My Peer, Osman Usta (mka Dr. Theodore (Ted) Monnich), presented at the Ottoman History Symposium at Trakya University in Edirne Turkiye in November 2023. His presentation garnered the attention of a professor at Istanbul Ticaret Universitesi, and she invited him and me to present a workshop to her students.
On December 20, 2023, we presented a workshop titled "Rediscovering the Forgotten: Ottoman Tughs and an Experimental Design Workshop". Approximately 40 students were in attendance, as well as the head of the department. Dr. Ogr Uyesi Sema Hatun Turker acted as our moderator and translator.
Ted presented the talk he had given in Edirne, "A Preliminary Study of Ottoman Horsetail Standards of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries".
I then presented on my work, "An Experimental Approach to Understanding the Craft of the Tugcilar". Through the examination of extant tughs, we are better able to understand the materials and methods of construction of the tugh. We can then test our hypothesis about methods of construction in attempting to recreate elements of tugh.
I displayed detail pictures of an extant tugh, and demonstrated to students what details we can observe that give us information about the structure of the horsehair elements. I then discussed what I had discovered about working with horsehair and preparing it. I passed out samples of horsehair, both before and after preparation for being hitched.
Finally I discussed the methods that I was using to reconstruct the hitched patterns that are present on the tugh. I also displayed the hitching jig that I had created.
I then invited the students closer to demonstrate the techniques of horsehair hitching. They gathered around and were quite intereted in the techniques.
After concluding my portion of the workshop, I then gifted the hitching jig and horsehair to Dr. Turker.
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