Duchess

1 hour ago, TudorSmith said:

Taking a breather for a week or so, then focusing on Halloween....then will probably be back to projects come November 

Thanks for sharing, it all turned out great!

On 9/5/2023 at 10:32 PM, TudorSmith said:

We are now at panick sewing phase....

The Smee pants are done but not hemmed, or flat felled on the interior. Chances are neither if these things will happen but they are functional and look decent. Slight fraying adds a quaint charm methinks.

Got a second white shirt cut and the basting for gathering put in. Started trying to put sleeves together but forgot a gusset which I took as a sign to pack it in for the night. I'm pretty confident I can have the bulk of construction done before the event and u can work on the hand finishes on site.

A second skirt will hopefully be cut this week too. Have to prewash the fabric first though. 

I had hoped for a sleeveless waistcoat still too but as I haven't done one of those yet and I definitely don't have time to prototype, I'm sticking with the two garments I feel I can actually get done in the same time. 

The coarse linen I picked up to make a poor girl's Turkish towel is too thick to get through my machine so I'm pinking the raw edges and calling it good. This does also tell me though that my hopes of doing up a canvas haversack is also off the agenda just due to equipment failure. Maybe I will cut one or two to do by hand on site though. 

Otherwise....I feel pretty ok about what I've made/collected/acquired. Few other last minute purchases and I shall be ready to get on a plane roughly this time next week.

 

Please post final pics of it all for those of us who can't make the event, but have been following along!

It's been 20 years and I know it's unreasonable to believe that none of us would sail on. But I find I'm willing to entertain quite a bit of unreasonableness if it means that folks I've known are out in the world  simply carrying on with their lives.

For whatever reason and all the reasons, this hits hard today.

4 hours ago, SaltyBeard said:

Pearl Leather is my wife work.  She just started leather working this year and has excelled in it quickly.  She took to carving fast.   That piece that is shown will be a debut piece that is Donated to Beaufort NC Pirate invasion Sept 2023 , for an auction item.  She is not ready to go public in sales and have stock, but has started commissions with the friends Local pirate  community.  I wanted to start showing off her pieces.  

Very cool! I've started doing some leather work this year and I know it's not easy!

On 8/18/2023 at 7:16 PM, SaltyBeard said:

Ahoy! Starting to show some work from Pearl Leather.   

 

Neat! Is Pearl Leather your work?

Last weekend I worked up a proof of concept for what I'm thinking of doing for our Traveling Yard. This bandana uses 5 separate blocks, which were all made for other projects, not designed with cohesion in mind. (And two of the blocks were considered failures for their intended purpose!) While this is a time consuming printing process, I think it will work out nicely. I'm excited to see what you all come up with for your blocks and how they can be brought together in the final product.

If you have any questions, need suggestions or want to talk through your ideas, let me know!

Note: The imperfections on this piece will likely be similar to those on our final Traveling Yard. If I had to reject every incomplete, misaligned print or smudge, I'd run out of bandanna blanks, time, money and sanity.

On 7/22/2023 at 11:03 AM, madPete said:

I tried out the bale marks today. Pretty cool! Thanks Michael!!!!

I'll ship the HudsonBay and Dutch east India co to you (Duchess) next week.

William is going to hang onto the WTF balemark (Not shown).

And I'll hang on to the Mercury balemark for now. Maybe bring to Mercury events if anyone wants to use it.

 

 

Sounds good!

8 hours ago, Mary Diamond said:

Would it be ok for me to submit 4 smaller blocks of 3”x4”? I was thinking my mark, and some period scrollwork/floral themed designs.

Sure! I'll see what I can do with layouts, like I said smaller pieces might make that easier. Could you rank them so that if I can't include them all for some reason, that I make sure to include your favorite?

7 hours ago, Stynky Tudor said:

I'm not likely doing anything larger than a single 4"x4".

Should be just fine!

31 minutes ago, Stynky Tudor said:

Excellent, I won't give it a further thought and wait until the very last second to turn my work in (just like grade school).

You're not supposed to make this feel like work for me.

Excellent!

It looks like it's just the four of us: Mary, Stynky, me and Pete with Michael's blocks. So let's plan on no larger than a 12"x12" design from each person, ie 25% of the available area. From a practical standpoint it will be easier for me to create an overall design if your block/image is significantly smaller than this, but if you want to roll at this max size, I can probably work with it.

If you'd like to run through some ideas, let me know. I'm available for messaging or a video chat if you want.

If anyone else thinks they might like to jump in and can get me a block by the September due date, let me know!

Let's save the Mercury one for the Mercury crew or a separate project.

But I want to point out it's a great example of a relatively straightforward way to produce a print block. So folks who are interested take note, you just need a hunk of wood and a knife!

The Traveling Yard sign up is open over in Arts of Pyracy! I'd love to see a couple more folks sign up so we can really build an eclectic piece of fabric.

https://pyracy.com/topic/19754-the-traveling-yard-2023-information-and-sign-ups/#comment-420707

If you're interested but intimidated or don't know where to start, let me know! I can offer some advice and store suggestions for supplies!

If the cost of supplies and postage is stopping you, send me a DM, I'm willing to subsidize a person or two who wants to participate but is concerned about the cost.

Let's get a few more folks in on this!

8 hours ago, Morgan Dreadlocke said:

...a 13th cousin 6 times removed (wot the bloody 'ell do all that mean?).

 

Removes are generations. So this person is six generations after the person that is your 13th cousin. You and your 13th cousin would have to go back 14 generations to find a common ancestor.

On 6/20/2023 at 8:45 PM, Mary Diamond said:

Count me in! PM to be sent after this reply.

Thank you for organizing this!

On 6/20/2023 at 9:21 PM, Stynky Tudor said:

I'm in me thinks. 😋

Yes! This is going to be good!

Imagine yourself walking out the door, an eclectic handkerchief knotted smartly around your neck. Or maybe tied fashionably around your hair. Tucked in a pocket. Or wrapped on your wrist.  The compliments pour in and you can say "Thanks! I made this!"

This is your golden opportunity to share in a Pyracy Pub creative effort. Go on the account with us and receive a hand printed handkerchief when the booty is shared out.

What is expected of you?

Step 1: Sign up by July 14^th.

Step 2: Create a nautical or piracy related design as a printing block or plate. (This is the real work you need to do. More resources to follow on this.)

Step 3: Send your block or plate to me (Duchess), to be received no later than September 1^st.

Step 4: Wait patiently while I collect your blocks, design the overall look of the handkerchief, print them, cure them and send them out.

Step 5: Receive your handkerchief and celebrate!

FAQ:

How do I sign up?

·         PM me,Duchess by Midnight July 14th, 2023

What does this glory filled opportunity cost?

·         There is no upfront cost to you! Handkerchiefs, waterproof ink and postage of the finished scarf are being donated by me (Duchess) to this project. You may have some costs associated with procuring the medium for your printing block, any tools you might want and the postage to get the block to me.

How big or small a block should I make?

·         There is no minimum size requirement. Smaller images can be repeated as needed to fill space or create an aesthetic design.

·         There will likely be a maximum size limit, however this will be based on how many people sign up. This information will be sent to you after sign ups close.

What is the size of the final handkerchief?

·         The handkerchief blanks are 24 inches square. They are white, hemmed and all cotton. The final piece will be washable and suitable for dying if you wish to do so.

What materials can I use for a printing block?

·         You have a lot of options for what and how to carve your block/plate. For this project your material must be able to withstand shipping and printing by someone other than you, additionally I require that it not rot. Don’t send me any potatoes.

·         Piece of wood lumber or other found wood (pros: small pieces are often cast offs and easy to find, con: grain can be a pain work with, just do all your carving with the grain) Do make sure you have a flat surface to start your carving.

·         Linoleum block (pros durable, can be carved in any direction, consistent. cons: can be expensive, might want a way to hold it while carving, will need to be purchased at a set size or cut with a saw)

·         unmounted linoleum (pros, easy to cut to size, straightforward carving. cons: not rigid, easy to accidentally cut through, still kinda expensive)

·         rubber blocks for printing, ie Speedy carve (pros: pink is super easy to carve, easy to cut to size cons: kinda expensive, might be hard to source, not long term durable)

·         pink eraser blocks (pros: cheap, easy to find, easy to carve. Cons: small size, hard to hold while carving)

·         3D printing (Pros: I dunno? Fun to combine lots of skills, no hand strength needed Cons: expensive, time consuming, high learning curve)

I have a different question.

·       Post it here or PM me with your question.

It turns out heavier than a typical loaf, I could also be a bit more patient letting it rise sufficiently, but it is delicious. I use a few spoonfuls of honey as well, so it is hearty and bit sweet.  I've never really like french toast, so this was an attempt to make something I would like and it was successful. It needs to soak in the mix a lot longer than a normal bread slice.

The sausage I've been working on with their meat guy for a couple of years, I'm really stoked on this spicy maple recipe. Hopefully they'll keep making it for us!

Spicy maple breakfast sausage from the local university. I've been working with their meat guy for the last year on a breakfast sausage recipe and we're getting close with this round.

Homemade bread, made with spent grains from Stynky's brewing efforts. Turned into french toast with whole milk from a local farm.

0000 Steel wool to gently remove the rust, it should clean off completely unless you have true pitting. From the pictures it doesn't look like you do.

Leather sheaths aren't great for long term storage for a few reasons:

• Leather needs moisture. Holding that moisture against metal leads to rusting.
• Leather is often tanned with chemicals that can contribute to moisture retention or contain salts all of which are bad for metal
• Any knife sheathed after use but without cleaning brings who knows what inside the sheath that stuff is then pressed against the metal and can contribute to rust.

For protecting your metal, if you need something food safe, use food safe mineral oil. You can use that on the blade and on the handle.

You can also patina your blade, similar to how you'd season a cast iron pan.

I've also done a sort of "corner of the shop" rough and dirty rust bluing by soaking the metal in a bucket of water and vinegar. (This is useful for removing scale or heavy rust too.) After the a good soak (over night to a couple of weeks) card off all the gunk with 0000 steel wool. Rinse well and soak it a bucket of baking soda water to stop the vinegar action. After a similar soak, card it all off with the steel wool , dry it thoroughly and coat in the mineral oil.

Note that your railroad spike knife could be anything from mild steel to something equivalent to 1045 steel. They're pretty much all over the place, so expect that it likely won't hold an edge and will need lots of attention to stay rust free. Be pleasantly surprised by anything else.

I'll volunteer to be the host then. 🙂 I need to get through the next few weeks of work intact and then I'll start putting this together.

Folks, start your sketches!

I think we could look at doing a handkerchief size of light weight material for a first go round. That way it could be a wearable item or decorative at the end depending on what folks decide to do with their piece. I've got some cotton blanks 24" square that I could donate to the project as along as we don't get more than 5-6 participants. We can source more if we want to.

From there I think we could suggest a maximum size for each individual block. It might be useful to choose a standard size for folks who are buying premade blocks. Smaller images could always be repeated as needed to fill space. As an example, if we use the handerchief blanks and had six participants, each participant could be suggested a maximum size of 4"x4"

Another option that might work well would be for everyone to carve their block and send it to one person for printing. That way an esthetic arrangement could made and patterns repeated nicely if needed. This also reduces the amount of overhead, since not everyone would need ink, brayer, etc.

On 5/5/2023 at 7:27 PM, Stynky Tudor said:

I was thinking 2x2 or 3x3 to start.

Hey Stynky, what units?

Welcome back!

15 hours ago, madPete said:

William and I talked about some portable tavern stools for events. The desire was to  make them historic as possible and portable i.e. legs can be removed for shipping/transport. We also wanted them sturdy, cheap, and portable.

HAHA... Pick any two.

Being "portable" was the biggest challenge.  Thinking we could use threaded legs, to make a portable stool and still be historic looking, I proceeded to search for a tap and die tool for wood. I found one and ordered the appropriate size.  Once it came in I was a bit hesitant. The tap looked beefy enough but the die is a two handed deal made of plastic/nylon with a steel cutting bit.

I went to the local hardwood store "Timber Woodworking" and found some 1-1/4 oak dowels. They were out of most sizes/wood variations at the time, but I'll revisit again later. I also found a chunk of maple to make seats with. If you haven't priced wood lately (especially hardwood), you might be a bit surprised. Hardwood dowels are not cheap nor is maple stock in 7" X 1-3/4"  chunks. Only about $9 a foot!

Anyway, got home and proceeded to mark up and drill the prescribed hole in the seat at a 15deg angle.  Managed to get thru that and attempted the tap. It turned out to be a stumbling block, I'm sure this cuts thru softwood like pine or fir like butter. But, Maple ... ah no. After an hour or so of struggle, I walked away for a bit. It was catching the wood pretty hard and I was afraid I was gonna break the tap if I twisted any harder. Not to mention my muscles were screaming. The instructions said to oil the wood, and I did, but apparently olive oil wasnt working.

So after some research and investigation of other attachment methods I returned to it a week later. This time with the die on an oak dowel. Oak might be the plan going forward. It tends to chip the threads out a little at a time and the 4 legs went pretty quickly. I used Linseed oil this time.  With this new found confidence, back to the maple seat. I liberally oiled with linseed along with the tap itself and started a new hole. This time it went a bit easier and faster. Likely the first hole I drilled was not true. My table top drill press does not have a deep enough throat, so it took two attempts to get thru the seat and it was binding. Make no mistake it still took some muscle and frequent oiling to get threads down the second hole but was much faster this time.

This is was the test prototype and shows it underneath. But I have a plan to clean it up, level the legs and maybe tap the legs a little deeper so they come closer to the seat surface. The pilot holes in the seat are going to be cutouts to lighten it. But I wanted to get an idea of how it looked in stain.

The first pic is a 17th century example from the Mary Rose, the next are my attempt...

I love this!

On 3/25/2023 at 9:15 AM, Stynky Tudor said:

 Considering I have a (limited) background in printing - silkscreen, vinyl, plex/channel letters, neon, hand painted signs, xerox, pmt photo prints, surprisingly I've never noodled around with block print making. Does anybody have a suggestion for a solid set of gouge tools?

These maybe a bit steep, but was highly recommended by someone on YouTube.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FHM3G6/?coliid=I337Y3JZCMPW09&colid=2D7342J2H6MNS&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it 

I'm sure I replied this already, but I have no idea what happened to the post. Maybe I never submitted it?

Anyway.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/carving-tools/111761-palm-handle-basic-carving-set?item=57D0602

I'm reasonably certain this is the set that I have. I can't recall the brand for sure, but they look identical. It was recommended to be by some folks in a print studio as a good beginner set. Good enough to not hold you back, cheap enough to be reasonably accessible.