I'm off for a bit to attend a conference and workshop, thanks to the glorious opportunities the EuroWeb people are providing. Which means I will get to learn some more about Eastern European textiles and textile crafts!

As opposed to Germany and much of Middle and Western Europe, some traditions have kept alive much longer in the East. However, the Iron Curtain and then language barriers have played their part in keeping contact between eastern and western parts less than they should be. So I'm hoping to get a few more insights, and, even more important, some more contacts in the next days. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing a bit of Europe that I've never been to before (and being further to the east than ever).

So I will leave you with these flowers, and I'll be back on the blog on Monday, October 9.

"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it". And at the moment, it looks like a lot of Germans are about to repeat... well... the Era Of Brown Shit. In some places, the AfD has become second-strongest party, and oh my goodness, I don't want to live in a country where Nazi assholes reign (again).  

That is possible in Germany if the party is a danger to democracy, and the AfD is that, very obviously. So if you live in Germany, please sign here for a petition to ban them from the political landscape. And, well, you know, spread the word. As usual.

Because brown is not a good colour for Germany. Not shown openly, and not hidden under a thin veneer of blue, black, or orange. It's still shit, and it stinks, and it should be gone forever.

Every once in a while, things happen, stars align, and I have a look at female headwear again. This time around, it's for a small conference contribution - and as I was browsing images and putting together my thing, I realised once more that this topic is huge, it's extremely difficult, and it would be more than enough material for another phd thesis (which, mind you, I am not planning to do). There are so, so many different kinds of headwear worn by women, and so many open questions. Who wore what when? How do the terms we have from texts relate to what we see on images? Where do the (very few) surviving specimens of headwear come in? How did rules and expectations change over time? 

How were the headdresses shaped, and from what materials, and how were they fixed on the head so they'd stay on? There's some that just seem to stay on by sheer magic, and then there's others that look fairly sensible.

Oh, but speaking of sensible. There are a lot of draped cloths around, longer or shorter; there's also the barbe-and-fillet headwear in the 13th and 14th century... but then there are the weird things, too. Like a headdress made from long bands - such as this one: 

That's a detail from an altar painting from Vienna. (You can find all the images from this altar at the IMAREAL database, and look at them in fairly good resolution, by the way.) Now I'm tempted to go through my stash of linen bands and start wrapping, actually. It definitely looks some kind of intricate more-or-less-hat, and if the band is of a suitable quality (like silk, or fine linen with embellishments), it would also be a way to show off wealth. 

So... anyone around here looking for a dress-related topic for a larger study project? Headwear would definitely be a thing. Just saying.

There's a fairly new digital museum around - the Digital Museum of Dress Accessories. As their first exhibition room, they are hosting a gallery about patch boxes (and, consequently, about patches) - a custom that came up in the 17th century.

If that sounds interesting to you, go head over to the DMDA website and have a virtual stroll through their gallery. I certainly found it interesting, even though it's way past the time I'm usually working on. 

Well, it's yesterday's news (for a large timescale of yesterday, that is) but I only stumbled across it a few days ago, and it amused me a lot: A mosaic showing a skeleton was unearthed in Turkey in 2016, and the skeleton is holding a drinking cup plus there's a text around it that says "Be cheerful and live your life". 

That's good advice, I'd say. 

You can read more about the find here on the History Blog.

If you have looked into the history of trousers, chances are high you stumbled across the find from Thorsberg. They are remarkably well-preserved, and they have a very curious pattern that results in a nice, form-fitting, leg-hugging fit. (Which means that you can show off your legs as the wearer of these trousers, and enjoy the view if you are a spectator.)

As a result of a research project of these trousers, there's a 3D simulation of them done in sketchfab, and you can have a look at them from all angles. It's fascinating, and I was thrilled that the model looks very much like the reconstructions that I made a few years ago when worn by the Most Patient Husband of Them All. 

You can take a look at the model here, and there's links to the research behind it and the academia profiles of the researchers as well.

It happens so often that someone is researching about a topic, and others could help, or it would help them to know about it, but... well... it's just not visible enough. Same thing applies to conferences taking place, so a while ago, I've decided to also use the mailing address list of the European Textile Forum for announcements of these kinds. (If that sounds interesting for you, you can subscribe here, and that will get you news both about the Forum  and all the news about conferences and related things that I hear about.)

So here's a thing that wants to be spread:

Daniela Rosner, Associate Professor at the University of Washington, is searching for existing scholarship and related archives on the topic of textile bias ("the cross" as it might be known in the UK). She is particularly interested in locating materials that trace the development and use of textile bias across time; that probe the technical qualities of bias and its functionality within a textile or woven form; and that relate textile bias to other mechanical and electronic formats, woven or otherwise. She has been probing interactions between discourses of textiles and algorithmic bias across a series of experiments, including a recent article ( https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/37867) and a course (http://onthebiasthinking.com) co-developed with Afroditi Psarra and Gabrielle Benabdallah. If you have any leads on textile bias scholarship, please reach out to Daniela Rosner and let her know!

In case you're in the area around Munich this weekend and are looking for something textile-related to do, there's the Textilmarkt Benediktbeuern - only this year, because of hail damage, it's been relocated to the Freilichtmuseum Glentleiten.

It's taking place both on Saturday and Sunday, September 16 and 17,  from 10 to 18 h. You can find more information on the website here.

Back when I was a teenager, I was very, very much fascinated by the Wild West - probably for a good part because of the German author Karl May (who wrote stories about Native Americans without knowing anything about them, and never set foot on the other continent...). Anyway, little did I realise back then that being a cowboy also involved some textile work! But the Most Patient Husband of Them All recently found this little video gem, and you will hopefully enjoy it, too: 

I'm back from a wonderful trip to Ireland, where it was comparatively cool - and now I'm back to baking in the German late-summer heat. (Way too warm for the season, actually.)

The conference in Belfast was easily and by far the largest archaeology conference I've ever been to, with about 3000 participants altogether (online and on-site combined). I don't know how many people there were in Leeds when I attended it, many years ago, but it felt similarly huge. It's fascinating, and certainly has its pros, but personally I do prefer smaller conferences where I have less decision-making issues (what session will I go to?) and there's a little less noise in the common functions, and fewer people so it's easier to find somebody.

The programme was also very, very tightly packed, which meant that any of the (unavoidable) technical issues that could occur would throw the plan, and meant less time for questions and discussion. But these things aside, it was just wonderful to go there and experience this huge get-together of archeologists!

My own presentation was in the very last panel time slot of the conference, so everyone was already a bit tired (myself included). Nevertheless I think nobody fell asleep on me.

A friend made this photo of me during the presentation. As usual, I had a lot of fun doing the "dance" (I tend to hop around when presenting), and it was so nice to show the results of our membrane thread process reconstruction to other interested people!