A long time ago, when I was in school, there were subjects I did like better than physics. Or mathematics.

And then, after finishing school, I started studying medieval archaeology. Hey, that's something where you don't need maths or physics for, right? That's what I thought.

This does not hold true, though, if you do heritage conservation as your "side study" course. Because once you go out and start measuring up the building, you need to lay a basic grid to start with. And that basic grid has to be right - so there's maths to calculate the angles and, even more importantly, to calculate the accuracy of your work. (Not accurate enough, you do it again.)

And you don't need physics only if you don't want to do experiments with spindles. (Or other things, probably.) So now I'm reading up on spinning physics for spinning tops and getting tutoring from the Most Patient Husband.

Which proves, again, two points that I did learn some good way back: Physics can be totally fascinating, and there's nothing that won't come in handy somewhere for doing archaeology.

The weekend before last, there was a small offiial ceremony at Hartenstein to officially "welcome" the two chess players into the museum. You can see a picture and the German article here.

There's not much else in news otherwise - the weekend was filled with other pastimes and things so that I didn't work on the embroidery frame again, and all the rest of the current projects is not finished either. So I'm picking up where I left off Friday - and I'll try to finish the frame some time today.

Things are progressing nicely here - the sawing work for the frame is all finished, and now I need to drill holes (lots of holes) and join up the parts. And then attach a strip of fabric or a band to the rollers top and bottom so I can dress the frame.

In case you are wondering how dressing the frame works, there's a nice, detailed description on Mary Corbet's blog "Needle 'n Thread". She also gives a lot of tips, tricks and hints on embroidery technique, though it is of course modern embroidery. Mostly, the difference is in the materials - cotton ground fabrics and cotton yarns, or synthetic silks, or modern metal threads. But there's also a difference in the approach to the materials. Modern stitchers are not as opposed to wasting a bit of the embroidery thread as I am (though that might just be me), and stitches can often have as much or even more thread running on the backside than on the front. Finally, judging from Mary's blog, it seems as if showing the back of the work is something usually not done.

Personally, I think that looking at the back of the work is at least as important as looking at the front. You can appreciate design and shading work from the front, and you can appreciate efficiency and stitching technique (and in my case, historical correctness of said technique) from the back. I am actually a bit miffed if somebody looks at my embroidery, tells me he or she embroiders, too, and then doesn't turn it around.

I am also of the opinion that there should be a law for the publication of surviving historical embroidery. A law that makes anyone writing about an embroidered piece to post at least three good quality photographs, showing a) the complete piece with measurements given in the text; b) a close-up of a detail, showing all the stitch techniques and materials used on the piece, if possible with a ruler or other size indicator on the photo; and c) a close-up of the back side of said detail, also with a size indicator on the photograph.

Why that? Because it's darn hard to find out how they did it without being able to see the flip side of a piece! With a photo of the flip side, it's at least possible to try it yourself and then compare to see if it's more or less matching the original. That is of course still not as good as sitting in front of the real original embroidery, but it's a good start. With only the front... all you can do is stitch it up and hope for the best. And that, my friends, is just not cutting the mustard - at least not for the nitpicky folks like me.

Now where do I propose that law? Any suggestions?

This morning, I woke up at the wrong time - and not the usual wrong time. On most weekdays, I have  the tendency to sleep longer than planned, so I was quite surprised to find myself wide awake at shortly past five in the morning. Much too wide awake to go back to sleep.

Now, I could have gotten up and done something productive and necessary - like working on the half-finished new dress for the next season (I have nothing to wear, you know? Shoemaker's son goes barefoot, as they say). Or I could have gotten up and done something productive and not strictly necessary but already started upon - like spinning some more wheel-spun yarn to make a nice, thick skein of two-ply once that second bobbin is full.
Instead, I got up, slunk down into the cellar to fetch some wood, did a few pencil strokes in strategical places and started setting up the wood... for sawing. To get parts for a proper, medieval-style embroidery frame. Before I go to Vienna. And to have and hold afterwards.

I can always rationalize that this is also necessary work. It's a good tool for me to have, it's product development in case I decide to carry such frames at some point in the future if there's interest in it, it's good for demonstration of medieval embroidery techniques, and I really don't much care for those common round embroidery hoops that are never holding the fabric at the tension I want. And I decided to take this uncommonly early awakening as "extra time" for not-strictly-necessary-things just like this.

There was a little flaw in my plan, though. Since I didn't want to wake up the Most Patient of All Husbands, I had to stop after setting up things. So much for the extra time. Still, I did a good chunk of work yesterday evening, so... I'll be over there, sawing.

Oh, and by the way, what does the zombie embroiderer want? Fraaaaames.... fraaaaames...fraaaaames...

Can you believe there's no bus service from Asparn an der Zaya to Mistelbach on Sundays? Gah. I'd never have guessed that.

Just in case you are wondering why public transport in Austria is high on my list, Asparn is where this year's Textile Forum will take place. And the last day is a Sunday.

At least there's train service from Mistelbach to Vienna. Whew. So now I'll be working on figuring things out... and then updating the page. Life never gets boring!

Oh, and in case you haven't checked out the Forum webpage yet... go do it. Call for Papers/Registration is already running, and we do welcome you whether you come with or without a paper. This year's focus topic is "Linen and other Plant Fibres", but other contributions are of course also welcome.

There's fine weather outside, my little bicycle is equipped with normal summer tyres again, and somehow I feel like sitting in the sun and propping up my feet instead of working. But there's stuff to be done, of course.

My computer spring cleaning has yielded an amazing amount of free space on the hard disk, and there's still a good number of files to be deleted. The garden is mostly fit for the season of growth. My paper is coming along, with some more time for working on it scheduled for today. Bookkeeping is up-to-date for a change, and the new price list for the next season is almost finished. Almost... which leads me to a question.

I have found a source for good, fine and high-quality linen fabric, with much finer yarns and denser weave than normally available on the market. All of the four fabrics are perfectly suited for medieval embroidery, three of them also for counted work. And now I'm trying to decide whether to include pre-cuts in my stock of wares on offer or just sell it by the metre. Three of the cloth bolts are fairly wide, with 160 or 185 cm fabric width, so buying a metre would mean a lot of cloth.

Do you buy pre-cut fabric for embroidery? Or do you prefer to buy by the metre? And if you opt for pre-cuts, what size do you usually buy? Or do you buy kit packages instead of just the materials for a project?

The weather has been more or less sunny for a few days now, there are crocuses blooming and tulips and hyacinths and daffodil greens breaking the ground and growing vigorously now; most of the flower beds have been freed of the old leaves and debris left from autumn and winter. And tomato seedlings sit in a pot on the windowsill.

But that's not all of the signs it's springtime again: Our tandem is now rolling on the summer tyres again, with the spike tyres back in storage for next winter, it's warm enough sometimes to venture out without a jacket and warm enough not to wear socks in the house.

And more signs: Frantic getting-ready-for-the-season orders. I have just placed one for linen fabric - delightful, high-quality, beautiful, fine-woven linen fabric suitable for fine undergarments - and suitable as embroidery ground fabric. And there are at least two more investments waiting for their turn, all complete with the curious mixture of excitement, joy and tension whether the project will soar or not. Springtime indeed!