Banners and Bread

Now that my sinus congestion of the past few days has subsided, I decided to get back to work on the silk banners.  I finished drawing our heraldry onto a long roll of craft paper sometime last week and this morning traced the designs onto the silk.  The hardest part of this step was keeping the silk taped down (I used masking tape along the edges) to minimize the movement as I traced using a pencil.  There are only a few squiggles out of place so the next step will be building the beg frame and stretching!

I've also started a little bread experiment on my kitchen counter.  Medieval home bakers didn't have access to store bought yeast so I thought I would try to create my own as well.  I combined 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water, and about a teaspoon of honey in a glass bowl, covered it with a cloth and set it on the counter.  I've stirred it twice a day and 'fed' it a 1/4 cup of flour and water each day.  It is has started to bubble a little with a clear liquid on the top and get that sour smell that sourdough bread starters are known for. It has been 3 days so I think I will let it stew for a few more days and see what happens. Experiments are fun!