shannonpurdyjones

[shannonpurdyjones]

I don’t think adding nonbinary to Victorian’s gender system would’ve fixed their weird sexism. If anything I think it would’ve made them weirder and sexismier

#History #Incredible post no notes #😂😂😂

[shannonpurdyjones]

At the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival today. It lights my creative fire seeing so many amazing authors from all walks of life and writing traditions in one place. There's truly nothing like literary community. I'm so grateful for mine 🥰

#Greensboro Bound Literary festival #writing advice #If you need writer friends and writing support #Go engage in person with your local writing community #I always meet the best people at open mics and book festivals #writer community

[shannonpurdyjones]

#you bathe too much is a hell of a take lmao #origins of incel behavior lolol #early medieval #i have abused a version of this opinion only slightly in my novel draft hehe

[shannonpurdyjones]

The fastest way to shut down my "freelance life means I have to constantly be working" thoughts is to remind myself that if I was a boss holding a worker to the standards I hold myself to, their union would hunt me for sport and nobody would blame them.

#officially shifting my thinking to this regarding productivity as a writer #i am finding i make more progress overall when I'm doing 1-2k words consistently every day vs forcing long writing marathons #wrtiing advice

[shannonpurdyjones]

One side effect of my research for this novel being steeped heavily in textile history is my swelling disgust with modern fabrics.

Firstly they're so thin? Like most things you see in Old Navy or even department stores might as well be tissue paper?? Even some branded sports t-shirts I've bought in recent years (that are supposed to be 'official apparel' and allegedly decent quality) are definitely not going to hold up more than a year or two without getting little holes from wear.

This side of even two hundred years ago fabrics were made to be used for YEARS, and that's with wearing them way more often because you only owned like three sets of clothes. They were thick and well made and most importantly made to LAST. And they were gorgeous?? Some of the weaves were so fine and the drape so buttery we still don't entirely know how these people managed to make them BY HAND. Not to mention intricate patterning and details that turned even some simple garments into freaking ART.

I know this is not news, the fast fashion phenomenon is well documented. Reading so much about the amazing fabrics we used to create and how we cherished and valued them, though, is making it hard not to mourn what we lost to mass production and capitalism. Not just the quality of the clothing and fabrics themselves, but the generations of knowledge and techniques that are just gone. It makes me what to cry.

I need to get a sewing machine.

#Omg that is gorgeous #that's the dream honestly

[shannonpurdyjones]

#Me when I meet my wordcount goal

[shannonpurdyjones]

#Lmao the way I screamed at this in the notes #World history #Indeed

[shannonpurdyjones]

[shannonpurdyjones]

The thing people don’t realize about writing is that time spent just staring out the window is CRITICAL

#cold hard facts #professional window starer

[shannonpurdyjones]

Pirates really are the only type of career criminal that’s considered fun entertainment for children now. Try to pitch the idea for a soft play area with an “international drug cartel” theme and suddenly it’s “inappropriate” and everyone’s “concerned”

#this definitely applies to the whole viking thing too #How to train your dragon! #fun viking ship play area! #me researching old norse history: um #what about all the pillaging slave taking and raping #like artistic license etc etc i get it #but the pillaging raping and slaves were a pretty significant thing that happened #lol

[shannonpurdyjones]

One side effect of my research for this novel being steeped heavily in textile history is my swelling disgust with modern fabrics.

Firstly they're so thin? Like most things you see in Old Navy or even department stores might as well be tissue paper?? Even some branded sports t-shirts I've bought in recent years (that are supposed to be 'official apparel' and allegedly decent quality) are definitely not going to hold up more than a year or two without getting little holes from wear.

This side of even two hundred years ago fabrics were made to be used for YEARS, and that's with wearing them way more often because you only owned like three sets of clothes. They were thick and well made and most importantly made to LAST. And they were gorgeous?? Some of the weaves were so fine and the drape so buttery we still don't entirely know how these people managed to make them BY HAND. Not to mention intricate patterning and details that turned even some simple garments into freaking ART.

I know this is not news, the fast fashion phenomenon is well documented. Reading so much about the amazing fabrics we used to create and how we cherished and valued them, though, is making it hard not to mourn what we lost to mass production and capitalism. Not just the quality of the clothing and fabrics themselves, but the generations of knowledge and techniques that are just gone. It makes me what to cry.

I need to get a sewing machine.

#textile history #fast fashion #textiles #weaving history #novel research #mass production #late stage capitalism #capitalist hell #fiber arts

[shannonpurdyjones]

you may have seen achilles in his miserable blanket burrito but have you seen odysseus Sitting Like That while appealing to achilles in his miserable blanket burrito

achilles looking very "make him stop make him stop make him stop"

#hey um odysseus #we need you to go get achilles back in this thing for us #odysseus: on it #time to turn the slut factor up to eleven #and i guess it worked? lmao #ancient greece #mythology #greek mythology #odysseus serving absolute cunt #for two thousand slutty slutty years #classics #classical studies

[shannonpurdyjones]

academic bias is so funny because you’ll be reading about the same historical event and one person is like “Despite the troubles that befell his homeland and near constant criticism of the court King Blorbo remained strong in the face of adversity” and the other one is like “after letting his people carry the brunt of his cringefail decisions Blorbo the Shitface refused to listen to any reason and continued to be a warmongering piece of shit. Also he was ugly.”

#this is so the mood of 9th century scandinavian research lol #novel research #the number of rabbit holes i've fallen down analyzing perspectives esp for documents composed by catholic clergy of that time #this is what happens when you have a background in research sciences and decide to write historical fiction *laughs and sobs* #writing research #i do lowkey live for when you're researching a really niche subject #and eventually its just two people throwing shade back and forth about how the other is 100% wrong actually #in the titles and abstracts of all their papers #peak comedy #anthropology #archaeology

[shannonpurdyjones]

I support women's rights but also women's decades long revenge plots

#yes this is the vibe #main character energy #at least for my current main lol #writing

[shannonpurdyjones]

Today I am thinking about weaving.

I can knit and crochet, but those crafts didn't exist in Roman times. Any historically accurate Roman cloth must be woven. So when a little potholder loom jumped into my shopping basket for 50 cents, it felt like a sign I should learn.

One potholder that was 50% yarn and 50% weird gaps later, I looked up a tutorial, and realized why the damn thing was 50 cents. I needed a better, more adaptable loom. And, because I am a cheapskate and slightly loony, I decided to make one instead of buying it.

So, how does this thing work?

First, you string the warp threads up and down, around the pegs. Here, I made a zigzag shape. Then, you use a needle or shuttle to weave more yarn over and under the warp, horizontally, back and forth. This produces woven fabric.

Some looms weave from the top, some from the bottom. This Greek urn shows two weavers working from the top. The left weaver uses a rod to compact the woven fabric upward, keeping it even and sturdy. The right weaver is passing an oval-shaped shuttle through the warp threads to form another row.

Most Roman looms would have looked like this, with the finished cloth at the top. Unlike my looms, these are warp-weighted. That means you keep the warp yarns taut by hanging weights at the bottom, rather than through a bottom row of pegs.

Warp-weighted looms also have a big advantage over my little potholder loom: you can easily create multiple sheds.

A "shed" is a temporary gap between lifted strands and non-lifted strands. Instead of having to go over and under each strand individually, you raise the entire shed, then pull the shuttle or needle straight through. This saves lots of time! Then, to weave the next row, you close the shed, lift up a different set of threads to create a new shed, and send the shuttle/needle through the other direction.

On a warp-weighted loom, the sheds are opened by loops called heddles (H), which are attached to a heddle rod (G). When the rod is down, shed (1) is open (middle diagram). When you pull the rod up, shed (1) closes and shed (2) opens instead (right diagram). Most warp-weighted looms also have a pair of forks you can rest the heddle rod on, to free your hands.

Here, there are three heddle rods and sets of forks, the heddles are white, and the warp thread is red. This gives you four different sheds, and the potential to weave very complex patterns indeed. Not bad for a device invented over 6500 years ago!

I liked the multiple heddle-rod design so much, I tried incorporating it into my DIY loom, too. I've tested both yarn and paperclips as heddles:

I actually got both sheds and heddle-rods working, too. Which is pretty cool for a lap loom - every other lap loom I found only has one shed, so you have to go over-under the individual threads on alternate rows.* More time-consuming. However, the sheds here are narrow, and I'll need a smaller and smoother shuttle to pass through them smoothly. This wouldn't be an issue on a warp-weighted loom, where the warp hangs freely downward, and can move more flexibly with the heddles.

Anyway. I may get a "real" loom at some point, but I wanted to build one first, and I think it gave me more appreciation for just how resourceful ancient weavers were. They created technology, clothing, and artwork out of very basic materials, and civilization depended on these skills.

Now, I need to go finish the...whatever the hell it will be. Big thanks to Wikipedia and to the lovely Youtubers who make this craft easier to learn. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

(*Edit - found out a rotating heddle bar can make two sheds on a lap loom! Exciting!!)

#this is the style of loom that would have been used in 9th century europe around the time my novel is set! #I've messed around with a small frame loom for research #since sadly i cannot justify building an entire vertical loom for research *weeps in fiber arts* #I'm definitely going to try the paperclip heddles to give more of the same experience on my frame loom #so cool! #weaving #weaving history #textile history #fiber arts #novel research

[shannonpurdyjones]

This is semi-joking. It’s catharsis.

#so real #*laughter and quiet sobbing* #writer life

[shannonpurdyjones]

Wake up, babe, new religion just dropped