Much Brain, Little Progress

YASSSS GOLD CHARLIE IN PERSON

It's been awhile.   Part of this has been The Holidays, part of it two lurgies (the second one culminating in a mondo sinus infection that I'm still taking antibiotics for), part of it was, well, okay, *humblebrag* a trip to Germany where I got to see Gold Charlie (!!!1!), along with many other of our favorite hits.  But to be entirely candid, my absence of either writing or, y'know, actual productivity has been the socio-political situation of the nation.  I spend a lot of my time in states of rage or despair or both, and when I try to muster my forces to do something artistic or creative I am swamped with feelings of "what does this matter when the world is on fire?".  I am working to retool my brain in this, because a) I have made commitments to people, b) mental health requires both downtime and creative time, and c) fuck these assholes[1] I'm gonna make things[2].   

I did make some small progress on the pourpoint over the hols; I bowed 500 grams of cotton, which took two movies[3] to do (including rest breaks, which there were many of).  I've ordered proper linen and silk sewing thread for the quilting work. And, I've re-stretched my base linen on the frame, but without setting it up completely, so the cats can't use it as a hammock; so all I have to do is pop the top part onto the standing part, and go.  (Goal is to make the setup and takedown easy enough that I can get a reasonable amount done in an evening.)

This is the photo from the exhibition catalogue;
the buttons in question are the three at center top.
You can't see in this shot, but they have shanks that
are about the same as the ones below them.

My trip as relating to the Pourpoint Commission:  Well, I got to see Gold Charlie, obvs.  It being in a special exhibition, of course I couldn't take photos (I snuck the one up top, as you do), but to be honest, the way he was on display meant that there wasn't a lot to see that I didn't already know, either from books or from standing on the shoulders of giants.  Now, had we been able to see his inside... But it was still a highlight and I got all giddy.  More immediately useful, however, was a display in the same case, of various buttons and belt bits dug up in Prague.  These included some flat metal button forms which, the label text contended, were the same as the flat buttons on Gold Charlie (fabric-covered, obviously).  Pressing my nose to the glass, I think they have the right of it.  So I need to find a source to approximate those.  (They didn't specify anything regarding the round buttons on his top part, but they also look to have a firm base, so I assume those are probably metal as well.)  I did also buy the enormous companion book to the exhibition, which is entirely auf Deutsch; from what I puzzle out on Gold Charlie's entry, they only mention the use of linen thread, which seems off to me; from all I've observed, the medievals seem to prefer like thread to like fabric--as previously noted, the Black Prince's jupon[4], silk velvet, uses silk thread for quilting.  (Red Charlie has silk thread on his outer, silk layer, and linen thread on his linen inner layer.) What I figure to do is use linen thread on the linen test unit, and silk thread on the final project.  

Editorial and possibly too-judgy note: I do not for the life of me see how anyone can look at Gold Charlie and think those quilting lines are an after-market conservation add.  Maybe it depends on how he'd been displayed in the past; I dunno.

Passementerie crown from a
reliquary of Kunegunde; 14th
century.  Super nifty. Again,
photo from catalogue

But! This was only a fraction of my adventures.  We went to Bamberg Cathedral and the Diocesan Museum there, where lives the Star Mantle of Henry II (and several other big muckin' embroidered things attributed to him and Kunegunde), and the entire burial suit of an 11th-century bishop--none of which you can take photos of, I may add; I bought the book but it's not super great for pictures.   The Germanisches Nationalmuseum has, of course, a hojillion other medieval stuffs, even if a bunch of them are not on display at any given time; but my old buddy the heraldic embroidered pouch was out and I got many, many photos of him.  (Including the details of how his tablet-woven edges work, woo hoo.)  I feel like I could give a paper just on his construction details (though I may need help from the more expert tablet weavers for specifics of the pattern because I'm not very good at this game yet).  And there's a bunch of stuff in the Imperial Castle Museum in Nuremberg--most of it not textile or costume related, it's true, but good general aesthetic (lots of arms & armor, too, for the people into that stuff).  And we day-tripped to Munich and went to the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, which has TWO WHOLE ROOMS of nothing but medieval textiles.  I am a failure at getting details of these, because with a few exceptions there were no labels next to the pieces, just on giant unwieldly cards in pockets at the corner of the room (and entirely in German); and very little of this stuff is in their online collection. -_-  But I got many photos and we can always cross-reference with the book which they had in the room but not in the gift shop, wtf you guys.   

Kinda small but
click through, you'll
see what I mean

I also saw a lot of art in various media that was capturing the 14th century beau ideal; particularly the Schöner Brunnen in Nuremberg's town square, which is actually original--something I didn't realize at first, because it's in such perfect condition, especially when you consider that most of Nuremberg was completely pulverized in WWII.  But it's covered with Important Figures in a range of outfits--the nine worthies are in high fashion, prophets and philosophers are in more modest clothing, etc.   And here's a thing, my Gothic peeps: all the high-fashion gents, not just here but all over, have the big plaque-like hip belt we're used to seeing; but many of them also have a similar but smaller belt around the wasped portion of the waist.  It seems to be entirely decorative, not functional--pouches and daggers and things are always hanging off the hip belt--but it's all over the place.  (And it's definitely a belt; I got a photo of a St. George in the round that shows its buckle and strap in back.)  Thoughts?

Anyways, getting back on the wagon: today I need to sketch out some ideas for [REDACTED], which is a team project with a longer fuse, but we want to get our designs settled & approved so we can appropriately source materials and plan out the work.  After that, I'm going to crack the whip and get quiltin'.  I want to have the final of the pourpoint commission done for Mudthaw, which is March 25th.  This was a lot more plausible before I lost most of January to being sick; but if I could do the 19th Century Project in two months, by the Lord Harry[5] I can do this.  

Current music: Pink Floyd, "On the Turning Away"

[1] Seriously: Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer, was insinuating that the pussyhats were mass-produced in overseas sweatshops.  Because dead white guys can't understand that we create things.
[2] I was away during the Pussyhat Project, to my sorrow, but I have procured two different yarns--one acid green, one flesh-and-dark-green, to make brain hats for the March for Science on Earth Day.  
[3] Ladyhawke and Watership Down, if you really wanna work out the exact times
[4] What should we label this?  Heraldic Eddie?   Just plain ol' Eddie, since there's only one of him?
[5] I am trying to become less potty-mouthed, and find interesting oaths to use instead.