Discover Top Posts Tagged with #janet stephens

The hairstyle of Empress Livia: Ancient Roman Hairdressing

An interesting biography of the famous/infamous Roman Empress Livia Drusilla/Julia Augusta, wife of the first Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, with a tutorial on how to recreate her really cute hair style.

#Janet Stephens #fashion #romans #hair #videos #tutorials #how to #diy

My daughter wanted buns today and they're so cute. She looks like munchkin Leia.

Also I knew she would hate pins so I sewed them in place like Janet Stephens proved the Romans probably did and it's staying put so nicely and she'll be able to sleep on them if she doesn't want her hair re-brushed before bed.

#Long hair #hairstyles #Children #Janet stephens #Hair archeology

In 2001, Janet Stephens, a Baltimore hairdresser, caught sight of a bust of Roman empress Julia Domna at the Walters Art Museum (the image a

#hair #hairdresser #janet stephens #hair archaeologist

Okay there are few things in terms of accuracy about the ancient world that fuck me off more than neglected Wikipedia stubs on obscure people written by users who don’t know what a citation is, but one of them is bullshit about Roman dodecahedrons. A fragment of another one was recently found in Belgium, which means we have to go through the whole ‘YouTube granny solved it lolol stupid academics’ meme shit.

I’m a classicist, but more importantly here, I’m a knitter. And this idea is just fucking stupid. And yes, I am quite happy to elaborate (if you’re prepared to just take my word for this, but still wanna feel good about academics getting shown up by people who are actually experts in their trade, scroll to the end bc there’s an actual one that I love that more people should know about).

So. First things first: this idea was not suggested by some YouTube granny. The first person I can find who posted a video about it was actually this guy, around 8 years ago. The video that lots of people share in relation to this stupid thing is only about two years old.

Next: knitters are a creative bunch. We can figure out how to knit with a lot of different things. Going around declaring things were for knitting just because they can be used for knitting is stupid. Things that could be used for knitting: chopsticks. Combs. Lollipop sticks. Forks.

Third: metal dodecahedrons with holes in them and big balls at each corner are not easy to make. No one is going out of their way to make these complex shapes just for fucking gloves.

Fourth: this shit predates any evidence we have of knitting by literally centuries. We figured out weaving and sewing way before this. Oh, hey. Guess what you can make a pair of gloves with??

Fifth: ‘oh but that guy figured out how they can make an entire glove in one go by using various holes!’ He sure did. Do you know what’s easier than what he’s doing? Sewing things together. (This is foreshadowing for the end)

Sixth: we also have icosahedrons and not all of them have holes. We’ve also found one in a grave among other grave goods. Weird thing to include among grave goods if it’s just a stupidly over complicated knitting tool.

Seventh: dodecahedrons come in different sizes. For this knitting theory to work it has to work for all sizes and it does not.

A demonstration: the height of the biggest dodecahedron we have is 11cm. That means the length of each side is 4.95 (the ratio of height to side length is 1:2.2). Here’s a smart guy explaining the maths. Here’s a calculator that’ll do it for you. (You want to use the Insphere radius to do the calculation and set it to 5.5 (half the diameter, which is the same as the height of the dodecahedron. Maths is cool).

Alternatively just eyeball this dodecahedron I made earlier:

Sides are roughly half the height, right?

SO. We need to knit with pegs that are 4.95cm apart. Now I only have a flat knitting loom, but it works for this demonstration. Irritatingly the pegs are in the wrong place to allow a distance of 4.95 between them, so it’s actually less than that (the centre of the peg should line up with that purple arrow):

So this is actually a cm smaller than the distance of the largest dodecahedrons.

Now, this is what it looks like when we knit with it:

You get a fabric roughly 7.5 cm wide. (Remember: it would be wider bc the pegs aren’t far enough apart) and pretty hole-y.

My thumb is the widest digit on my hands, so let’s measure it:

Just over 6cm circumference.

Here’s what happens when the fabric is wrapped around my thumb:

Huge gaps between the columns of stitches! (Which would be even bigger if the pegs were the right distance apart) And lemme just mention at this point, I am using something between super bulky and bulky weight yarn here. Use thinner yarn and you’re making dainty lace gloves that are useless at keeping you warm.

We can all agree that something this hole-y is not actually good at keeping your hands warm, right?

“But you could then wash it to felt and shrink it and that would get rid of the holes!”

Felting ain’t getting rid of holes that big. And also… just felt a big piece flat and then sew it together.

And don’t you think that if someone figured out they could make gloves with this technique they’d also figure out that they could use them to make hats and socks? No one is making a tool this difficult to make and complex to use just for a pair of gloves.

In conclusion: this is a fucking stupid theory and it needs to die dead and stay dead.

Now: on to the actual woman who you should know about: Janet Stephens. She’s a hairdresser, and/or a hairdresser archaeologist. Using her skill and knowledge as a hairdresser she attempts to recreate Roman hairstyles. There were some hairstyles that archaeologists/historians didn’t think possible. That they must have just been wigs. She called bullshit on that and set about making them. She realised that the problem was that translators had been translating a specific word to mean ‘hairpin’. It can also refer to a needle. As in needle and thread.

So she decided to experiment with what would happen if it meant needle and thread and what happened was she fucking nailed it. She nailed it because she is a hairdresser trying to understand what ancient hairdressers did. Because she had subject specific expertise. Because no academic had thought ‘hey maybe we should ask someone who actually knows what they’re doing with hair whether this is possible or not.’

#Roman dodecahedrons #ancient history #archaeology #knitting #Janet stephens #hairstyle archaeology

WAKE UP, BABES!!

New Janet Stephens just dropped!

#janet stephens #historical hairstyles #history #costube #bernadette banner #karolina zebrowska #abby cox #hair dressing #hair #medieval #Youtube

Do They Even Try To Hide It??

Ever wonder why we Aries folks are so active during the month of October?? In the olde Roman Calendar, Octo designated the 8th month. It is ruled by Mars, the God of War just like we are. This ties in nicely with the celebration of Ohrmazd tomorrow. I can only suggest you try to be as spiritual as possible. If you walk in a spiritual way, action becomes easier and outrage becomes…

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#Amazon #ILO #Janet Stephens #Johnston #Mayor Lombardi #Mayor Polisena #Pat Serpa

Channel name: Janet Stephens

Content: Beauty history

Adult?: no

"Historical hairdressing tutorials based on archaeological research and primary sources."

#Janet Stephens #historical hairdressing #ancient Rome and Greece #Victorian #medieval #renaissance

Janet Stephens: mistress of historical hairstyles.

Once in a while, along comes a gem; Janet Stephens is one such person ~ she recreates, in her spare time, hairstyles from antiquity and for us mere plebeians, she videos the creations. Yes, she’s a pure gem! This is her youtube channel. Below is just a one taste of her talents.