Category Archives: Maine

The Question of Titles

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I am not good at creating titles; I’ll admit that first thing. Some authors seem to choose the perfect title. snappy and appropriate. I struggle.

I think of this now since I am struggling to title the fourth book. Right now it is titled “Death in Salem”. Bland, right? I started with “Salem Slay Ride” which I think is snappier but one of my readers said it sounded like winter. Since the story takes place in June, not a good thing.

Maybe I should have a vote.

The original title for my first book was “Hands to Murder”. I took it from the Shaker saying “Hearts to God, Hands to work”. The publisher felt that too many people wouldn’t get the allusion so it became “A Simple Murder.”

I was lucky with the second book. Since the mystery concerns a dyer – as in one who dyes – the title seemed perfect. But the third book, now titled “Cradle to Grave”, I called  The Book until my daughter suggested the title.

So now I’m struggling with the title for the fourth Will Rees.  “Death at Sea”? “”Blow the Man down”? I’m still partial to “Salem Slay Ride” because I like puns. Like I said, still struggling.

Some semi-modern looms

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There are any types of looms other than those previously discussed.

The drawloom and the jacquard loom both allow a weaver to weave a complex pattern without manually lifting individual threads.

First, a description of harnesses. A loom that makes four sheds (remember: that’s the space that allows the shuttle to pass through )allows a weaver to construct more complicated patterns than one with two. An eight harness loom allows more variation than four.  The compound harness loom, also described as a staggered harness loom, allows a loom to function as though it has many many harnesses. The invention has been ascribed to many different countries but it certainly appeared in China, allowing weavers to create silk brocade. Drawlooms required an assistant to sit on top of the harness and pull the heddles that controlled the pattern in the proper order. The assistant was call the drawboy (or sometimes the drawgirl  Can you imagine this job? Can you imagine that job?).Pre-constructed  patterns were required to produce the desired result.

The very thought of putting a child on top of a loom makes me shudder!

Treadles and Gas Pedals

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My husband has nicknamed treadles the gas pedals. He is not far off. Treadles do have an important function in weaving. They enable a weaver to create patterns in the weaving. As I said for the backstrap loom, the weaver picks up the individual threads. Treadles remove this step (no pun intended). The weaver steps on the appropriate treadle, which picks up the threads that the weaver has tied on to the metal rings. As these threads are lifted, the pattern is created. This enables the weaver, in combination with the threading through the reed and heddles, to make patterns, and, even for a four shed loom, fairly complicated ones.

treadles

Usually, the pattern is repeated across the warp.Look at an antique coverlet and you will see what I mean.

Since I have a four shed loom, I mainly use four treadles.

Treadles are one of THE Main features of modern looms. According to Broudy,  the treadles appeared in Europe about 1000 AD. The loom frame was not far behind. And, by the time silk reached Europe, weaving was already a highly developed art. Looms and weaving patterns developed in response to the fiber used and whether tapestries or other elaborate weaving would be done. Flax, although hard to process into linen, has smooth non-sticky fibers that lie together. Wool is a more forgiving fiber and takes dyes well. Silk is different from both. But whatever the fiber, and however the threads are warped and threaded, the treadles make the weaving of a pattern much easier than picking each strand up by hand.

weaving in myths and legends

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Spinning and weaving were so important in the past that these activities are a regular feature of the myths and stories that have come down to us. Think Sleeping Beauty, put to sleep by pricking her finger on a spindle.

Usually the myths put the creation of weaving at the beginning of  history. As we might expect, many of the early myths attribute the beginnings to the spider, or, in China, the silk worm. The myth of the spider-weaver was still present in the Greek myths during the Classical period. (Remember, Hera turned Ariadne into a spider for comparing her weaving to the Hera’s.)  So the archeologists say that weaving probably began somewhere in the dawn of prehistory. There was weaving before there were looms. And spinning before that. Barber, in Women’s work, the first 20,000 years, talks about cords and string that were used as netting. Sometimes the fibers were twisted together to make a stronger cord. And then plaiting strands together was invented. Who would guess that braiding would have to be discovered?

Anyway, references to spinning and weaving are all through the folktales we still know now. Besides Sleeping Beauty, there are the three fates, who determine a man’s lifespan. How many fairy tales are there where the simple but beautiful and virtuous maiden must spin straw into gold. Rumplestiltskin is probably the most well known of this theme but there are others.

Remember the Grimm story of the princess supposed to spin straw into gold. She is helped to do so but the price is to invite three deformed women to her wedding.(Rather do this than give up my first born.)  One has a swollen lip, from moistening the fiber, one a large foot from pressing the treadle on a spinning wheel and the large thumb comes from twisting the fiber into yarn. Or the 12 swans where the sister had to weave nettles into shirts by a certain time or her brothers will stay swans forever. She is unable to finish the last shirt and one brother has a swan wing the rest of his life.

These are stories we still know, although I venture to say most children in the past were up close to both spinning and weaving in the home.

more about weaving and looms

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As I continue to research the varieties of looms, I came across a book titled “Women’s Work, the first 20,000 years” by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. In it, she traces the history of weaving, from the first beginnings when primitive fiber was twisted into string and used to make clothing.

The modern loom is actually a very sophisticated construct, with many variations that came before. I am thinking of the ground loom that the Ancient Egyptians used to weave linen.

The backstrap loom is another efficient loom that is still used in some places today, such as Peru.

For millenia, the weaving of cloth was women’s work, easily fit in around child care. I am proud to weave (I feel I am not skilled enough to call myself a weaver) and work at other fiber arts; I am at the end of a long line of tradition.

King Indigo

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If Madder is Queen, then Indigo must be King of natural dyes. Indigo bearing plants occur in many parts of the world. Woad, the blue stuff used by Mel Gibson is actually a form of indigo.

Indigo, unlike onion skins or madder or even cochineal, does not require a mordant. The real problem is preparing the dye to make it useable. Indigo is not water soluble so the water has to be sufficiently alkaline to ‘fix’ the dye onto the fiber.

The real work comes in the processing of the indigo plant into dye. The weed was covered with lime water and soaked. Fermentation began in the vat, resulting in a blue froth rising to the top of the water. The water is drained into a second vat and agitated. Then lime water is added to reduce the dye. Clear liquid rises to the top and sediment containing the dye settles to the bottom.

Excess water is drained and the indigo is dried. It is cut into bricks and left to dry.

I confess I don’t do this. I buy partially reduced indigo dyes, which looks like chunks of blue stone.

indigo scarf

These chunks are heated. I add a reducer; thiox dioxide, plus soda ash. Soda ash is like the lime; it makes the water alkaline. The solution is heated and amazingly enough, the liquid turns a funny yellowish green.

Cloth or fiber dipped into the dye comes out that same yellow green but as it hits the air, it turns blue.

This is a really smelly process. One of my students likened it to having a perm. And the smell lingers long after the vat of dye has been removed elsewhere.

Indigo overdyes beautifully and I dyed the above scarf with both the indigo and the madder. The central section is a very interesting mix of blue and peach.

 

Triangle looms

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I recently discovered what looks like an intermediate step between the backstrap looms used, for example, in Peru, and the more modern looms hand weaver use now, and have been in use since before the middle ages. These looms require a warping board, and the loom has several shed, heddles and treadles.

I am still researching the triangle looms, which one source claimed to have been in use since the 1600s. These are much simpler than the looms above. They come in square, rectangles too and can be built at home. So far, I’ve found one source that indicates the Native Americans used the single or double strand weaving method on a rectangle loom to make sashes and wampum belts. The triangle looms can be built to any size but also, the triangular pieces can be sewn together. A fichu (that piece of cloth that Colonial women wore to cover their chests, both for modesty and warmth) or a large shawl are two possibilities for this loom. Fine threads can be doubled up to make a closer weave.

So, how do these looms work? Well, the warp is put directly onto the loom. As with a backstrap loom, the weaver’s fingers lift the warp to allow the weft to be put through. No shuttles or spools. The photos of the looms employed by some of the Native American tribes string the warp between the curved ends of a stick like a bow or between a triangular piece of wood like the crotch of a tree or a giant sling shot.

Since there are no treadles, some of the fancier patterns look difficult to do, at best. However, the finished cloth can be made of several colors, a hood added, the ends looped up to make sleeves. I can just imagine someone sitting in a cabin weaving cloth on something like this, when the more complicated and certainly more expensive loom would not be available to her.

As my research progresses, I will continue this thread. (Pun intended).

Speaking

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Usually I blog about interesting facts I find in my research, facts I find fascinating and want to share. Lots of information about the textile crafts because I love them!
But today I plan to talk about something more personal; some of the tasks that go along with the craft of professional author.
Blogging and social media are certainly important parts of my new job.
But my favorite by far is speaking to groups. I am constantly surprised by how much I enjoy it. What did my readers not understand? What did they like? Were the characters appealing? I must confess that I learn as much from the back and forth, maybe more, than my audience does.
Why did I choose to make one character so strong or demented or whatever? Sometimes I honestly don’t know and I have to think about the motivations I had.
And sometimes a reader pulls out some interpretation from my story that I never thought of, not consciously anyway, but when I ponder it, it makes such sense to me I include it in my planning for the next book.
So, to all the people to whom I’ve spoken so far, I can only say thank you. You are helping make me a much better writer.

whalemen

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Most jobs  before the twentieth century were difficult and dangerous. Serving on a whaler was no exception.

Voyages were frequently months, and sometimes years, in length. Once the Right whales and Bowhead whales were diminished, whalers went after the Sperm whale. A creature of the warm waters, hunting the Sperm whale meant longer voyages/ And the Sperm whale was a fighter. He had teeth and a powerful tail.

Crew slept in tight bunks, three high. Mattresses were first invented for the whalers that went after the Bowhead whales; it was too cold for the sailors to sleep without them. Because they were stuffed with straw, the common term for them was ‘Donkey’s Breakfast.’

Even when there were no whales, the work of maintaining the ship was hard. But when whales were spotted, the job immediately became extremely dangerous. Men were killed every trip.

The whale boats were lowered, six men each, and pursued the whale. The harpoon was fired into the whale by hand, which meant that the boat had to be fairly close. Then rope was played out as the whale took off in what became known as the Nantucket Sleigh Ride.

Sometimes the whale escaped. When it didn’t, and was killed, it had to be brought back to the ship. Sometimes the whale boat was so far away, it and the whale were not found.The whale ship usually tried to follow the smaller boat.

Then the work of extracting the oil from the whale began. More to follow.

Christmas Customs and the Puritans

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Christmas Customs and the Puritans

In 1517 the Reformation arrived in England. Although many holiday customs continued for some time, well into Tudor times, but by the time of Cromwell, Christmas celebrations were prohibited, even in Churches.
This is another British custom that crossed the Atlantic. We know these people as the Puritans. William Bradford described the gloom in Plymouth Colony in his Journal of 1620. “On ye day called Christmas-day, ye Gov’r caled them out to work…but there should be no gameing or revelling in ye streets.”
In 1659 the Puritans enacted a law in the General Court of Massachusetts announcing that “anybody who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas Day shall pay for every offense five shillings.
With the immigration of people who followed the Church of England, the law was repealed in 1681.
Why were they so opposed to Christmas festivities? Well, it was thought that the secular celebration interfered with religious devotion.