Skywise Seppa - the handwoven wrap, pt 4, finishing!

The Handwoven Wrap

The finishing

Pre-wash

After it came off the loom, I laid it out on the floor to see how the various whimsy weft stripes worked out against the warp stripes. At that point, it measured 190cm long and about 38cm wide, without the tension from the loom, it immediately shrank about ten centimetres.

Some of the warp and weft stripes are subtle, others are obvious.

I still needed to finish the ends and repair the broken flax-linen warp threads, as well as weave in and trim the dangling ends from all the weft stripe changes.

Some of the warp breaks are obvious.

It took me some time to find a suitable blunt-tipped needle with a large eye to do the repairs. I also had to look for a crochet hook for when the yarns were too frayed to work within the eye of the needle. Oh yay.

I'm kinda glad the breaks happened not at the very end, but near it.

This project has taught me which yarns can coexist and which will fight against its fellow threads.

In the next picture, I have finished the repairs, tidied away the weft thread changes, and knotted the ends into a fringe. It's still quite stiff and open, as I haven't yet washed it.

Stiff and coarse.

I am satisfied with the coppery thread I used in that one weft stripe, it's the one place that sparkles... at least, until the wrap accrues Worth to it.

Post-wash

I used a lingerie bag and some wool and silk safe detergent, and then used the wool/hand wash cycle on my machine, with a 20°C and 1000RPM settings. I hoped that it would soften and bloom, and it did. I hung it up to dry in a cool and out-of-the-sun place in my home.

I like how the loom-waste fringe curled and twisted, they remind me of jellyfish tentacles.

I separated the fringe a little bit but I didn't trim it, so they are various lengths. I might tie things into/onto the fringe, as the wrap gains a story to it.

The yarn bloomed and filled in some of the open spaces between threads.

The metallic thread survived the wash.

The success is that it lost that rigidity, but shrank another ten centimetres, with final dimensions of 180cm length (not including the fringe) and ~30cm wide (I need to redo the measurements, my memory is a bit dodgy). It softened and is easier to touch.

Conclusion

I will do more of this, but with greater care to my warp threads and perhaps beating closer during weaving. Warp threads would be wool and silk, and maybe cotton, but no flax-linen, it's too thick for the other yarns and doesn't like the small reeds.

I am satisfied with the results of this piece; but I also know that I can improve on it.

Last item: I forgot to incorporate the glow-in-the-dark thread, so I will be stitching that into the wrap somewhere, sometime.

Skywise Seppa - the handwoven wrap, pt 1, the yarns

The Handwoven Wrap

The Yarns

I've been looking and thinking of using my rigid heddle loom that I bought several years ago, and hadn't really used. I decided with lockdown keeping me from LARP and my character, that I'd take this opportunity to get weaving and using the loom. I also wanted the rustic look for my handwoven items, and bought a 15dpi reed for my loom.

After that, I then had to search for finer yarns in the colours and textures that I was after. I joined a few FB groups and started making enquiries, and someone suggested Uppingham Yarns.

This company allows one to purchase sample cones and also create customised sample cards, so I used that to create a sample card of their 2/17nm lambswool with Skywise-favoured colours, or what I thought might be favoured, what one saw on the screen wasn't always what one got. Nevertheless, I ordered a range of blues, beige, creams, browns, plus white and black.

I opted for sample cones because I didn't know yet how the yarns behaved, what the colours might play out when crossed with each other, etc.

Below is part of that custom sample card.

Uppingham also carries some 'Knoll Shetland Type super soft wool' and its sample card, which I also ordered, as it had some of the reds and greens for Navarr and monster kit. Again, sample cones are an option, so huzzah!

The other company, which appears to be the descendant to the now defunct Texere Yarns, is the Airedale Yarns company. As far as I can tell, they don't do sample cones, but they also had some coarse Shetland wool yarns in some interesting colours, that range is named 'Lockwood'.

Lastly, I wanted to use some of the fine yarns that I had sitting in my stash, because I do have silk, linen, cotton, and wool, yarns of approximately the right thickness and colour for Skywise. Also, undyed creamy/off-white yarns are part of the Skywise colour scheme.

The following pictures show some of the many yarns that I drew from, anything labelled Texere came from my stash, the rest were the Airedale and Uppingham yarns.

Texere "Silk Heather"

Uppingham 2/17nm lambswool in white

Uppingham Yarns' "Havana" a discounted colour from their Knoll Shetland type super soft wool.

Uppingham Yarns' Silk Noil

Flax-Linen, wool, silk, cotton...

I confess, it was difficult to rein back on just how many different yarns I could use it this sample weave. I went by feel, colour, and smell... because yes, some yarns have a peculiar odour or fragrance to them, which I find oddly appealing.

Turns out, that 'pure linen single' from Airedale is just that little bit too thick, and was unsuited for a 15dpi reed. The linen was the only yarn that shredded and broke from the heddle's action. The 12.5dpi probably would have been better for that particular yarn. The rest performed perfectly well as warp threads.

Some Texere and some newer silk-mix threads atop them.

Uppingham Yarns' 2/17nm lambswool - black, oatmeal, linen, driftwood, key west, and blue sky

The Uppingham Yarns, besides the white, took a while to arrange sample cones and to arrive. In my haste, I started with the Uppingham Yarns' white, 'Havana,' and the Airedale Lockwood, the Airedale silk, and the Airedale linen, and my Texere stash, for warp yarns.

[continued in pt2]

I am working on things related to Seppa

OK,

I hate the new blogger interface, it's ridiculously, painfully SLOW. I cannot type with any speed because SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW.

I guess I will have to look at a new blog host. Ugh.

(/rant)

I am doing some weaving on a rigid heddle loom for Seppa's kit.

Seppa's panel coat

The Panel Coat

Setting the fabrics side-by-side and feeling them can inform whether they'll work together or not.

I ended up mixing some of the fibres and weights, but not too drastically. The cotton indigo wax and dye print is lightweight and airy, thin and fragile, compared to the sturdy, densely-woven beige flax linen. The light blue cotton chambray is a little denser than the indigo. The two cotton twill fabrics, the tawny yellow and the slate blue, are light-to-medium weight.

The fabrics I have settled on that're going into the panel coat.

Here are some photos of the sewing progress:

The walking foot helped.

I machined all panels from the top downwards; and for the indigo fabric, I needed the walking foot, as it wormed if I didn't use the foot. Where the twill was against twill, or the twill was atop the indigo, I didn't need the walking foot.

Three sides of the incomplete panel coat. L - Back, C - Front, R - left side.

I had to pause for my next class where I had the big tables and could cut the linings and facings.

It's not grey, it's the blue twill from the top image.

The lining pieces are less numerous and simpler to put together.

The inner or outer? armhole facings of blue chambray.

I confess, I still haven't made up my mind which fabric (the lightweight blue chambray, or the medium weight linen) that I want for the outside and inside of the armhole facings. The linen would give a sturdy support if it was inside. But if it was outside, it would help counter so much of the visible blue of the panel coat and return some of the neutral beige/stone colour which is primary to the Skywise brief.

Opinions?

The wrong-sides of the lining and outer layers.

I've currently got the coat hanging for a few days on the mannequin before I recommence working on the panel coat.

My next instructions are:

• Baste the lining to the outer at the neckline and the armholes.
• Secure and cut the side slits.
• Attach the sleeve facing to the inside and secure it.
• Attach the external, decorative, sleeve facing to the outside and secure it.
• Finish the side slits and their facings and then the bottom hem facings.
• Attach the neckline panels to the coat to finish.

Extra notes:

The slits' facings and bottom hem facings are in the blue chambray.

The neckline panels are in the yellow and blue twill.

Conclusions:

I kinda expect the indigo to fray sooner than the other fabrics; it will give me a place for doing boro-inspired repairs. It will be RP'd as a new coat made over the winter in the Brass Coast from some fabric acquired during Seppa's stay. I will probably wash it a few times to start the fading and colour bleeding.

The first Winds of War and a dig site in Segura... oh my, oh my, oh my! (As a Day mage, oh my, oh my, oh my!)

LARPCon 2020

What to say about LARPCon 2020?

Firstly, I arrived in a bit of a tizzy, but the old kit seemed to draw attention, and some of it sold, and on their way to new lives and purposes.

I found some leather skins that're ideal for the warskirt project, so whatever I made from selling off the old kit went to getting new bits.

I bought some of Steph's beautiful art and got to talk a bit with her and Alex, to smooth some of my anxieties.

Later, to quote Steph:

"...How cool is that to have something that you've gained actual worth on adventures."

I was writing about the brass chainmail rings that I acquired from Armchair Armoury and wanted to add said brass rings to an anchor wire chainmail collar an ex made for me about thirty years ago.

I thought at the time that she meant that I ought to wait on decorating Seppa and gain worthy things in play at Anvil.

Yet writing it now, I wonder if she meant that my thirty year old chainmail was an authentic relic of worth.

'Tis something to think about.

My haul

A black goatskin, some hairless sheepskins with felt very nice, even though they're greyish-brown/soil colour, and two brown remnants. They're destined for the warskirt, if I can figure it out.

Chainmail on old suede leather.

I found the photo I recently took of the chainmail collar. Perhaps once it's remounted onto something better, I can use it for the neck cover.

The brass rings, a Wintermark Rune, and a pin from Steph.

I have yet to try the brass rings with the galvanised anchor wire. I will need to remount the collar onto something a bit better, as the suede is a bit stiff and showing its age.

The Wintermark Rune is 'Sular' the rune of discovery and is affiliated with the Day realm.

Yes, that pin is inspired by Studio Ghibli and Princess Mononoke.

Other stuff

I'm continuing my sewing efforts with Seppa's panel coat. I'll discuss it in another post.

A rant, feel free to scroll past this post!

A moan about clothes...

I'm discovering that I dislike my current gi trousers for Seppa, partly because the pelvic depth on them is enormous, so if I wear the crotch where I want it, the top of the trousers are almost to the nipples. Yuck. If I wear the top of the trousers where they're comfortable, ie low down beneath the belly, the crotch is down near my knees. Double yuck.

My raw silk coat is too small to wear over the current tunic.

Oh, and that tunic... I loathe the boat neckline, and the too-wide sleeves; been too unmotivated to fix either of these issues. I like the fabric, the rest of it is perfect, it's just the damn neckline and sleeves.

The coven panel, too enormous. Take a hint from me: when making one's group/banner/coven/sect symbol, measure and trial its location. What works on someone taller or larger, probably won't if one's smaller or shorter.

Fabric scrap 'warskirt' yeah, it's not working... I think I will need to go back to playing with leather. I don't know why it's not working. I don't even know if it's necessary. *flails*

OK, enough already.

Projects in motion

I need to make the most of my classes so that I can use the big tables and bright lighting for such projects as Seppa's panel coat.

Yep, it's the Folkwear Tibetan Panel Coat.

Faded, pigment-dyed yellow cotton twill that's probably twenty years old, and Indian indigo and resist-dye cotton that's probably two years old. The fabric weights are unequal, so I might end up backing the indigo fabric with some blue pigment-dyed twill that I bought the same time as the yellow.

I will be lining this coat with the blue twill.

For the shoulder facings/"fancy" fabric, I want to do some boro-inspired shoulder pieces.

The indigo fabric, right side - top, wrong side - bottom.

I have some sashiko threads in the right colours; I will need to make the patches and scraps for the satchel, as it's too white and clean.

I need to make a small drawstring coin purse in fabric to hold my coins. The bigger leather pouch allows coins to escape; this will not do.

Small brass buckles

I'm going to have some forearm pieces made in leather, these buckles are intended to help secure those bracers to my arms.

I've lost my train of thoughts, so, I'll close this one for now and get on with other things.

Empire Player Event: "The Little Mother's Ball"

Photography stuff

Very last minute, but on Wednesday, I received an invitation to attend the Little Mother's Ball ("LMB") as a photographer. There were openings where people had to cancel or whatever, so I was delighted to attend in general, but also to challenge me and my fourteen-year old camera kit with indoor, low-light shooting. Note, I don't have the 50mm fixed/prime lens, so extra challenges there, as the lowest f-stop my lenses allow is f5.6. I'm also grateful that my hands are relatively steady, and I can hold a 1/30 second shutter opening with almost no shake.

Thankfully, there was a second photographer with photographer kit almost as limited as mine (I think theirs was better), which means I now have a few clearer images of Skywise Seppa.

Role play stuff

I got to play up some of the shaman aspects as I handed over Ieri's red canvas herb bandolier to Florina, with me shouting back at my ancestors who were telling me to not hand over the bandolier. I also had a couple of fellow orcs to interact with and Seppa didn't have to feel quite so anxious and isolated. Redhand Gezzar and Stormcrow Rork were my fellow Imperial Orcs.

The ball itself consisted of a buffet feast, bards of various nations, dancing, trading, and an auction of various goods to raise funds for the Empire's orphans. The location: Sarvos, the League.

I showed my nails, which had the pinkies done in sparkly varnish, the rest were plain, I said that it was the Freeborn children doing my nails. My use of gold eyeliner also provoked a little bit of attention from the Freeborn in attendance. Seppa's earrings also drew some attention, as one of them has a tiny tassel on it.

Oh, and I rode in the taxi in my mask; the driver asked to take my picture. No idea what he ended up doing with it...

The location that I listed for this post is where on Earth the event took place.

Some pictures

A selfie taken before the taxi arrived.

I'm slowly figuring out Seppa's appearance.

I'm grateful to Samantha Carrington for their pictures of Skywise Seppa. I did trim their photos to exclude other participants, partly because I was trying to focus on Seppa's kit, and also to minimise me accidentally sharing someone's face who might object to being on my blog.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

I usually don't mind sitting on floors, it challenges my flexibility and works my body. I put up my hood because the neck gap was bugging me. I really need to come up with a better neck cover that won't overheat me.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

I confess, I like seeing my characters from the back and sides, because I always wonder how those areas appear.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

Conclusions

I lasted well with my mask, but I did need a face time about 3/4 of the way through the five hour event. I am struggling to keep my hair from peeking out of the eye holes. Yes, I'm growing my top-scalp hair so that I can pin/braid it back, but it's too short for either restraint. I saw Redhand Gezzar using a wig sock/cap, so I might have to look for one for myself. Also, I physically struggle to get the mask back on when I've taken it off for a face time; it's like the neck shrinks or my head swells, I need to discover why this is so.

I'm starting to think that I need to redo my coven symbol, to a smaller size, and also stitch the panel to the coat. The current one is too large for me.

Also, I went with two layers again, the tunic and the coat; I started with the scapular and skirt as well, but quickly discarded it, as the hall was so warm.

I'll do another post about costume, but I wanted to make a post and include pictures of me in costume. I'm also kinda pleased that my glasses disappeared in these photos.

"What's Your Game" kit fair haul & Night Before the Storm

This past weekend was interesting; I spent some time trying to help at Eversley and getting used to the site. Then there was the player event, "Night Before the Storm" set in either Segura or Kahraman (I will have to enquire to clarify which, I'm hoping it's Kahraman) of the Brass Coast.

Going with the notion that Seppa's spending time down in the Brass Coast, I mentioned this in an FB post, and was delighted to find that some of Seppa's legion and banner, the Winter Sun, is in Kahraman this season, helping the Freeborn with... something, I'm not sure, but we apparently have orcish troops there, so I'll incorporate that into Seppa's recent history. It also explains why I have no idea what other Skywise are up to, as we're apart until Winter Solstice (aka 'E1).

Related, was someone else's discussion about magic and mage armour, and how casting magic by orcs is tied to ancestors and objects-of-worth. So now I need to have a think.

As it is, I kinda enjoyed myself at the player event, and early the next morning, decided to go to the What's Your Game kit fair in Gloucester.

Fox, rabbit, horse...

In the above image is most of my haul from the kit fair. It includes a vintage fox stole from Amber Wolf Workshop; the fox is a Virtue animal for Ambition. I intend to fix it onto the bandoleer so the fox drapes over my left shoulder.

Metal armour pieces

The metal scales in the above, plus the Winter Sun medallion, came from Armchair Armoury. One of them is a fellow Skywise coven member, so talking to them helped me a fair bit with understanding some of orc costume a little bit better.

It's actually made of resin.

Now I need to decide where to locate the Winter Sun banner medallion and the metal scales on Seppa's kit.

The horse tooth gave me ideas.

The rabbit furs and wooden spoon came from Chow's Emporium. The crown pin is from PD as an IC (in-character) pin for Empire. The horse's tooth came from Amber Wolf Workshop.

Going back to ancestor items as magical foci, I'm wondering if I can incorporate the horse's tooth into it somehow.

The bone knife is a LARP-safe coreless weapon for throwing or roleplay from Epic Armoury sold by LarpInn. I'll need to get a sheath for it.

I also found Seppa's weapon from Eldritch; I like this style of mace, and the blue wrapping fits within the coven's colour scheme.

Also known as "Listen to the Ancestors!"

Overall, a good haul. Roll on LARPCon and the next player event, the Symposium of the Drowned.

Distracted other bits...

Oh and the embroidered mirror eye I put on Seppa's hooded coat sleeve? It glows greenish in the dark!

I worked in some stains on the coat by chopping rhododendrons, carrying pieces of lumber, and trying to maintain a frontier stove, whilst at Eversley.

Here're the patches all together; well, except for the white pillowcase one. Need to add more.

Inspired by Japanese boro patchwork and stitching, not sashiko.

Empire Day, the result

Now that I've had a little bit of time to think about it; it went all right. I didn't have the new glasses, and the mask needed more trimming around the eyes to make wearing any glasses comfortable.

Four layers were two layers too many. I regularly had to step outside to cool down, even after shedding the raw silk coat and the scapular shortly after arrival.

One of my Santeria necklaces died; I'm not sure if the spirit they were dedicated to was annoyed with me, or if the twenty-years+ thread they were strung on just had enough and broke. Either way, I think I salvaged most of the beads.

Overall, the clothes worked. Though I felt very fat and my trousers and the skirt kept either riding up to my bra, or trying to fall down to my arse. I have no waistline worthy of the name. Meh.

Tweaks, more tweaks. I need to stop having squirrel moments and actually fix the things that're bugging me about Seppa's kit.

Anyway, photos ahead, by Paul Wilder of Violet Illuminations, who hosted the Empire Day player event. Due to no flash and low lighting, some of the images aren't well-focused; this is not a criticism. I have trimmed them to exclude others as much as possible, in part to protect their privacy, and to focus upon Seppa's costume with fewer distractions.

These were chosen strictly for me to see Seppa's costume in ways that I otherwise couldn't know.

Rear view, because it's good to see how stuff worked out.

I do like the dog in the next picture, though I think she had difficulty recognising me with the mask on, because she wasn't sure about me at first. I like to think that she recognised my voice and scent. She wasn't so happy with some others and barked and growled at them.

Gotta pet those who want to be petted.

The satchel definitely needs some work, from shortening the strap by almost a foot, to adding some patches and stains to it, because it's very dull at the moment.

Curiously, as it currently stands, Seppa isn't much into leather, all of my efforts to bring in more leather into eir overall look has ended in failure. Pouches, belts, sure. But nope on the warskirt at this time. Maybe it'll change once I'm at Anvil and with other orcs.

Empire Day was hard, because orcs don't do things solo, and Seppa was all alone amongst the humans.

Another distraction...

This time, the distraction comes in the form of a Peruvian baby sling in the British Museum.

The colours are in the right range and it's a beautiful woven item. However, the main reason it caught my attention was due to the little carved ornaments. Which, according to the blurb, make a soft sound to soothe the infant as the carrier walks and moves.

Here're some closer looks at those ornaments. They look like bone to me, but they could also be made from shell. The blurb doesn't specify the ornaments' material.

Aren't they beautiful? I like how each one is unique, in pattern as well as their size and shape. Some look older, some newer. Some might have come off, and newer ones made to replace them. All that time spent for a baby, or maybe a series of babies, maybe the baby carrier was passed down through carrier to baby. Maybe when the textile wore out, the wearer would transfer the old ornaments to the next carrier.

So many questions, but no answers.

It gives me ideas for how a shaman might wear bones that don't look so... bony.

Where's my home?

I was going to write about the Tibetan Panel Coat, but I've gotten distracted by reading PD's Empire wiki. Specifically, the one land of the Imperial Orcs: Skarsind.

I'm playing at player events as my Imperial Orc, and I am most familiar with the Brass Coast because that's where I spent two years. So a bit of bleed from the player means that Skywise Seppa is spending at least part of the winter in the warm lands of the Freeborn. It also means that I can use some demurer sari scraps for fabric patches on Seppa's clothes.

I'm not familiar with Skarsind, so I've been reading, and rereading, and rereading again, about that region of the Empire. Partly due to dodgy memory, and also because I'm trying to grow familiar enough that I don't sound (and feel) like a clueless twit when someone asks me about Skarsind. I also feel that I need to decide where Seppa spends the majority of eir time, ie 'where's my home?' Something caught my eye in the Estermark area of Skarsind: The Weavers' Market("TWM").

I posted in the Imperial Orcs group about a potential player event set at TWM; and one of the persons who came up with TWM said that they had considered a player event, but they're too busy to make it happen. I was thinking 'it needs to be up north, where it's rocky and forested' and it happened to coincide with their thinking, which was they wanted to do it in the Lake District. I was thinking of the Peak District, simply because I've been there. Maybe a trip to the Lake District will take place sometime this year to help me better visualise TWM.

Regardless, the idea of a player event set in TWM will have to remain unfulfilled for now. I don't have the knowledge or skills to organise a player event; and the creators' ideas was a little bit different to my idea. They wanted a social with monster hunting and pit fighting (which is perfectly orcish). I was in the mind of 'invite players who are sewers and costume makers who have brought their wares up to TWM to IC-trade' but also socialise and maybe acquire, trade, or sell, lengths of fabric (which might be my Freeborn bleed).

For me, writing turns over ideas in my head. I just had another thought: since TWM also involves the trade of mana crystals and mana sites, could there not also be a discussion or a series of discussions about orcs and magic? Maybe a small delegation of Urizeni mages and magicians from other nations of the Empire to come and teach how magic could be done?

Perhaps too ambitious, perhaps it would need to run from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, if I wanted the magical discussions, alongside the trading market and craft-doing, and the monster hunting and pit fight and the social, with its thundering drums...

A person can dream, no?

Empire Day

Below are the last minute images on the day.

Decisions, decisions!

Side note: I didn't use the boxers wraps or the grey felt winingas/leg wraps.

Neck tat.

Sadly, my brown and white Santeria necklace self-destructed at the event, part way through said event. I'm not sure I saved all of the beads.

Racing out the door...

I ended up shedding the scapular and the raw silk coat and retained the tunic the linen-cotton hooded coat. I also kept the blue skirt, but I think it will only appear on dry weekends and player events.

Soooo many... too many... layers.

I would like to add that Seppa finally started talking to me at the player event, quietly, not very much, but ey started telling me what ey like and dislike about what I'm doing. I hope that ey will continue, so that I don't feel so useless.