We cancelled regular cable services a little while ago, and while we subscribe to some streaming channels and services, we have been getting a lot of entertainment from YouTube. I want to do a round up of all the fabulous channels and creators I have been enjoying, and the Crafsman will definitely be on it. This video is too beautiful not to share right away (that is, as soon as I’ve seen it), and perhaps every single year to come. It’s still January. Lunar new year has not yet passed. Happy New Year!
Posts authored by leems
The legend of Jacquotte Delahaye
Anyone searching online for Jacquotte Delahaye may get more results for historical reenactment costuming and RPG characters than any real information. Known as ‘Back from the Dead Red,’ Jacquotte Delahaye’s existence has been called into doubt by several scholars, but her story is one that puts a strong female spin on the “Golden Age of Piracy.” So far, no primary source material has confirmed the details of her life that surfaced after her supposed death. Léon Treich, a French writer of fiction, wrote the most comprehensive account of her exploits. As someone from Tampa, a city where every January we honor a famous pirate for whom there is also no evidence of existence, I though it would be fitting to celebrate Jacquotte Delahaye for this years Gasparilla Festival.
At the start of the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ (1650-1720), Jacquotte Delahaye was already twenty. Jacquotte’s father was French and her mother was Haitian, though some scholars hypothesize that one of them must have been Spanish. Delahaye had worked as a barmaid and a lady’s maid before beginning her pirating career in order to support her disabled younger brother after their mother died in childbirth and their father was murdered in a Spanish raid of Saint Domingue by the British Navy. Unlike many other female pirates, Delahaye’s career did not seem to depend on her relationships with male pirates.
She was ruthless and successful in battle, given to violent excess and earning the nickname ‘The Lash.’ This nickname would quickly be eclipsed by a new moniker: ‘Back from the Dead Red’ after she faked her death in battle and rose again, with a male alias and in men’s clothes. The name ‘Back from the Dead Red’ also encompasses Delahaye’s most telling characteristic: bright red hair. At 26, she captured Fort de la Roche on the island of Tortuga back from the Spanish, after which she was appointed advisor to its governor.. This exploit is considered by many to be her greatest accomplishment. Seven years later she was killed in a shoot-out with the Spanish.
Delahaye is also said to have operated with Anne Dieu-le-Veut, another female pirate who showed up in the Caribbean after Delahaye’s death. Whether or not the two women existed at the same time, scholars have indicated that Delahaye’s life corresponds closely with that of Dieu-le-Veut. Was Delahaye Treich’s fictional overlay for Dieu-le-Veut? Or should we find her reported death in 1663 unbelievable, since we know she had already faked her death once before?
References
- Duncombe, Laura Snook (2017) Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas. on Google books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pirate_Women/zA90DQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
- Foster, S. (2020, March 1). Brave and Bold? Believe It!New Moon Girls,27(4), 16.
- Gasparilla Pirate Festival (2020) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasparilla_Pirate_Festival
- Jacquotte Delahaye (2020) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquotte_Delahaye
- Jacquotte Delahaye AKA ‘Back from the Dead Red’ (2020) Sagas of She. http://sagasofshe.co.uk/jacquotte-delahaye-aka-back-from-the-dead-red/
- Klausmann, Ulrike. (1997) “Jacquotte Delahay.” Women Pirates and the politics of the Jolly Roger. Black Rose Books.
- The Lady Is a Pirate. (2017).In These Times,41(5), 38.
- Viehe, F. W. (2011). The Underworld Never Seemed So Fair: Women as Pirates, G’hals, Mafiosas and Gangsteristas.International Journal of the Humanities,9(3), 65–93.
- Were there female pirates? (n.d.) Royal Museums Greenwich. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/were-there-female-pirates
- Wigington, Patti (2019) The Fascinating History of Female Pirates. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/female-pirates-history-4177454
Upcycle crafting
You may have noticed the uptick in crafty blogging lately. I did a whole bunch of making prior to the holidays. Some of the the makes were for gifts and some were for decoration. I really enjoyed myself and I feel like I am returning to a more makery me. Crafty posts may continue.
I was gifted a glass bottle cutting kit at the end of 2020 and the two first crafts I wanted to tackle were bottle bottom candles and bottle chimes. I had bought a bottle chime for our house a while ago. It has a chain running through it from the hanging ring through the clapper and down to the wind catch. I also scoped out some tutorials online that used hot clue and rope, but in the end, used the bottle chime I had as a pattern.
I knew rope and glue wouldn’t make it through a Florida summer. Florida summers have even eaten through the small gauge chain in a lot of my store bought windchimes, contributing to a pile of chimes that I have to repair. Given that the glass would shatter if the rope/chain breaks, I thought it would be better to be hefty than dainty.
I used large wooden beads as the stopper inside that holds the bottle at the right height and the clapper. The beads are attached to the chain pieces with heavy gauge craft wire. For the hanging loop, I used some keyrings that I had on hand. I am pretty happy with the results.
From the Garden
Just a few snapshots from fall. The sunflowers are long gone now. I was quite happy with them, though. They are the first non-herb annual I have ever tried. Definitely the first from seed. The blanket flower is still going strong and I never knew just how much I would like the architecture of the sea grape, until now.
Witches and Demons of Christmas
Though there is plenty of creepiness about a man who sneaks into our houses after spying on us all year to reward behavior that he deems good, Santa is far from the only holiday spirit to take on the job of keeping us all in line. Most of the witches and demons of Christmas time share this reward and punish vocation, but they haven’t all been painted as benevolent, harmless, and rosy cheeked as our dear old Claus.
Let’s begin with the Krampus. Krampus has been described as a half goat – half demon, and is one of the companions of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas’ companions vary by region, share some similar characteristics, and seem to play the part of a shadow self or the evil side of the Saint. Where St. Nicholas rewards good girls and boys with gifts during Christmas time, the Krampus punishes naughty children by whipping them with bundled reeds, locking them in chains, and/or carrying them away in a woven basket he wears on his back. Krampus may be a vestige of pagan celebrations that pre-date Christianity; they have at times been forbidden by the Catholic Church. Lately, there has been a renewed interest in the Krampus that, because of modern humor and consumerism, some worry has been diluting the dark and violent truth of this Christmas creature.
Krampus is far from the only dark creature you might find during the winter holidays. Several cultures have tales of yuletide witches that both punish and reward as deserved. In Germany and Austria Perchta keeps an eye out for young women who do not abstain from their spinning on holidays, and those who have not yet finished their work on time. Individuals not observing the traditional fasting are also likely to be visited by Perchta’s wrath. This punishment, dear reader, is nothing to sneeze at. Far from simply whipping or chaining you, Perchta will disembowel you. After she has ripped your organs from your abdomen she will replace them with sticks, rocks, and garbage before sewing you back up again. Oddly, this punishment may have a silver lining. If you mend your ways, as much as you can with garbage inside you, then she may return with your safe and clean innards and undo her previous work. The lesson, in this case, is if you don’t take care of it you can’t have it anymore.
La Befana is a much more benevolent Christmastime witch. She travels around Italy during epiphany bringing gifts to good children. The story goes that the three wisemen stopped by her home looking for direction to the baby Jesus. La Befana did not know the way and neglected to join the 3 kings on their journey to Bethlehem. Not long after she regretted her decision and attempted to catch up to the 3 travelers. La Befana now travels in search of the Christ Child and leaving gifts as she goes. It has been hypothesized that La Befana is connected to the same ancient goddess as Perchta, Mother Holle, the Russian Baboushka, and Gryla.
Gryla, however, isn’t known for her kindnesses. She is an ogress, troll, or giantess, and the mother of the yule lads, seven (or thirteen) mischievous spirits who wreak havoc during Christmas time. Gryla may have multiple heads, and multiple tails, or she may simply have been an embroidered demonization of a ‘parasitic’ beggar woman. Whatever her appearance, her raison d’être is eating children who don’t obey their mother.
So, if you didn’t already think Christmas time was a time of darkness and a time to fear that which lurks in the shadows outside your door, you now have a whole host of new imagery. To me the ancient fears of demons and witches explain some of the more beautiful aspects of the holiday season, that of banding together with family and helping your neighbors. Krampus, Perchta, and Gryla may get you if you do not.
References
- Basu, Tanya (2018) Who is Krampus? Explaining the horrific Chirstmas beast. National Geographic online. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/12/131217-krampus-christmas-santa-devil/
- Cellania, Miss (2017) 8 Legendary Monsters of Christmas. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/54184/8-legendary-monsters-christmas
- Icelandic Christmas Lore (2019) Wikipedia. CC-BY-SA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Christmas_folklore#The_trolls_Gryla_&_Leppaludi
- Krampus (2019) Wikipedia. CC-BY-SA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus
- Troop, Sarah E. (2013) The Monsters of Christmas. Atlas Obsucra. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monsters-of-christmas
- Raedisch, Linda (2019) The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year. Llewellyn Publications: Woodbury, Massechusets.
- Ridenour, Al (2016) The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. Feral House: Port Townsend, Washington.
- Sutherland (2019) Gryla: Cannibalistic, Evil Troll And Her Sons ‘Yule Lads’ – In Icelandic Folklore. Ancient Pages. https://www.ancientpages.com/2019/12/11/gryla-cannibalistic-evil-troll-and-her-sons-yule-lads-in-icelandic-folklore/
1905 when cotton was the most flammable holiday costume fabric
The Nebraska advertiser. (Nemaha City, Neb.), 22 Dec. 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2010270508/1905-12-22/ed-1/seq-6/>
Are these spa gift crafts?
Each holiday season I get more and more into crafting presents instead of buying presents. I also get more into gifting things that can be used up and made useful. These are a few crafts that, if you have the materials, are quick and easy to make and gift.
Cuticle Oil
Supplies:
- small glass vials with roller applicator
- Argon oil
- Sweet almond oil
- Lavender essential oil
- Geranium essential oil
- Vanilla essential oil
- Dried chamomile and lavender flowers
I just mixed these up in the individual vials. You will only need a couple drops of each essential oil. Next, you will drop in some flowers; you don’t need many. This is really for visual interest. Then fill the vial a little over 1/3 full with the sweet almond oil. Top off the vial with argon oil and cap with the roller ball applicator. Voila!
Relaxing Bath Salts
Supplies:
- small organza bags
- bath salts
- dried lavender flowers
- dried camomile flowers
- lavender essential oil (optional)
If you are making many, then mixing up the salts, dried flowers and essential oil in a large bowl might be worthwhile, otherwise you can just spoon the ingredients directly into the baggies. I use one or two drops of essential oil per baggie and then tie the bags tightly closed by knotting the drawstring ribbons. These ribbons can serve as a way to hang the bag on the tub faucet so the water will run through. The only hiccough I ran into with gifting these is that not many of my friends ever take baths.
Wax Sachets
Supplies:
- Soy based candle wax
- A mold of some kind
- Whole spices: clove, star anise, dried orange wheels, lavender flowers, broken cinnamon stick
- Ribbon
- A container and pot to melt the wax
- Essential oils: lavender, clove, cinnamon, orange
First, put water in your pan and put your container for melting wax over/in the water. Some people use a large measuring jug as their container, I just set a pot inside of another pot. You will want to use equipment dedicated to candle/soap/lotion making. I do not suggest using the same pots and containers that you use for cooking. Bring the water (in the outside container) to a simmer and allow your wax to melt.
While the wax is melting, pre-mix your essential oils to get the right balance. I used lavender, clove, cinnamon, and orange because that is the same combination I use for my room freshening spray in fall/winter. You can use anything that seems the nicest and most festive to you. You will also want to place some of your whole dried spices in your molds. I didn’t have anything fancy, so I wrapped old cardboard jewelry boxes in foil.
When the wax is melted pour it into your molds. You may want to place some additional spices after pouring, like the star anise and the orange wheel. I had placed all my spices in first, pouring the wax over-top, and some of them kind of got lost in the wax. Once the wax has hardened, heat up the end of a metal metal skewer to punch a hole for the ribbon (be sure you are using an oven mitt or pot holder to hold the skewer).
Simmering Potpourri
Supplies:
- Whole spices: allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, dried orange wheels, clove buds, star anise, dried ginger, dried apple slices
- Bottle or jar
This is supper simple! Just toss the tried spices together in a bowl. If your bottle are jar is a little on the small side then you may want to break up some of the orange wheels, cinnamon sticks, and apple slices. If the jar is big, you don’t have to worry about it. Divvy up the mix among your containers. When you gift this, I suggest including instructions: “Combine potpourri mix with water in a sauce pot. Place on the stove and bring to a simmer. Enjoy the smells!”
Happy Blogiversary to me!
I missed the last year or two of celebrating the Bean on its anniversary. We’re getting pretty old here, but I’ve been through so many migrations its a little hard to tell how old. I can say for sure that the Bean, as a blog, was started in December of 2007. Happy 14th birthday, Bean! 2007 is also when theLeEMSmachine.com first came about, giving a really real URL to a website I had build at the old Angelfire free pages in 2002. So, happy 19th to LeEtta’s online persona? Only, I am not sure of the month.
When I migrated to a new internet host and started using WordPress for the Bean in 2010 I lost a lot of the original Bean content. I also decided it was an opportunity to change the way I blog – less consumption, more production, and I think it has worked out rather well. Since 2010 we’ve had over 1,100 posts, mostly drawing, a lot of comics, and, especially lately, a handful of research:
#DRAWLLOWEEN #modernwitchesdaily #witchyartchallenge 24 hour comics day art books challenges characters Christmas comics consumption copyright crafting doodling drawing fabulous ideas gardening halloween history holiday Holidays in Movies inktober language LeEMSmachine Levi Levi librarians movies music NaNoWriMo Octoberfest Penelope Sea projects ranting recipes research shopping site updates stories television the house traveling webcomic witches Wolf and 7 Kids writing
I can’t say I was super productive drawing wise this year, but I have dug up a handful of year in review doodles:
For those of you who sometimes drop in on my comics, like Levi Levi and No Evil, I am still working on those and more. I also have a handful of zine projects ongoing that I will be dedicating more time to. This is starting to sound like a new years resolution post, too. Well, there you have it. Thank you all for stopping by and for hanging in with me! I hope you like what you see most days.
Holiday Crafting: Bami Ballen
aka Surprise Balls
I am not sure where I first learned the name Bami Ballen. When I searched for them by that name after having obtained my first store bought Bami Ballen, I could find precious little online. There are a few more people calling it by that name now, but mostly they are sold as surprise balls.
Surprise balls are comprised of a wound up ball of crepe paper ribbon surrounding trinkets and treats inside.
YOU WILL NEED
- Crepe paper streamers
- Trinkets
- Ribbon
One crepe paper streamer of the type you can pick up in a craft store was all I needed for each of these. The resulting bami ballen are a little smaller than some store-bought versions, but not much. They are a pretty normal ornament size, and can be hung on a tree as decoration until it is time to unwind them.
To make them, you just wind the crepe paper round, adding a bunch of layers in between each trinket. I use the trinkets to help me build out the shape. Eventually, you will be able to compress it into a ball shape with your hands, if your ballen is a bit wonky shaped. I suggest keeping slender items like fortunes, jokes, and fortune fish to the outsides where they can easily wrap around the ball shape.
When you have wrapped up all your crepe paper, then secure the whole thing with a ribbon that can also serve as a hanger loop. I tend to gift mine with a little explanatory tag, just in case the recipient has never heard of them before.
Holiday crafting: crackers
We have been spreading our love of Christmas crackers to family and friends for a few years now. They used to be harder to find in the southern U.S., but are now made for just about every holiday and found in almost every home decor shop and catalog.
This year I wanted to make foisting crackers on family a little more special. I decided to make my own. This version does not actually ‘crack’ with the snap strip that gave crackers their name. I have been trying to make crafts to use up supplies in my closet. Since I didn’t have snap strips in the closet, I did without. I figured this was fine, because in my experience, thy only worked 10% of the time, anyway.
What you will need
- Craft paper of some kind
- ribbon
- trinkets and jokes to put inside
- cardboard tubes (I used tp cores)
- a glue stick
- scissors
- ruler
I did this project over a couple of sittings but you could totally do it all in one go if you were so inclined. First, I gathered up all my inside bits. I didn’t make up any tissue paper crowns as would normally be found in a cracker, but I did write up some terrible jokes and gathered a couple of trinkets for each. You will need to make sure the trinkets conform to the shape of the tube. I used little jewelry baggies to hold small parts together and rubber bands to secure floppy, oddly shaped items into more compact packages.
Second, I grabbed my cardboard tubes and used them to measure my craft paper. If you use stiffer paper you will want to cut diamonds into the paper to help you cinch the ends together. My tubes were 4 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. My diamonds would need to be 1.5 inches long and start on either side of the 4 inch strip in the middle where the tube would go.
If you are using more flimsy paper, like wrapping paper, I would not suggest cutting the diamonds. A couple of the sheets I used were more printer paper weight and they were a little delicate around the cuts. Wrapping paper can also be easily cinched without cuts, though, if you use it, you will need card stock to help the ends hold their shape.
A few tips I have picked up while making these that made the process go so much smoother: 1) use extra tubes to help you keep your ends shaped. You will only be gluing a tube in the middle, but you will want to retain the cylindrical shape from end to end. Sliding an extra tube in each end is super helpful with this. 2) pre-roll your paper, especially if it is heavier weight, and 3) apply glue to the tube, not to the paper. Applying glue to the tube helped it adhere better and minimized the chance of wrinkles.
When the glue holds without you holding it, remove the extra tubes from either end. Tie your ribbon around one end of the cylinder over your diamond cut-outs (if you have them). You will not be able to completely close the ends (pictured above) so make sure your trinkets are not too small.
Of course the holes on either end of my cinched crackers would have been smaller if I had left less room between the middle points of each diamond. This space is what will determine how tightly closed the opening can get. You will have to figure out a good balance between a tight closure and enough remaining paper not to tear before it is meant to.
Once you have one end tied up, you can drop your jokes and trinkets inside and tie up the other end et voilà, you have made a cracker.
I will be giving all of mine away. It is a little hard to feel surprised and curious when I know what is in all of them.
Alice-ish
Terms of Venery
Ever had a trivia question about what a group of owls is called? I am a consumer of trivia tid-bits and miscellany, so terms like an exhalation of larks and a parliament of owls tickles me. I have lately come to find that collective nouns, at least as they refer to animals, are actually rather contentious. This Audubon post: No, It’s Not Actually a Murder of Crows sums up a few arguments against collective nouns, mainly that the terms are useless, are nothing but whimsy, and are not used by scientists. The article also mentions the origination of many of the collective nouns that often make it onto trivia lists.
The tradition of using “terms of venery” or “nouns of assembly”, or collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals, stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages (Wikipedia). Many of them were originally captured in the 1486 Book of Saint Albans, which included information of interest to ‘gentlemen’ of the time. The Wikipedia’s list of animal names gathers a bunch of historic and more modern collective nouns together for easy perusal. The Merriam-Webster article, A Drudge of Lexicographers Presents: Collective Nouns, goes further to discuss collective nouns covered in the Book of Saint Albans that referred to people of a certain profession, like a melody of harpers.
In our world, it would be a bit silly to assert that using the correct collective noun is the only correct speech. From a writer’s point a view, however, the whimsy carried through a historic collective noun could do a lot to liven up prose and poetry.
Tarot witch
Happy Halloween!
Trick or Treat
