The next step in the long running Bunkan Sokutai Sugata project, I’m working my way down to the feet. When wearing the sokutai, asagutsu shoes (really more like clogs) protect the feet from the ground, and shitozu socks protect the feet from the asagutsu (or is it the other way around?). Apparently, they pre-date the split-toe and the idea that walking on a seam all day will cause blisters.
Shitozu in Linen
Mine are based on this one in the Shoso-in Imperial Treasure Repository:
Sock of bast-fiber cloth, No. 53.
I traced the photo in a drawing package, scaled it up to the size of my foot, printed the pattern, cut two pieces from surplus cotton canvas, sewed them together, everted the sock, and tried it on. Too tight. Modify the pattern a bit and iterate. Still too tight. Iterate. Success! That was actually pretty rapid for this kind of thing.
Now that I had a working pattern, it was time to cut four pieces and make the final copy out of white linen. A couple of cuff hems, and some decoration with a fabric marker, and they are ready to wear once I finally make the asagutsu. According to the Shoso-in site, the original bears the seal of “Tōji-kōin”, and if you visit the page to view the back there appears to be writing up near the cuff. It’s probably something like “worn on the occasion of his birthday” or something. I wrote “Ishiyama 2 5” on mine. If I ever make a real seal I’ll stamp them.
I was making a simple drawstring bag out of some surplus fabric, and found myself in need of a reliable drawstring. I had previously purchased some hemp beading cord with which to experiment, so this seemed like “the opportune moment”.
Sankakudai 5-set in Hemp
I measured out a “quadruple length” to start with. Typically, I clamp my warping posts to this chest of drawers I have in my studio. If I use the full width of the chest, a “single length” is about 52 inches. If I use all three pegs, a quadruple length (approx 17 feet) is pretty simple to measure out, but sometimes is not easy to transfer to the braiding stand. It went OK this time.
Close-up on the braid
Since the hemp cord is stiff, I used my heaviest tama to make a nice tight braid. With only one color in the braid, it looks just like a “3-set” braid, but it really does have 5 strands. With these simple sankakudai braids the structure all looks the same unless you have more colors worked in the braid.
It took me a while to work through all of this material, but I wound up with plenty of hemp cord for all my drawstring needs, about 12 feet.
More than six years ago, the Baroness of the Debatable Lands asked me if I would organize people to make new pennons to hang from the new Baronial “list ropes”. The list ropes are used to form the boundaries of the fighting lists (think “boxing ring”) during tournaments, especially where you might have multiple fights happening at once. Penons hanging from the ropes makes them more visible and more festive. In the SCA, people fight for fun and honor. Festive is good!
These penons are about 12 inches long and are made from the same cotton/poly material we use for windscreens. We painted comets on them as a group activity at the Baronial 50th Aniversary event, and I finished them up over the holidays. There are Seventeen of them!
The paint is just Jacquard Neopaque White. These might get caught out in the rain, or might need to be thrown in the washer. This is not the time for historical re-creation, but practical thing-making. I still need to get my hand on the list ropes themselves so I can attach the pennons, but that should happen later this month. I don’t have a block or screen for printing these, so each comet is a unique little snowflake. I hope people enjoy recognizing the ones they painted.
I am pleased that Neal Stephenson has finally convinced his publisher that a series of 300 page volumes is preferable to a single 900 to 1200 page tome. However, since the story contained in the first volume of Stephenson’s new “Bomb Light series” is really just the back story for the main character, it is difficult to review. I will say that this first volume is told with Stephenson’s characteristic flair, and with skillful arrangement. Exposition is accomplished through flashback, and history (and History) combines with forward narrative at a steady pace until we are all caught up and ready for the drama to shift into racing gear. Even when you are expecting the end of the volume to occur, since with physical books it is unavoidable to notice when it is near, the turn that breaks act one from act two is somewhat surprising. Leave it to Stephenson to create characters who surprise even themselves with their sense of dramatic turn!
Anyway, the “Polo” of the title really does refer to the game of Polo, as played on ponies, and the “stan” really does refer to a culturally unified geographic region (a capital-S “State”, if you will). The main character is a Wyoming pony-trainer outlaw communist operative hero of the highest order, and her manipulations bring the State of Polostan into existence just when she needs it to make the leap from state of mind into (fictional) reality.
There’s no way for me to tell where all this is going. Even Stephenson only vaguely refers to the “shape of this thing”. However, the characters are fully aware of Things that are Important, and I expect them to follow through on their personal histories with decision and aplomb.
This is a reasonably quick read, with a good foundation in world history and a strong plot with a relatable main character. Aurora is not a genius, but she is smart and brave. She does what she needs to survive, but she cares for others and tries to limit the harm to the uninvolved. A real hero! I hope she survives.
This kosode is made of linen that has been hand-dyed in madder, using a stitched-resist shibori technique to create hexagonal patterns in the fabric. From purchase of fabric to completion of garment took more than a year, though obviously I did not work on it constantly for all of that time.
Red Hexagon Shibori Kosode, from Linen
Back of the Red Hexagon Shibori Kosode
I started by purchasing some soft white linen from a merchant at Pennsic. This soft linen uses shorter fibers, which means it will not last as long, but I like the texture and have found that it works very well for shibori dyeing. I then cut all my pieces and serged the raw edges to create false selvedges and to keep the cut ends from fraying during the rest of the process. This was the easy part.
Then, I started adding my hexagonal resists. The process for this was to trace a pattern hexagon with chalk, then hand sew a running stitch around the chalk using about three times as much thread as needed. Once all of the pieces were stitched, the hexagonal stitches were then drawn up, and the ‘extra’ thread was wrapped around the small bundle of fabric this creates. I stitched, drew-up, and tied 103 separate hexagons. You can see in the above photos two places where the stitching broke or the binding came loose during the dyeing process. Such is life.
One Stitched Hexagon
103 Stitched Hexagons
103 Bound Hexagons
The next step was dyeing. My friend Rei kindly offered her assistance and the use of her dyeing studio full of equipment. I bought my own madder powder, and reimbursed her for the (considerable) cost of mordants and other chemicals. It took a full day in the studio (~10am to ~6pm) to prepare the dye baths (I used 4 pounds of madder powder for 2 pounds of fabric, plus a little alizarin to boost the red), stimulant bath, and mordant bath, soak the fabric in the baths, and undo all of the stitching so that the fabric could dry overnight. This process would not have been possible without Rei’s knowledge, amassed references, equipment, and time. Thanks Rei!
Dyed Fabric Drying on the Rack
Once dry, I laundered and ironed all the pieces, then sewed it into a kosode. It is large, and kind of heavy actually. After washing, the hexagons became even more defined, and the color gradations across the fabric from all the wrinkling and folding caused by the bound hexagons give it an interesting visual texture. I’m very happy how this all came out. Every bit of money and time I spent on this project has been worth it to me.
Sometimes I do woodworking demos at SCA events, and I have been wanting a less modern water source for sharpening than my plastic container. I was watching the animated film “Spirited Away” and I was like, “I need that bucket.”
I think that in Japan, this low and wide type of bucket was basically used as a basket. In the movie, she has it full of candy (konpeito, basically little bumpy sugar balls) that she’s feeding to the soot sprites. I’ve seen large ones in other movies used to transport cooked rice.
I bought about twelve feet of cedar 1by6 (sold as 4/4 S3S) and planed it down to 3/4″. Then I cut 10 6″ long bits for the staves and 2 15″ long pieces for the handle staves. I tilted the table saw blade to 15 degrees and beveled one edge, then spun each piece around to both bevel the other edge and narrow each piece down to 3+7/8″ wide (on the wider side). Switching the table saw over to a dado stack, I cut a 3/4″ wide by 3/8″ deep dado on the interior of each piece, to accept the floor of the bucket.
I used the band saw to shape the handle staves, then cut the through-mortises on the drill press and chiseled them square.
The floor of the bucket is cut from three pieces of cedar that I edge-glued together and then shaped using a circle jig on the band saw. I cut that as a 14″ circle, but I wish I had gone up at least a quarter inch more.
I dry fit all the pieces using blue tape, so I could figure out how long the handle needed to be. Once I had that length, I sketched out the curve of the handle and cut the shape on the band saw. A bit of sanding smoothed away the blade marks.
Since I already had the pieces taped up, I could apply plenty of glue, roll the bucket up around the floor (inserting the handle at the right moment), and clamp it together with elastic bands. I should have used ratchet strapspn as that would have let me get them really tight. Since I knew cleaning dry glue off the inside would be a pain, I washed the squeeze-out off the interior before it could cure. I left the whole thing to dry overnight.
The next morning I removed the elastic and tape. I scraped the squeeze-out off the exterior, then sanded the angled edges of the exterior to round it up a bit. I drilled some holes in the handle tenons so I could secure them with pegs. To finish up, I tied some palm rope around the bucket with constrictor knots.
Mizuoke from Cedar
It leaked almost as fast as the hose could fill it, so I guess it’s not the best bucket anybody ever made, but it looks good, and I learned some lessons that will help me when (if) I make another one.
Cut and shape the staves, then measure the dry fit to figure out how big the floor should be.
Cut the dado to be a tight fit for the floor.
Use ratchet clamps for a tight fit while the glue cures.
In Japan, they take pride that the joinery in their coopering (and boatmaking) is tight enough to be leakproof before it gets wet. The swelling makes it even tighter! I knew ahead of time that my joinery would not be up to Japanese level. Traditional buckets (and barrels) also have good quality hoops that keep the joinery tight as the wood swells. In Japan, making hoops by braiding strips of bamboo is a craft all on its own. I knew my rope hoops would be a little loose, and that I am not capable of metalworking at this level either, so glue it was.
I did not put any glue holding the bottom in place, because I knew that had to be free to swell. In my future tries to learn this craft, I will make the staves first, then measure to determine what size I need the floor to be. I’ll also leave the boards for the floor a little bit thicker, to match what is apparently a slightly over-width dado stack.
After a few days, I decided to seal the bottom of the bucket with clear finishing resin so that I could use it for its intended purpose. I sealed up the outside of the floor as best as I could with blue tape, then I poured in about 2 cups of mixed resin. I probably could have gotten away with only a cup of resin, since the hardened resin is pretty thick in the bucket now.
When it started to thicken, I brushed the resin up the sides of the bucket, sort of to make a plastic bucket inside. I knew the wood was porous, and I was hoping enough resign would soak in that the wood bucket and the plastic surface would be fully bonded together. One thing I did not take into account was that these pores are all full of air. Since the resin heats up as it cures, the air expanded and bubbled up through the resin. I did not get a perfectly clear layer of plastic in the bottom of the bucket, but it did seal everything up as hoped.
Cedar Bucket Sealed with Resin
It looks good overall though, and I am happy with it. Once you get some water in it, you can’t really tell the difference between bubbly resin and bubbly water. I have my bucket and it really does look like the inspiration. One commentator suggested that I make two more. The theory is that by the time I make the third one, I’ll have all the problems worked out and the third one will be perfect. That will have to wait for Spring, but I just might do it.
Way back in the mists of before-me time, Sharon‘s sister Megan (with Sharon’s mom’s help) made a grocery list holder as a gift for Sharon. It holds an old-fashioned roll of receipt paper (and a pencil) up on the wall so that you can quickly and easily jot down items for the next grocery trip. Sharon has used this holder for grocery lists ever since, and I dutifully started using it when I moved in with Sharon in the Spring of 1996. When you are ready to go grocery shopping, you pull down on the list until it is below the crossbar, then use the crossbar as a tearing guide to remove the list.
There is only one problem: we make two grocery trips a week because the two stores have different merchandise. Most weeks, Sharon goes to one store and I go to the other. Keeping two lists on one holder doesn’t work very well. If the “upper” list needs to be detached before the “lower” list, then the lower list winds up getting tucked into the crossbar and it is difficult to add things. Also, the detached list now has limited room. The solution was for someone (me) to make a second grocery list holder.
Two Grocery List Holders – Megan’s and Mine
I made mine from some of the pine board that I planed down to 5/8-inch for the Medium Japanese Tool Chest project. That’s why it looks a little smaller than the original. I did all of the cutting on the band saw, and smoothed all the saw marks by hand with a plane and some sandpaper. I used copper nails instead of iron nails, because I like the way that looks. Megan and Ivy used a rustic stain-only finish, which is fine and enables it to develop a patina. The pine on my list holder is finished with blonde shellac to seal it more completely for a brighter look.
Ivy says that she based the first one on a list holder that was on the wall of her parents’ house while she was growing up. When I sent a picture of these two to Megan, she said that she could really use one of these, so I will probably wind up making at least one more. Megan’s oldest offspring is now living in his own place, so he should probably have one as well. Maybe I should draw up some plans and write some instructions so that I don’t have to do all of these myself.
