a beautiful pattern. Sometimes pile was added, to make the fabric even denser. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

 I'll start with the spindle bag (western Iran, Bakhtiari tribe, ca. 1935), because of course the women need a way to carry their spindles so they can make the thread they need to weave. The fabric is sumak weave, with pile added at the bottom where it would have the most wear. 

Here is a bag to carry salt (ca. 1920):

 again, with pile incorporated at the bottom.

A double flour bag (last quarter 19th century):

 This is quite large. I like the stylized animals. 

Even larger, this container was used to carry bedding (Azerbaijan, ca. 1825-75): 

And finally, a saddle bag (Shahsevan tribe, ca. 1875). The pattern seems so similar

 to a quilt pattern. 

I enjoy tapestry weaving. I think I will try my hand at sumak weaving this year. Perhaps I'll make my own spindle bag.

Goldwork Embroidery

I promise I will get to the post about the utilitarian weaving that we saw at the Met. But, I've been thinking about embroidery lately, and I want to show you a beautiful medieval embroidery from the Cloisters.

 Netherlandish, mid-15th century

Originally part of a vestment or altar cloth, it is done in the or nue technique. Unlike most goldwork that I have seen, where the background is couched gold thread and the figures are silk, this piece is almost entirely gold. Only the faces and hair are silk embroidery. The rest of the picture, except for a few details, is formed by altering the spacing of the silk couching threads. The closer together they are, the more the color shows up, but always the gold shines through.

Isn't it exquisite?

Merry Christmas to All!

and many blessings for the new year.

This Book of Hours, by Simon Bening, 1530-35 (at the Cloisters), is so tiny it would fit in the palm of your hand. 

This year we were blessed with a white Christmas. Some people don't like that, but I still love waking up to snow.

I finished my Christmas knitting and nalbinding just in time. Once again, I forgot to take pictures. But everyone seemed to like what I made for them, and that is what really counts.

A comparison of chess piece design

We made our annual trip to New York City for the Christmas holiday. While there we made a quick visit to the Cloisters, where they had an exhibit of chess pieces. It reminded me of visiting the Lewis chessmen at the British Museum earlier this year. Here is a comparison of rooks. Both are Scandinavian, but I believe the one from the Cloisters is slightly later.

 
12th century, at the Cloisters
                                                                                        mid 12th century, at the British Museum 

Here are queens, both Scandinavian:

from the 13th century, surrounded by her entourage. She does not look worried, like the Lewis queen.

And here are the knights:

 England, c. 1350

Next time I'll tell you about the weaving exhibit we saw at the Met.                                                       

Beginning Nalbinding

Earlier this month I taught a beginner nalbinding class at a local library. I taught the easiest stitch I know - York - so that students would be able to leave class being confident enough in their new skills to make a holiday gift. In two weeks I'm teaching the second class - nalbinding mittens. Students will learn increasing and decreasing, and tricks for making the thumb without leaving little holes. There are several ways to do this. I arrived at my favorite after examining many artifact mittens. That's the version I will teach. I'll also show students alternate methods, because just because it is my favorite, doesn't mean it will be yours. If you don't think you would like mittens, never fear - the same techniques work for making gloves.

So, if you know a nalbinding stitch and would like help with mittens or gloves, stop by the East Greenbush Library at 1:00 on December 9. Directions for the classes are posted here in the class handouts.

merry England

We were in England (mostly London) for a week. Just enough to whet the appetite, barely time to scratch the surface of the things to see and do. Our first day we stretched our legs after the long and lovely train ride from Glasgow. We enjoyed St. James's Park,

 
walked around Westminster, across the bridge, along the river to the next bridge, up to Trafalger Square,

and eventually back to the hotel.

The next day it was off to the British Museum, where I fell in love with the Lewis Chessmen. Yes, I've seen photos and reproductions. That is nothing compared to standing in front of the real thing.

  

 What I didn't appreciate until I saw them in person is that every one of them is completely unique, and they all have personality.

Shears (50BC-50AD) from Hertford Heath

Another highlight of the trip was seeing a play at the Globe. We saw Twelfth Night. 

And equally wonderful was the view that greeted us as we left the theater. 

Friday we were off to Westminster Abbey and the V & A. I would have liked to spend all day in the V & A, but I am happy with the time we got. I spent quite a long time with "my" beloved Coptic socks (Egypt 300-500). We practically had the gallery to ourselves.

This is nalbinding, not knitting.

I also drooled over the Tristan and Isolde quilt (Florence c. 1360-1400). I love the fish and faces.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg of wonderful things to discover:

 

The next day we climbed to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral (520+ steps), and were rewarded with spectacular views and a serenade by the bells.

You can see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge in this photo. The trip was certainly over long before we ran out of things to explore.