There's still much to do before the weekend - I have some writing to finish, and of course packing for the Cave has to be done. I could need a second self right now to take care of some things - or at least "an Stiftn" (colloquial not for "a pencil", as German-reading folks might think now, but for an apprentice) to do the time-consuming but no-brainer parts of work. Like portioning off the wool for the spinning experiment, a task for me once I'm back from Cave and holidays. The wool and the bags for the wool are already here and waiting to get together - put wool on the scales, take wool from the scales, put wool into bag, repeat 200+ times. The upside to work like that? I get to sit in the comfy, well-lighted living room, on the sofa, listening to good music or an audio-book of my choice. And I'm actually looking forward to the task because of that!

It never ceases to amaze me how experiment preparation develops. Even the loosest schedule will tighten up towards the end because of unforeseen complications. And in addition to that, every experiment planned will always take more time, effort and money in preparation and actual execution than planned - I've never had one running differently.

As you can probably guess from this, I was occupied with preparations for the Spinning Experiment yesterday. I spent about four and a half hours making the special spindle whorls, all shaped as cylinders. The reference whorl - a flat disc-shape - was by far the easiest to make, once I had found out how to best do it, while the two other clay shapes - tall, rather slim cylinders - each took much longer. I ended up with the planned 20 whorls for each shape plus two extras for the tall ones, and a few more extras for the reference whorls that will go into my teaching/demonstrating stack if enough survive the experiment. Now the only thing I have to do is to keep my fingers crossed that all the whorls will dry and fire well and without accidents - and after they are finished, I can do the necessary weighing and measuring to fix measurements for the two types of whorl still left to do (but those will be plywood whorls). And then the spinning experiment can start!

Things are also progressing with the Textilforum planning, even if there was a long silence in the last weeks. The metal "cookie cutters" for making the experiment spinning whorls are in production, the wool is already waiting for September, and while there is quite a lot still to prepare for the experiment, there seems to be no catastrophe lurking around the next corner.

There's also progress on other parts; we now have two very interesting lectures for each evening programme, covering a variety of aspects; so one of the things on my to-do-list today is getting the Forum website up to date and mailing around to keep people informed...

A huge box blocks the entry to my study - wool for the spinning experiment has arrived! We now have wonderful wool for the experiment, one very fine Merino and one medium-fine wool, all beautifully prepared, thanks to the Wollmeister. With the last batch of test whorls it now really feels as if serious progress is taking place.

Speaking of which, since I'm off to Hanau tomorrow for the "Lamboy-Fest", I'd better make some serious progress on the rest of my work...

It's been ages since I last posted about the Textilforum, so it's high time. And I have a reason, too: We have extended the deadline for registration to June 30. There are still some spaces left for participants at the museum, so if your occupation includes historical textile crafts - research, reconstruction, analysis, conservation, replicating - you are welcome to join us at the Forum. We also need a few more handspinners (handspindle only) to make the required twenty that we need for the spinning experiment. If you are a handspinner and able to spin an even thread for two hours, you could be part of this nifty bit of science!

If you don't know what I'm talking about: The Textilforum is intended to get people working with historical textile crafts into contact with each other - because it can be a very lonely affair. So we would like to link both professionals and amateurs (like living history folks) in this Forum, where there will be ample time to work, chat, and exchange hints and tips with each other. There will be some programme provided - presentations about research or projects in the evenings - and we'll run an archaeological experiment, the spinning experiment, during the mornings. The rest of time is free; think "gigantic enormous conference coffee break".

You can read more about the Forum on our website, www.textilforum.org, and you can also register there: Go to Call for Papers site, and on the bottom, you will find the link for registration. See you in Eindhoven!

Oh, and you can read me here again next week - I'm off for a few days' vacation, before summer work stress really hits...

The deadline for the Textilforum Call for Papers is officially over. But... there are still places left. We have planned for 50 persons staying in at the museum (and I do think it's a good deal, even if you have to bring your own bedding), and I had thought that we would have no problem filling these places. Heck, there have been so many positive comments all over, I was sure we'd have no problem.

I know that it is a common thing to extend conference CfP deadlines, and I also know that I'm one of those people registering in the last week before deadline (or even on the last day). And that it can happen that I miss a deadline, too. So we'll extend our deadline to fill some more of the places.

However, I'm wondering why there have been so few registrees. Is it my fault? Has the wording been bad? Is the participant questionnaire too hard to find? Does it sound as if we don't want people to come? Maybe it sounds as if you have to give a paper or bring a poster or else you can't come? While we appreciate paper/poster offers, these are no absolute requirement. So if you are an archaeologist, conservator, hand weaver, hand spinner, historical textile person and have an interest in historical textile techniques, come join us! And we still need spinners for our experiment, too - so if you are a handspinner and would like to participate in the spinning experiment, do fill out the questionnaire and come have fun doing science!

I am inundated in chopsticks, and that is a Good Thing - because these cheap, all-alike, slim and slightly conical things will serve as the spindle sticks for the Spinning Experiment.

I have thought long and hard about what I could take for the experiment. One of the first ideas was to have twenty spindles and four different whorls each, and rotate the whorls during the spinning process. But then there is another variation in the process, one we can't measure or calculate: The order of spinning with different spindles in the test. What if it makes a difference whether someone starts the experiment spinning with spindle A and then B as opposed to spinning with spindle C and then A? And so on? So I arrived at the conclusion that the safest bet would be to give everybody the same spindle at the same time.

Which means making one hundred twenty spindle whorls (plus a few to spare in case of unforeseen desasters). And ideally, attaching all those whorls to a spindle stick so that they can't slip when you drop the spindle (something I do fairly often with an unknown, new and maybe awkwardly running spindle). Which means - as one possible solution - to glue a stick to each whorl. Which in turn means making one hundred twenty spindles glued together... with identical whorls and identical spindle sticks. There. Since our budget is not so big (read: nonexistent), cheap was not an option but a requirement. And slim, identical, slightly conical-at-the-top, round sticks for little money? You got it. Chopsticks.

That is why I am sitting here with a box, newly arrived, containing one hundred pairs of Taiwanese bamboo chopsticks. Next time, when we have won the lottery got a budget for a similar experiment, we might use proper sticks for another spinning experiment. For now, bamboo will do.