Inktober 2018

Not having the skills to draw, I used the month as a chance to practice Copperplate writing.

Yay, a new old hand.

I used Eleanor  Winter's Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy, working on one letter per day (the other five went for fundamental strokes, and conecting the miniscules). I still have a lot of work to do on this hand, but it's off to a fun start.

Favorite letters: F, T, X, V, f, s, s (long), p, w (old style), z.

Least Favorite: M, Q, the round forms of B, P, R.

Eau de Cologne (1859)

Experimenting with another Eau de Cologne recipe, this time from The What-Not or Ladies' Handbook (1859).

Another--French spirits of wine 1 J lbs, essence of bergamot 1 drachm, essence of lemon 1 drachm, English oil of lavender drachm, oil of juniper drachm, oil of neroli 2 scruples. Shake well together occasionally for two or three days when the mixture will be fit for use.

Converting from the apothecary measures, that's a proportion of 288 parts spirits of wine: 3 parts bergamot : 3 lemon : 3 lavender : 3 juniper : 2 neroli. I used synthetic neroli scent oil, as the pure neroli (orange flower blossom) oil was cost prohibitive (~$60 for 1/8 oz).

Eau de Cologne, 1859 version.
The oils aren't entirely miscible.

As advised in the receipt, I've shaken the bottle every day. However, even after a week, it still tends to separate out into a pale yellow layer over a colorless layer.  Mixing two not-wholly-mutually-miscible liquids, of course, produces the opaque white mixture seen above.

The scent, like the previous Eau de Cologne I prepared, is rather hard to describe. It's not quite the same, but both are 'greater than the sum of their parts'. Comparing the two, I'm tempted to describe this version as more floral and the first as more citrus-y, but that's far from a complete explanation.

Both receipts contain bergamot and lemon. The first one added lemon balm as well, and used orange flower water where the second had neroli (orange flower) oil. The second calls for lavender oil where the first used lavender-containing Hungary water. The largest difference by component is that this new version uses juniper oil where the first used rosemary (and rosemary-based Hungary water). The first also had traces of sage and thyme in the Hungary water.

Zombie Make Up

Because history is relevant to the modern day, I used the pre-Victorian burnt cork mascara to improvise a zombie costume.

Or because I don't keep modern costume supplies on hand.

I started with a base coat of talc, for pallor, but don't think it had much of an effect. The burned cork was for shading, particularly around the eyes.  I finished it off with some fake blood (~2Tbsp corn syrup, with ~5 drops red food coloring and 1 drop of blue). 

Morning Cap, 1856

Morning cap, from an 1856 diagram in Parisier Damenkleider Magazin, number 8.  I used a very light lawn, and in retrospect think that a crisper lightweight cotton might work better. Will simply have to see how it performs.

Cap, folded in half. 

Credit to Elise for finding the pattern, and for reminding me that seam allowances are a good thing to add.

Original: Silk Round Gown c. 1795

This month's eye candy, a nice round gown c.1795 from LACMA:

The dress is great, but the staging also deserves love.
More pictures at LACMA's online collection.

There are a ton of additional images at the link, including close-ups of that trim. We're talking sequins, netting, and embroidery. Seriously, take a look.

And respect the dreadful nodding of that great plume!

Hourglass Album Quilt, Interlude

When I need reassurance that Victorians over-thought things just as much as I do:

In short, we think this autograph bedqullt may be called a very wonderful invention in the way of needlework. The mere mechanical part, the number of small pieces, stitches neatly taken and accurately ordered; the arranging properly and joining nicely 2780 delicate bits of various beautiful and costly fabrics, is a task that would require no small share of resolution, patience, firmness, and perseverance. Then comes the intellectual, part the taste to assort colors and to make the appearance what it ought to be, where so many hundreds of shades are to be matched and suited to each other. After that we rise to the moral, when human deeds are to live in names, the consideration of the celebrities, who are to be placed each, the centre of his or her own circle! To do this well requires a knowledge of books and life, and an instinctive sense of the fitness of things, so as to assign each name its suitable place in this galaxy of stars or diamonds.
--Godey's, April 1864 

Book Review: The Queen's Servants

The Queen's Servants by Caroline Johnson

The link above gives a good overview of the book's content, so I'll keep the summary brief. The main differences between The Queen's Servants and The Tudor Tailor is the emphasis on analyzing original garment records: we're taking pie charts of color and material frequency, period yardage/pricing info, and hypothesized cutting lay-outs. Additionally, this book only looks at ladies' clothing* (there are separate volumes for men's and children's), and focuses on the earlier Tudor period (reign of Henry VII and early reign of Henry VIII).  The illustrations include photographs of historic funerary monuments, artists' renderings of clothing from primary source texts, and photographs of reproduced garments.  It runs 56 pages, including references and glossary.

[*Specifically, high-ranking women attached to the royal household: princesses, queens, the ladies and gentlewomen who attend them, and the occasional court pensioner.]

The description and analysis of primary sources deal with the fabrics and furs used for clothing, discussing the colors, yardage, prices, and customs. I like that the sources are very clearly cited, and that conjectures are explicitly described as such.

The given patterns are for one smock (with neckline variations), one kirtle (sleeve and fastener variations), two gowns (four sleeves and neckline variations), and two bonnets.  The cutting patterns are given on grid paper, and will need to be sized to the wearer; general sewing instructions are also included, as well as marginalia showing relevant hand-sewing techniques. This isn't a beginner-friendly pattern, but I think it's quite clearly written, and would be usable by ambitious intermediate sewists.  Beginners (and people who don't want to scale-up cutting diagrams) may want to consider the related pattern line.

The focus of this book is more narrow than The Tudor Tailor, but I think the discussion of primary sources really makes it worthwhile.  If you're looking for lower class, mid/late 16th century, or men's clothing, this isn't the book you want. But for late 15th/early 16th century English noblewomen, you couldn't get a better reference. 

Stars: 5
Accuracy: High.
Skill Level: Intermediate, tending Advanced
Strongest Impression: Good scholarship; the different time-frame makes it a companion to The Tudor Tailor rather than competition.

To Blacken the Eye Lashes and Eye Brows (1833-1854)

I finally found references to eye make-up, which were not forthcoming in my first foray into the field.  Other than mentioning belladonna to dilate the pupil (do not do this; also, it is apparently only need by those of us with dull grey eyes), the references are all to precursors of mascara/the eyebrow pencil.  Eye-shadow is, still, not a thing.

The Toilette of Health, Beauty and Fashion (Boston, 1833):

To Blacken the Eye lashes and Eye brows
The simplest preparations for this purpose are the juice of elder berries; burnt cork, or cloves burnt at the candle. Some employ the black of frankincense, resin, and mastic; this black, it is said, will not come off with perspiration.

This same receipt appears, verbatim, in The Book of Health and Beauty (London, 2nd edition 1837); it is also repeated in the The American Family Keepsake (Boston, 1849) and One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (New York, 1854). The Amateur (1851) mentions burned cork used as stage makeup.

So, does it work?

Burnt clove applied to my right eyebrow and lashes.
I suspect there's no such thing as a flattering eyebrow selfie.

And burnt cork, again on the right.

The cork definitely gives a darker color than the cloves (more char coming off).  After playing around with it a little, I am favoring the cork for my eyelashes and the cloves for the eyebrows. I think the cork is simply too dark for my eyebrows, while the cloves add a subtler color. At the same time, I couldn't tell that the cloves had any effect on my eyelashes, making the cork more useful there.

Long and Short s

I'm working on my roundhand/copperplate script for inktober, and found a lovely discussion of the long and short forms of miniscule s. It's quite informative, and there are graphs of usage frequency (in printed texts)!

Book Review: Historical Costumes of England, 1066-1968

Working through some of the many books I read this year, but haven't had time to write-up. 

Historical Costumes of England, 1066-1968 (revised edition) by Nancy Bradfield

Historic Costumes of England is an ambitious book, covering 900 years of costume history. And, with that in mind, I think it fares adequately.

The costumes are organized by monarch.  Since reigns can range from 2 years (Edward V/Richard III) to 67 years (Victoria), some of the shorter ones grouped together; as a the result, most book sections cover 20-40 years of English clothing.  For each, there's a page of illustrations of men's clothing with a facing page of text, and another pair of pages on women's clothing. Some of the longer time spans get a second page of illustrations, while Victorian women's clothing is divided into three chronological parts (menswear gets one page of illustration with two of text).

Each page of illustrations generally contains eight sketched figures, although some have a dozen or more. I liked how the illustrations were of the clothing being worn, showing different styles on the body. The figures are loosely arranged in groups which hint of tableaux, so it looks contextual, a little more like real people, rather than diagrams

The downsides are that there's lots of material to cover, so most figures aren't full-length, and none have full front and back views (there are figures in profile). Only a few figures have specific dates attached, but the text gives some cues about earlier/later fashions within a reign, and briefly addresses the differences between old and young, or rich and poor. The images are detailed (and in some cases familiar), which suggests that particular historic sources were consulted, but no citation list or bibliography is included.

Due to scope, this book really functions best for survey purposes. It's really not specific enough to costume multiple characters for a particular year (especially getting into these later times when so much more information is available), but it is a quick start to acquaint your eye with the time.  I could see it being a very useful first reference for theatrical costumers, or a visual guide for people working across multiple eras, but it's not in-depth enough to be very useful for most of the costuming I do.

Stars: 3.5
Accuracy: Good, so far as I can tell, but more citations would be welcome.
Strongest Impression: A breadth book, rather than a depth one.  It's good at what it does, but if you need color images or specific information, it's probably not your best choice.