Google tells me that today is International Women's day.

So, just in case that you have not seen Joss Whedon's acceptance speech for Equality Now yet, I think it sums up a lot of things beautifully, and I really recommend it.

I also really recommend Firefly (should you be into SF at all, or even if you are not into it) - there's wonderful, wonderful characters in this series, and four of the nine core cast members are women. Plus some interesting baddies as well. It's a wonderful thing to watch, and it's a wonderful source for a lot of really nice (and geeky) quotes. And Joss Whedon really writes great strong women characters (and I don't care why).

This landed in my email inbox yesterday:

Dear all,

We are glad to inform you that it will be possible to follow the international workshop An integration of use-wear and residues analysis for the identification of the function of archaeological stone tools, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, 5th – 7th March 2012  live on the website www.archaeologicaltraces.org.

Everybody is welcome to participate, actively or not, in the discussion sessions using the chat.

So in case you read this in time, you can have a look. In case you are too late (or not interested in stone tool use wear analysis), you can still join me in thinking this a really awesome and really cool thing. Live streaming and interactive discussion on conferences! Welcome to the future! Yay!

If you are looking for some place to test your fibre identification skills, you might want to take a look here - and see if you can recognise these cellulosic fibres.

For those of you not only interested in squishy soft textiles, but also in hard stone, there is a Flintknapper Symposium on May 30 - June 2 in the Archaeoparc in the Schnalstal (click link for pdf with info).

And finally, I found out yesterday that Wikipedia (while it can be really, really useful to quickly get a basic idea of something) seems to be a quite not-so-friendly place behind the scenes, editing wars and all. There's an article on Sue Gardner's blog about why women do not edit wikipedia (there are less than 15% openly female contributors to English wikipedia), though the reasons given would apply not only to women, but also to men.
I find this sad. It also makes me think that maybe it would be helpful to do some wikipedia editing... but I have absolutely no desire at all to enter into editing wars, or to work hard at something and then see it disappear again.

A few days ago, I stumbled across this sprang object in the Met museum, dated to 1450-1500. Late medieval sprang again, isn't that nice? And patterned too...

And if you are more into tabletweaving: Amalia has posted photos and information about a tablet-weave from Estonia. It's the border of an 13-14th century shawl or stole, a beautiful piece, and you should totally check it out.




(You should have clicked that link. Really. Not only because it's a beautiful textile, but also because I have nothing more to say here today.)

Yesterday saw me working on a few open questions at once in the library in Bamberg, including pondering a few spinning wheel questions. There's a lot of speculation abounding in regard to the output possible on a hand-spindle, on a Great Wheel and on a modern treadled flyer spinning wheel. There are also quite a few (modern) depictions, descriptions and interpretations of the Great Wheel that do not at all fit in with the image I have in mind of that Wheel: a specialised, highly productive tool for the textile industry, with some very specific caveats and disadvantages, but also with a significantly higher rate of output than the spindle.

All these ponderings are not only in connection with the wheel project - a part of them will also find a little space in the presentation for the conference in Vienna. And all this research is finally solving a few questions I had for a long time.

One is yet unsolved, though. How do I attach the wheel rim to the spokes (or vice versa)? I don't want it all to wobble or fall apart, but I also do not want to risk damage when the wood deforms a little due to changing conditions. Input and speculation (or description of how your Great Wheel, should you have one, keeps its rim and spokes together) is very welcome.

I have not yet finished with the planning for the wheel - I know which wood I will use, I have most of the dimensions figured out, so there's details and unsolved questions left - like "how much tension will my drive band need, and do I have to build in something acting as a brace or stabiliser for the main upright".

Also, there's the question of how I am going to procure the strip of wood necessary for the wheel rim. In contrast to winding wheels or modern treadled wheels, the Great Wheel has a slim but wide, lightweight strip of wood serving as the rim. Which I can either cut out or plane out of a board with normal thickness, or try to buy, saving me the work. So next step in line: find out if there is somewhere near me where I can buy it, at an affordable price and with measurements matching my requirements (and then figure out whether the whole strip, uncut and not yet bent, will fit into the car).

As you can probably tell from the title of this blog post, I have decided to take a shot at making a Great Wheel myself. I am going to base its construction on the well-known Luttrell Psalter image which will result in a fairly big wheel, standing on fairly long legs, with an upright holder for both the spindle and the wheel.

In contrast to later wheels that are still existing, the medieval Great Wheels never seem to have angled uprights holding the wheel itself or the spindle. There will also be no threaded tensioners; I have yet to decide whether to add a different tensioning mechanism or to just tension by changing drive band length.

The whole thing, in any case, should be
a) done so it can be taken apart easily for transport or storage;
b) not use modern materials or concepts;
c) match the Luttrell wheel as well as possible;
d) function as a proper productive spinning tool.

So the usual, the usual. Apart from the tensioning issue, however, I think I have figured out most of the details - putting together of the parts will be done by using wedges, similar to how my table substruction is held together; the legs will be conical and thus should have enough friction in their sockets to stay in there when the wheel is carried around; the largest single bit will be the wheel itself, and that is non-debatable due to construction reasons.

I am very much looking forward to this!