Wait, a treatyse on an angle is late 15th century, a wonderful read, resonates with all anglers throughout the ages. http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/berners/berners.html gems such as the best dye for horse hair lines. Bait for different fish, and most wonderful, a collapsible rod that ...

Grymm, you are not a b**ger to work with.

There are melted sulphur seals on medieval documents too.

i shall try and track down the sources, i sub resin turps with rosin.

i have a shoe sole rady for thsi very thing, ooo rah.


Horn btw can be softened by soaking in an alkali, it was done then, I have softened horn in a caustic soda solution.

This site is not just for medieval - good luck

"I shall intend to stand by my values and morals, and my oath to protect and preserve life. " Good for you, however, it was preachy, I could see the finger wagging from here, impressive it was too. "but it would be prudent to do so. " Maybe we should all display our scars to 'war...

I just roll them by hand when they are part set, lifted from the greaseproof/foil.

To say I have a lot of it, is an understatement

I would not lie and say 'lots', but the ones that I have seen and the ones that are well displayed on line, plus a chat with a former sigil conservator from the NA points me 'generally' to hand form them, I stress that is for the informal letters and letter closures. For larger sealing that would be...

Yep Simon was a nobber, a lucky one and we are thankful, but PL, there is no need to be so pious about it, Simon is evidently embarrassed and relieved. He does not need to show his wound as a message to others, he ballsed up and his scar wont put anyone off really.

You live in Scotland and are a cold blooded scientist, so you have little natural warmth to mould the wax. If my wax is cold I put it in warm water, it should not be liquid but pliable like putty, that way you can thread it in the seal tabs etc. A lot of seals have fingerprint and deeper impressions...

Items to have ready: Heat source Pot for wax melting pigments - very little Flat board or baking tray covered in baking foil, ensure you have a lip around the edge As High Lord Guthrie rightly says, make sure the rosin is ground to sandy texture, do this with a mask on as the rosiin particles are ha...

Guthers my lord.

Lamp black
Synthetic vermillion

a little goes a long way.


Yours

see the link at the bottom of my post, the middle english dictionary, give that a whirl.

What I find interesting apart form the cloth type for doublet given the discussions re fustian, is that the kersey is the same for hose.

More to add to this discussion regarding the type of cloth for doublets. These come from the Stonor letters and Papers, namely a memorandum of expenses for servants, extracts are as follows: For lynyn cloth to hys doblet iiij d - not sur if this refers to lining, or a doublet made from linen, either...

Not for a commission, just a practice piece.

Turned 3 inch ball with 10mm hole for post.

Gesso plus raised gesso droplets.

The droplets will be overpainted in vermillion to represent blood.

They did not have wicks, the recipe for true sealing wax exists, it is in essence beeswax and rosin 2:1 slowly cooked until they melt together. You do see what appear to be rolled or formed sticks of wax, but save yourself the bother of a wick, that would only melt the wax to a liquid and that is to...

The Pastons were commoners (peasants), John the II or was it the III was knighted, he was then minor nobility, but that doesn't confer to the family, although reflected glory is a good thing.

As for term gentry, what does that mean anyhoo?

Loads of books about medieval medicine, the philosophy and practice. Try the Wellcome foundation for a book list.

All of that information is readily available, history, the materials and techniques are very well recorded and reviewed and then emulated. The bottom line is it depends on what you want to paint, each substrate has its own particular method and materials, not all work for all things. I have a conven...

Indeed, scary stuff. Cinnabar in its natural state is toxic enough, Pliny mentions the miners wearing goat/sheepskin masks to reduce exposure to the dust.

Cornellisens sell lead paints, red and white, plus genuine vermillion etc. I don't use them as I don't have the controls at home. Ultramarine Blues from ground Lapis Lasuli, so very expensive. - yes but azurite was a cheaper (relatively speaking) alternative but has a different cast and it handles v...

'[I swear you two are baiting me.] Nope ;-) I have found that the fustian you gave me benefitted from a good hot wash, it caused some massive shrinkage but it does look more usable. I am not sure about it being a top layer, but as you say it might well be a decen liner. --- What does brushed linen l...

I am in agreement, this is just an extension of the convo we were having at the weekend, just throwing up the nature of fustian once again, I would like to see some in the flesh as it were.

If fustian, then we need to have a better idea of what fustian is, ie if the wool fustian, then what texture will it have? Will it be more similar to wool or linen/cotton, it could still look more like wool than not. Either way I feel doublets are too thick in reenactment, they arose due to nothing ...

sausage = pudding = meat in a skin sack.

We call them sausages, but they were also called puddings and sausages. Hence black and white puddings.

Made famous by the famous jouster Marx Walter who had three sausages impaled on his helmet, tru dat. (later but v. amusing)

"Like you, I haven't been convinced. But then someone showed me this image on the Historic Enterprises website:" It is a good reference, albeit very late say 1480ish French possibly later. "This one would be nice and cool and keep the hoses up." Graham, they are 14th Century, (sa...

The actual finish on the sallets say at the Tower and Wallace are rough indeed, you can still see the brush marks so thick was the paint. As for exotic, some of the varnish ingredient were exotic, there are dozens of varnish recipes, some very cheap and some very expensive. I have made the simpler/c...