[Regia-NA] tent fabrics

[rmhowe]

Adam MacDonald wrote:
> Avete!
> 
> One of my tent-making cronies (who 'does' Central Asian) experimented with
> using milk as a proofing experiment (a traditional treatment in parts of
> Tibet and Nepal) - it worked well, but the smell was too much for modern
> sensibilities. She could ignore it (the hideous stench of Satan's bum) after
> a bit, but the responses from those camped near her were.... less than
> joyful.
> 
> The fish oil may have been preferable...
> 
> Scythius

Doesn't milk make casein? Perhaps the ingredients were mismatched.

The coverings for Tibetan Tents I am less familiar with although I am 
very familiar with the Mongolian ger. I've been looking for definitive
research on the things for about 9 years and have bought many books
touching on them including Peter Alford Andrew's books on Felt Tents.
(I also borrowed a legal sized microfilm copy of his doctoral thesis
(some 1400 pages) from the College of London. At that time he had
not been around more than two Turkish Yurts (and to my knowledge no
Mongolian Ger until his published works).

Not only do ve have viles on dese matters, we have actual books
on the things, most of the better tent books written.

The original paper I wrote is in a long process of updating
but got an A+ in architectural technology. When I am satisfied
that I have enough information it will likely be published by
the SCA. It's been distributed a bit in the local classes.
What I am lacking is original illustrations I can use.
Curves in three dimensions involving a couple hundred pieces
are a bit unusual to draw accurately, and many authors copy
the original putting up a yurt/ger illustrations from N.G.
of April 1963 I think.

What is used in period for their tents is felted wool in great big
sheets up to about 6 or 8 X 10 feet with ribbands made of camel
wool I believe having seen some at one foot used to tie them to
the frames and they overlap each other quite a lot.

There are about three ways of making felt but the best set of
illustrations I know of is in Sjoberg's book on Felt from
Lark Books in Asheville, NC.

Now they use canvas to cover their tents but they still insulate
with the sheep's wool felt they make themselves (unless the two
Soviet era factories in Ulaanbatuur are back in operation).

There would be a Mother Felt laid out on the ground, and the
women would sort the wool, with the whitest to be laid down
first for the outside of the ger. The whiter, the higher status.
They would beat the loose wool about with sticks to even it,
then add more wool, gradually ending up with the darker wool
on the inside. (The Turks differ here by putting down a layer
of designs of various colors on the mother felt first).
Then both the wool and mother felt has hot water poured upon
it and they are rolled together on about a three inch pole
with a dado cut on either end of the pole. The felts are
also covered with a hide at this point and tied. Then a
horse (with long ropes connected to ram's horns which are
slipped onto the ends of the poles - the reason for the
dadoed ends - drags the pole bouncing along the steppe for
some longish period of time at which it is brought back,
unrolled, new wool and hot water added and the process
repeated.

One key thing I have never yet been able to determine is
how clean the wool for the felts is before being made
into them. So far I haven't read of anything more than
hand picking the wool apart and spreading it as to color.

Sheep being the horribly grubby things they are I would
have supposed a bit of cleaning. My uncle farmed some
and I have a bit of first hand experience trying to
catch them when they weren't of that mind. Other than
that I have never been around them that much. The wool
I have seen harvested is terribly grubby.

I do know that wool swells when wet, and according to
the National Geographic issue on Wool of about 15 years
ago, it actually gives off heat. My suspicion is that
either the original lanolin in the wool is sufficient,
or that possibly fat or lanolin may be used at some
point as further waterproofing. The Mongolians have
a peculiar type of Fat Tailed Sheep, but that tail
fat is usually reserved for eating. What happens to
the rest of the fat I am not sure. Since boiled mutton
is the general meal of the day, along with fermented
mare's milk and cheese, perhaps some of it is skimmed
off the communal cooking bowl and used. This I have
not been able to determine thoroughly to my satisfaction.

In the winter these felts may be used in up to eight
layers (about two inches) on the frame. As Mongolia
can get down to about 50 degrees Farhrenheit below
zero in the winter the felt tents are quite necessary
for survival. The air flow in a ger changes about
twenty times per hour. Heating is done with dung.
The actual temperature difference between in and
out is about 15 degrees. But enough to support life.

The original ger didn't have the framed doors we see
now and the poles of earlier ages were curved so as
not to poke holes in the felt covers. Canvas makes
this less of a problem. The doors were made of oftimes
embroidered felts inside and out that acted as flaps.
The inside one might be stiffened with a reed mat that
could be rolled up.

Pre-Russian influence the people cooked and heated
with a metal brazier or iron frame that held various
sized pots. The problem was it turned the inside of
the gers grey or black (which is one reason why the
white color was favored - it looked newer and more
prosperous) and the smoke of course had various
health problems particularly for the tender who
might be a servant or a less favored wife, who might
lose her looks in about ten years of out of doors
life, even the hair could fall out. The new wife was
usually delegated the sewing duties. The old wife
or wives might be in the second yurt with the supplies
and servants.

After the Russians came and educated them to health
(bath taking, smoke pipes and cooking stoves, education
and actual health care, lice eradication) many of
these things faded into the past but if you look in
National Geographic about some of the Nepalese or
Tibetan mountain people you will find at least one
image of the inner smokey interior and an iron cooking
frame that caused it. The poor inhabitants look like
hell.

Since Ger/or Yurts are covered with wool that is felted
and since they have been in use for over a millenia,
and perhaps 2 and a half in a band a thousand miles
high reaching from Turkey (and a bit in Hungary) to
Siberia one would presume the Scandinavians to be at least
knew something about it at one time in their history.
It is currently under debate that the Aryans may
have come from near the same source that the Hsung-Niu,
Huns, Mongols, Tatars, etc emerged from. At some point
the technology changed probably bearing on vernacular
supplies determining the process.

Magnus