Demos and ER's and Scribal

Oh my! Today I went to Gulf Breeze Elementary School to participate in a demo for their 3rd grade "Medieval Festival." This is an annual event that the do as part of their history unit studies. I talked about the scribal arts and got to "dub" the children as "knights." It was really cute seeing how some kids really took their oaths of chivalry seriously. One little boy with a Spanish name really loved how I dubbed him "Don" instead of "Sir"

The children were really interested in the writing styles and I think I'm in trouble with some of the teachers for mentioning things like non-standardized spellings and lack of differentiation between upper and lower case letters in many periods of the middle ages. Ooops. (evil grin) They were most impressed with Emily's scroll she is working on and that she is "only" 14. Makes a mom proud. I really enjoy doing the school demos the best. Kids always seem so interested and truly want to learn. They tend to ask very practical questions as well and love it when you talk about gross things like how they would use urine to make different dyes and paints.

While we were there Heather got a call that Joel had been taken to the hospital from work. Since I drove Heather, we got to run to the ER afterwards. Thankfully, it seems as though he just has some sort of vertigo and not something more serious like a stroke or heart attack. Whew!

Tonight is Sip and Scribe at Starbuck's. Not sure who all will show up, but I know I will be there and so will Lavena. I'm hoping to get at least one of my scrolls inked as I wasn't able to get anything done today with all the running around. C&I ROCKS!

New hand

I'm working at decyphering a "new" hand for me. It's from the http://bestiary.ca/ Aberdeen Bestiary (it is very slow in loading, but it will eventually load). I've been copying pages of the text and enlarging them and printing them off. I figured if I liked the images then the hand should match. I haven't quite been able to piece together a full alphabet, but I'm working on it. I'm also working on coming up with some ways to make the scrolls using those pages as an example look more like the book rather than your typical SCA scrolls. It's a fun little task.

I think I finally have the feast for Daggers and Hemlock worked out. Although I will admit that it may change thanks to weather. It's going to be full of fresh fruits, veggies and lean meats. A perfect summer feast. Filling but not weighty. All period recipes. (All yummy recipes say my children!) I'll post it in a few days. It should be a fun feast with not too much labor. I'm planning on baking the bread on site and teaching a class on bread as I do so (free labor, no?)

I completed two scrolls this week already, but I need Cato to hook the scanner back up to a computer so I can scan them in. Hopefully I can get those posted soon.

Nice Weekend

I haven't remembered to as Lavena how the sweet's table ended up. They had to leave prior to court in order to get home to her Missy-ship who had been locked in the house all day. Poor hound! The new heirs for Meridies are Maxamillian and Lethrenn. Vivat!

Court was not withouth drama. The first being that someone collapsed after being given an Grant of Arms. Now granted it was very hot and stifling in court and I had heard that she was not feeling well to begin with. I think that our sudden hot weather has caught many people (myself included) off-guard. We had such a pleasant and seemingly long spring that to sudden be thrust into the upper 80's with such high humidity and lack of breeze had some people not taking care of themselves as they will in a few weeks when we are used (again) of this dreadful weather. It was a pleasure to see Ming the Mongol recieve his Award of Arms and grovel at the King's feet. What a hoot. He supplicated himself refusing to accept credit for anything he was "accused" of doing until he was asked if it was his intention of someday being a War Lord. Ah, the right words!

I as able to sit with Lady Aine ingen Comyn for a while and talk calligraphy and illumination. She was very helpful in giving me constructive criticism and ideas on how to make my work better. She suggested Ox Gall for thinning paints and I (of course) immediately ran out and bought a bottle the next day. I started playing with it last night and today and absolutely love the flow of the paint now. It doesn't get "gloppy" nearly as fast as before and the gold looks super cool using this new medium.

I have a puny tummy today so haven't done much other than to get a Meridian Majesty scroll completed for my stockpile. I have a goal of having at least 2 of every commonly given award and a good collection of various AoA scrolls available for use. Scrambling to make up original scrolls this weekend told me that I need to have more of a variety of scrolls available. I have printed out ideas for several other awards. I suppose I will be calligraphing tonight while Dancing with the Stars is on. (Did I just admit to watching that? LOL!!)

Busy Day!

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I managed to make 43 packages of peanut butter cookies for the Shire of Phoenix Glade's fundraiser lunch, knit 2" on my green lacy socks, made a new underdress for a new Viking outfit, calligraphed and painted 2 letters to their Majesties and Highnesses inviting them to PG's event in August, along with several loads of laundry, a load of dishes, made dinner and managed to even watch a bit of tv with the kids (OK, that's when I got the knitting done.)

Today shouldn't be as busy. I need to make some mocha crinkles for the aforementioned lunch, cut out and sew an apron to go with the aforementioned dress and maybe work on my Viking shoes that have long been needing to be sewn. At least I don't have any calligraphy that needs to be done today. Although I should trim down a few scrolls and get them sandwiched between boards to take to crown. I may even make a new hat from some wool I have. (No, Honnoria, not the wool we bought when you were here, just some wool from my ever growing hoard. We Vikings do that sort of thing!)

Happy New Year!

Well, at least for those in the Society for Creative Anachronism. We enter the year LXII anno societatis. This also marks a SCA anniversary for myself as well. It was 24 years ago tonight that I went to my frist SCA event. It was a May Day celebration in what is now the Kingdom of the Outlands. I was a theatre major checking out a possible school when I saw this guy in a Shakespeare-looking costume cross the green. So I catch up to him and ask him, "Are you in a play?" I mean if I could go see good theatre that would be fantastic. Alas, no play was showing. He was in some medieval club, but hey! he invited me to come. So I did. And I haven't been the same since. :)

So on this glorious May Day I am busy baking cookies and other sweets for the Shire of Phoenix Glade's fundraiser luncheon at Meridies' Crown List this coming weekend, working on two letters of invitation to their event for the Crown (and Heirs) and trying to finish up a new underdress and apron. Nothing major. (Oh yeah and be a mother and make dinner and lunches and settle arguments between children and keep the cats from walking across pen and paper and untangle them from cloth and string.)

And even more scrolls

Just a few more.

14th Century French design.

Another 14th century French design.

English. Dontcha know :)

This is 15th Century Dutch. I loved that it had the word Be already on it. I also love the huge strawberries in comparison with the itty bitty pineapples. What a hoot. Proportion meant nothing in medieval art!

More French. I just love this style (so why am I a 10th century Viking?)

More Scrolls

I finally got the scrolls I wanted uploaded onto the computer. These were all sent to Meridies Parchment Pursuivant (the person who is in charge of getting scrolls to TRM's for their use). Parchment is going to get someone to do the calligraphy on them as needed. Hopefully I will be doing my own calligraphy when I get a good consistant hand going.

This lovely little storky S is from the Lindisfarne Gospels. I really don't enjoy doing knotwork. I love knotwork and am constantly drawn to it, but I don't enjoy doing it. All those twists and turns and squigglies and trying to keep track of where they are all going can be mind boggling! But alas, I fall for them everytime I find a new one. I think the part I enjoy the best is the rubrication (those little red dots around the letter.)

I loved this U the first time I saw it! I loved how it was arranged and the little men inside it. I haven't decided if they are drinking a toast or paying off a bet! I like doing medieval people. This was a fun piece to do!

The above is another piece from Lindisfarne. If you look closely you can see where I got lost in the knotwork!

This A was mostly free-hand. I couldn't see lightboxing something so simple. I used an 01 pen to do the "doodling."






This is another freehand scroll. I wasn't too keen on the goldwork on the bar, but others said it looked nice, so I let it be. I included the lily in the center of the floral work so that it could be used for Order of the Argent Lily.

I love this rose. I left this as a sort of generic letter. It could be a T, C, or G. This was a fun one.