[Regia-NA] Getelds

[Steve Etheridge]

>From: "jim"

>Also, what color canvas would be period looking?  We
>will be using commercialy made canvas, and the person who we
>will be making the tent for wants colored canvas walls.

Although we tend to use the commercially available "pure, brilliant white" 
canvas that is commercially available, it is likely that authentic canvas 
would be a little duller than it.  (Please note that I am using the word 
"Canvas" to mean "the bit of the tent that keeps the rain off").  However, a 
couple of years out in the rain and the sun will knock the shine off anyway 
- to say nothing of cooking fires!

Most of the decoration shown on tents (and most are shown plain) seems to be 
"white plus bits of another colour" rather like the illustration that Signy 
posted - thanks for that, no I hadn't seen it before!  Most of the 
illustrations seem to show vertical stripes - like the ones on the ears on 
Tracie's illustration.  The "tide mark" at the bottom is new to me

The big question is wether the decoration is structural or applied - is the 
canvas made up of dyed sections that are sewn together, or is the canvas 
made and then colour (such as paint) applied?  To which the best answer I 
can give is "I don't know".  I suspect that applied pigments may be part of 
a proofing process - you don't leave your hand-woven tent fabric to rot, 
after all - but that is just my suspicion.

>I was originally asked if blue and black would work, but I said
>that wouldn't be period, and so was asked about ble/red.
>Is there any color combos that would work?

There are no problems with getting blue, black or red.  Blue would be 
expensive, so I would advise against.  Black would be fairly cheap (carbon 
created by a flame) and red not much further off (lead, and some natural 
earths).

I would advise against an all black tent - a few minutes in one during a hot 
summer's day will show you why!

After some "peculiarly striped" tents turned up at a show last year, I made 
a ruling about asking first before making a decorated canvas.  So if you 
want to drop a picture of your scheme onto a private email then I will have 
a look and let you know.

Steve

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