[Regia-NA] tent canvas source

[Chris Boulton]

> Is all this conversation about cotton canvas evidence that this is
> acceptable?? I thought I heard a very clear "cotton is strictly out of
> period,"  message? I'd have had a geteld in the backyard months ago if I
> thought.....

Cotton is indeed out of period, in that although it was known, it was an
imported (and expensive) curio from Egypt at the time rather than something
generally used.

The attitude taken toward cotton canvas tents here in England is that they
are a necessary evil, as real linen canvas has been next to impossible to
obtain, though this situation seems to be slowly improving.

I managed - purely by happening to know the right person at the right time,
to obtain a 100metre roll of real linen canvas about five years ago, from
which we made our group tent, and I have enough left over to make a saxon
tent for myself when I get round to it.

The main problem with cotton canvas at a public display event is that the
colour is different - the cotton tends to be a rather brilliant white,
whereas the linen is a very light tan colour. We get around this problem by
explaining the availability problem to the public if they ask, rather than
trying to pretend the cotton is linen.

A good way to hide the obvious bright white of the cotton canvas is to pitch
the tent with the canvas on inside out, and light a small and well tended
fire in the centre of the floor space. The smoke will stain and discolour
the fabric making it less obviously bright white cotton when it is
re-pitched the right way out.

Chris.