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Magnunnr Hringsdottir
Eorrorwic, of the barony of Septentria in Ealdormere
No updates for a while, been too busy doing stuff!!
Anyway, I have made progress on the following things to do with the tent.
Before actually putting any lanolyn on the tent, I decided to try some tests. Actually, I decided to make a bucket or two, since I wanted one for Pennsic. I am glad I tried them first. Linseed oil on wool reduces it's ability to hold standing water by more than half. Pure Lanolyn (I eventually found and bought a small bottle of this) on a woolen swatch shortened the wetting time greatly, and although the swatch was too small to really test the holding of water, it appeared also to worsen the situation. Hmm. Apparently there is a trick to oil-cloth. I wonder, thinks I, I wonder if I'm supposed to be really oiling it, like making a thick coating of oil rather than just impregnating the wool itself. I wonder, says Geoffrey, if you're supposed to, like, actually make a layer of linoleum on top of the wool. Oh, yeah, thinks I, yeah, that would be linoleum, now wouldn't it.
The Trick to Oil cloth is as follows: cornstarch, paint with a mixture of lampblack, turpentine, linseed oil, and Japan drier. A second coat is repeated with turpentine linseed oil and Japan drier.
Ok, that's quite a trick. Others have told me there should be sand instead of cornstarch.
Reading the recipies, this sounds like the basic idea is, in fact, to make a thick layer of linoleum on the surface of the cloth, bulked with substances known to have a tendancy to lock together and form tight structures. Now I can build a tent out of linoleum next, but that was not the goal this time. This time the goal was a tent of wool.
Using Wax: I used beeswax to seal around the seams where I pulled my stitching too tight. It worked. But it looks ugly. Unfortunately, you have to keep the wax very hot in order to have it soak in well, and that was hard with the little tea-light incence-burner I was using to heat the wax. I painted it on with an improvised brush of grass.
An Asside on Brushes: In the process of waterproofing, I found I needed brushes. In the first go-round, I was at an event, I had no brush at all, and I really wanted to get the wax on. So I pulled up some grass and made a brush with it. This kinda got me going. So I came home, realized I needed a brush for the linseed oil, and made one of a christmas-tree top (just the wood), and a couple of handfulls of Goat-Hair. I used waxed linnen to bind the hair to the stick, and it worked great. The bottom whipping came loose due to insufficient knots, but it would not be difficult to make better knots, and the brush was useable even without the lower whipping.
The good frame, like many other good things, was made of old skid-wood. This comes in big pieces, so we were able to take a 6 by 8 inch piece and shape it down into the current ridge pole. The biggest chunks were taken out by Geoffrey on the band-saw, but a very large portion of the work was done with draw-knife and file (and spoke-shave). Similarly, two more large pieces were cut down on the band-saw, but then shaved by hand to the present shape and size. (The joins in the uprights are made using modern glue and period-like nails)
The really fun part, though, was cutting the 2.5inch deep angled morticed into the ridge-pole. I had so much fun, I made mortices nearly as difficult in hard-wood for my bed. I was very glad to have learned on the ridge-pole! Angled mortices are actually easier to cut than one might expect, you just need to cut a block of wood tot he right angle, and lay it on top of your work as a guide for the file. The bottom of the hole is the really hard part. The smaller scooped-chisel Geoffrey has was nearly too bit to get all the way in. But it all worked out in the end!
We decided to use the simple approach to the joints a the top of the uprights... a loose mortice and tennon gives several inches of swing to the join, but the $%^% thing is plenty deep enough to eliminate any danger of the thing slipping appart.
This ridge-pole is heavier and has more corners than the two-by four I had in the mock-up. It is enough scarier that I am not willing to set up the tent on my own anymore, although it is possible.
My current procudure for setting up the tent is as follows:
it can be done quite quickly... I think it was under 20 minutes, not counting fine tuning to pegs (which I fiddled unduly with) re-check pegs once every 5 days or so.
This part went well. In a whole Pennsic there was no decent storm to test it in, though. I'm starting to think it's harder to find a bit of rain than it is to make the tent!
Temperature Much better than a nylon tent, in any case! It was actually quite comfortable to take a nap in the hottest part of the day, although noticably a couple of degrees above the outside temperature. I had one door sewn shut, so couldn't get a clear cross-breeze.
Light Barely bright enough in full sun. Definitely dark at night. Can recognise dawn without opening door. Well lit by a single candle. Also, you can crack the door open in such a way as to admit a certain ammout of sun without letting people see in, which is handy.
Water Dry. No problems. Left the door open durring the worst rain we had (oops). Only the edge of the grass mat got wet. Of course I did pay attention to winds when I decided which way to face!
Doors A little on the low side, hard to get through without taking off straw hat. Can be tied or flopped closed. The ties worked fine, but are a little hard to get to from the inside. This could probably be remedied by adding a set on the inside overlap.
Standing room Acceptable
Guest space Minimal. Could be helped by better arrangement of furniture (see below)
Layout Not as good as it could have been. The bed was fine. The box could have been centered allong the wall, and a small shelving unit put in on the far side from the door. Then my stuff could have gone on the shelves rather than the top of the box, and the box could have been used for seating... at which point, four or five people could be in the tent if needed. (Two on the box, three on the bed)
I have never seen baby dadylonglegs before. Thery're cute!
Anyway, apparently I didn't build a tent at all, I built a boudoir. Dozens and dozens of them, up the the sleaves and by the ridge-pole
So, I've camped in the thing. It smelled wonderfully of grass mats and wool, and I'm pretty sure it was noticably warmer that the modern tent. It went down to about 14 degrees celcius, which is not fridgid, but cool enough I usually need more blankets, I think...
I did not succeed in either lanolyning it or sealing it with beeswax, because I couldn't keep the candle lit, and haven't figured out how to make steam yet. Anyway, I will also be camping at War of the Trilliums, and plan to do the beeswax there. I have a little wax melter incense thingy, which has an enclosed candle (which won't go out) and makes a whole pool of hot wax.
I took photos with a disposable camera because I was worried I might get really wet. Anyway, I will finish the film over the next while, and post the pictures as soon as possible.
Yesterday (May 20th) I went down to Romni Wools, which is one of the only places in Toronto to get things like roving and warping wool, looking for (amongst other things) Lanolyn. As it turned out, they did not have any plain lanolyn, but they did have wool washes with lanolyn and lavander. I got a small bottle, but even after comversations with Jonathon Leonard, who teaches their drop-spindle class, I still wasn't quite sure how to get the stuff onto something quite the size of the tent. (Instructions on the bottle involve washing machines).
Anyway, I was setting the twist on some thread and decided to try adding a bit of the wool wash. I got my hands into the steam. Well, asside from now having very soft hands, I now know how to get the wool wash onto the tent. So, if you ever see me at an event with my tent inside out and a large ammount of steam. You'll know what's up.
Why do I have a feeling this will be even sillier than the sprinkler-in-the-rain thing?
Geoffrey took down the tent this morning, it was apparently nearly but not quite dry after a couple of hours of semi-direct sun. There was apparently a fairly heavy layer of dew inside the tent. This is not good. However, there was a heavy layer of rain on the grass inside the tent when we set it up, and that might account for some of the heavy dew. Also, some of the water absorbed by the walls may have evaporated into the tent to contribute to the problem. A solution for that might be to leave the doors open while the tent is drying. Hard to say what actually happened, and I didn't even see it live. Geoffrey promices pictures, thought.
Spoke to Charles the Clerk on the phone for a long time, he seems to think the problem is unlikely severe. Not sure if that's just 'cause he didn't see it. He did say committing to Pennsic in Enchanted Ground might be a risk, and reminded me that I'm the one who likes that whole experimental archaeology thing. It's not experimental if there's no risk. Anyway, the risk seems reasonable at the end of the conversation, and I've written to Cariadoc to actually ask if I can pre-reg.
Spoke to my father on the phone for a long time. He seemed to think the problem must not really be much of a problem at all based on my descriptions. He basically said it sounded like it performed better than a canvas tent. Which I'm pretty convinced it did. But I was expecting that.
There is this whole thing about putting success/failure into perspective. It did do better than your average canvas tent, and about as well as my little green dome tent. If the ground gets soaked, the ground in the tent will be wet. No doubt about that... but there isn't a floor, so the thing really shouldn't be expected to perform as though it had a floor.
So, nervous, but still mostly confident, onwards...
It feels very silly to turn on the sprinkler when its raining. The things one does for one's hobby.
Anyway, Geoffrey and I set up the tent in his backyard, durring a light rain. Because the rain was only light, we turned the sprinkler on it. This still did not ammount to as much rain as I would have liked to have tested it in, but we did leave it out for a couple of hours in continuous rain.
For this test, there was absolutely no treatment on the cloth. One of the things that got a lot of talk as I was sewing the tent was what kind of treatments might have been used to make things waterproof in period. The most likely, as far as I can think, is lanolin or some other kind of oil soaked into the fabric. As it turns out, this does not appear to have been necessesary. HOWEVER...
I appear to have made a stitching error. The thread I used for most of the heaver seams was very thick and strong. I pulled the stitches too tight, creating tiny holes right through the fabric which appear to be big enough to cause problems. I had to poke at it to cause a leak under the soft rain, but probably would not have to if there were a real thunder storm. We discussed a couple of solutions, including sewing a second layer inside the two seems which look like they may leak, or spot application of lanolin, but the solution which seems most workable is spot application of tallow or soft wax. I will probalby also use some lanolin on the whole tent before Pennsic, which is two weeks long and known for being wet.
Anyway, this problem asside, the thing seems to be pretty ok in rain. There is very little stretch in the fabric when it gets wet, much less than I expected. The fabric itself seems sufficiently water-proof, even without any treatment. The sleaves work fine and no fly will be needed. Also, the doors behaved shockingly well, even though they weren't actually tied shut. Clearly ties will be needed in wind, but in calm weather, the doors tended to fall comfortably closed of their own accord, and stayed open easily when fliped back. I'm quite pleased, also with how they look, although, in the period pictures, it looks like they are cut much highter.
Overall, the first real test was successful, minor problems will be easily fixed, and something cool was learned -- don't pull your seams too tight! Oh, also, I have really, really good friends who stand under sprinklers in the rain to help me with my tent!
New photos include: Geoffrey looking... uh... friendly... and Unnr comming out of the tent only to be hit in the face by the sprinkler.
It has just occurred to me that I can't find any pictures of the fly. Uhh... Ummm... Ooops. I'm still going to make the fly. Because, damn it, I like being dry. But I'm going to try setting this thing up with just the sleaves on the ridge pole, and I think I'll make a longer ridge-pole. The old plan was 4' (the fabric being 3' at the apex) The new plan, I think, is 5' or so. Also, I wasn't really planning on making the sleaves. But I like being dry. So now I need to make the sleaves.
I am warming to the idea, slowly. Adding sleaves will be an opportunity to re-inforce the weak point where the vertical seams stop and the opening for the ridge-pole begins. Which is always good.
Well, the darned thing works. There is still some finishing do do on the bottom hem of the doors, and also at the top of the vertical seams, where I left them unfinished until I could set it up and find out for sure if the seams themselves were the right length. The door flaps and fly still need to be made, but they are cut and ready to go. I will be continuing to use this roughed-out frame for while, because it gives a lot of flexibility -- which means I can work out what the best solution is rather than just an ok one. Thanks to Geoffrey for making the frame. He's in some of these new pictures.
Looking that the thing set up, I've decided on five loops to each long side, but only three of them will be really needed in most weather, I think. The using-a-rope-to-help-put-it-up thing really wasn't much help. Probalby would have been if the tent were about four times the size, though. So no rope. The thing is huge inside. Lots of space for me and my box, and some other stuff besides!
If you're noticing that the tent poles seem to be on an angle, they are. I forgot to write the "Amazing OCADian Geteld" entry here. I will do that soon. Anyway, the two uprights are angled in towards the top, forming, basically, a three-stone arch. This seemed to me stabler and more space-consious than using vertical uprights. It also makes it a little easier to put up. A few people thought I was nuts for a minute, but I got a lot less complaints about this than I did about making the thing of wool. The frame has proven itself. The wool still has to survive a good wet Pennsic!
When the Ontario College of Art and Design needed to expand, they decided to build the new building in thin air half above the old building and half above the parking lot. The darned thing is held up by tooth-pick like stilts splayed out at funny angles.
Ok. So I decided I wanted more than three feet in between the uprigts at ground level, since my box is long enough that the uprights, spaced at three feet, would get in the way of opening it. (Note that the ridgepole is 4', and the fabric narrows to three feet). It occured to me that I could splay the uprights to fix this. Then it occured to me that splaying the uprights would form an arch. Hmm. Ok, this is starting to sound like a good idea. Arches are stronger than rectangles. Maybe I should splay the legs. Then I tried to draw the idea to explain it to Charles the Clerk, who was giving me a hard time about it, when, through a minor perspective mishap, I drew the uprights as long cones rather than boards. At this point they began to look startlingly like OCAD's legs, which Charles pointed out. He also stopped bugging me about the wisdom of the idea. Actually, I think maybe he think's its a bit cool.
Alsop Architects, who designed the new OCAD building. Speaking as someone who gets paid for making words into pictographic communication, this web site is just awful, and I'm a little sorry to send you to it. Anyway, if you want information on OCAD, click either;
The text on those two pages is different
This thing is going much faster than expected. Phase one, The horizontal seams allong all four walls are complete, and I think I'm roughly one quarter of the way through the whole thing. I went out and bought some red wool to use for trim in places where I don't want to lose fabric to hemming. It's really nice fabric, so I splurged and got enough to make a dress afterwords. It is wool tabby, suit-weight. I am currently expecting the entire tent to come in at under 100$ in materials costs. See new pictures.
I wanted a tent. I REALLY wanted a tent. Partly because someday I'd like to camp in the Enchanted Ground at Pennsic. So I bought 12 yards of double-woven blue wool at $6/yard (CAD). She gave it to me tax included when Charles the Clerk said I might only need 10 yards. I had scoped out said fabric about a year before I bought it, and the same darned bolt was sitting in the store when I, on a whim, dragged said Charles down the street to help me buy it. Suffice it to say fabric choice was based on availability. Testing in the kitchen sink (over several dirty dishes) proved the float-side to be the more water-repellant.
Anyway, the base fabric is kind-of cyany-blue, with a fairly fine twill on one side (Thread Count 24 x 24 /cm), and a thicker, nearly warpless, weft floating on the other, tied into the twill every four picks. I am sewing it together with madder-red commercially spun and dyed (but hand plied!) wool (diameter when plied: apr.1.5mm), which I bought at the Textile Museum sale a couple of years back. I am using a large, blunt tapestry needle for this, because I had it around for Nälebinding. I have also set a few stitches with a big, obnoxious bone needle with a foolishly huge eye and a stupidly thick shaft... just to prove I could.
I am using mostly french seams, and am including several pictures. This is a hand-sewn seam, which could not quite be completed on a sewing machine. For documentation for this type of seam, see
Pattern Scale: 1 square = 1 foot
