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Vader Cape Patterns
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Author:  Maia [ Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:02 pm ]
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KevVader wrote:
That is great info....if it's accurate. I'm just wondering what this detailed info is based on?


One of my areas of expertise is fabric conservation. I have worked on everything from Old Kingdom Egyptian clothing and Tutankhamun's loinclothes (go ahead, make a few jokes) to evaluating potential damage for the costumes in the LOTR travelling exhibit which made the rounds a few years back. Some of what I have done I can discuss in public (museum collections), but most of the recent stuff, I can't for legal reasons.

Maia

Author:  Too Much Garlic [ Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:05 pm ]
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I see nothing that merit jokes. Was it the actual King Tutankhamun's cloth or reproductions?

All sounds very amazing.

Author:  Maia [ Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:14 pm ]
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NoHumorMan wrote:
I see nothing that merit jokes. Was it the actual King Tutankhamun's cloth or reproductions?

All sounds very amazing.


It was the real ones. The museum I was working for wanted to make copies for an exhibit on ancient Egyptian clothing, so I was sent to Cairo to look at the real ones. It was easy to see which ones had been worn or were new, and how they were worn by the wear and fold marks in them. Tut's were made of a very fine linen, but what most men would have worn would have been from a far coarser (scratchier) material.

Mai

Author:  Corbadda [ Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:07 am ]
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Wow! This is really great info! Thanks for sharing it with us Maia!! :toothy

Author:  bubba fett [ Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:33 pm ]
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Wow Maia you're amazing! Thanks for sharing that.

Author:  artisanprops [ Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:52 pm ]
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Wow,
That's freakin Awesome!!
That's a cool line of work you have there Mai.. I remember reading you are
a teacher.. So How did you get into fabric conservation? If you don't mind
Me asking that is :)

Very Interesting stuff..


Doug :as2

Author:  Maia [ Sun Nov 11, 2007 6:56 am ]
Post subject: 

LOL. I guess some of you guys aren't in the 501st. I think some of what I do has been posted up on the main boards. I am a Professor in a regional college.

I started sewing when I was 4, made my first costume when I was 8. My grandmother was a seamstress and started teaching me when I was very small. She was a stern task master, too. Any wrong stitches would get ripped out and redone. I think my perfectionist streak comes from that.

My great uncle was an archaeologist as well as having a very prominent diplomatic career. When I was a kid, he always had some story to tell when visiting us. He used to go deep sea fishing with Hemingway. Anyway. As a teenager, I spent my summers on archaeological sites in central America. I don't much care for tarantulas, fire ants or other exotic bugs after those experiences. It did prompt me to go into archaeology as an academic career.

My first PhD is in archaeology, but the subject was more an archaeometric one than pure archaology in the strictest sense. My thesis involved the analysis of minerals in ancient Egyptian stone vessels with the purpose of determining where the rock came from. I had to develop the micro-analytical techniques myself. Similar methods can be used on other minerals, metals, etc, so I soon found myself in demand as an expert for authenticating artefacts. I have worked on collections in the Met, Boston MFA, British Museum, Ashmolean, FitzWillaim, etc. When the ROM became part of a three museum collaborative effort on an exhibit in 1998, I was asked to work on the clothing end of that given my background. Since then, other museums and a few private collectors have done the same.

I have also worked on sourcing geological materials (gold, diamonds, Lunar and Martian meteorites) but those projects are confidential, and some of the analytical techniques are proprietary.

Maia

Author:  Too Much Garlic [ Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:04 am ]
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I'm in awe... :eek

Author:  artisanprops [ Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:00 pm ]
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Mai,
I think I'm in Love :)

Wow, You must have some great stories to tell.. and your a professor!

your like our very own Indiana Jones, Slipping out the back door after
Class, flying to other country's to authenticate artifacts..
That's freakin too Cool :bow

I don't think anyone can question your expertise in this area then..

Author:  gonk27 [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:17 pm ]
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Great information, thank you for sharing it Maia!


Jeremy

Author:  Maia [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:38 am ]
Post subject: 

artisanprops wrote:
Mai,
I think I'm in Love :)

Wow, You must have some great stories to tell.. and your a professor!

your like our very own Indiana Jones, Slipping out the back door after
Class, flying to other country's to authenticate artifacts..
That's freakin too Cool :bow

I don't think anyone can question your expertise in this area then..


The end of term has been insane. I wish I could have pulled an Indiana Jones this past week and snuck out of my office. Unfortunately, there's a 30' or so drop from the window to the ground and I am one of the clutziest people on the planet. Jumping would probably result in my doing a face plant. :lol

Not much of what I do is terribly exciting. Sitting in lab for hours is tedious more than anything. About the closest thing I've had to a real Indiana Jones type adventure was some field work I did in 1998 in northern Yemen. The gold mines were Iron Age in date, and not much to look at - holes in the ground, more or less. The locals (most of them) were fine, but one bunch did show up, waved their guns around and demanded bribes to let us keep working. It took a bit of persuasion to get them to leave. There's a reason I pack an AK-47 around when I'm out in the field in Yemen...

Maia

Author:  artisanprops [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:25 am ]
Post subject: 

Maia wrote:
It took a bit of persuasion to get them to leave. There's a reason I pack an AK-47 around when I'm out in the field in Yemen...

Maia


Wow you carry an AK in the field.. Are you serious? Or just pulling our Legs;)

I have a feeling there's not much of a reason to go to the Range to practice
shooting that. Just hold the trigger and You should definately hit something :wink:

I love firing a couple rounds off at the Range from time to time, but have a sneaky
suspicion they would be extremely Pissed off at me if I started firing that :)

Author:  Maia [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:15 am ]
Post subject: 

artisanprops wrote:
Wow you carry an AK in the field.. Are you serious? Or just pulling our Legs;)

I have a feeling there's not much of a reason to go to the Range to practice
shooting that. Just hold the trigger and You should definately hit something :wink:

I love firing a couple rounds off at the Range from time to time, but have a sneaky
suspicion they would be extremely Pissed off at me if I started firing that :)


I only carry a gun out in the field and then only when I need to. In Yemen, everyone over 14 and male has an AK-47. It's become part of what they consider customary dress. Frankly, I don't much like dragging one of them around. It's a pain in the neck when you are trying to map out a site and I can't excavate with it slung over my shoulder, either. After a few rounds the barrel on most of them bends and they no longer shoot straight. My father taught me how to shoot when I was a kid so hitting something isn't a problem. Most Yemenis don't wear glasses and can't see very well to aim at you anyway. It's more a visual cue stating 'I'm armed, don't mess with me' than something that gets used on a regular basis.

I might have a picture of me in Yemen I can post, but most of that work was documented on 35mm slides. The only stuff that's been transferred to digital is what I have used at conferences and in journal articles. No candid shots as far as I can remember.

Maia

Author:  Too Much Garlic [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:52 am ]
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This is getting somewhat OT to the topic, but interesting nonetheless. :lol

Author:  Maia [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:38 pm ]
Post subject: 

NoHumorMan wrote:
This is getting somewhat OT to the topic, but interesting nonetheless. :lol


You can always split the topic and move the OT posts to the Off Topic section...

Maia

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