Author Archives: kittycalash

Sleeping 18th Century-Style

07 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by in History, Living History

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the_idle_servant1There was a mild flurry about a year ago around the release of Evening’s Empire, by Craig Koslofsky. Like the 2005 book by Roger Ekirch, At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, Koslofsky’s book examines pre-electric lighting patterns of behaviour at night, including sleep patterns.  The BBC has a nice article on the two here. Both Koslofsky and Ekirch assert that until the 19th century, humans typically slept in two blocks of about 4 hours each, and scientists confirm this natural tendency.

Last year, between December and March, I had the luck to test this theory, and once again, it seems I will be sleeping old school, in blocks of time. Unfortunately, these blocks of time are often 2 hours and not 4 hours, as the scientists and historians claim we need. User testing of one shows me that 2 hour sleep blocks (or 4 hours followed by 2 hours) are inadequate and I may be near-hallucinatory by March, just as I was last year.

When doing living history, its always better not to skimp on resources.

Light & Night

04 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in History

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Morland: Woman Reading by a Paper-Bell Shade: YCBA

Winter’s hard for me. I don’t like the lack of light, I don’t like the shortness of the days and how the sky is pale and stretched in these months. But this is a good time to think about basic needs, like light and heat and warm clothing.

The New York Times came to my rescue this morning with the article by Holland Cotter (and others) on “Artworks That Shine in New York Museums.” Cotter is one of my favorite critics and writers, and he, along with Karen Rosenberg, Roberta Smith, and other NYT critics, have selected some interesting pieces.

De La Tour: Penitent Magdalen, MMA

Ken Johnson leads with Georges De La Tour’s Penitent Magdalen. It’s earlier than my usual era but I was attracted to the image of the flame in the mirror; it’s not just a lighting device, of course, it’s a metaphor, but the rendering of the candlelight, and the use of the mirror to boost that light, tells us about how 17th and 18th century painters saw light, and how light was manipulated. We know from our simple experiments at work that mirrors really do amplify light, and that large stately rooms would only glitter with lots of candles and lots of mirrors. Light gives us a window on economy and wealth, as a precious commodity that cost money or labor to have.

Vermeer: Mistress and Maid, The Frick

Vermeer: Mistress and Maid, The Frick

Cotter looks at Vermeer’s Mistress and Maid at the Frick, and notes the lack of obvious natural light or other light sources, and the overall dark mood of the scene. But Cotter’s writing shines, as he concludes the little essay: Whatever Vermeer’s anxious thoughts, light stayed on his mind. It scintillates in the pearls the woman wears in her hair and shines in the butter-yellow silk of her jacket. And the blacked-out space the women occupy turns out to have sunlit windows after all. We see them reflected in glassware on the writing table as tiny lozenges of light, far in the distance, as if at the end of a tunnel, but there.

Writing like that is its own kind of light, a joy to have in the daily newspaper on a cold, short day. In all, four critics look at five paintings each from a range of cultures and time periods. It’s enough to make one want to hop a train south.

HSF #0: Waistcoat, Bloody Waistcoat

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Clothing, Historical Sew Fortnightly, Making Things, Reenacting

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Challenge garment peers from jacket. Calm thyselves, fellow authenticity hounds. New buttons for jacket are on order.

(Actually, the jacket was bloody where I jabbed myself with the needle inserting the sleeve, but that’s fun for another day. And how you know your historical sewing project is complete. I bled for this, man.)

The Challenge: #0, Starting Simple

Fabric: Body: ¾ yard remnant from Wm Booth Draper WWB816 Broadcloth, light brown. Lining: Left over heavy-weight linen. Might also have come from Booth, I forget.

Pattern: Kannik’s Korner Man’s Waistcoats, 1790-1815

Year: Call it 1799. That’s the year where it will be worn.

Notions: 9 brass buttons from Wm Booth Draper

What monkey did those buttonholes?

How historically accurate is it? Well…the pattern has good documentation and the fabric is within reason for the period. The waistcoat is entirely hand-sewn, but the button holes were apparently accomplished by drunken crack-headed monkeys, which is what you get for trying to finish a garment on New Year’s Eve. I was neither drunk, nor on crack, and have no helper monkeys, but all the same…thank god for jackets to hide the sins of my buttonholes.

Best welt I ever made–aside from butting heads with a colleague once.

Hours to complete: Don’t ask. It’s a soul-robbing number. The buttons and buttonholes alone took 1 full and two half Abbot & Costello movies, and two “Monarchy” episodes. Probably 25 hours total (I started in November, but stopped sewing after December 2). Total time may include naps taken when I fell asleep while sewing.

First worn: To be worn by the new owner (Mr S) January 19, at the Winter Frolic.

Total cost: Blood, sweat, tears… sorry, wrong war. Buttonholes bring that out in me.

  • Fabric:  $13.50
  • Lining: Leftover, hence not factored in.
  • Buttons: Used 9, but bought 10 because I’m not as simple as I look, so $12.50
  • Pattern: Also from Wm Booth, $16.

That puts the cash outlay at $26 for materials, and $16 for pattern, which I will use again starting yesterday. Yes, sports fans, another bloody waistcoat to sew. Lucky for me, it’s red, so the blood won’t show. Checking the HSF schedule, I can see that the only 1813 garment I can make is another waistcoat (1790-1815, remember?) for the Young Mr, who needs a full set of clothes made by January 19. Waistcoat underway, pattern pieces assembled and two more pieces of broadcloth remnant order for a jacket, leaving trousers to wrestle with. At least I have fabric. 

Start Your Needles!

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Clothing, Historical Sew Fortnightly, Making Things

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LAPL- Casey Collection

LAPL- Casey Collection

I haven’t sewn anything in nearly a month, and it has been delicious. Really. No buttonholes, no hems, no seams. Nothing! I ripped a button off my winter coat and pocketed it, people. I didn’t sew it back on. That’s cold turkey.

But spring beckons, or so I’m told it will, eventually, and the sewing must start again. There are many, many things I want to make and several I need to make. Wants and needs…and more meditation.

I’ve been watching the Historical Sew Fortnightly that The Dreamstress is running, and I’m in. What the heck! I need another kick in the pants,  breeches, what-have-you, to get back to sewing. I really do enjoy it, so why not?

To start with something simple due by midnight? Hmm. I have at least two ideas already, but one garment under construction might allow me to meet the deadline. Well, the North American midnight, anyway. I’ll have to cheat to start, and that isn’t usually the Calash way…

Looking ahead, I see a possible 1813 garment in my future. How about this 1813 Winter Walking Dress? I could make it just for fun, which would be a good task for me.

Winter Holidays

24 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Food, History

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NGA-The Skater

NGA-The Skater

Family’s here (OK, my mother; we’re a small family) and it’s time to pay attention to the people in the room instead of writing. So to celebrate winter, and the shorter days (tell that to a child waiting for Christmas), here’s one of my favorite paintings by Rhode Island native Gilbert Stuart.

NGS- The Skating Minister

NGS- The Skating Minister

It has a cousin here, by Sir Henry Raeburn. The selection of Raeburn’s portraits online (there are 25 in the National Galleries of Scotland) is stunning. What a treat for wintery days in these dark but luminous works.