Jo's Journal

My goodness

(Source: pleatedjeans, via yourfutureleader)

I’ve taught myself how to hand spin on a viking age drop spindle.  Here is a picture of some of the yarn I have spun.  The grey yarn is called Gotland wool and the white yarn is Icelandic wool.  

A professional handspinner said my drop spindle spinning was very good - I’m thrilled because I taught myself!  Now only need to spin a massive amount to weave some clothing with.  I’ll take some pictures of my spinning soon.

More learning how to weave progress - I particularly like my progress on the Herringbone and Diamond twills I think they look fantastic.  I am really looking forward to weaving some meterage and making some clothing from these.  Really would love any textile input from anyone out there on period textile finds, details, types of wool, ply and weave etc so I can experiment with making these fabrics.  The silver grey looking wool is icelandic wool handspun by me on a drop spindle and about as close as I can get to a viking age fibre so far

driftingfocus:

accidentalformalist:

Francis Alÿs

The Nightwatch

Surveillance cameras observe a fox exploring the Tudor and Georgian rooms of the National Portrait Gallery at night.

This is awesome.

Squeee! I got to chat with Kate Ceberano directly on twitter between her dancing with her daughter and cooking sausage rolls…couldn’t have been a more surreal, super Monday moment - you rock Kate :D

Thanks very much to both of you, it makes me feel really happy.  When you live so far away (Australia) it’s kinda hard to confirm that you are doing it right.  There is not a large amount of european grandmas and grandpas to go check with at hand near my house :D.  I don’t buy the shop stuff any more since I learnt how to make this “real” bread.  It’s very tasty, very filling (one slice is usually enough), it lasts and lasts and doesn’t go off.  It did take me a while to figure it all out, and it takes a while to make it - most of the time it’s sitting in a warm place while I go do other things,  When I go away I freeze my wild sourdough starter and come back and unthaw it and it all comes back to life - all really amazing.  If I could teleport you some instantly  I would.  It was eaten up with gusto at our medieval fair and that was also good for me too - everyone liked it which confirms I must be doing it right :D.  I’m having a go at making Russian Kvass with the crusts etc now, should be good.

paganpeeps:

living-history:

joanna-molloy:

Real bread looks like this!  I’m so proud of this loaf of 100% rye bread.  The flour was hand gound by my husband in our little handcranked stone mill.  I then made up a wild sourdough started and voila this is my rather professional looking rye loaf.  It’s looking in my humble opinion like something an Artisian Baker in Eastern Europe might make.  Really looking forward to eating it at the Gumeracha Medieval Fair this weekend.

Hey looks great!

It´s what we call in german “Farmers bread” and it´s still my favourite kind. My mom used to tell stories how grandma had to bake for the whole family in the village oven regularly and how every family had their baking day in turns. The kids would have to go to the forest and collect twigs which would be bound to big bundles of about 1.5m length and about as thick so you can barely surround them with your arms. They´d need about 10-12 of those to heat the oven. When heated the ashed were swept out and the bread loafs went in. Already days before the sourdough was fed so that they´d have enough the day before baking. That´s when grandma would have to work the dough. I´ve done it with small amounts myself and it is really hard work. It is hard to imagine how much dough they would have needed for a family of 10 which were all hard working on the fields and for whom bread was a major part of their diet.

There´s still a fair amount of bakers making it over here although you won´t get it in the average bakery because most work with industrial mixes these days which they just stirr up. The difference is quite tasteable though, but I have to say that it´s just unbeatable when eaten still oven warm.

The picture makes my mouth water now. :)

I grew up with bread like this that my Auntie Karen used to bring back from Germany all the time. Absolutely nothing modern will ever be as good as bread made by hand from wild sourdough starter and good whole grains. What an exquisite loaf of rye! One of my life goals is to make good bread like this for my family, but it’s not easy!

Yep…

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myedol:

AquaDom at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

25 mitres tall, containing 1,000,000 litres of seawater and over 1,500 fish of 50 species.

(via superiorvintage)

ianbrooks:

Forever in Amber photos by Anders Leth Damgaard

What I previously knew about insects trapped in amber was that they were future dinosaurs. What I didn’t know until recently that it also made for stunning art, these ancient insects preserved in death for millions of years, with only a thin layer of hardened amber separating our world from theirs. I’m still holding out for future velociraptors but I don’t mind admiring these tiny contained universes in the meantime.

Artist: website / flickr / facebook

(via superiorvintage)