CrazyCholeBlack

This is the best tutorial coving women's white caps during the "big" 18th century (roughtly 1690-1812) http://people.csail.mit.edu/sfelshin/BRY2K/making-caps.html There are endless styles and arrangements of the basic pieces to create different caps. I strongly suggest trying every single cap style you can lay your hands on before deciding on "the one" for you. Some people can pull off a ruffle around the brim, some look great in the long lappets, some perfer a very small cap that only covers the hair but doesn't get too near their face. Caps are a very individual thing. In fact, I've even found that the cap style I loved last year, isn't the one that I love this year. So keep trying, even if you think you've got the perfect cap because you never know! Chole

Just a few of my favorite photos that have come through thus far. I've been assured that the rest are currently being processed, a full report from our side of the beach will be forth coming. The Great Lakes River Pirates Flotilla from L-R II, the Punt, Catspaw, Tantrum, Raith Morning on the beach with Tantrum, Catspaw & II Pirating is tiring work "ALL HANDS!" Photos © K. Garland 2009 Chole

This is a fun topic. I made a list this spring of the bare necessities in preparation for going on a weekend long canoe trek that ended up being canceled due to flooding The idea was to have a few personal belongings, in as compact a space, in order to maximize the "cargo" room on the boats. Wear: stockings & garters shoes 2 petticoats 1 shift pack thread stays wool jacket neckerchief head scarf hat Bed Roll: oil cloth piece wool blanket spare shift/shirt spare stockings Snap sack/haversack: modern medication modern eye glasses modern 1st aid kit food (parched corn, jerky, coffee beans, hard cheese, hard tack, modern water filter) spoon stoneware porringer fire starting tin (striker, lens, tow & char cloth) candle nub knife map of the river Hopefully the trip won't be canceled next year, I'm really looking forward to spending a few days both on the river & as unencumbered with gear as possible. Chole

Don't forget the slide show includes *your* own group, the Great Lakes River Pirates, as well William. You wouldn't want to suffer similar loss of rank as our once Lt, come midshipman Lith, now would we Special thanks to Bruce Langseth for his hard work putting together the montage, wonderful work sir! The 5 of our boats present very much enjoyed the splendid weather along the big lakes this past weekend, coffee and cards at Black's Coffeehouse, music with Brigands Folie & of course the thrill of ship to shore battle! All in all another successful raid and not one to be missed! Chole

You can always chocolate cover them youselves. However, since confectionary chocolate wasn't around until well after my focus period, it's not something I, personally, will ever be making or selling. The current batch of beans is almost gone, grab it now or wait until I roast again in August! Chole

For more images of the Great Lakes River Pirates raid on Historic Fort Wayne, including some very nice photos of the 5 boats we had at the event, please see the corresponding blog entry on Slightly Obsessed Friday last, the forces of the Great Lakes River Pirates, under the guidance of Lt.'s Garland & Lith, gathered at the confluence of the St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Maumee Rivers for a planned raid on Fort Wayne, situated there. The good Lt. Lith, having taken much to drink and gambling at Black's Coffeehouse on Saturday night, attempted to alter the outcome of a dice game, instead found himself engaged in a duel the following morning. All Photos © K. Garland 2009

Not unlike today, in the 17th & 18th centuries there was more than one "best" way to prepare true coffee. The two main forms, Infusion (extraction by steeping or soaking) or decoction (extraction by boiling) each have their benefits & drawbacks. At Black's Coffeehouse we choose to follow a decoction method first published in 1716, which continued in popularity well into the early 19th century. I've found this makes a superior pot, is easy to produce in large quantity and gives me an excuse to have all sorts of neat coffee production tools However, no one should feel badly about using these beans in what ever brewing method they prefer. They make an excellent cold brew, French press and one of the best cups from an espresso machine I've ever tasted. I've even had more than one visitor to the coffeehouse eat the beans like candy Chole

Klingon These are single origin arabica beans chosen to be both from a historically accurate location and to brew the most flavorful cup given the intricacies of the fire roasting process. Chole

Authentic 18th Century Whole Bean Coffee For Sale. Fire roasted in my reproduction coffee roaster at living history events around the mid-west, this is as close to 18th century coffee as one can get without traveling back in time! These are single origin beans chosen to compliment the fire roasting process, roasted to a full city with underlying chocolate and spice flavors of cinnamon, cloves & pepper. These beans brew a beautiful cup of coffee, the prefect addition to your mornings, no matter what time period you live in. All proceeds benefit the educational efforts of Black's Coffeehouse, and allow me to continue sharing the history behind this simple drink at living history events around the country. $6 for 8oz $12 for 1lb or $24 for 2 lbs Plus priority shipping. Paypal payments to choleblack at yahoo dot com preferred. Enjoy! Chole

I'd advise using blackball, a combination of beeswax, tallow & lamp black, that was used during both the F&I & AWI periods, especially by the military. Not only because it works well, but because it was a historically known product. But I'm not one to go using something modern on my historic items, your mileage may very. It's also a good idea to let the shoes dry on your feet if possible, not to dry them too close to the fire (no matter how cold your feet are ) and to use a good stiff brush to remove any dried mud & dirt regularly. I would also strongly suggest not adding a heel plate or hobnails, as most historic sites frown on them, if they haven't been banned completely. They do terrible damage to wood floors. Chole

Oh & to the OP. I would suggest reading about the Harp Brothers, Big & Little. The Wikipedia page on them is a good general, sanitized over view. Harp Brothers Wikipedia Be forewarned though, if you start digging, there are some rather graphic accounts of their exploits. Definitely not for the weak of constitution! Chole

With due respect Mission, you are a doctor not a lawyer An universal etymological English dictionary, By N. (Nathan) Bailey, Published by E. Bell, 1724 Acts Passed at the First Session of the 1st Congress - 3d Session of the 25th Congress etc, By United States, United States Congress, Published by Printed by Richard Folwell, 1796 A compendious digest of the statute law: comprising the substance and effect of all the public acts of Parliament in force from Magna Charta in the ninth year of King Henry III to the twenty-seventh year of his present majesty King George III inclusive, By Thomas Walter Williams, Published by Printed for G. Kearsley, 1787 And for the fun of it, highlights from 18 George II, Chapter 30. This is an adendum to the acts 11 & 12 Will 3 c.7, "an act for the effectual suppressing of piracy" Statutes at Large, By Great Britain, Published 1765 Even further reading is available from A collection of statutes connected with the general administration of the law: arranged according to the order of subjects, with notes By Great Britain, William David Evans, Anthony Hammond, Thomas Colpitts Granger, Published by W.H. Bond, 1836, p 122. Though 19th century this book does a good job of collecting all the laws pertaining to the subject of piracy law, from the reigns of Richard II through George IV. Enjoy! Chole

Well, the ECW ends in the 1650's while the SYW doesn't start until the 1750's. In absence of a significant war we have to find some way to classify those years. So we split it into Buccaneer and GAoP. We give them nice round numbers so that the dates are easy to remember and tadah, what was previously just a gap in history between the wars is now worthy of note Chole

By the authority vested in me by the first Lieutenant, I hereby share the official Great Lakes River Pirates schedule for the 2009 season. Look for our fleet of six boats, cannon, swivel guns & small arms along with our "honest" businesses, J. Henderson Artifacts & Black's Coffeehouse at all of these events. Rumor below decks is that we might also have two new raids added to the schedule as well. Keep a weather eye open July 11-12 Seige of Ft. Wayne 1812; Ft. Wayne, IN August 1-2 Pike River Rendezvous; Kenosha, WI August 7-9 Pirates of Payneton; Burlington, IN September 19-20 Kohkohmah & Foster Encampment; Kokokmo, IN October 2-4 Mississinewa 1812; Marion, IN (moderators, if you could please add these to the appropriate calenders, etc. I would be indebted) Chole

Greetings all. Just dropped in to pass along this wonderful opportunity to the other sailing fanatics here. Jay Henderson, experienced sailor, boat builder & member of the Great Lakes River Pirates has a hand built, 13 foot punt/scow currently available for sale. This boat would make a great addition to an already established fleet, or as a starter boat for those aspiring sailors. I can personally attest to the quality & craftsmanship Jay puts into his boats, as I've had the pleasure of learning to sail aboard one. This beauty would be mine in a heartbeat if I only had the vehicle to tow her with For further information visit the boats page at http://artifacts.brigandsfolie.com/puntforsale.htm Additional information is also available by contacting Tracy at the contact info listed on the page. Enjoy! Chole

Actually Mission, not one is listed as a "slave" and not one of the men mentioned is African. These are all white, European males in the colony of Virginia. Although I realize I didn't include their racial identity, which is included in the full advertisements. I left the quotes short & to the point regarding tattoos so as to not overwhelm the readers. The link is there for anyone to continue with their own research using the materials. Chole

Darn it if you guys only went a few years further into the future! Ran across these while searching for something completely different (naturally ). They're all just past the GAoP unfortunately but worthy of note for those interested in the subject of historical tattooing. Virginia Runaways “Runaway Slave Advertisements from 18th-century Virginia newspapers”. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/runaways/search.html (accessed March 8, 2009). I've found more but they continue even further from the period in question. As an interesting side note, most of these references came up while searching for "committed to gaol" advertisements. Curious connection indeed Chole

Michael (et all)- RH 713 DOES include a pattern for the workman's style cap. I've used it with great success but that shouldn't surprise anyone Patrick- Is this the monmouth pattern you were thinking of? Mara Riley Knitting Patterns Mara's patterns are fantastic. Good enough that I have the entire collection despite not being able to knit myself out of a tangled ball of yarn. HTH. Chole

Kate, tell me more about the benefits of soaking and how it becomes easier to work with please. Is it simply to remove the curve from it being coiled or is there another benefit? I have been looking at my pile of reed with scepticism (I got a coil of each size to play with). I tend to be set in my ways and the stuff is completely alien to me. Lara- I believe soaking the reed was one of the suggestions I discussed with Michael last year. I figured it out the hard way while constructing my 1690 stays a few years back. I have found that when using the *full* round reed the pieces, especially those nearest the center of the coil, are too tightly wound to straighten enough to put into channels. Soaking in very hot water & hand straightening, then allowing the pieces to dry well & very lightly coating with a rubbing of bees wax removed most of the curl and made every inch of the roll usable. I have not, however, had any trouble with either the flat oval or half round reeds I've used for other projects. Both these are much more flexible that the full round reed & are able to be straightened by hand without the aid of the hot water. HTH. Chole

I'll have to respectfully disagree with Donna & Lisa. I have found that fitting with fabric never works properly. After all, there is no fabric that is going to fully mimic the stiffness of fully boned stays. I always use the corrugated cardboard mock up technique and it has never failed me. I have used it for everything from 15th century through regency, & know others that have used it successfully for nearly everything else including modern bustiers. Points in the cardboard techniques favor; it's free from your local recycling center, cardboard mimics the stiffness of stays, pieces can be cut with the corrugations running in the same direction as the later boning channels, places of discomfort are easy to identify as the cardboard pokes where the fabric doesn't & they are sturdy enough that in a true pinch (& with plenty of duct tape) they can be worn for an entire weekend event. Plus it's just kind of fun to be able to say you've "worn" cardboard. Cardboard Fitting Tutorial Granted there are those that will immediately argue "they didn't have cardboard in (insert time period) so we shouldn't use it either". But lets be honest with ourselves, at the time when stays were being worn daily, by every class of women, they had professionals to fit & construct them. The techniques they employed in fitting are not necessarily within the skills of your average seamstress/reenactor. I would much rather every woman have a well fit, properly constructed, comfortable enough to sleep in pair of stays than be anal retentive about the techniques used to achieve them. Chole

I'm getting the feeling that some of your frustration might be from the bias tape. Not so much the material etc, but in trying to use the pre-ironed folds in the tape to conform to the edge of the stays. My best advice is to iron the tape flat & use it that way. Trying to get those folds to match your piece is near impossible. Once the tape is flat it will be much easier to decide where *you* want it to fold over to the inside. For the tabs they are just fiddly & take time! Don't underestimate the importance of pins. I like to focus on each individual tab, sewing the tape to the outside of one before moving on to the next & then folding the tape to the inside. It can be pretty overwhelming trying to get the tape perfect on all the tabs at once. Doing them individually means you don't have to shift any of the others to fiddle with the one you're working on. Best of luck. Chole

Happily. Take a deep breath 'cause this could be long winded Basically, the hoop petticoat originates in ~1710. I don't believe any of the extant examples in museums currently date from pre 1750 unfortunately. They are so rare to find in collections in the first place that it doesn't really surprise me but it would be nice to find an older piece. However, there are numerous mentions of hoops & hooped petticoats during the GAoP. Just a quick few William Chappell, 1859, Popular Music of the Olden Time a Collection of Ancient Songs, Ballads and Dance Tunes Illustrative of the National Music of England Part Two: A collection of ancient songs, ballads and dance-tunes. With short introductions ... also a short account of the minstrels, p 649 Amelia Mott Gummere, 1901, The Quaker A Study in Costume, 138 The Tattler, Issue 245, Nov. 2, 1710, pp. 248-249 The Speculator, Issue 127, July 26, 1711, p.496 Boradside, National Library of Scotland, Word on the Street Archive, Probable publication date 1710-1720 If you've got access to a college library the following is an interesting read on the subject of hoops during the long 18th century. Chrisman, Kimberly. Unhoop the Fair Sex: The Campaign Against the Hoop Petticoat in Eighteenth-Century England Eighteenth-Century Studies - Volume 30, Number 1, Fall 1996, pp. 5-23 Available through Project Muse There's more but it's a late for me to be digging through my notes. Hope that helps Chole

A Basic Petticoat Tutorial The corresponding Knife Pleating Tutorial A Tutorial on leveling a petticoat from the waist for wearing over pocket hoops. This tutorial can be altered to construct a petticoat to go over any shaped underpinning, from farthingales to bustles and everything in between. Hope that helps Chole

Michael & Jessica- You're going to hate me for offering tips after the fact, but I will in case it helps anyone else To make adding the reed (or any boning) easier, stitch it directly into the channels. Sew one side of the channel, butt the boning up to the stitch line, pin in place as needed, stitch the 2nd line directly next to the boning. This gets it in nice & snug despite any variations in the boning itself. This can also be done on the sewing machine but is a little harder to do (a zipper foot helps). Wait to cut the fingers (aka tabs) until after the channels are sewn. This way you don't end up with too few or too many channels in each finger. It also avoids having the outer material shift around as you're sewing & ending up out of alignment with the inner-linings. That happens to be a minor pet peeve of mine when making stays. You can also wait to trim the top edge until after sewing the channels to avoid this same out of place shifting. Just don't forget to mark out the final shape of the piece so you know where to start & stop. The method I learned for attaching the panels is to fold your outer & inner-linings to the inside along the last channel line, match sections right side to right side & whip stitch together. The final whip stitch creates the last side on both channels of each connected piece. Very nice work so far. How does the cut of this pair differ from the previous pair? Chole

Pike River is the first weekend of August, this year Aug 1-2 2009. The contact person is Ernie Kraak, 262-843-3757. The event is by invitation only and space is at a premium so groups interested in participation would do well to contact early. As usual the Great Lakes River Pirates and Black's Coffeehouse will be present Pirates of Paynetown has traditionally been the 2nd weekend of August. The main contact is Nathaniel, he's a member here and may well weight in if he sees this. The event site is http://www.piratesofpaynetown.org/. Again the GLRP & Black's Coffeehouse will be there with bells on. Looking forward to seeing anyone who can attend either of these fine events. Chole