Online Resources for the Independent Researcher v3

This class presumes that you know how to undertake basic research and evaluate sources, but do not have access to a college/university library or decent local library to do research. (and/or that like me, you prefer to do your research in your pajamas at midnight, in the comfort of your own home.)

The goal of the class is to present some resources on the Internet to aid you in your research rabbit holes .  I hope at least some of the sites are new for each of you. 

My personal focus is 16th and early 17th century Venetian and Ottoman textiles, clothing and material culture, but I think the majority of sites will be useful for a variety of rabbit holes.  

There are many more great resources out there on the Internet. These are just the most useful ones I’ve found in my web wanderings and personal research. I would love to hear about other sources you find.

An Afternoon of Block Printing

I've block printed a couple of kaftans and Pietro's Master of the Blade scarf with acrylic craft paint and textile medium and had been collecting block printing stamps for a while so the Baronial A&S Activity I organized for August was blockprinting.  A dozen ladies arrived last Saturday afternoon to play with paint and fabric in my garage and be social. At least three of them knew far more about block printing than I did, so I learned a ton last weekend.

Countess Gwynhwfar brought so many lovely stamps!

Experimenting on scraps

 Playing with paint

Some folks were just experimenting but others brought projects that they worked on.

Countess Gwen experimenting with different types of paint

Mistress Kerysten decorating the neckline of a tunic

Sir Kytte decorating the hem of a tunic for Sir Artos

Things I learned:

• Dawn dish soap works great to clean paint off the block
• Exterior house paint works well for block printing
• A dense pad (like a yoga mat) underneath gives a better result
• You need Mineral Spirits to take oil pased inks off blocks

Things I want to try:

Mistress Margavati was using a "stamp pad" that she had seen block printers in India use -a large square plastic container with several layers of padding that she poured the ink (I believe she was experimenting with Dynaflow) onto and inked the block by pressing it onto the padding. 

Mistress Margavati taking a break from her stamp pad and talking to Mistress Portia

Mistress Portia had a fascinating way of producting a copy of a stamp using a legos for a frame and pouring a silicone mix (I think) into the frame.

Mistress Portia working magic!

Everyone enjoyed themselves and there was enough interest that this may become a recurring event every couple of months.

For  myself, I have bought a variety of paints, inks and other block printing tools and plan to do a lot of systematic experimenting to determine which paints work best on various stamps and types of cloth.  Watch this space!