Sunday, October 28, 2007

Gatalop!

This weekend was Gatalop. Gatalop is an annual event hosted by the Barony of Osprey at Fort Gaines, Alabama. Ft. Gaines was built in the 1820's as part of the much needed coastal defense system. Despite the many hurricanes and other hardships this fort has seen it still remains one of the best preserved pre-Civil War forts in the US. Each year in October, the Fort allows the SCA to use the facility to host Gatalop. This is the closest that most SCAdians can get to having a real castle battle and people have been known to come from all over the world (truly, the furthest recieved pre-reserve came from the Katar this year!) to play castle battle.

Some of the other highlights of the event was getting to sit with Viscountess Marion and learning all kinds of things about research of costuming, fiber, and sewing techniques. Much of it was repeat, but it is nice to hear again, especially to make yourself go,"Oh yea,I knew that. duh." All the scrolls handed out were original and made by members of Phoenix Glade. Yay Phoenix Glade. And I got to do court as Master Alexander was not in attendance. Elaine, you will be proud that I didn't screw up and say, "The Stellar kingdom of An Tir." I think the pole ax bearers would have beheaded me on the spot!!

Aside from it being as windy as can be, it was a pleasant day (not too hot, not too cold) and it was enjoyable having conversations with the Queen as well as other people. Very relaxed and laid back. I'll post pictures when I can find some. (Once again the camera with new batteries was left at home!)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Some recent scrolls

I haven't had the time to upload any scrolls for a while between work, preparing for events and those three little things called children. Hate when life gets in the way of my fun! So without further ado here are the scrolls with my own self-criticism.

OK, worst for first. I'm not happy with this scroll and have decided I am going to add some gold work on it. I have seen two scans of this scroll online and one looks almost identical to this one and the other one I beleive was either "cleaned up" or taken before it was "cleaned up" and you can see faint gold and red flowers on the lighter green. I think I am going to go back and add those. This is for the Order of the Meridian Cross. I have made a personal commitment to making sure that this order (which I'm a companion of) has both regalia and original scrolls. C&I is, afterall, why I recieved this award.


I took this one from a book of accounts. There were actually more pillars, but I took it down to just two. This is one of those "mistake scrolls that worked out in the end." I wasn't paying attention to the wording when I started on the illumination and drew a Meridian Cross. Fortunately I was able to fix it by painting the egg for the correct badge for the Order of the Guiding Hand, which is what this award is for.

Winnifred says this is her favorite scroll of all I've ever done. She asked me if I would put a note on it for the king and queen to save it for when she is old enough to recieve her arms. What a kid. I told her by the time she is "of age" and if I have any control over it I will make sure that she has as nice of a scroll if not better.

This is for the Order of the Argent Comet. It is one of my more favorite scrolls. I love the simplicity and elegance of this scroll. (And the fact that there is no shading - which is the bane of my illuminatory existance.) This is where I am going to throw a little pitty party, so you can quit reading now or you can read and chastise (or empathise, your choice!) It truly SUCKS that we have NO active peers in the Panhandle of Florida, especially Laurels. I feel that I am at this "dulldrums" point in my abilities. I've studied the works, I've read all I can on period style but I have no one to SHOW me. I am such a visual learner and do SO much better when I have an instructor. I've thought about taking some "hobbyist" art classes to try to learn something about painting, but I'm not sure how well that will lend over into period painting styles. The last time I tried to take a mundane class to learn technique it didn't do very well. So I've decided to actively pursue a teacher. Any teacher. Heck, I don't even care if the person is a Peer if s/he can and is willing to teach me something. I'm going to be entering one of my scrolls (don't ask which yet, haven't decided) into Magna Faire in December hoping I can lure someone out from under what seems a rock. I don't know where all the C&I Laurels are in this kingdom, because I sure can't find them and it isn't like I've been sitting in a dark corner.

OK, that's enough ranting and raving and boo-hooing.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Crown List

This weekend was Lord Gunnar snaebjorn's first venture into Crown List and he fought for THL Lavena Knappe. While he wasn't victorious, we did have a grand time. Firstly, he was the lowest order of precedence to enter the field, which meant he was FIRST (saving the highest for last). He had a nice little Viking horde assembled with him, including a herald (that would be me), banner bearers and a few others. He and Lavena were dressed in matching blue and white.

Lady Lyonet had a small polar bear fleece (born in captivity and died of cancer, so no bear killing involved) that he wore as a head dress during the presentation. It went very well when I announced that he was "As fierce as the bear that dares inhabit the northern climates" He looks fierce, right?

This is the whole group and I think you can see everyone. It was truly fun to lead the day off and Gunnar was the only one that actually had a Herald who said something more than "This is Lord Stickjock fighting for Lady Garbidahl with these arms." I'm hoping to encourage more list participants by the other Heralds.

And if matching outfits and cultures, banners, heraldry, and cool gifties for the Crown wasn't enough Lavena had to go and create this lovely ladies' viewing pavillion with lots of yummy treats on the table (mostly cookies, which I think was my payment LOL!)

Gunnar made it through two rounds, but he learned a lot and had many knights come and talk to him about how well he did and give him some constructive criticism as well as pointing out the weak spots in the other fighters. Not bad for one's first Crown List.

I missed the Herald's Social, but we kept having problems with what time zone we were in. The site was just across the Al/Ga border and our phones were feeding off two competing cell towers. One would make our clocks reset to Central time and 10 minutes later they would get switched over to Eastern. Very frustrating. I did get a chance to talk to many of the Heralds in attendance, though. I spoke with Meistres Bronwen about Lambent position and we have a tentative date scheduled for me to take over at Magna Fair the first weekend in December. I'm hoping I don't need a trailer to get everything home. LOL!

Feast was fair. I've had better. I've definitely had worse. But no one at the table went hungry and there seemed to be enough for everyone to eat to be full. I wore my new sabots that Greet found for me to court and to feast. I know I shouldn't have worn them in the feast hall, but I was too tired to tromp back to our cabin and get my slippers and the sabot's don't quite fit over those. I'm hoping to make a nice pair of turn soles that might fit better inside them. I definitely need to do some carving/sanding on the inside to make them less uncomfortable. I doubt my feet will ever declare wooden shoes comfortable. It was fun clomping around on the wooden floors serving feast, though. Everyone agrees that the Dutch would never make very good stealth ninjas.

Winnifred wore her new red kirtle (still looking for that picture). Looked lovely. I was outbid in the silent auction on a nice coif for her, but I did manage to get a good look at it and will be making her one similar. She had a small coif that looks "blackworkish" that her godmother, Dona Elaine, made for her when she was a tiny baby. It still fits (sort of) although it does need to be desperately re-bound on the edges. The girls wore the coif for so many years. I was surprised the bias tape wore out before the fabric.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Thursday, October 4, 2007

A name for Em's

Emily has been working on names for her persona. She's Henry Tudor era English. She has narrowed it down to three choices and would like some input. They are:

Alyne Follywolle
Winnifred Keckilpenny
Winnifred Strangeways

Now mom of course is leaning towards Winnifred Keckilpenny, but don't let that influence you any! Just for reference she is into cooking and scribal arts and likes hats (aren't you happy about that Auntie Elaine?)

Monday, October 1, 2007

OOooo, I want!

Someone sent this to my scribal list. I think we really need to pool our money and buy one of these. Or this one. I mean it is for sale and who would take care of it properly? Wedding planners? Resort entrepreneurs? Oh, yeah, medievalists!

Monestary for sale! Be sure to look at the pictures. I've already claimed my bedroom! Ciao!

Friday Night Project Night and Wooden Shoes

Totally unrelated, of course. These are some pictures from our Friday project night this past week which was held at our house for a change. Lavena and Saxa were both out of town and, well, we just had to do something!

This is the stove top casting. Apparently the single burner that I had bought a while back just doesn't heat hot enough to melt the pewter. It makes a great stir fry, but is lacking in the casting department. Poor little inefficient burner.

A closer view. You can see the mold for the buttons here. We did have to make a run to Home Depot for more pewter. One pound wasn't deep enough for us to ladle and the pan is too awkward to use to pour. I think we ended up with three pounds before we could actually ladle it. Cato's ladle is a bit bigger than Lavena's and he tends to get a better pour.

This is Nicholas drinking some of the Chocolate Stout that we bought Cato, Nicholas and I declared it sweet and yummy. Melisande said it wasn't sweet enough and was too bitter. Nicholas always complains that he is always seen from the back drinking, so I decided to honor his front side as well.


Wooden shoes!!

These are the wooden shoes that my friend Greet found for me at a thrift store! They are SO pretty. She wore her pair all over the event she went to this weekend and I'm presuming they did her well as she didn't complain (or change shoes). I'm still thinking of wood burning daisies onto the heels.