I made a few additions and alterations to my outfit for these events. Nothing extreme, just a few accessories and little changes to improve the overall impression. When we were in Hawai'i at the beginning of last year, I went to Chinatown and bought an $8 paper parasol to help with sun protection. It's still holding up pretty well, although there's a small rip near the top. Also, I didn't have time to make a historically accurate pair of mitts, but I cut the fingers off a pair of gloves I had, and that has worked just fine (they need washing though...). Mitts are another sun protection accessory, to keep hands and arms from getting tanned. I'm working on a pair of period-correct ones in wool, but I will also need a linen pair for warmer climes. The gorgeous costume that Barb Klingberg made for me to wear in our all-female "1776" just needed one quick fix to take it from stage to event - I ripped off the Velcro from the front closure of the bodice so it could be pinned closed over my stays. I had also taken off the eyelet engageants (sleeve ruffles) from that gown and put them on my India cotton floral gown, but I made self-fabric ruffles for the elbows of the floral gown, so I need to put the eyelet ones back on the stripe gown. Oh, and I took the ribbon ties off my hat (the one given to me by the ever-generous Mara Perry) and now I secure it with a hatpin.
Here's a refresher on what I wore for my first Rebels and Redcoats, which was also my first event as Abigail. I'm the one on the left ;-)
You can see those engageants on this gown (the ruffles at the elbow) which went okay on this dress, but it was a temporary fix.
Here's Ziva's old dress, plus my striped "1776" gown pinned closed down the front, without engageants (this also shows the "cheat" mitts). I wore this gown for the first day of Northwest Colonial Festival 2017 so I could sew the sleeve ruffles onto the India cotton dress. As I said in my last post, it really is nice to have handwork to do in camp - it gives you a conversation opener, and it's period correct to have some sort of project going on at all times!
Here's Ziva in the new dress, and clearly, she loves the new parasol ;-) This is from the Mill Farm Pattern (her old one was Larkin & Smith). My mom started the dress, but got stymied by some of the historical sewing techniques, so the wonderful Stephanie Lindey, whom we'd met at Northwest Colonial Festival, and who has a son just a few weeks younger than Z, finished it in time for Rebels & Redcoats. Stephanie left it unhemmed (which I'd expected, since it's best to get hem length when it's on the person) so I hemmed it on day one of Rebels and Redcoats 2017. It's really nice to have handwork to do in camp...uh oh, I think this is becoming my justification for not having everything done in time for events!
Unfortunately, the stitches on my hastily-sewn hem came out, so I will need to take the whole hem down and do growth tucks instead (lines of stitching that take up the length of the skirt and are removable as the child gets bigger).
Here's my updated look - complete with period-correct hair!!
It's a little hard to tell, but I really like the effect of the flounces on the sleeves made from the same fabric as the dress.
Now - about the hair! At Rebels & Redcoats 2016, I met Christina Walley, who is an incredible Colonial/Revolutionary costumer AND accomplished Civil War costumer/re-enactor. Last year she came to R&R as a costumed participant, but didn't have a specific persona or a skill she was demonstrating. Well, at Colonial Heritage Festival, she ended up running a booth of her own for the first time, called "The Lady's Toilette." She brought pomades and powders made by a friend of hers (here's the Etsy storefront: Litttle Bits) according to "receipts" (recipes) found in a fascinating book from 1772, the Toilet of Flora. This book was available for housewives to purchase so they could learn how to make their own cosmetics and other useful household preparations such as soaps, "remedies" for bad breath and freckles, waters scented with flower petals, and laundry/stain removal treatments. It's kind of a fun read, so if you have a little while, I highly recommend browsing it.
Anyway, I and a number of other participants were delighted to be Christina's guinea pigs as she styled our hair using these powders and pomatums. The pomatum, made with leaf lard and rendered beef fat as well as a few scented oils, adds hold and volume, and the powder, which lists ground-up cuttlefish bones among its ingredients, soaks up the excess grease and "sets" the style. Christina also used period techniques, such as adding volume with hidden "rats" (stuffed wool pads) and rolling the hair around wooden dowels, then pinning into place.
Let me tell you, having my hair done up and coiffed really added something to my portrayal of Abigail. It wasn't just that I felt more like I looked the part, but it changed how I walked and moved (having to remember that I was a few inches taller and was balancing a wobbly hat on my head, things like that). It just made such a huge difference. Also, my hair laughs at modern hairsprays and gels, but these historical cosmetics...I'm tellin' ya, they really worked!! And then you just brush it out at night and the natural ingredients just condition and soften your hair, rather than leaving it brittle and sticky and crunchy. Wow!
This is one of Christina's early attempts, which I think is amazing! (This is from Colonial Heritage Festival)
And here's how she styled it at R and R. She just kept getting better and better at it! Isn't it elegant??
Here's my hair after three days of styling this way. Looks like premature gray! I love how it makes my hair feel, though. So soft and fluffy!
Christina has also been a huge help with the "Dressing the 18th Century Lady" presentation I give, where I start by wearing just my shift and stays and add all of the rest of the layers of my ensemble. Sometimes it's been a listed program on the event calendar and other times it's been sort of impromptu, but it ties in really well with Christina's "Lady's Toilette" booth, so after my hair is coiffed, it's a nice transition into getting dressed.
I added a new event to my "roster" early this year -The Revolution in Huntington Beach, CA! It takes place the second weekend in February. Here are some pictures:
So, I now have four distinct events under my belt, and each event has its plusses and minuses.
If I were to rate these events purely on ambiance, atmosphere, and the overall "feel," I would definitely put Northwest Colonial Festival at the top of the list. The location simply could not be better unless it was Mount Vernon itself. The George Washington Inn works so perfectly as the backdrop for a Revolutionary War event (just look at this place!), and the addition of a replica Concord Bridge with blue forget-me-nots standing in for the "river" is such a nice touch. The grounds are lovely (it's a lavender farm too!), the scenery is spectacular with the property going right down to these dramatic cliffs over the Strait of Juan de Fuca, much like the real Mount Vernon is situated right on the banks of the Potomac - it's really all breathtakingly beautiful. We had some cold, damp weather this year, but Eamon saved the day but driving the three hours round-trip to rescue us with cloaks and extra blankets (thanks, love!!). Also, the closed veranda where they serve tea is such a lovely place for us Founding types to meet the public and chat with them. I really love that opportunity to have conversations with people as Abigail. Last year, after I introduced myself, one lady responded with an enthusiastic, "Oh, I've been waiting to meeting you, I'm a huge fan!!" It was really rewarding, and lovely that she was willing to play along and dive right in. The only downside to NWCF is that it's in Washington in August, and the weather is unpredictable! But that's pretty minor :-)
First thing about Colonial Heritage Festival, is that it's in Utah, over 4th of July weekend. So it was HOT. Yes, there's some coverage from trees, but even so, it's still the desert! Also, the event is HUGE, and it's spread out over a big city park. The Colonial Village is just a small part of the America's Freedom Festival, so there is also a WWII encampment and a section dedicated to Ellis Island. So there was a lot to compete with, programming-wise, although there was a tent set up where Jack and I did a John and Abigail conversation and talkback at least once each day (I slipped up a few times and spoke about myself in the third person, but I got back on track quckly). Christina and I ended up doing the "getting dressed" presentation outside her "Lady's Toilette" booth, and then I could just walk right across the way to the tent and do the program with Jack. Ziva even joined us for one or two of them, sat very politely and quietly either in the audience or with us up in front of everyone, and curtsied when I introduced her as Nabby. Her being there gave me an impetus to talk about the family's inoculation against the smallpox, and rib John for letting his quarantine delay our marriage - fun stuff. It was so great to be able to include her (Jack is very patient with her antics, for which I am grateful), and obviously the public adored it. She's still too young to really give her own piece, but I hope some day she'll be interested in really developing a persona, whether it's Nabby or someone else!
Another big plus about CHF is that since it's in a city park, there's an enormous playground structure right in the middle of the event. Even though it's terribly anachronistic, it's a great place for the veritable hordes of children to hang out and play together. Everyone was very sweet about letting the kids just kind of run wild and keeping an eye out for them, and I never had to worry if Ziva scampered off (although there were many times it took a while to locate her if I actually needed to tell her something or we needed to be somewhere, but I was never concerned for her safety).
There was a dinner that Jack planned to mark the peace treaty between the British Army and the Continental forces. It was a small group - just Jack and Trudy as Major and Lady Redmayne, myself as Abigail, Gregg and Katherine as Ben Franklin and Mrs. Franklin, and Dan and Kelly Shippey as General and Lady Washington. It was an excellent opportunity to grow in my persona and play and experiment with how I thought Abigail might comport herself in such a situation, without the gaze of the public and in the company of supportive, encouraging people.
If I had to name a downside of CHF, it was the "keynote" address given at the "Sunday Heritage Observance" on the night of July 2. The event, which is over a whole weekend, shuts down completely on Sunday, so this is the one public offering that day. There were certain parts of the keynote I found pretty offensive. Yes, this was in Utah, and there's sort of an assumption, I guess, that most of the people attending the evening festivities were from a similar background and faith. But this guy, whose area of expertise is in Americana and Colonial papers and letters, droned on about how the subjugation of women was a good thing, and the family structure is falling apart because women work outside the home. All I could think was, Abigail Adams urged her husband to ensure women's representation, well before anyone dreamed up the term "suffragette" (which was itself a pejorative, infantilizing term), only for this asshole to get up there and tell women that it's best if they remain second-class citizens, AND they'd better be grateful for it! I very nearly just got up and left, I was that angry. But to a certain extent, I felt like I couldn't because I was a visitor, and representing the festival as a re-enactor. It was to say the least, an awkward situation to find myself in.
Whew! Anyway...
Rebels & Redcoats is in Phoenix, which is where Jack lives, and that event is definitely his brainchild and his "baby." The 7th Company of Coldstream Guards, the group he commands as Major Redmayne, participates in the skirmishes and battle re-enactments, and in 2016 he and I also did a "Conversation with the Founders" with General and Lady Washington. We weren't able to fit that particular piece into the program this past year, but it's not really the focus of the event. The Friday school visit day was extremely well attended last year, and it was great to be able to give the "Getting Dressed" presentation with kids. I like being able to turn it into something of a guessing game - what will I put on next?? - and the younger audiences enjoy the interactive aspect to it and the fun of trying to figure out just what the heck everything is. And they all ask really great questions!
The wonderful thing about the Huntington Beach event is that it's close enough to Los Angeles that I can stay with my mom and visit family. And it was a great event! It's situated in a huge city park with forested areas as well as big open fields, so there are places for vendors and camp followers to set up as well as day trippers. I got to see Christina again, since she lives in SoCal, and I got to meet a bunch of her friends and fellow re-enactors. She had the Lady's Toilette set up, and was enlisting her friends to do hair so that she wasn't the only one doing demonstrations. One of her friends in particular is actually a Colonial hair and makeup expert, so everyone looked beautifully turned-out! On the Friday before the event, Christina actually took me around all of her favorite shops in the LA Fashion District, which was hugely fun and only a teensy bit expensive ;-)
My brother David took the pictures I posted above plus a bunch more, and even better, he got some terrific video clips of Jack and me and Ziva giving our presentation. It's fantastic to have a "demo reel," if you will, because I really want to expand my Abigail Adams repertoire and broaden my scope. It really helps that I have done events all across the country, both because I've met a lot of people and have networks in all of those places, and because it just lends an extra air of prestige to be seen to be in demand. I have a Facebook page for Abigail now where I posted those pictures and videos, and I am also trying to post a selection from one of her letters to John for every day of the year. I need to get better about that. I'm also working on making business cards! I've reached out to a few historic sites and living historians in the DC area to see what opportunities there might be for giving presentations in educational settings. Here's hoping!!
And now I think I'm finally caught up!
No comments:
Post a Comment