My Own Grandpa

2009 Costume Review

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:14:13 GMT

If two people do the same thing, that makes it a meme, right? This seems like a fun thing to do, so here's the clothes I made in the past year:

Green wool early 16c Italian gown:
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This one was mostly made in 2008, but I put the guard on the skirt in January, so I'll count it. :)

14c outfit for the boy:

It still fits!

Red wool 15c hose:

Fulling this fabric was a dumb idea. The hose starting falling apart quickly and were cut down into a perfectly good pair of stockings.

New 15c body linens:

All hand sewn. I also made several more sets for Pennsic, but those were all cheaters done with a serger. Naughty!

Black wool 15c doublet:

I don't have any good pictures of this on its own, but it appears later under other things. All hand sewn.

Unstructured late 15c giornea:

Coral linen late 15c gown:

White satin cioppa:

All hand sewn. I haven't worn it much, since the satin wrinkles very easily. I should probably jut suck it up and wear it. Here you can see the black wool doublet and red wool hose in action.

Black wool cappuccio:

A terrible picture, but a fun (if impractical) hat. All hand sewn.

Green linen 15c hose:

Not perfect, but very comfy. All hand sewn.

Late 16c Flemish peasant doublet & hose:

Here you can see the red wool hose cut down for use as stockings.

That's pretty much it. Next up is a couple pairs of chausses for indywind and then my early 16c Italian doublet & hose.

Flash Dance!

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:17:03 GMT

I spent a large chunk of today fiddling around in Flash to make a little movie to illustrate the timing I use for 15th century Italian doubles in bassadanza (6/4) and quadernaria (4/4). Before I go to bed, I present it for you here.

Edited to add: It now includes sempii and doppii in bassadanza, doppii and saltarelli in quadernaria, and saltarelli and pive in their own misure. Unless I go back and add some descriptive text to the start of each movie, I think I'll leave it be for now.

Flemish Peasant Picture

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:58:46 GMT

Thanks to Runolfr for getting a picture of my (semi-)new Flemish outfit. It's not an ideal angle, but it shows all the parts. The shirt is one of my old (pre-neck-gusset) 15c Italian linen shirts with the collar cut off. The coat is the one I made several years ago for the first version of this outfit. The hose you've already seen. The doublet is made of the green linen I got earlier this year, with two layers in the body and one in the sleeves. It closes in the front with three points. All the points are strips of elk hide, though I may replace them with something a little sturdier, as some of them broke and they're a bit tricky to get through the eyelets without aglets. Since the forecast was for cold weather (it snowed!) I also wore the stockings I cut down from the red wool hose that didn't really hold up very well (not everything should be fulled!). The shoes are my Revival 15c shoes, which are a tad too pointy, but were able to accommodate all the layers of hose better than my usual snug 16c shoes. I still don't have a good belt, so I just wore a mundane belt that I cut the loop off of for that authentic flippy-strap-end look.

What Is The Laurel?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:26:46 GMT

A recent LJ discussion about the nature and perception of PLQ's (aka "Peer-like qualities") got me thinking about the nature of the Laurel. My rambling is behind the cut for your convenience. Everything contained herein is, of course, my own opinion and should be taken with whatever salt you deem necessary.

I knew I wanted to be a Laurel early on in my SCA career. The barony I started playing in had a large concentration of Laurels, and I wanted to be like them. I didn't know exactly why, except that they did lots of cool stuff, but I knew that was the path I wanted to be on. Did I know where it led at that point? Not really.

So I became an apprentice, and took the green belt that was the outward sign of my ambition. Over the years I pursued the various arts that appealed to me, and in time began to teach them to others. For a long time I was in that contradictory state where, if asked, I would say that the Laurel wasn't my goal, while the sash around my waist said the opposite. It wasn't until later that I came to understand why that wasn't entirely contradictory, and I found my own understanding of what it meant to me.

What is the Laurel?

After many years, I got to the place that many have reported finding themselves, namely the land of What If I Never Become A Laurel? It's not a fun place, but it's a good place to do some thinking. I started trying to figure out what exactly I was missing out on, besides jewelry and meetings. I didn't need the Laurel to do my art, and I didn't even need it to teach. I couldn't take official apprentices without it, but I could have students and encourage others to pursue their own arts. What, I wondered, was the Laurel really good for?

As far as I can tell, the Laurel is a license. What is a license? It's a document that tells someone who does not know you personally that some accredited group has deemed you fit to perform some task. A driver's license says that you have passed the driving test and are at least minimally competent to safely operate a vehicle. A medical or law license says that you have completed the necessary training to work in those professions. The Laurel is like a teaching license, in that it declares that you are able to competently perform and teach the arts and sciences that we do in the SCA.

Is a license an award? Sort of. A doctor receives his diploma in a ceremony and hangs it on the wall of his office so you can see his credentials, just as the Laurel receives and displays his regalia. What it is not is the end of the journey. Imagine a med student graduating, getting his medical license, and then retiring! Receiving the license is the end of one journey, and the beginning of a career.

What is the purpose of a license?

You may have noticed my earlier emphasis on the fact that a license certifies your credentials to those who don't know you. It's possible to be an artisan and a teacher in the SCA without being a Laurel, and even to do so better than some who are. The only thing the Laurel will do is to give an idea of your skills to someone who has no knowledge of you, either personally or by reputation. If you tell someone "I'm a cooking Laurel", that gives them a certain idea of your ability to cook in a period style, redact recipes, etc. It is am imprecise tool, and one that can be misused, like any tool. When used wisely and honestly, though, it helps those who are seeking knowledge and advice find it more easily.

What is the value of a license?

The value of a license is directly related to the reputation of the institution that grants it. A medical license from a third world country does not necessarily carry the same weight as one granted in a more industrialized nation. The value of the Laurel is equal to the sum of all the experiences that a particular person has had with Laurels (or perhaps Laurels from your kingdom or local group). If someone has had bad experiences with Laurels, they will place less weight on it as an accurate measure of skill and personality, and vice versa for those who have had mostly good experiences.

This is why the Laurel is a polling order. It is in their best interests to maintain a high level of quality in their membership, and therefore a high level of overall respect for the Laurel as an Order (or a brand, if you will). If they let in a bunch of jerks, then people will start to think all Laurels are jerks, and therefore that they personally are jerks.

So is it just a status symbol?

While it is a status symbol, like most status symbols it does have a useful purpose. A big SUV is a symbol of wealth, but if it is regularly used to transport large numbers of people then it is not an empty symbol. Likewise, a Laurel who is using their status to actively teach and promote the arts more widely than they might have been able to without it is making good use of it.

A Sonnet For The Missus

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:12:44 GMT

I was feeling kind of bad that I had written sonnets for foreign queens but not for my wife, so when I heard about the Poet Laureate competition that was going to be held at Magna Faire, I figured that it would be a nice opportunity to make up for it. I didn't really expect to win; I just wanted the captive audience. Whoops. Anyway, here's what I wrote:

Knight-Slayer

Twelve years have gone since first I saw that maid
Who went to war with shield and spear in hand.
In shining mail and sturdy helm arrayed
She strode upon the field to make her stand.

Two knights came forth to test the lady's skill
And each in turn soon found himself no match
For flashing steel and stalwart iron will
That saw them both upon the ground dispatched.

I came to her bare-headed and disarmed
To signal my defeat on bended knee
Submitting to the dark-eyed beauty's charms
And asking only that she dance with me.

She took my hand and laid her own heart bare
And thus began this endless dance we share.

Magna Faire

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:05:08 GMT

So we went to Magna Faire this weekend, and it was big fun. Camp Grandma wasn't available this time, so we ended up taking the boy with us For a 2-year-old, he was very well behaved, though he was still a handful.

There was a fairly large contingent of the South Downs artsy crowd that piled into cars and came out for the event. happygoth made a good showing with her first A&S entry, her first attempt at Persian bookbinding. adelavanbrugge entered my Laurel scroll and greetpg's Meridian Cross scroll and got good marks on both. She also won the fine arts category of the Magna Faire. Mistress Jadi performed in the Dance Champion competition along with several other excellent Middle Eastern dancers, and won the accolade. I entered the Poet Laureate competition on a lark and accidentally won. More on that later.

I got to attend my first Laurel meeting, and I brought two loaves of cinnamon bread as my new-guy-brings-the-food contribution. I got there late, as a few of us were tied up judging the performing arts entry, so nobody actually ate any of the bread during the meeting. I spent the rest of the afternoon with it tucked inside my coat, offering samples to everyone I thought looked hungry. It was super tasty, and all gone by this morning.

The field test of the Flemish peasant outfit was a complete success. Since the weather forecast was a bit grim (and we did have snow Friday night and Saturday morning), I brought the failed wool hose that I had cut down to knee socks and wore those over my blue hose. My legs stayed quite toasty all day. The hose themselves were incredibly comfy and I had no problem with range of motion whatsoever. I'm looking forward to getting started on the fancy Italian version once I get a couple of other sewing obligations taken care of.

Feast was tasty, dancing was fun (if very late), and on the whole I had a great time.

Insomnia Project

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:09:44 GMT

I went to bed early last night (before 8:00), and for some reason woke up at 1:30. I tried to go back to sleep but my brain was on and would not shut off. One of the things it was thinking about was the Laurel "medallion" I wanted to make for Magna Faire. I plan to wear the current iteration of my Brueghel peasant outfit, so neither the big blingy medallion or the tiny pendant with the drop pearl were really appropriate. Instead, I decided to make a simple cloth patch to pin/sew to my hat or coat. This would involve embroidery, which I haven't done in so long that I honestly can't remember. I only know a few stitches, so I used the ones that I thought were the most fun. The stems of the wreath are chain stitch, and the rest is all split stitch (except for a couple of leaves where I was experimenting). The wreath is 3 strands of cotton DMC floss, and the monogram is 6. I lined the back side and top stitched the edge with linen thread. The whole thing is about 2" in diameter. It was kind of fun, but I still don't see any big needlework projects in my future.

Like A Glove

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:12:23 GMT

I finished the eyelets on the Flemish peasant doublet last night, so all it needs now is sleeves. I just cut some leather points and tied the doublet and hose together to see how everything fits. It's so comfy! I have plenty of range of motion, no reported baggy butt, and no obvious stress points yet. I need to move the codpiece eyelets about an inch and a half inward, but other than that everything seems to be a go. I'll get pictures once I fix the codpiece, put sleeves on the doublet, and repurpose one of my old 15c shirts. Barring catastrophe, I should have it all ready to go well before Magna Faire.

More Pictures From MGT

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:08 GMT

Flannait posted her excellent pictures from MGT here. I grabbed the pictures of my elevation and put them over here. There are also some pictures with proof that I own armor!

Silver Hammer Pictures

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:25:29 GMT

I didn't get many pictures, but here they are for your enjoyment anyway:

Mistress Rosemounde with her dog

Me playing hand puppet after finishing the seams on my codpiece

Extant Penner

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:04:00 GMT

Many thanks to scribeo for digging up this gem, hidden in the very obscure V&A. ;) I particularly like the way the molding of the leather between the loops looks very much like they were held open with a round stick when it was formed. I am more hopeful.

Weekend Report

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:54:56 GMT

Serafina and I went up to Silver Hammer this weekend. The weather was alternately wet and cold, but aside from that it was as lovely an event as I've come to expect from Thor's Mountain. I taught a dance class in the afternoon, which was well attended, and ran the ball in the evening. I was happy to see a wide variety of folks come out on the dance floor, and was quite impressed by some of the footwork I saw. In between the two bouts of dancing was the feast, which was excellent and tasty, not to mention promptly delivered.

I started the weekend by going to a step class at the gym with adelavanbrugge and getting a new membership. Between that and all the dancing I'm worn down to the bone, but hopefully repeated attendance will improve things. For now I am tired and need to get to bed early.

Hose Progress

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:46:26 GMT

I finished putting the codpiece together tonight. The pattern was largely built of guesswork and hope, since there was no way to really know how it would fit until the whole thing was built and attached. The seams are only basted together, but it all seems to work and is quite comfortable. It's a bit bigger than strictly necessary, but not out of line with period examples. Pictures of the hose with codpiece installed below the cut.

Codpiece Pieces

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:18:17 GMT

I started on what I'm calling the "birdnester codpiece" last night. I'm building it out of one layer of heavy wool blend for sturdiness, one layer of squishy fulled wool for smoothnes, and a layer of the blue linen to cover it all. There are four pieces total: two in the center for the crotch and the front of the codpiece, and two for the sides. You can see some of them in various stages of construction here. After taking this picture, I noticed that I had made two left sides for my codpiece. This will be remedied. :)

Codpiece Research

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:36:02 GMT

I stayed up late again last night working on the feet of my hose. I took the legs in at the heel a bit and attached the tops of the feet. The entire edge of both feet is finished and ready to attach the soles. Once the feet are done I'll start working on patterning the codpiece. I may mock up the doublet body first so I can see how the hose work when tied up.

I want to use these hose for both early 16c Italian upper class clothes and later 16c northern European peasant clothes (e.g. Bruegel and Beham peasants), so I'll be looking at both sources for details. A lot of these will look familiar, as I've linked to them before.

The Peasant and the Birdnester - Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1568

This one is a jackpot right off the bat. The seams on the codpiece show a multi-piece construction very different from the one-piece vestigial codpieces found on trunk hose. It also has triangular flaps to hold it up, which makes me happy. This is also an interesting example of what appears to be a drinking vessel suspended from the belt.

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (detail) - Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559

Totally unrelated, but this shows some nice masks.

Wedding Dance in the Open Air (detail) - Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

More codpiece shape, though not as much seam detail. I'm not going to go as long and pointy as the piper's, but that's an interesting data point.

The Land of Cockaigne (detail) - Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567

Some nice attachment detail here.

The Miracle of the Newborn Child - Titian, 1511

Kind of hard to see what's going on here, but the basic shape of the yellow codpiece seems similar to the Bruegel ones, if a bit less pronounced. Still has the little flaps at the top to attach it, though it looks like it may have a less complex construction.

Scenes from the Story of Joseph: The Search for the Cup (detail), Bacchiacca, 1515-1516

The Martyrdom of St. Catherine, Jan Provost, 1520s (before 1529)

A strangely enormous and high codpiece with a clear front seam, and lots of lacing details at the waist. I don't know how much I trust this one for construction, though.

Christ and the Adulteress, Titian, 1508-10

Some detail on the codpiece, but not as much as I'd like.

So, from a cursory look, it seems that the codpieces of early 16c Italian and later 16c Flemish peasant hose are strikingly similar. I think this is justification enough to try the "birdnester" construction method, which I think will make the best looking and most comfortable shape.

Hose Progress

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:25:12 GMT

So, when last we left the story, I had built a short foundation for my full hose. I tweaked that until it fit better, then took it apart and adjusted my pattern to match it. Or so I thought. I cut two legs from the lovely stretchy Pennsic linen and did my best to match it up with the green linen foundation. Nothing really matched up right, so I just made it fit as best I could and basted things together, letting the extra flop around until I was sure what needed to be cut away. I sewed everything up and tried them on.

Of course, it didn't fit right.

I pushed and pulled and tested and figured out that the main problem was that the crotch was cut too low. I drafted an addition, made up a couple of lined pieces in that shape, and stuck them in. Putting the hose on again, I found that the fit was much improved. There are a couple more seams now, but those will be gone on future versions. The waistline was too high in back, but that would also be easy to fix. I looked in the mirror and... my butt was lumpy. It turns out that the foundation that I'd spent so much time making and matching up completely ruined the stretch of the linen in the back. I cut out big chunks of it and what was left at the seams was still making them look atrocious. I knew I'd have to take those seams apart and cut out the rest of the foundation. This destroyed my momentum and I didn't work on them for several days.

Tonight I finally picked the hose up again and started tearing them apart. Again. I cut out most of the foundation, leaving only reinforcing strips at the waist and center front, and in some sections through the crotch that don't affect the look of things. I put it all back together and saw that the rear seams were better, but still needed some adjustment to lay flat. I marked and nudged and adjusted for a while, until my butt was declared free of lumps.

I took apart the min seams once more, and laid one leg out on my pattern to mark the final shape. Back together again (machining the major seams), and I started flat felling and binding everything. I slipped into the meditative trance of hand sewing for a few hours and got everything squared away. Many of the seams have raw edges inside, though they are flat felled and cut on the bias, so I'm hoping they won't fray too badly. All that's left to do is one pair of eyelets at the front, eyelets at the waist, adding the feet and figuring out the codpiece. Hopefully all will go smoothly, but you never know.

Paging The LJ Hive Mind

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:43:17 GMT

From Scribal Tools

The second iteration of the penner is technically successful, but still not quite the look I'm after. This time I used 8 oz. (I think) cowhide left over from back when I used to make armor. It hardened beautifully, though I had issues getting the skewers into the loops to hold them in place. That problem can be avoided with a simple change to technique, but I'm still not happy with the look of the loops themselves.

Some reference images:
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7000102.JPG
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/netherlandish-a-girl-writing
http://www.wga.hu/art/g/ghirland/domenico/3fresco/1jerome1.jpg

So the problem is that I want the loops to stand out and be round, separate shapes from the body of the penner. Right now they're still just sort of bulges. I figure there are several possibilities:

1) My leather is too thick. Thinner leather may be easier to shape.
2) My technique needs work. I may need more tools or forms to stretch the leather the way I want. Also, the loops may be sewn into shape.
3) The loops are actually separate from the body of the penner. There are definitely instances where this does not appear to be the case, but it's a possibility.

Any suggestions from people with leather shaping experience?

Also, I'm looking for a source for the ink bottle (see above pictures). I haven't been able to find anything ready-made yet that doesn't require alteration or addition. I've contemplated vintage cone ink bottles that I could add a harness to, but I'd rather have something that's exactly what I want. I don't have the pottery skills to so it myself, but I imagine someone out in the world is making (or can make) these things.

A Fine Book

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:00:10 GMT

I was given several gifts by my friends as I contemplated my pending elevation: a pile of black velvet, a 13th century Venetian grosso, and several other fine things, but the one that stood out among them was a hand bound book made by the lovely Margavati (aka happygoth). Those of you who have been here for a while may remember my forays into book binding, so I know how much work went into this piece (which is far nicer than anything I've made, to be sure). There are more pictures and construction details on her blog.

I now know how everyone else felt when I presented them with a blank book and asked them to fill it. I'm not entirely sure what I should put on these pages. The first few pages contain well wishes from people who came to the vigil. I think I'll use the next section to document the next few revels that I run. After that, who knows?

The Penner

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:27:34 GMT

From Scribal Tools

So, a little more detail about the penner I mentioned in the last post. There are a number of different types of penner and inkhorn sets seen in period artwork. I decided to go with the tube-shaped style, made of leather.

I experimented with hardening various types of leather that I had on hand, using hot and/or boiling water. None of them hardened as well as I've seen happen with other leathers, but they all at least shrank and firmed up a little. The undyed elk hide (which is very soft and stretchy in its natural state) seemed to work the best for what I was trying to do, so I decided to start with that. I wanted the overall shape to be slightly tapered, so I got an oak chair leg from Lowe's and cut it down to approximately the right length. I sewed a tapered tube of leather loosely around the wooden form and chucked it into boiling water for a few minutes. It shrank down nicely around the form, and held its shape well one I took it off. It's not exactly rigid, but it's good enough to protect the contents from minor bumps and drops.

Around the elk hide I sewed another layer of thin burgundy leather, which I didn't harden at all, since I didn't want it to shrink. All of this was repeated with the lid. The cords are passed through slits in the outer layer of leather. I had to take the outer shell of burgundy leather off after it was sewn, make the slits, and then wrangle it back on. Not an easy task, but doable.

I wanted to make sure that the inkhorn end of the penner was leak-proof and relatively fool-proof, so instead of making an inkhorn I decided to buy a bottle and attach it to the cords. A little shopping around found the fancy little octagonal glass bottles that Omas uses for its fountain pen inks. It's a nice shape, and not outrageously modern looking, even though it does have a screw cap. After examining the bottle (which was larger in person than I expected), I decided to make a harness for it out of twisted copper wire. It seems solid enough so far, though I went through quite a few prototypes that broke as I was twisting the wire. I don't know if the actual ink will be good for this sort of calligraphy, but it can always be replaced if need be.

For the next version, I want to get some light veg tanned cowhide for the penner body. I've experimented with boiling this sort of leather before for armor applications, and it does shrink up and get quite hard. I'm also considering commissioning an ink pot with attachment points for the cords. Now that I don't have to keep the whole project a secret anymore, this should be much easier. :)

A Productive Day

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:19:36 GMT

I spent the day up at the folks' house with the kids today, picking up adelavanbrugge's birthday and anniversary presents. alasais and logansilveraxe came by so I could help Alasais work out a pattern for her next cotehardie/GFD. Some draping and cutting and pinning and recutting and adjusting and eventually we had a functional pattern for the upper half of the body and a sleeve that didn't make anyone cry. Hopefully the construction will go well! All in all, I think we got quite a bit done considering the number of children that were running around.

Sewing Weekend

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:45:47 GMT

Today was a very productive day, though most of it didn't come from me. My student Serafina made the long drive down to visit today so I could help her get a chemise started.
You may recall a while back that I mentioned helping someone start their first dress. The dress made its debut at Red Tower (some pictures here) sans sleeves, and had the sleeves on at MGT. It's machine constructed and hand finished, and I think it turned out very well. I also got mom's very similar dress done in time for her to wear it at MGT as well.
So the last part of Serafina's outfit left was a chemise that actually matched the neckilne of the dress. She is using the method I've been playing with lately, finishing the edges of all the pieces first and then sewing it all together at the edges. It's faster to finish the edges by machine, but it's hard to get the machine started on the corners. To alleviate that problem, I suggested that she turn the corners of each piece by hand, and then turn the long edges on the machine. It seemed to work quite well. By the time she left all the edges were finished and some of the gores were installed, so she should be able to crank out the rest of it relatively quickly.
adelavanbrugge was also very busy today. She's been working on a new pair of shalwar to wear under her Persian. She took the pattern off the pair I made for her ages ago, and decided to build it all by hand as well. There's certainly something to be said for being able to sew while lounging on the couch watching TV rather than being shackled to a noisy sewing machine.
I even managed to do some sewing myself, though really it was only patterning. I took my most recent pattern for separate hose and hybridized it with the foundation from the trunk hose I made for the red suit. I crossed my fingers and cut a mockup pair. To my surprise, it seemed to fit pretty darn well. I pinned a couple of tweaks I need to make, but so far the pattern shows promise. I think tomorrow I'll try to make up a foundation for the upper section (from the waist to just below the crotch, where the mysterious thigh seam is) and see how well I can get that to work.

Pictures From MGT

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:46:22 GMT

Dad posted the pictures he took at MGT.

Weekend Report

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:33:06 GMT

We all managed to survive the weekend. It involved complicated plans and a cast of thousands, as well as divine intervention and improvisation.

On FridayI finished up almost all of the sewing on the folks' clothes, and adelavanbrugge finished up my scroll. I packed up my armor and some other odds and ends, along with the kids, and took them up to the folks for the night. I made it to site by about 8 or so, and Adela showed up an hour or so later with the rest of our stuff. As we were unloading everything into the craft cabin (to be set up in the morning when there was light), I managed to stand in an ant bed and they swarmed up to attack my sandaled feet. Cussing ensued. Once everything was stowed, we rolled off to bed.

Following the (early!) wake-up call, we converged with our various household folk and friends from Talmere to get the vigil tent, reception tent, and food areas set up. After a frustrating episode of trying to get the chairs put together, I decided to lower my stress level by going down to the field to get my head bashed in by large men with stick. Ah, relaxing!

I fought in the first tourney of the many that were held that day. It was an "armatura" style tourney, which is basically a multi-ring bear pit fought by randomly-selected three man teams. It was just the right mix of fighting and resting, and all the fights seemed pretty well balanced. I killed and was killed in turn, and had a grand old time. After that I showered and changed, then went back down to the field so that Their Majesties could place me on vigil. The crowd that gathered around the impromptu court was quite sizable.

The weather was cloudy and cool, which made the vigil tent quite pleasant, if a tiny bit stuffy. I had a steady stream of visitors bearing pearls of wisdom and thoughtful gifts, and I enjoyed getting a chance to sit and chat with all of them. vox8 provided a delicious array of food and sweets, which I regret not being able to partake of more than I did. Many thanks to logansilveraxe for standing watch at the door and all my other friends who helped provide a welcoming environment for those who came by.

As court approached, the clouds that had kept the weather cool all day decided that it was their turn to get some attention. We hauled everything in from the tents to the cabin just in time for the sky to open up as it has been doing so often of late. By the time everyone assembled in the pavilion for court, we were all in varying stages between damp and soaked.

The elevation ceremony was quite entertaining, despite the lack of any real rehearsal. Challenges were made and responses given, I faced the right way most of the time, bits were skipped for the sake of expediency and added for the sake of levity. I'm fairly certain pictures were taken and hopefully they will surface in the near future.

Several of us were in and out of court after that wrangling children, which unfortunately meant I missed eeyore_sings receiving her well deserved GoA. After court the hall was set up for the celebration and buffet, and then all the lights went out. A group of us headed off to Madison to eat, and then I alone returned to site to fall into bed.

This morning I packed what I could and prayed that someone would show up to help transport the large amount of stuff that wouldn't fit in my tiny car. Fortunately Jadi returned to bail me out, and we got everything squared away and celebrated with a lovely lunch on the way back home.

And now it is time for laundry and dishes and sleeping and sorting out of stuff.

Wet Tower

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:03:29 GMT

This weekend we went to Red Tower, and it was wet. It didn't rain actively during the day on Saturday, but in the afternoon and evening it started up again. The event had a Roman theme this year, for which I was grateful, as it meant I got to wear a nice linen tunica instead of my usual sofa.

I spent the day wrangling the kids, with varying levels of success. adelavanbrugge got to do a good bit of socializing during the day, so hopefully I performed my duties in an acceptable fashion. They seemed to have plenty of fun playing with the other kids and wreaking havoc, and didn't get exceptionally muddy. I also kept them during court, which meant I missed Adela being inducted into the Order of the Red Raven, the baronial service order.

After court she and the kids went home, and I started in on my half of the event. Feast was tasty, if not exceptional, and the company was lovely. After feast, I set up the pavilion for the revel, which was my primary focus for the event (surprise surprise).

Last weekend I was trying to figure out how to justify staying in my nice comfy Roman clothes while running a ball full of 15th and 16th century dances. It struck me that I could run the ball as a masque, hosted by the gods of ancient Rome. It was certainly a popular theme for the time, and would be easy enough to pull off.

The main thing I needed was masks and people to wear them. The masks I built from papier mache, cardboard, and plastic flowers, painted with metallic spray paint and a bit of sponged-on children's craft paint:

To keep them from being too uncomfortable, I also glued in a few bits of fulled wool left over from my ill fated red hose:

Venus was played by Mistress Jadi, Jupiter by her apprentice Yul, Diana my by clever new student Serafina, and Apollo by me. If you can't tell which mask was whom, I didn't do a very good job of making them. :)

The script for the masque was minimal, relying on the improvisational abilities of my cohorts. I ran a few dances as I waited for everyone to arrive, and then paused briefly so that everyone could put their faces on. Yul entered the hall as a despondent Jupiter, calling for Apollo to entertain him. Dutifully I responded, fresh from a week's vacation (it's been overcast and/or raining for quite a while). I called forth Diana and Venus to help me, and Venus enticed a mortal (Yves) to join us to dance Contrapasso in Due.

This was not enough to raise poor Jupiter's spirits, so we called forth the other mortals to help us. We danced Ballo del Fiore and Amoroso to finish the set. The masks came off then (and never went back on, as we were at that point "disguised as mortals"), and there was an interlude of Persian dance. The second set began with a conersation between Apollo and Diana about the fauns and nymphs I had seen while vacationing in Britannia, which I had to illustrate with the help of mortals dancing New Boe Peep. From there the evening carried on into fairly random dancing, with a good number of dancers out on the floor for each one. At one point several of us danced Whirligig, which we mutilated enjoyably.

All in all, I was quite pleased with how the revel went, and met several new (and new-to-me) people whom I hope I will have the chance to dance with again in the future.

Alteration Diary

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:56:52 GMT

I've been working on a new late 15c dress for my mother, who lives on the other side of Atlanta. This means I that I don't have easy access to do fittings, and therefore have been just plugging along with my sewing and hoping for the best. I took the finished bodice up this past weekend and tried it on her, and found that the best was not what I had. Fortunately, it was too big (too big being far easier to fix than too small), so I pinned the alteration I needed to make and took it home to fix it. I decided to take pictures of the process, just in case anyone might be interested. For those of you who aren't, I give you this convenient cut.

So, as I said, the first thing I did was pin the back seam where I wanted to take it in. Then I marked it with blue chalk before unpinning it. To keep the layers playing nice together I basted a line just outside where I had marked the seam. I had a bit of a whopsie when I cut the new edge. I had intended to leave myself a 1/2" seam allowance from the blue chalk line, but I started cutting at the bottom edge on the outside, and gauged the seam allowance from the basted line rather than the chalk line. I didn't cut very far, so I just angled the cut back out to where I wanted it and cut the other side to match. I still wanted to have the new edge at the chalk line, so that just meant less seam allowance toward the bottom.

Next, I unpicked the binding at the neckline and the seam at the waistline. Then I trimmed the lining back along the chalk line. I folded the green linenover and sewed it down with a hem stitch, and redid the binding and waistline seam. Finally, I butted the two edges together and sewed it up with a small overcast stitch.