Hi, When I visited The Finnish National Museum store back in 2003 and was examining what was remaining of The Pielinen Kampiliira (Hurdygurdy) F202, I found that the wheel had a grove at the outside edge(where the strings are normally in contact with) and some black horsehair was still attached by means of a small wedge.I can only surmise that this was some way or attempt to simulate the use of horsehair on a fiddle/violin bow. My attempts to copy this only led to many hours of frustration and I shelved it ,but I did try covering the wheel outer surface with leather and had a little more success. It was difficult to get a good,pure sound. I do have some photos of Pielinen F202 showing the wheel and the horsehair,that I took whilst doing this research, but I need publishing writes from the National Museum to show them via the Internet. I am not sure if this Group is strictly " Internet " advise please???????????
Billy Horne 2009/2/18 K S ROE <[email protected]>: > My Friend Joanne and I have been trying as many fibers as we can find. Last > year for the Over the Water HG Festival we put together bags of all kinds of > fiber. Prior to trying any of the new odd fibers we did burn tests. Fibers > made of milk, soy, tencel and corn are not heat resistant at all. They > flashed and melted just like nylon, rayon and polyester. I would not > recommend their use as the friction of the wheel can cause a bit of heat. > Personally, I would not want to melt anything onto my wheel. > > We also tried: bamboo, baby camel down, superwashed merino wool, cotton > mixed with silk, cotton mixed with flax, linen, silk and yak. I would be > very careful with animal fibers and make sure they are washed, just as Cali > recommended. If it is a questionable fiber like the milk fiber I would > recommend doing a burn test. If it burns, okay, but if it melts stay away. > > As for the Middle Ages, I would suspect that they would have used animal > fiber, parchment, silk or linen/flax. Medieval linen was far more refined > than what we think of as linen today. I have not found any that is fine > enough, but back then it was the common fiber of the masses. Silk was > available, but extremely expensive and by law not available for the common > person's use. Cotton was not readily available, though it was used in the > Middle East so some came back with the Crusaders. However it was not > plentiful and was extremely expensive. > > One fiber I have not tried, but want to, is my Bichon Frise's hair. The > hair on his belly is very soft. I am told that it would spin well and as it > is hair and not fur it may work well. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to > ask my groomer to save it for me. > > Katie Roe > > >> Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:31:34 -0800 >> Subject: [HG-new] Re: Curious about Cotton >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> >> >> Hi Fi, >> >> There are many different fibers you can try on your HG. Silk works well, >> even >> ground up blue jeans :-) I might be a bit careful with wool because of the >> lanolin content which might give you some grief, but if the wool has been >> prewashed it may work as well. >> >> If you really want to have fun go into a weaving store and get some small >> hanks of several different fibers and try them out. Mixing them together >> can >> work as well. My favorite is a blend of cotton and silk. Easier to put on >> than silk, lasts longer than cotton and winds on tightly. >> >> I've heard rumors that parchment (finely scraped animal skin) was once >> used >> but I have no documentation for that. >> >> Cali Hackmann >> > >> > I was just over on Neil Brooks site and he poses the question as to what >> > was >> > used on the strings before cotton was available. Has anyone researched >> > this? I guess they could have had access to cotton through trade in >> > medieval times but it would have been expensive even in later >> > renaissance >> > times. Has anyone tried wool fibres? >> > >> > Fi >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > > >> > >> >> >> Cali and Alden Hackmann >> Olympic Musical Instruments - hurdy-gurdies >> A & C Embroidery - boutique embroidery >> Bois de Mallorne - audio production >> stained glass, laser art >> >> "I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else." >> >> - Winston Churchill >> >> >> > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
