Advent Calendar Day 4

The pocket for Day 4 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained an ornament I bought for her in 2017 at the wonderful National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. It is a rainbow coloured hummingbird made of glass beads and has been hanging on the family Christmas tree for Christmas 2017, 2018 and 2019. However, it was time for it to fly to her tree.

Day 4 pocket

Rainbow hummingbird made of glass beads

The rainbow hummingbird will look wonderful on her Christmas tree

She was very pleased when she opened the parcel - her bird has returned to her.

Sasha Celebration weekend 2018 - preparing the craft kit

Every year at the Sasha Celebration Weekend (SCW) in Nottingham I have given a craft workshop on the Saturday morning alongside several others teaching a craft of some kind.  Mine have always been wooden toys for Sasha and Gregor dolls - 2015 was a miniature train engine, 2016 was a marionette bird, 2017 was a push-along duck and this year a counting toy - a traditional abacus.

I had thought of making an abacus a couple of years ago, then my younger daughter suggested it specifically for the SCW in 2018.  As always the challenge is to design something which would be relatively straightforward for people to make and appealing without the planning and preparation of 50 kits driving me insane with lots of parts to prepare.  So although some toys would be wonderful (such as the little wooden horse I made as part of my donation to the Children's fund auction at the 2017 Sasha Festival in the USA), it would be tedious to mass produce all the parts when there are lots of elements and processes before the kits can be bagged up with instructions for assembly.

I used as inspiration the abacus my children played with when they were small - a simple wooden frame with coloured beads mounted on 10 thick wires.  On a very small scale my early sketches and experiments with beads proved that a 10 row abacus would be impractical - I found some 5 row examples in pictures online and they are very effective.  At first I considered using wires but then decided that cutting and filing the sharp edges for 250+ wires would be incredibly time consuming, so I decided to use cocktail sticks instead.  This immediately limited the size of the abacus to, as it turned out, pretty much the right scale for the dolls (because of the length of cocktail sticks, trimmed slightly to remove the sharp points). 

I needed beads which would fit 10 in a row on a cocktail stick yet allow movement for counting, so discovered in my measurements that round ball beads would not fit, they needed to be round flat beads (I had some from another craft project, but not nearly enough).  So I purchased packets of mixed coloured flat round wooden beads - I needed 2,500 but had to buy more because some beads had clogged holes or had been misshapen or broken in manufacture, and some colours (especially yellow) I needed more of than others.  The packets had 7 different colours, I used 5 colours in each kit, in different combinations.

The original abacus and the various combinations of bead colours for the miniature versions

Then came the tedious business of filing out the holes of 2,500 beads - many of the beads had partially clogged holes (burrs of wood filled with the paint) so didn't slide easily on the cocktail sticks.  Years ago, as a young apprentice, I had bought a set of metal needle files as part of my toolkit and the fine round needle file was put to good use as I gradually filed and sorted the beads into colours.  This was a good job to do while watching DVDs or TV with the family when sitting at my computer desk (I tend to multi-task), I did them in small batches as gripping the small beads (which have edges unlike perfectly round beads) and the needle file eventually hardened the skin on my fingers and thumbs.

Filing out the holes in the beads using a needle file

My husband was a star - he did the wood cutting for the side pieces for each abacus.  I had designed the sides to be tapered like the full size example, which meant that it wasn't just strips of rectangular wood, but an angle on each piece!  He had lots of old maple floor boards in his wood stock so cut up a piece into strips then cut the strips into the right lengths, then set up an angle piece jig on his saw to cut the strips at an angle into a pair for each abacus.  He makes me nervous as he doesn't use a saw guard (he hasn't cut off any fingers yet as he is extremely careful but that doesn't stop me being anxious about it).  I still have vivid memories of visiting my father's workplace as a child, going into the big shop-fitting workshop with lots of power tools and seeing some workmen who previously had saw accidents, damaging their hands.

Sawing the abacus side pieces - cutting the angle to make pairs

Once all the pairs of wood were ready, I set up a jig for drilling the holes in the right positions.  It would have been very time consuming to measure them out individually, so I drilled one piece with holes all the way through and this was used as a guide piece in a jig (2 pieces of wood screwed to a base at the correct angle to grip the abacus pieces).  I put the piece to be drilled into the jig with the drilled out piece above it, all lined up, then drilled through both, though with the drill set to the right height so that the holes did not go all the way through the abacus side.  The other abacus side piece was drilled as a mirror of the first side.  I like drilling holes, which is just as well because for each side piece there were 6 holes (5 for the bead rows and one for the support bar) which totalled 600 holes for the 50 kits (in practice it was more than 600 because the dog chewed a few of the pieces and my husband had to make more!).

Drilling holes in the abacus side pieces

Abacus side pieces waiting to be drilled

Drilling through the guide piece into an abacus side piece beneath the guide, wedged between the jig pieces

Drilled pieces in pairs

All the pieces were sanded to remove saw marks (he hadn't planed the wood smooth) and the cocktail sticks had their tips removed (I used a chisel on a woodblock) - six cocktail sticks were needed for each abacus (300). 

Trimming the cocktail sticks and the trimmed sticks laid out on a sheet of paper

Then all the beads, cocktail sticks and side pieces were sorted into bags, along with the printed instructions, which I prepared once I had made up the prototype abacus and photographed each stage of assembly.

Kit of parts to make the miniature abacus

A bead layout for 5 rows, mixing up the colours a bit

Gluing the trimmed cocktail sticks into the holes on one side piece

Cocktail sticks ready for threading the beads

Beads threaded onto the cocktail sticks

Blobs of glue on the end of the cocktail sticks, ready for the other side piece to be fitted

The second side piece is glued onto the cocktail sticks

Excess glue wiped off, the completed abacus

Allowing the glue to dry with the beads clear of the sides

As a Sasha friend (also making up kits for SCW) said to me when she guessed what I was making for the SCW craft kits: "as a friend I would like to inform you that you are BONKERS! but maybe you knew that already!"

Baby Nina plays with her new abacus while sitting in the chair from 2017 SCW

Sasha Celebration Weekend 2017 - part 8

This post is all about my international costume entries in the Sasha Celebration weekend.

I think everyone who entered a costume or two in the Sasha Celebration weekend this year had a personal reason for choosing the country or region that they did, and so it was for me.

I was born in South Africa and grew up with colourful patterns on fabric all around me.  As a child I had the pleasure of browsing through rolls of fabric in the Grand Parade market in front of the City Hall, in many fabric shops in Cape Town, Mowbray, Rosebank, Claremont and Pinelands, absorbing the textures and patterns of different fabric types and gaining inspiration for sewing projects.

I was also lucky enough to travel around the country as a child on camping holidays and have never forgotten those incredible experiences.  One place I particularly loved was The Kingdom of Lesotho which we visited during an epic camping trip in the Christmas holidays of 1978.  After Lesotho we went to Natal then spent Christmas in Swaziland at a game reserve, before continuing our journey via the Blyde River Canyon to Johannesburg to see my cousins.  We saw Bushman paintings under an overhanging rock face in southern Lesotho, camped in a churchyard nearby (with permission) and then in a proper campsite where Basotho boys wrapped in their traditional blankets tried to sell us one of their push along toy vehicles made entirely from scrap metal and wire.

Me with two Basotho boys in Lesotho, between them is a toy vehicle they had made

My mother bought us a Basotho blanket each at a market in Maseru and mine still has my Girl Guide and Brownie badges sewn onto it. On that trip we also got our own Basotho grass hats.  Some years ago I got a miniature version of one of these hats and have kept it with my doll collection ever since, waiting for a time to use it.  The theme for this years Sasha Celebration Weekend at last gave me a reason to make a costume to go with the hat.

History of The Kingdom of Lesotho

The Sotho people gathered in the high mountains near the Drakensburg of Southern Africa in the early 19th century, lead by King Moshoeshoe I.  They called the area Basutoland.  Conflicts in the 19th century with the Afrikaaner Trekboers who were moving north looking for land to settle meant the Sotho appealed to Queen Victoria and the country became a British Protectorate in 1868.  Basutoland gained its independence from the British in 1966 and became Lesotho, which means ’the land of the people of who speak Sesotho’.  You can see Basutoland on an old map of British possessions in 1885 at https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_Lesothos#/media/File:Suedafrika_1885.jpg

The Traditional Basutho blanket

Queen Victoria gave King Lerotholi Letsie a blanket as a gift in 1897.  He draped it over his shoulders and the Basotho blanket wearing tradition began. The blankets are worn as part of everyday life.  The unique designs use various symbols, bold colour combinations and a characteristic pin-stripe, originally a weaving fault, is integral to the design and meanings. The pin-stripe is worn running vertically symbolising growth.  The corncob (mielie) is the most widely used motif as maize is a staple food in Lesotho so the corncob is a symbol of fertility and growth. Basotho blankets are made from wool which provides protection from the wind, rain and cold of the high mountain Kingdom.  Basotho heritage blankets are manufactured exclusively by Aranda.

The Basotho hat

The conical grass Basotho hat (mokorotlo) with its distinctive woven topknot is the symbol of Lesotho as it depicts the mountain tops of Lesotho, specifically Mount Qiloane, which is conical and has a topknot.  The hat appears on the Lesotho flag.

Making the Basotho outfit

I made the doll Basotho blanket from a piece of grey felt with a traditional blanket design marked on it then painted with fabric paint.  I included the pin-stripe lines.  I had chosen to copy the classic corn cob pattern.

Reuben's Basotho blanket - painted felt

I used shweshwe fabric and white cotton for Reuben's dashiki, using the traditional chocolate colour patterned fabric.

Closeup of Reuben wearing his hat and his shweshwe decorated dashiki

Shweshwe fabric and the Xhosa people of South Africa

I decided to dress Melanie and Nina in shweshwe fabric as well, with Melanie representing the Xhosa people.  When I was at primary school we learned a little Xhosa and I can still remember the words to a good morning greeting song we learned (there is nothing like music to make words stick in your mind).

Molweni Nonke, Ndiphilile unjani, Siya impilo enkosi, Kunjani Kuwe

Rough translation:

Hello everyone, I'm fine how are you, we thank you and good health, how are you

The Xhosa, also known as the red blanket people, are an ethnic Bantu / Nguni group of several tribes related to the Zulu.  They settled in the Eastern Cape of Southern Africa as the Bantu peoples migrated south while European settlers Afrikaaner Trekboers were moving north from Cape Town. In the apartheid era black people were not allowed South African citizenship, the Xhosa had designated ‘self-governing homelands’ called Transkei and Ciskei in the Eastern Cape (both of which I have visited).  Their language isiXhosa has 15 click sounds. Nelson Mandela and Miriam Makeba (‘click song’ - Qongqothwane) were well known Xhosa people. 

The Xhosa adopted the indigo patterned shweshwe fabric which was introduced to Southern Africa in the 19th century by German and Swiss missionaries and floral, striped, diamond, square and circular geometric African designs for the fabric have emerged. It is called shweshwe for Basotho King Moshoeshoe I who adopted it in the 1840s. In Xhosa shweshwe is known as ujamani. Shweshwe is used to make dresses, skirts, wraparound clothes and aprons.  

In Xhosa culture ujumani / shweshwe is traditionally worn by the bride (Makoti) and has been incorporated into their ochre (red) blanket clothing.  It is used extensively in contemporary South African fashion design for men and women of all ethnic groups.  It is made with an acid discharge and roller printing technique on pure cotton fabric.  Various colours are used: the original indigo, chocolate brown and red as well as vibrant pinks, greens, oranges, purples and turquoise. The intricate designs were originally made with picotage - an expensive pinning fabric printing technique now replaced with modern fabric printing techniques.  Genuine shweshwe is manufactured exclusively by Da Gama Textiles in King Williams Town, Eastern Cape, Three Cats being one of the original pattern brands.

The headscarf, called iqhiya in Xhosa, is tied in different ways according to status and event (childhood, marriage, motherhood, seniority and experience). 

Xhosa beads

Xhosa beadwork is famous and distinctive, indicating social status. They adorn their traditional clothing with colourful tiny glass beads.  Before the Portuguese traders introduced these to Africa, they used natural materials for their beads.  They also make necklaces and bracelets of beads, worn around ankles (intsimbi or amaso) and wrists (imitsheke). 

The bead colours have meanings: white - great wishes, green - prosperity, red - blood of the cow used for the ritual, black - darkness being purged away as a result of the ritual, orange - sunrise, gold - sunset.  Wire art beaded ornaments and toys also emerged from Xhosa crafting.

Melanie in her iqhiya, beads and shweshwe dress

The dresses I made

The contemporary dress which Melanie wore was inspired by the traditional styles of horizontal lines in Xhosa clothing and features several shweshwe patterns.  I looked at lots of pictures of traditional and modern fashion clothes which use the fabric and in the end decided to go contemporary.  I didn't want to dress her as a Makoti, rather as a maiden who was nearly ready to marry and was attending a friend's wedding, so she isn't dressed in the full Makoti costume or the orange blankets and aprons. The piece of fabric I used had ten different pattern bands printed in the fabric and was the perfect scale for a 16 inch doll. The dress is a strip of fabric with elastic gathering at the top of the back to make it fit nicely around her chest.  The remaining 3 pattern bands were used for the headscarf with a contrasting pattern of indigo fabric making the scarf double sided.

Channels for the elastic in the top back of the dress

Inside of the top of the dress, showing the ends of the elastic channels and also, if you look carefully, the Three Cats logo printed on the inside of the fabric

The elastic gathering at the back of the dress before turning it the right way out

The necklace is similar to those worn at weddings by both bride and guests. I made it from a long South African bead necklace stitched to a woven bracelet I found in a charity shop.

Melanie's imitsheke are a bead bracelet double wrapped around her wrist and an African bead spectacles chain.

The headscarf, called iqhiya in Xhosa, is tied in different ways according to status and event (childhood, marriage, motherhood, seniority and experience). 

For baby Nina I made a dress, hat and panties from pink shweshwe in two different patterns.  I had seen the combination of those two particular fabrics made into a child's dress in Mnandi Textile & Design shop in Observatory when I bought the shweshwe fat quarters during my visit to Cape Town in March this year.  The dress I made is fully reversible.  I made the same dress for the raffle prize in the indigo colours of two different patterns, but not entirely reversible (only the hat can be worn both ways).

Reuben, Nina and Melanie at home just after their African costumes were complete

Nina in her pink shweshwe dress and hat

Nina changed out of her dress into the raffle dress to for the following photos at home just before the Sasha Celebration weekend.

Reuben, Nina and Melanie in blue and chocolate brown shweshwe

Nina wears the shweshwe raffle dress later won by Jane W

The underwear in the contrasting indigo pattern

In the display I added the information about the costumes and a wire and bead gecko along with a miniature tin can car which I got during my recent trip to Cape Town.

Melanie, Nina and Reuben on display in their African costumes at the Sasha Celebration Weekend

Reuben, Nina and Melanie in the photo studio

It was a lot of fun making these costumes for the Sasha Celebration Weekend and thinking of the African places I've been fortunate enough to visit.