You may call me Helga

Here be a quick selfy shot with the new wig.So what do you reckon? My initial impression is that it is too blonde, but then I'm use to seeing my own hair colour.

The front part forces the front sections forward, so I've pulled them back. Aside from colour, the style of wig will work for a number of the roman styles with a distinct centre part. Something a bit like these:

I've also done some work on the brown wig and the hot water straightening technique suggested by Myna has worked a treat. I'm still debating whether to try and dye the blonde hair using acrylic ink. I did find another long dark auburn wig fairly cheap online and bought that the other night. Hopefully it will turn up in the post soon (Australian supplier so should be fairly quick).

Wigstock

I will get to the UK shoe tour at some point, but I'm a lazy sod and the photos are on the other computer.

So back to other activities. Rowany Yule is fast approaching (Dec 8th). Mr B will be getting Knighted at Yule so the house has been a hive of pre-knighting ceremony prep. This has mostly involved experiments with Roman military costume such as creating a subermalis (worn between a tunica and lorica muculata), in particular trying to figure out how pterges were made. Current thoughts are woven strips and you can see some of Mr B's experiments with inkle loom weaving and combo inkle loom and tablets on his flickr site. He's in the progress of making a proto-subermalis for Yule itself using twill tape for pterges as we're not going to be able to weave enough strips in time.



With Mr B going Roman for Yule that means I'm dressing to match. I've decided it's time for another Roman experiment and plan to try out a few ideas for a tunica (which at present require a decent dry day where wet fabric will dry quickly, damn humidity and rain)



I also means I need a new hairstyle. I have short hair, so when I do Roman, I wear a wig. My poor brown synthetic wig is starting to look a lot worse for wear. I've discovered that you can apply plenty of heat to synthetic hair to style in curls, but they are a bugger to unstyle. I'm currently typing this while on a break from the tedious job of untangling and straighting the wig so I can re-style it. This involves a lot of Johnson & Johnson baby untangle hair spray (Thanks to a tip from Mistress Portia, this is working a treat), a wide tooth comb, a straightening iron and a lot of swearing. It is losing handfuls of hair all over the place so I think this next styling will be it's last.

On the plus side, I bought a new wig. I finally found one that doesn't have a fringe. The downside is it is nordic blonde, which I'm not entirely sure I can pull off (at least not without Mr B calling me Helga). I wonder if you can dye synthetic wigs? Anyone got any suggestions on this? (Myna - are you out there?)

Back to the biff

I know this my A&S blog and I've been absent for a while, but the thing I've been looking forward to the most after exams has been getting back into biff.

So after no fighting since February, last night I unearthed the armour bag from the garage. Dusted off my gear (LOTS of dust). I got Mr B to fix the new bascinet I bought late last year, but hadn't actually gotten to wear yet. It needed the camail sorted so I could actually get the helm over my head.

Tonight I was all primed to go to Fighter practice when the heavens opened and we had a lovely spot of thunder, lightning and rain. Not to be dissuaded easily, Mr B and I put on our kits and had a spot of biff in the backyard in the rain.

And damn it felt GOOD!

Stepping Through Time - Out in Paperback

I just found Stepping Through Time available in paperback from Oxbow Books in the UK for 25 pounds! This book is a must have for the serious period shoe aficionado.

For those who haven't encountered this gem:

Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800 by Olaf Goubitz, Carol van Driel-Murray and Willy Groenman-van Waateringe

Drawing on 25 years' experience as a conservator of leather, Goubitz presents a typological catalogue of footwear dating from 800-1800 AD. The study is based on Goubitz' analysis of an important assemblage of shoes recovered from excavations at Dordrecht in the Netherlands but the volume's aim is to offer guidance for the identification of shoes found on sites across north-western Europe. In addition, contributions from van Driel-Murray and Groenman-van Waateringe examine evidence for shoe types in prehistoric Europe and the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, periods which inevitably have left less evidence. The fully illustrated catalogue follows a comprehensive discussion of shoes styles and technology including height standards, iconography, material, patterns, stitches, soles, the identification and dating of fragments and conservation. The volume should prove a useful tool for Roman and, especially, medieval historians and archaeologists.

I've spent many happy moments perusing Duchess D's hard back copy. The hard back was pretty pricey and damn near impossible to get your hands on. The paperback at 25 pounds is serious cause for celebration.*

*I am prepared to admit that this may have been available for ages and I'm just slow on the uptake due to the lack of contact with the real world while I've been studying (which I'm still meant to be doing...I just get distracted by books).