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Post by armando on Feb 19, 2022 16:44:31 GMT -7
I need to raise my blanket game from the surplus Navy Hospital one I've been using so the other kids to make fun of me.
Could y'all provide some guidance? I'm about 6ft and wide at the shoulders so I'm not sure what size blanket to get and/or a vendor that won't require me to tap into my 401K to pay off.
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Post by paranger on Feb 19, 2022 16:48:14 GMT -7
I really like Rob Stone's blankets. They are impeccably researched and traditionally woven. Not sure what your budget is. I wouldn't call them cheap, but nothing like what CJ Wylde used to charge - and it would be hard to "raise your game" any higher than a Stone blanket. Alternatively (and less expensively), I have acquired a number of 19th and early 20th c. homespun center seam wool blankets (natural colored, but some are embroidered and/or bound with colored yarn) at antique shops, flea markets, etc. They generally have varying degrees of fraying, moth holes, etc., but they exhibit the exact same form and construction of ones made in the 18th c. in homes all over America.
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Post by spence on Feb 19, 2022 17:14:47 GMT -7
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 19, 2022 19:41:30 GMT -7
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Blankets
Feb 20, 2022 6:32:21 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by armando on Feb 20, 2022 6:32:21 GMT -7
In addition to my non-period surplus Navy blanket I have this Hudsons bay pattern blanket but I feel, from my understanding, that it is of later 19th century design, so I haven’t wanted to use it. Is it period correct for 18th century?
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Blankets
Feb 20, 2022 6:36:21 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by paranger on Feb 20, 2022 6:36:21 GMT -7
In addition to my non-period surplus Navy blanket I have this Hudsons bay pattern blanket but I feel, from my understanding, that it is of later 19th century design, so I haven’t wanted to use it. Is it period correct for 18th century? You are correct. The rainbow colored ones are generally reckoned to be early 19th c. and later.
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 20, 2022 7:37:51 GMT -7
Is Rob still in business?
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 20, 2022 7:55:46 GMT -7
My blanket - hand-spun and hand-woven... When I described the project to the lady at Farmer's market and she quoted me $185.00 per half, I knew the deal was too good to pass on. Halves are around 39" wide by 100" after fulling. I received some wool yarn as part of the exchange and seamed the halves together. As an aside - the lady said this would be the one and only blanket she wove (she found it was far more work than expected).
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Blankets
Feb 20, 2022 10:01:52 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by paranger on Feb 20, 2022 10:01:52 GMT -7
Is Rob still in business? As far as I know. I don't think he gets around to as many shows as he once did, but you can probably still mail order from him. I am hoping to see him at Fort Frederick in April, but we'll see.
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Blankets
Feb 20, 2022 10:04:23 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by paranger on Feb 20, 2022 10:04:23 GMT -7
My blanket - hand-spun and hand-woven... When I described the project to the lady at Farmer's market and she quoted me $185.00 per half, I knew the deal was too good to pass on. Halves are around 39" wide by 100" after fulling. I received some wool yarn as part of the exchange and seamed the halves together. As an aside - the lady said this would be the one and only blanket she wove (she found it was far more work than expected). You did well, all right. It looks like some of the CJ Wilde blankets that I have seen, but at less than half the cost. I think I paid $300 shipped for my Wakefield duffel trade blanket from Rob. I had spoken to him at Fort Fred. the previous year about a documented early 18th c. English trade blanket appropriate for a Southeastern native impression. He was just finishing up his research and getting ready to run a test blanket on his loom at the time. He promised me the first production copy, and several months later he contacted me and shipped it off.
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Post by spence on Feb 20, 2022 14:26:51 GMT -7
In addition to my non-period surplus Navy blanket I have this Hudsons bay pattern blanket but I feel, from my understanding, that it is of later 19th century design, so I haven’t wanted to use it. Is it period correct for 18th century? I think it is. My evidence: From the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. This letter is on microfilm and it is located in HBCA Reel 28 - A5/4. London Correspondence: from Hudson's Bay House 18 January 1798 to: Thomas Empsom [Empsom owned a blanket factory in Witney, Oxfordshire] an order for Blanketting, Duffle and Point Blankets which concludes, "...plus 30 pair of 3 points to be striped with four colours red, blue, green, yellow) according to your judgement.” So, an order from Hudson's Bay in very late 18th century for such blankets, but it may well have happened earlier, too. The Canadian Encyclopedia says this first took place at the suggestion by a fur trader, Germain Maugenest, made during a job interview with Hudson's Bay in 1779, and that the above order to Empsom in Whitney was placed one month later. I have a white wool blanket, the Orrlaskan, made by Orr Felt and Blanket Co., Piqua, Ohio, ca 1940, which fits the description minus the green stripe, and I use it with a clear conscience. Spence
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Blankets
Feb 20, 2022 16:46:12 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by paranger on Feb 20, 2022 16:46:12 GMT -7
In addition to my non-period surplus Navy blanket I have this Hudsons bay pattern blanket but I feel, from my understanding, that it is of later 19th century design, so I haven’t wanted to use it. Is it period correct for 18th century? I think it is. My evidence: From the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. This letter is on microfilm and it is located in HBCA Reel 28 - A5/4. London Correspondence: from Hudson's Bay House 18 January 1798 to: Thomas Empsom [Empsom owned a blanket factory in Witney, Oxfordshire] an order for Blanketting, Duffle and Point Blankets which concludes, "...plus 30 pair of 3 points to be striped with four colours red, blue, green, yellow) according to your judgement.” So, an order from Hudson's Bay in very late 18th century for such blankets, but it may well have happened earlier, too. The Canadian Encyclopedia says this first took place at the suggestion by a fur trader, Germain Maugenest, made during a job interview with Hudson's Bay in 1779, and that the above order to Empsom in Whitney was placed one month later. I have a white wool blanket, the Orrlaskan, made by Orr Felt and Blanket Co., Piqua, Ohio, ca 1940, which fits the description minus the green stripe, and I use it with a clear conscience. Spence Interesting. I have seen the indigo striped HB point blanket dated to 1779, but that would definitely be the earliest reference to the rainbow stripes that I have seen. Again, I reckon it comes down to your desired time / place / impression. I guess if you are near an HBC outpost in the 1790s, you're good to go. Probably wouldn't fit my 1750s PA impression well, though.
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Post by spence on Feb 20, 2022 17:01:27 GMT -7
Nor my 1780s Kentucky frontier, but that's something Armando will have to figure out for his impression. Spence
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Post by armando on Mar 6, 2022 15:33:55 GMT -7
Well fellas, I haven't had much luck tracking down Rob Stone or Tony Baker as they don't seem to have social media accounts or the like (contact info?).
My current plan, as bad as it is. is to sew together two surplus wool blankets I found and maybe cut off the finished edges. I'm hoping it doesn't get too cold in TN in end-of-March.
I saw my mentor's 8foot by 6foot Tony Baker blanket and I saw what the real deal should look like.
I might have to improvise, adapt and overcome for this upcoming event and then move toward something better in the future.
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Post by hawkeyes on Mar 6, 2022 18:19:25 GMT -7
Look on etsy or ebay for white or off white 100% wool blankets. I've had much success in scoring good finds from both websites. Problem with many surplus blankets is they are a blend, which I'd personally shy away from. Nothing can replace a 100% natural wool blanket in terms of durability and natural protection from the elements.
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