I have this tendency to pounce on free articles and dissertations and so on that can be found on the internet, and to just download them if they might in some more-or-less expectable case be, well, relevant. Or interesting. Or because they sound interesting.

Of course I tend to lose track of what I have already downloaded, so when I'm getting ready to enter the titles into my database, I do a duplicate search first... which usually weeds out quite a lot of doubles that I had gotten, forgotten about, and then re-gotten, because, hey, sounds interesting.

And occasionally I actually get to read at least part of what I have downloaded. The latest one is a phd thesis titled "Archäologische Studie zu ausgewählten Aspekten der mittelalterlichen Handwerkstopographie im deutschsprachigen Raum : Bestandsaufnahme der Handwerksbefunde vom 6. - 14. Jahrhundert und vergleichende Analyse" and was handed in 2022 - you can download the whole thing from Uni Tübingen here.

I haven't read all of it so far, but skimmed through the pdf looking for passages about textiles and textile crafts - and what I have seen so far was both helpful and interesting, especially regarding the different amounts of finds pointing towards textile production in different areas and contexts. So if you read German and are interested in crafts and where they might have been found, check this one out!

As promised, here's the list of events coming up:

First of all, there's the "Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften" (long night of science), where I will be doing a demonstration of tablet weaving in the Stadtmuseum Erlangen. That's on October 21, starting at 20:00 h until 22:30 h - come see me there if you are in the area! 

On the next day, it's the last day of the special exhibition about the Stone Age, and I will be there again starting at 11:00 for the whole day, showing very early textile techniques. 

The second week of November there's the European Textile Forum, of course... my yearly week of wonderful textile madness.

And then there is an online workshop for spinning with spindle and distaff, in German, on December 8 (that's a Friday) starting at 18:00. If you are interested in this, you can learn more about it (and book your spot) here on my website.

There I was, telling you I'd be back here on the blog yesterday... and then somehow the day went by, with a lot of things done (catch-up-stuff still left from my trip to the conference) and I completely forgot to blog.

Even though it's on my trusty to-do-and-reminder list... but, ah, that only helps if one looks at it as the workday draws closer to ending. Otherwise... well. Like not looking at the calendar and then promptly forgetting about dates. 

So... what was happening here?

Lots of things. I went off to Romania, for a conference about Eastern European Traditional Textiles... hoping to learn some more about them (as I was rather blank on that topic), and make some new acquaintances to get better network possibilities into the East. Both plans did work out, to my great delight! I had a wonderful time looking at splendidly embroidered shirts, doing a little hemp processing, taking part in a dyeing workshop that included some dyes I'd not had contact with before, and visiting the wonderful museums in Băiţa and Sibiu.

While I was away, the little cat felt a bit under the weather... apparently she managed to catch a cold, which made her appetite about non-existent. She spent a few days just sleeping and eating very little, but she did pull through - and the plus side of her spending a few days only sleeping is that she rested her right back leg enough with that to let it recover from whatever sprain it had. Now we hope the rest of her cold will pass quickly so she can go back to her usual upbeat self.

She's at least fit enough again to conquer her favourite sleeping spots (which all have conquering aids for her now - ramps or steps, for easier access, since the jumping powers of probably-around-18-years-or-older cats are, let's say, limited...)

Meanwhile, planning for the Textile Forum is also happening, there's a demonstration coming up where I will be showing tablet weaving (which has to be prepared), orders have been sent out and more prepared to follow their chums today, and some more planning has been done - which I'll tell about tomorrow. 

 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.

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.

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!

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!