Set up for new Job

A couple things I will need to set up for the Pentamere Regional Seneschal Job:

Business Cards to hand out.
An E-mail/Post Card reminder schedule for local officers
A list of the meeting times and places for the groups in Pentamere. I would like to drop in on as many as possible in the next year.

Pentamere Regional Seneschal

I have been chosen to be the next Pentamere Regional Seneschal. This will be effective early in 2008 after Duchess Eanor, the current Regional Seneschal, has wrapped up a couple projects that she is in the middle of. I am hoping to learn as much as I can from her before the change of office takes place.

I have been in the SCA for 25 years but in the last 8-9 years have devoted 80% or more of my time to my local Shire (The Shire of Stormvale) often at the detriment of playing in the larger SCA. In 2006 I took stock of my participation in the SCA and decided to get more active and change my percentage of local activity to a more balanced number. By this summer I had increased my event participation and activity level to the point that I thought I would look for a regional job in the Marshal or Service arena. In October I noticed the job posting for Pentamere Regional Seneschal on the new Middle Kingdom forumhttp://forum.midrealm.org/ and thought this would be a good opportunity so I applied.

This will be my second office above the local Shire level. In 1994-1996 I was the Opinicus Pursuivant which is a deputy position to the Rouge Scarpe and helped make sure that the name and device submissions for the kingdom went smoothly. It was a very interesting job and consisted of a lot of paperwork including informing people of the status of their submissions. Either that they had passed the Kingdom level or that they had been sent back because of some problem or conflict.

Update on Armoring

I had Robert over Friday night (11-9) to work on his armor. He is taking my old set and we are fitting it to him. He turns 18 in May and would like to be ready to authorize by then. So he dished the dents out of an old pair of pauldrons and strapped them. This is his first riveting job!!!

He wants to make a set of nice Japanese armor so as we finish this set we will start making his nice set. It will be made of ABS plastic and will give me the opportunity to learn how to form the plastic with heat.

While he was working on the pauldrons I fitted my new gauntlets for gloves and added a couple straps to them to hold the gloves on. I now need to sew the gloves on to the leather strips I riveted onto the gloves. I also bent my helmet hinge back so I could fight until the new ones are finished.

All in all a fairly productive night!!!

Toy's Event

I attended the Iron Oak Toys event and really enjoyed myself. I did not feel well enough to fight which was a big disappointment but I did get a chance to talk to several people I had not seen for a while. It was nice to talk with Morgaine, Ananda and Angus from Iron Oak. Stormvalers in attendance were Ervon, Eron, Edward von Schonberg and myself, if I didn’t miss anyone.

At least some of my armor got borrowed to be used in the tourney so it was not a complete loss fighting wise for me.

Edward von Schonberg gave me a couple tips on forming ABS plastic so now I need to pick up a sheet so I can help Robert start his Japanese armor.

Tomorrow!!

Well I have had a nasty cold for the last week but I am going to try and fight tomorrow at the Toys for Tots event at Iron Oak. I have bent my helmet clasp back into shape and hope it lasts through the event tomorrow. I am still a couple weeks away from having a replacement piece finished. Because of the cold I have not made much progress on any other items either. I guess there’s always next week!!!

Skalla's SCA Resume

On several SCA websites I had seen SCA resumes and thought it would be neat to make one for myself. I think this is pretty acurate until the last couple years. I was able to go through our local newsletters and reconstruct most of this history. However in the last few years we have went to an e-mail type newsletter and my information is more sketchy for that time period.

SCA General
-------------
First SCA meeting Dec. 1981 Shire of Westvale (group attempting to form at University of Michigan-Flint)
First Event: Crown Tourney Spring 1982
Authorized as Fighter June 1983
Attended First Pennsic 1984
National member 1983 have remained current to the present
Authorized as Fencer June 2001

Offices Held
------------
Pursuivant Westvale 1982
All offices following are for Stormvale except as noted
Exchequer 1983-1986
Castellan/Chatelaine 1983-1986 (Prior to it being a Kingdom recognized job)
Pursuivant 1984-1985
Seneschal 1985, 1987-1988
Pursuivant 1989-1991
Group Knight Marshal 1993-1994
Chirurgeon 1993-1994
Opinicus Pursuivant 1994-1996 (MK College of Heralds)
Pursuivant 1999-2000
Group Knight Marshal 2001-2004
Web Minister 2001-2003

Other Responsibilities
----------------------
Co-Founder Shire of Stormvale Oct. 1982 (Genesee County Michigan)
Co-Founded Stormvale Militia 1984
Event Staff St. John the Baptist 3,4,5 1988, 1989, 1990
Co-Founded Stormvale Armorer’s Guild 1988 (In existence on and off as needed to present day)
Shire Steering/Goals Committee 1988-1989
Autocrat St. John the Baptist 6 1991
Event Staff Feast of Samhain 1991
Event Staff Vikings go Home 1,4 1992, 1997
Event Staff Fall Crown Tourney 1992
Shire Steering/Goals Committee 2 1993
Shire Goals and Direction Committee 1996
Event Staff Harvest of Souls 2, 4,5, 6 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006
Event Staff Toys for Tots 1999
Baronial Exploratory Committee 2004-2005
Co-Founder Stormvale Artisans Guild 2007
Youth Marshal in Training 2007-Current

Awards Recieved
------------------
Award of Arms 16 Aug. 1987 (for local activity)
Award of the Purple Fret 17 Oct. 1992 (for local activity, specifically offices)
Order of the Dragon’s Heart 06 Dec. 1997 (for Opinicus Pursuivant)
Award of the Purple Fret 08 Oct. 2005 (for local activity hosting revels/guild/meetings)

Fighting Goals update

Progress on Fighting Goals by Monday morning 11-5-2007

5. Make a Great Sword
COMPLETED Sunday morning. The sword is slightly heavy but very well balanced and I look forward to trying it out on the list field.
6. Create exercise plan & Schedule of Pell work
(IN PROGRESS I have started with 30 minutes of general exercise every morning. This includes Push Ups, Sit Ups, Squats, Crunches & Leg Lifts. When I am in better shape (several weeks?) I will move on to Cardio. I have started walking 30 minutes after lunch and will work up to running as I feel better. I have started 30 minutes of slow work on the Pell every night. I have not decided where to go with that yet.
7. Replace Knee/Elbow Pads & Cup
COMPLETED Saturday afternoon with a quick trip to a local retailer.

Skalla's Fighting Goals

Since it will be a couple weeks before I can fight again, while my helmet being repaired, I thought this was a good time to go over the rest of my equipment and make a to do list. So Friday night I took stock and created a “Fighting” goals & projects list. I had more ideas than just fighting and I think I will create similar lists for A&S and other activities. I will review it every couple weeks to check my progress and add new items.

So as presently conceived the list looks like this for fighting and is not prioritized yet:

Skalla’s Fighting Goals and Projects 11-2-2007
1. Fix hinge on Helmet (IN PROGRESS approx. 2-3 weeks to complete)
2. Become Heavy Marshal
3. Become Youth Marshal (IN PROGRESS started at War need 2 more signatures and take the test)
4. Youth Equipment for Alex (my 13 year old son) (IN PROGRESS, have most equipment, need to make tabard to hide modern equipment and get him authorized)
5. Make Great Sword
6. Create exercise plan & Schedule of Pell work
7. Replace Knee/Elbow Pads & Cup
8. Help my Household members Daryl and Robert to construct armor and authorize (this may end up being its own list)
9. Create schedule of fighting practices to attend like Roaring Waste, Cynnabar etc.
10. Polish leg armor
11. Clean up loaner armor
12. Make loaner arm armor
13. Make loaner swords/shields
14. Attach gloves to new Gauntlets, Clean up and use old for loaner
15. Shorten my Brigantine armor by approx. 6 inches
16. Tabard or Surcoat with Coat of Arms and Mantle for Basinet
17. Put together Marshalling kit, Helm, Staff, Tabard etc.
18. Get Combat Archery bow and authorize
19. Look into Siege Engine what it would take to build and authorize

Helmet needs repair

Disaster has stuck!!! (or at least it seems so)

Apparently at the 25th year anniversary of Stormvale while fighting I bent my basinets visor hinge again. It had been prone to bending and lately I have had to reshape it several times. I think the metal fatigue has caused a permanent weak spot. Now it bends very easily and will not be long till it breaks.

To get a replacement from the original armorer will take up to 6 months and would require me sending my helmet to help facilitate the repair. I have taken the piece to a local tool and die shop and will get a quote from them to make a new one or perhaps two.

In the mean time I will need to carefully repair the hinge and hope it makes it through practice until a new one can be made. I guess I could always fix up my original helmet since my Norse helm is on loan at the moment. It would have to be sanded and made legal for face thrusts. My list of stuff just gets longer and longer.

Events to attend!!

Looking forward at the next couple months, I thought I would put together a tentative list of events to attend.

Perhaps I can get household members and Shire friends to attend some of these events with me. Let me know if you are interested in sharing a ride!!!

Tentative Events for the next couple months:
Nov. 10th Fall Harvest Festival
Nov. 17th Toys for Tots
Dec. 1st Christmas Tourney
Jan 5th 12th Night or 12th Fight
Jan 12th Grand Tourney
Feb 9th Val Day

These are my preferences for events to attend. Let me know if you’re interested in going or let me know which events you would rather attend.

Stormvale's 25th Anniversary Party!!!!

Saturday Oct. 20th we had a Revel to celebrate 25 years of the Shire of Stormvale. It was fun to see everyone and spend the day with them. It was nice to catch up on how everyone has been doing.

Femke the regional Signat was kind enough to run a scribal class that was well attended and I hope we get more local scribes as a result of her class. Balian and Eron have both been active in the past as Scribes but I am not sure if either one of them is still doing calligraphy or illumination.

It was nice to see Edward von Schonberg who also put in an appearance. I hope he catches the SCA bug again. He was always well liked and many of his household members are still active in one fashion or another locally.

It was fun to fight heavy again with Torashi, Ervon and Satto. While I bowed out of the Shire Champion tourney I believe that Torashi was the overall winner and will retain the position for another year.

Lady Terryl was a most gracious host and her garage/workshop worked out perfectly as the feast hall. We had a chance to sit around the fire and tell tales of old after the feast. Thank You Terryl !!!!!!

It could not have been a more perfect day to cap off 25 years of activity in Stormvale.

25th Anniversary Party

In preparing for our 25th Anniversary party I was going over my kit and realized that the pole arm I have been using had seen its last battle. I put together a halberd while I was cooking a soup Friday night. The halberd turned out well and I like the looks of it but it didn’t perform as well as I would like in combat. While using it Saturday I discovered it’s a little too heavy and I am frankly out of practice with pole weapons. I will use it a couple more times in practice before I remake it with a lighter pole of rattan to make sure its not just my lack of practice.

Professional Heraldry!!!

Thanks to Baron Edward of Effingham, I now have professional looking heraldry for use on web pages or as avatars for e-mail forums. You too can have spiffy looking artwork. Follow this link and you will not be disappointed!! http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/avatarbiz.html

Well that’s the end of my commercial plug for Baron Edwards site. I was very happy with the results!!!

Looks like a new Helmet!!

Ervon brought his helmet over the other night and we removed the existing Aventail. He bought a new one at war and wanted to replace the one on his helmet. After looking over his helmet it was decided to drill a new set of holes and to place the new Aventail higher on his Bascinet. I offered to help so he market off the locations for the holes and left me with his helmet. On Tuesday night I drilled the new holes but while looking at the helmet I thought it would be a nice gesture to polish it up a bit. I took it into work to use the high speed air drills. It took a couple hours but I was able to put a nice shine on his helm. It should be a nice surprise when he picks it up!!! Now I need to take my legs and gauntlets in and make them look nicer.

Getting Back to Work!!

Well things are getting back to normal around Skalla’s Steading. I have been able to get back to some of my projects. I have finished the Banner Stand promised to Eron!!! I will have to review my list for the next project.

Fighter Practice 9-2-2007

Because of the holiday weekend we had a small turnout. Those attending were Thoromir, his two daughters, Rodney, Scott (a first time attendee) Daryl (an old time stormvaler like Thoromir).

Thoromir has nearly completed his armor!! He has made his knee cops but not finished the leg armor. So he wore padding and taped on his knees so we could fight. Thoromir did very well for not having fought in many years. He is developing or remembering techniques he can use as a lefty to be very effective. We fought several rounds until we became tired. I don’t believe Thoromir will have any problems getting back up to speed and re-authorizing to fight.

Daryl borrowed a helmet that I had previously loaned to Thoromir and we had a discussion of what it would take to put him in armor. He lives in Holland MI and so will not make it out locally very often. I will try to put him in contact with the local group and between that, Thoromir and myself we should be able to put him in armor sometime this fall. He begged off putting on armor on Sunday claiming allergies. I think he really just didn’t want to put on someone else’s sweaty armor.

Scott was interested in watching the fighting before deciding if it was something he wanted to do. As the practice ran long I did not get a chance to put armor on him or even ask if he was still interested after having seen Thoromir and myself fight.

Rodney attended but was the only fencer. I am not sure if he was disappointed or not. It has been nearly a year since he has last fenced and he needs to attend a practice or event to keep his authorization current. If next week we get no fencers I will put on my fencing gear and go a couple rounds with him for the practice.

This coming Sunday Sept. 9th we are on for fighting but I must cancel Sept. 16th. It is both the day of the revel and I have a previously scheduled appointment that will take most of the day.

Fall Guild Schedule

For anyone not on the Stormvale e-mail list here is the fall schedule for the Artisans Guild and Youth Fighting hosted by Lady Terryl!!!

We met Tues eve and came up with the following. First of all, youth stuff will be on every other Tuesday night with a little fighting and a little crafts. Youth and adults are welcome on every Tuesday, but youth nights have things aimed at kids. All are most welcome to come play - particularly our older fighters who can help train the young uns. If adults wish to fight those nights, they are more than welcome to do so, but it would probably be wise to send out a call to get others there to fight with. The crafts those nights will be aimed at kids, but all who want to craft can come. If you have an unfinished project, or are working on something else, you may bring it to any craft night.

Artisan's guild schedule -

9/4 Finish glass and boxes. Glaze clay pieces. Anything not finished at this point will be put to the side. Youth combat will happen from 5 - 7. Guild will be from 5 - 9.
9/11 Viking wire weaving, 7 - 9
9/18 Youth night
9/25 Calligraphy 101 - teacher pending on the various volunteers and how they split the tasks
10/2 Youth night
10/9 Period Embroidery - Lady Eron
10/16 Youth night
10/23 Breadmaking - Carrie - I assume you can use my kitchen ok?
10/30 Youth night - this is the night before Halloween - any possible conflicts?
11/6 Decorating Russian enamel boxes - boxes will be painted ahead - just the decorative painting will occur
11/13 Arrowmaking 101 - Lord Erevon, Youth combat as well, since we will be taking a break on Thanksgiving week coming up
11/20 - Thanksgiving week - break
11/27 - Illumination or calligraphy 102 - see notes for 9/25
December to be announced
Unless otherwise noted, guild nights will be 7 - 9. Youth, I believe is 6 - 8. Some classes will need "reservations" because we need to know approximately how many supplies to bring. Note also, if kids are brought to adult guild night, some crafts are more applicable than others. I believe most teenagers can handle anything an adult craft night would throw out - unless otherwise noted. Next week, we will be discussing what crafts the kids want to do, so let the kids know to think about it. Unless I hear any objections, I am going to send an invite out to those groups local to us to let them know this exists and they are welcome to join us if they so choose. If you want to object, do so soon - the invites will go out t his weekend.

We also very briefly discussed the event. Gerard was going to notify the Pale that we were not going to have a formal event since we would not be having a meeting in time to advertise it. So, we will be having a Founder's day - that will hopefully be a tad fancier than normal. Plans to be made at September's revel. I don't remember the upcoming schedule, but since at one point, the post event party was to be at my house, I offer my house again. A thought to be put out there - and considered or ignored - is to have an overnight event with pavilions, perhaps, a fire, drumming etc. Maybe no one else will be into it, but I would like to do something a tad bit more memorable than a regular feast for our 25th anniversary. Just a thought.

In service,

Terryl

Thank you Terryl for all your hard work with this!!!! You Rock!!! to steal Sarah's expression.

September Fighting Schedule

Depending on the local Revel scheduling the fighter practice should look like this for September:

Practice from 2pm till 5pm.

Date: Class: Practice:
Sept. 2nd Basic Sword and Shield work Open Sparing
Sept 9th Slow work and targeting Open Sparing
Sept 16th Cancelled due to prior obligation
Sept 23rd Melee Conventions/Differences Open Sparing
Oct 7th Melee Shield Work/Teams Teams (if we have enough fighters)

The above classes are subject to change depending on what those attending need to learn. Any volunteers to teach or suggestions for topics are welcome.

We still have enough armor to make that in the event of bad weather I would like to work on armor instead of going to the Roaring Waste practice.

Skalla

Fighting Practice 8-26-2007

The Sunday Fighting Practice kick off consisted of 10 people.

Torashi, Balian, Thoromir, Raven, Connor, Robert (Hicharu?), Rodney, Alyssa, Jordan (?) and myself.

The practice started out with a 30 minute discussion on Fighting stance, Shield types and the 10 main sword blows. Thoromir, Hicharu, Alyssa and Jordan were very polite in setting through my class. I would like to continue something like this for our practices. Please let me know if you would like to attend a specific class or if you would like to give a class.

We did not break up into groups to practice the topics covered in the class but instead decided it was a better opportunity to work on armor so we could put more people into the field. The next 90 minutes consisted of working on various armor projects. Thoromir padded the helmet he is constructing. Hicharu with Balian’s help strapped and edged his shield. I fixed my helmets hinge and removed Pennsic rust off of my legs.

It was decided to not let the practice end without some actual fighting so Torashi and I donned armor and had several rounds of sparing. Many thanks to Torashi for once again pointing out, through force of arms, that I need to get in better shape and practice more. My stamina gave out before I thought it should have and as a penance I let Thoromir and Hicharu use me as a pell for the rest of the practice.

Thoromir put on a helmet and tried out his new sword and center grip shield while I attempted to block his shots. He has an interesting technique of hiding his sword behind the shield that he is working on. We also worked on blow calibration, both hitting and being hit. By the end of this it was getting difficult to hold my shield in the ready position and I had to do some “cheating” by resting the shield on my leg for last few minutes of working with Thoromir.

Then Hicharu wanted to try out his 2/3rds completed armor kit so he dressed and I took a boffer weapon (he had no arm armor) and he worked on blow calibration (only giving). He then began sparing with me and I mostly blocked (or tried to block) his attacks. I would occasionally take a swipe with the boffer but more wanted him to become comfortable in his armor and in throwing a blow. At the end of this I could no longer hold up my shield and had to let it hang by my side and I blocked single sword style. Of course I did not admit that to him, instead I told him I wanted the shield out of the way so I could watch his stance and technique better.
It was nice seeing Rodney again and I believe he and Connor discussed the possibility of running a fencing practice at the same time as the heavy weapons.

Also during the practice Raven expressed an interest in trying heavy weapons so we discussed the required armor standards and weapons needed. I hope to see her in armor at some point in the future.

The next practice should be September 2nd!!

Sunday Fighting Practice

Well War was a blast but I was sorely out of shape for the event. I don’t propose to be in the same condition next year!! I have started to exercise again and will be hosting a fighting practice Sundays from 2pm till 5pm. Once a month this will conflict with the local shires Revel and I hope to take the fighting practice to the Revel site if at all possible. I would like to start the practice right away but need to finish a couple extra shields and weapons so I will be kicking this off on August 26th. I will also start looking around for an indoor site for the winter. If a site cannot be found then I think I will switch between Roaring Waste and Cinnabar this winter. They both currently have Sunday fighting practices.

I would like to have a little more organization to this than we have used in the past. Instead of just strapping on armor and going at it, I would like to have a training schedule covering a different weapon each week. Also include melee tactics, shield walls and work together as a small unit. Stormvale has an Artisan Guild which meets weekly and has a guest lecturer covering some craft. I wouldn’t mind having a similar situation for the training sessions. People can volunteer to cover some aspect of fighting and as we grow we may even get guests from outside the group. I envision us all taking turns at some point in the training.

After the lesson portion was over it would be nice to practice the topic and try to refine some of the moves. We could break out groups or run some small melee’s as further practice. This would also allow someone who did not have their armor yet to work through and learn some of the basics. Then we will have our open practice as we have always run them. I would like to see the practices turn into 60 minutes of training and 120 minutes of fighting. This would fluctuate as the mix of attendees changed. If we have a lot of newer people we may train more and if everyone is pretty experienced then we may train less.

I would love to have Fencers show up as well but would need someone else to take charge of that portion of the operation. It will take enough time setting up the heavy weapons that I would rather not be responsible for Fencing. The best solution would be to have a fencing marshal who would like to take over that aspect of the training.

If not enough other people have complete sets of armor it may be necessary to use the first couple sessions to help people work on armor so we can field people to train and fight with. I have enough gear to equip myself and 1 and ¾ fighters. I need to make a set of arms and a couple swords and shields to be able to equip 2 other people at the same time. That will be my next priority and I hope to have it finished before the practice starts on August 26th. I have already committed this armor so it will only be available for loaner armor if they should fail to attend the practice. I need to make or scrounge at least one more set so I can guarantee to have loaner equipment.

Skalla

Pennsic 2007 Report

I attended Pennsic for the first time in a couple years!!! While it was fun and I enjoyed War, this was the worst year weather wise than any Pennsic that I remember. I arrived about 3pm on Sunday the 5th and left at 11:30pm on Friday the 10th. It rained for at least 20 minutes each day I was at War. It was so humid that even when it wasn’t raining if often felt like it was. I did not have a problem with water in my tent, many others in the Stormvale camp did have problems including several inches of water in some of the tents. Next year we will have to trench next to the road to prevent the water running down the road and dumping on that side of our camp.
I fought in a couple of the battles and had a blast!! The resurrection battles really wore me out. When fighting in the resurrection battles I needed the next day to help recuperate. My goal is to be able to fight in all the battles next year. I liked the fact that the battles for heavy weapons all started in the morning and avoided the worst heat of the day.

Rebuilding Armor

Well I managed to replace the buttons I lost off my Gambeson. They had come off over a couple fighting practices and it was looking pretty sad. I sewed them back on using four times more thread than was strictly required. I wanted to make sure they would stay on this time.

Next to replace rivets on my coat of plates.

Equipping Robert

Robert is one of the men at arms in my household. He has approximately eight months before he reaches the age of 18 and we are putting together his armor kit. We are hoping that he can authorize in heavy combat when he turns 18.

In the effort to get his kit together I have taken one of my old helmets and have padded it for him. I put a coat of silver paint on it to cover some of the rust and expect him to repaint it when he picks some livery colors. He has also been gifted with an old gorget. My old coat of plates needs a couple plates replaced and we will both work on this to get it ready for him. His sword is done and his shield has been pressed and needs to be finished.

We will need to work on legs and arm armor to get him fully equipped and also add gauntlets. That should prepare him for his first practice and see him through to his authorization.

Part of the agreement we have in the household is that He will have to make at least one piece of armor for those following behind him.

Another Standard Stand

Erevon’s standard stand completed!! Only 5 more to go!!

Gift of Chairs

Also in the last 6 weeks, I worked on two of the gothic camp chairs. They are complete except for the armrests which I still have to make. I thought that Eron & Erevon should have these chairs after all their years of hard work and in appreciation of Eron going to War and being camp master. At the recent Friday Populous meeting at my home, I presented them with the chairs. I believe they were well received. Arm rests have been added to my SCA to do list!!, also Mark II of the chairs. I failed to take a picture so I will have to track them down when they are being used and get one.

Shields

In the last 6 weeks, I have pressed several shields. Three very light shields for Balian deBrionne, Two shields for members of my household and one for a potential member. One for Drogo (that’s was several weeks ago and I still need to get it to him) Also 3 more loaner shields in addition to the rest. I made a couple extra shields as I am about to take the shield press out of service.

It is about time to make a new shield press as the one I am using is starting to show its age and wear and tear has taken a toll. One more item to add to my growing list!!! I think the new version will need a base to catch the dripping glue so I don’t have to either put down newspaper or scrape glue off the floor.

Equipment Update

Since I am attending events with more frequency these days, I have tried to pay attention to the changes in armor and weapons that have happened over the last couple years. Comparing my now several years old fighting kit to the current standard, I find that most of my armor is acceptable but that I do need to make some adjustments. So I have added several projects to my list, both to update my kit and also add some elements of fashion that I had frankly never bothered with.

For example: Back in the day, a shield had to have an edge wide enough to prevent them from being inserted into the bars of a helmet. That is now a thing of the past, a shield edge now needs only to protect your opponents sword from undo damage and to do the same for your shield. I knew that but still built massive shield edges out of habit and because that was the material that I had at hand. So the last couple events I felt like I was wearing the big hair and shoulder pads of the eighties when compared to other equipment being used.

So to start with, in the last six weeks, I have reworked all my swords to be the minimum diameter and as light and fast as possible. The shield I had recently painted and rebuilt needed a smaller sleeker edge and that has now been done as well. I now have to paint this new edge to match the design on the shield.

Troubled Times (written Thursday July 12th)

Well I must apologize for not having posted recently. I should be posting more regularly again. Three main issues have kept me off the SCA list field and missing most of the local activities as well for the last six weeks.

First, my mother has been in and out of the hospital since last November. Her condition has become more troubling and she has not been home since mid May. We have had a couple scares and most of my family’s free time has been spent at the hospital. She has developed a long list of stomach and intestinal issues that have no apparent cause or solution. She is having an exploratory surgery today with the hope that something can be discovered to explain her condition. We are all keeping our fingers crossed. Otherwise the Doctors seem to have run out of ideas and are advising some kind of managed care or visiting nurse and to hope for a recovery. In fact this is being written while waiting at the hospital.

In June my wife went on sick leave, partly as a result of all this stress in dealing with my mom’s problems ( and also from living with me). So I have been trying to spend more time (when not at the hospital) helping my wife out around the house and generally being supportive. She seems to be doing better now and is almost good as new. This is at least one bright spot on the horizon.

Lastly my local SCA group is in the process of melting down. Since very early this year some long simmering problems have all simultaneously boiled to the surface to cause the local group to explode into yelling, screaming and finger pointing. I must admit that one individual seems to be involved or has been involved in every flap we have had for the last 2 years. He is also deeply involved in the present unpleasantness. In point of fact he is the central item being fought over. A dozen plus people have decided they have had enough of his trouble making (myself included). As near as I can figure another 6 people actively support the troublemaker ( I think many have not known him long enough) and another dozen or so are trying to stay neutral and out of the whole problem.
While normally I would be in the neutral group, I must confess In this case I had already concluded the best thing to do was ignore him. However after having two problems in dealing with kids, it was clear he had to go before he actually hurt someone. He has also alarmed several people with his temper and lack of control. His behavior seems to be the opposite of everything the SCA stands for. We are supposed to act with honor, chivalry and protect the weak.

So with all the problems outlined above there has not been much time or incentive to attend local functions. With things on the mend with my Wife and Mother, its time to help work out things with the local group.

In subsequent posts I will catch up with what has been done in the last 6 weeks SCA wise.
Skalla

Tuesday's at Terryl's

Tuesday nights fighting practice was well attended with over 22 people (if I remembered everyone). Some of the members worked on guild projects in the workshop while the fighters plied their trade in the driveway and yard.

We had 6 or more ( its hard to keep them all straight or count them ) young people taking part in boffer fighting while 7 members practiced their fencing skills.
Fencing consisted of Drogo, Diego, Andrew, Connor and myself. The fencing wrapped up as darkness drove us from the field. It was nice seeing Diego, Connor and Andrew again. We have two youth members who would like to take part in fencing as well for a total of 9. I will need to pull out the fencing equipment more often and develop a kit of my own. Its getting old just wearing the tripplett starter set with a tabard thrown over top. So my SCA to do list grows longer.

We had no heavy weapons training as none of the fighters in that form, brought their armor. I was not prepared myself as I have started re-working most of my kit and it’s taking longer than expected. I should be able to take the field again by next weekend.

Coronation of Dag and AnneMarie

Coronation was cool!!
The morning court when the transition was made to Dag and AnneMarie was quite moving.

The feast was different than most events in that it was held at noon. It started on time (or pretty close) and has to be one of the best feasts I have attended in the 20 plus years I have been in the SCA. The token for having paid for feast was an embroidered napkin with the initials of Dag and AnnMarie. The entire feast was good but the most notable dishes (in my opinion) were the Song Birds Farced, Pan Fried Broadbeans and Lucanian Sausages.
The Song Birds Farced looked like Chicken Nuggets in various bird shapes. They were served on skewers that had been placed on a cabbage half. This gave them the appearance of flight. In addition other skewers had small banners displaying the coat of arms for the individuals seated at the table and the groups they came from. Before the event was over, everyone who had the appropriate head gear, was wearing their arms or that of their group. (I would like to find out what program they used for doing this as I see the possibility to do this for one of our events for those on the list field.)
The Pan Fried Broadbeans and Lucanian Sausages were so good that I will need to track down the recipe used so that I can make them for home or local revels. Balian and I had an impromptu contest to see who could eat the most sausages. While I was ahead early in the match he bested me by simply refusing to stop. Even so the food was so plentiful that we ended up sending four sausages back to the kitchen. I shed a small tear that I was not able to finish them off but it was not for lack of trying.

Combat operations took place in fencing and heavy weapons after the feast wrapped up. I had decided not to fight before attending as I was suffering from a sinus infection which made me slightly light headed but I do not believe I would have been able to fight after such a grand feast. I will have to make a note to work on my sin of gluttony.
The heavy weapons fighting was outstanding. A Bear Pit Tourney was weighted to authenticity and courtesy and earned the victors the honor of entry into the Coronation Tourney. A grand stand had been constructed for a helms show to display the helmet, banner and shield with coat of arms for those taking part in the Coronation Tourney. (This or something similar is needed locally. It is just too cool not to have.)
The fencing took part in two areas. If I understood correctly those gentles with a Bronze Ring took part in the tourney inside next to the heavy weapons fighters and those without that honor or those being newer to fencing took part in the tourney held outside. I believe the tourney outside was a Bear Pit as well.
Youth fighting took place similar to the fencing, both on a list inside and practice and authorizations outside.
We had two of our members become authorized and one additional member practice fencing. Drogo was authorized as a fencer and his son Ryan was authorized in youth boffer fighting. Robert ran out of time to try authorizing as he had to practice a couple times before he could make the attempt.

The second court was held a little after 5pm. While it was not as touching as the first it was full of pomp and ceremony. In addition Dag and AnneMarie pulled out a large hourglass and stated that it was their gift to us indicating that the court would not take more than one hour.
I ended up leaving after the second court so I missed the evening activities. I will have to try to stay longer at the next event so I can brush up on my dancing.

I think a total of 17 Stormvalers made an appearance at the Coronation of Dag and AnneMarie. In no particular order we had: Eron, Erevon, Gerard, Brianne, Katie, Balian, Melisande, Drogo, Kayla, Ryan, Dante, Desi, Thorgrim, Tharamore, his lady, Robert and myself. Eating feast was Balian, Melisande, Robert and myself. Fencing was Drogo with Robert getting in some practice. Boffer fighting was Ryan. I am not sure if any classes had been attended.

Tuesday Night Artisans Guild

I think we had about 15 people total attending the Guild last night. This week was working in clay and Lady Teryll supplied many pounds of the material. There was no class project, so each person worked on whatever struck their fancy. I saw some very nice items being created and will try to get pictures when completed. The projects will have to dry and then Teryll can fire them in the kiln. As she can only do a couple at a time it will take several weeks before they have all been finished. I was anti social last night as I did not join in on the clay making, instead I took the time to finish one of the shields I had promised as Ryan would like to use it in Boffer fighting at the Coronation Saturday. I figure that I am about 2 weeks behind on the projects I had promised people and needed to finish a couple of the 15 shields.

I was in a hurry and used zip ties to hold the edge on the shield. After looking at the completed shield, I should have laced it instead. I will end up doing this on the rest of them and will need to redo this one. Perhaps I can do it at next weeks practice or at a populous meeting.

Near the end of the evening the question came up about what should be done about continuing the Guild through the summer. Several regular attendees have conflicting schedules as other summer activities like baseball practice etc. have begun. No definite conclusion was reached although it sounds like people are leaning towards a general suspension for most of the summer. Teryll is happy to have people come over to work on existing or begin new projects but she is not sure how well a structured meeting will work over the summer with busier schedules and a heavier SCA calendar. If I understand correctly the matter will be discussed again at the next Guild meeting and again at the next Business meeting to reach a conclusion.

Tuesday Guild Night

Well last night was a catch up night, with several people having projects to complete, it was decided to work in some days which had no specific task. I would allow different projects at various stages of completion to be worked on. I think we had 11 people all together, most of the kids worked on Mancala boards or bags to carry their boards in. If I understand correctly some of the bags and napkins had gotten painted before I arrived and they will be competed at a later date.
I cheated and instead of working on my box (which I still need to complete ) I took my gambeson and sewed on the buttons that had fallen off from combat. Using advice from Eron and Teryll, I used four strands (instead of the two used earlier) to ensure that buttons will stay on. The gambeson is so thick that I have to use a pair of pliers to pull the leather needle, that Teryll lent me, through the fabric. Last meeting I managed to only attach two buttons but I have now doubled my speed!!! I was able to get four buttons sewn on Tuesday night. I have four left to put back on and three that are still attached that will need additional thread to strengthen them.
I forgot the camera so no pictures this week. Sorry.

Tuesday Fighting Practice

Fighting this week
This week we had 5 youth fighters in attendance and one heavy weapons fighter. Teryll and I took the opportunity to pair them up and run a series of practices. We picked the youngest two and had one fight “down” to the age group of the younger member. Then the older of the two could fight the next fighter at their normal level etc. until everyone had a chance to fight. After the combat was over Teryll and I gathered everyone together and discussed some of the reasons and rules for fighting. Things like how to behave and show respect for your opponent. When to stop and let them recover a dropped weapon and topics like that. We have enough youth fighters that we even covered some of the ideas and concepts in melee fighting.
As long as we will continue to have this many young fighters, I will need to brush up on the youth rules and become an authorized youth marshal. One more item to add to my list of things to pick up!!!

Last Tuesdays A&S Guild

Guild meeting last week!!
Well I am still behind but starting to catch up on my posting and my projects. Last week, at the A&S guild, Lady Teryll had a class on making Ukrainian eggs. This is a process were the egg is colored and layered with wax in several cycles. When you are done you can have a very detailed and intricately colored Easter Egg. Terryl has produced kits with instructions that can be purchased for anyone who would like to learn this technique but was unable to attend the Guild night. All in all I believe we had 11 gentles attending this meeting and creating egg art. I will try to get some pictures of finished eggs to post.

Shield's Done!!!

Well as I try to update and improve my armor “kit” I find myself finishing projects started long ago. Here is my Coat of Arms (registered) finally painted on my shield. Now I only need to finish my Banner and start a couple tabards.

Ide's of March Event held by Iron Oak

Well I really enjoyed the Iron Oak event. It was the first tourney style event that I had attended in 2 years, other than Stormvale’s events. I have been to peaceful events and melee/war events but no tourneys since another Iron Oak event Toy’s for Tot’s.
The event had 11 fighters in total and was run as a Bear Pit style tourney, with wounds retained between bouts. In a Bear Pit you continue to fight until defeated and then you go to the back of the line and wait your turn to fight again. The winner was determined by points, you received one point for each bout you entered and one point for each win. The fighting started before noon and ended at 2:45. The winner of the tourney had 72 or 78 points, I could not hear well as it was being announced ( I ended up with 28 ). I think the most points I accumulated at one time was 7 points. That would be 3 wins in a row and then a loss. I believe by points I ended up 5th out of the 11 fighters.

I made it through most of the tourney but had run out of steam and sat out the last half hour. I had gotten to the point that I couldn’t block fast enough and had started falling prey to one-shots (One-shot is when your opponent is able to hit so fast or fake you out enough to hit you with his/her first blow.) While resting enough other fighters had also ran out of steam that Angus, the Baron of Northwoods called for the tourney to end in 20 minutes. I had taken off about half my armor and rather than suit up again, I let the time run out on the event. I used sword and shield for the first half of the tourney but as I tired I switched to using two swords (Florentine). Several other fighters changed weapons as the tourney progressed. Towards the end Angus changed to polearm and I was not able to kill him while he used that weapon. I had slowed enough that I was able to chase him around and even get in a couple wounds but not to kill.
Also attending the event from Stormvale was:
Ervon (fighting as well)
Eron
Laura’s Daughter
Bronwyn
Sylvia
Paul, Sylvia’s son'

Gavin of Blackwood
Desi

Dante

It felt a little like old home week, with many past Stormvalers in attendance including:
Kvelf-ulfr
Morgaine
Annanda the Fiery
Angus Lundy

I had thought about staying for feast but was tired enough that I just headed home at about 4:30pm and took a nap when I got home.
All in all a good event and I was happy that I was not so rusty that I embarrassed myself fighting.

Attending events in Canada

Over the years, I have attended many events in Canada and I have never had a problem crossing over the border for an event. I did once have a problem and was stopped and searched when going over to attend a fighting practice. I think the difference was, for events I have always been prepared (see my list below) and for the fighting practice it was a bit spur of the moment and I was not even sure where I was going. I only had a street name and the fact that I would notice SCA fighting equipment when I “got” there.

Try telling a border guard your only going to be in the country for a couple hours and not really sure where but will be driving around looking for friends. That is what got me searched. I was afraid they were going to start taking my car apart but they stopped at that point it was completely empty and let me go. It was pretty funny later….As I was pulling armor out of my duffle bag they would ask me what it was and what it was for. I ended up wearing about ¾ of my armor and giving them an SCA recruitment pitch. They must have thought I was harmless and told me to pack my car and have an enjoyable visit to Canada.

I have also traveled on business frequently and even worked in Canada for months at a time so here is my list! As a side note, unless the law changes, you will need a passport by sometime in 2008 to drive to Canada. Currently you need one only if flying to Canada.

Do’s and Don’ts for attending events in Canada:
Do:

Be courteous, they are only doing their job. If do have the misfortune of getting stopped, the more annoyed you act, could look like nervousness or hostility to them and will make them search harder.

Bring a Passport or Birth Certificate for each person. Drivers License is a must or even school ID with pictures for any minors in the car.

Print the event flyer and make sure you have good directions. If you are questioned about your activities it is a handy item to show them.

Any Fighting or Fencing equipment is “SPORTS” Equipment. It is not a weapon. When asked “Do you have any firearms or weapons?” I always answer truthfully, “No I do not. I do have some sporting equipment”.

When asked what is the nature of your business you should say something like “I am attending a Medieval Recreation event. It’s a hobby”.

All medication should be in the original prescription bottle. If so you should have no problems.

Don’ts:

TAKE ANY WEAPONS. No guns, swords, axes, daggers etc. Leave all your “normal” SCA weapons at home. I go as far as to leave my feast gear knives at home. They are large enough to cause questions to be asked if I get searched.

Take any minors that are not your own. On the off chance you get stopped its easier if all the kids are yours. Trying to prove who is or isn’t a citizen of the US can be tough enough but if they are not your kids, how do you know. Or at least that will be the argument the border guard may make.

Take drugs with you or drive a car that has had drugs transported in it. If a dog reacts to you or your car be prepared for them to strip it down to the nuts and bolts. They are also not responsible for reassembling your vehicle.

Take alcohol with you unless purchased at the duty free shop.

Take more tobacco products than you can use for the time you are in Canada. If your going for a day don’t take 10 cartons of cigarettes, for example.

Be rude about any of the process. Why give them a reason to pick you out to be searched.

I am not sure if I have left out anything important please let me know if I have.

Sunday's Revel

Sunday’s Revel was fun. Teryll had a houseful and the food was great as usual. Some people worked on finishing off Artisan Guild projects in Teryll’s workshop while others gamed or fought in her yard.

The fighting consisted of Toroshi our GMIT, Ervon, Balian and myself. I thought it was a good practice but I felt slow, or at least slower than normal. It was a little frustrating as I saw what I thought were openings but was not fast enough to be able to take advantage of them. I will need to spend some time working on the fundamentals and pell work to get my speed back up to something reasonable. I did manage to break two swords. One was the hilt of my siloflex sword. I think I carve the handle too small and it is prone to breaking and upon borrowing one of Balian’s swords promptly ripped the thrusting tip off.

We had to cut the fighting off a little early in order to eat and as I said before the food was great. I had made a couple cheese tarts (with no eggs for Teryll ) and during the revel I realized it was the first cheese tart I had made, in 25 years. I will have to get slightly more adventurous in making dishes to pass.

We had our normal meeting after everyone was finished eating. Several topics got discussed but I will defer to Teryll’s minutes for the meeting rather than my memory as I did not take notes. I did ask Gerard to call Balian forth just before the meeting broke off. I made a gift to Balian and his Lady Melisande of two banner poles that I had painted in their Livery colors. It was a gift from my household to his. I thought it would be a nice token of appreciation for the years of service to the local group.
On a side note, My daughter was tickled that she could teach Japanese Chess. She has made my drop her Viking name in favor of a Japanese one. So we will have to retire Kelsey Geirmundrsdottir. She also wants to have some Kimonos made for her. I fear that she has gone over to the dark side. What's a father to do?

Guild Update

Update on Box project from a couple weeks ago!!
Drogo and family have finished their boxes. They look great!!! I believe Teryll has also completed at least one possibly more! I have to confess that I have 2 cut out but not assembled and one assembled and sanded but not finished.
Way to go guys they really look nice!!

Tuesday night Guild meeting

Well, this week turn out was a little smaller than normal. A couple people couldn’t make it for one reason or another.

We had fun making our book covers and I learned that Teryll’s scissors are very sharp indeed. Note to self: keep finger away from sharp end of scissors.

Making the books the previous session was a little quicker than making the boxes for the books. It takes more time to get the ties made and the holes cut out than it did to cut and fold the paper. Even with that, most of the book covers are very close to completion and Lady Teryll has offered to have us complete them at the revel this Sunday, held at her home. Here are a couple of pictures of the covers in progress!!

Shield Progress!!!

Continuing to make progress last night, I cut out 20 ¼” plywood shield blanks. These will be put in a press and glued together to make 10 ½” thick shields. It takes one day to press each shield so it will be about 10-12 days until they are all pressed.
The shields cut out are for are sized for:
Ryan 1
15/16 year old 2
12/13 2
8/10 2
Russ(adult) 1
Robert(adult) 1
Loaner(adult) 1


Currently ¼” plywood is approx. $11 per 4’x8’ sheet. You can make 3 adult sized shields from one sheet and so each shield costs about $3.70 for the material. By the time you have added edging, straps, glue and a couple nuts and bolts, each finished shield costs from $7-10 or $10-15 depending on the edging used. For boffer shields you can use a very light edge ( just pipe insulation) but for heavy combat, it is necessary to put more layers or a better protective edge on shields and it’s reflected in the price.

I would like to handle the shields in one of two ways.

If you would like to purchase the shield it would be $8.50 for a boffer shield and $12.50 for a heavy weapons shield. That is for a completed shield and again will take up to 12 days to have them all done.

Otherwise, when finished, they are free for the use of the group and I would ask you to pass on the boffer shields to Teryll as they are outgrown. The heavy weapons shields can be given to Torashi or myself, as the fighter gets his/her own armor and shield.
For any of the loaner shields I will paint Stormvale’s badge on the front. If you purchase one you can have the fun of decorating it!!

Boffer shields should last forever, only needing to change the edging occasionally. A wooden heavy weapons shield on the other hand will not last forever. If you practice once a week it may only hold up for 6-10 months. In my experience wooden shields will last a bit longer since most of us have not practiced weekly but 18 to 20 months is a maximum if you are active.

I find it best to not glue the edging on but instead strap or lace it on, so that it can be taken off the broken shield and put on the new one pretty quickly.
Let me know who would like a shield or a loaner shield and I will start delivering them as soon as I can. Also let me know if I have missed anyone and need to make even more shields!!! I realized as I was typing this that I still have to make one for my son so I will be picking up more plywood anyway.

Another Banner Stand finished

Well work is going a little better now. A couple projects are wrapping up and I have a bit more time this week.
I was able to get back to working on several of my SCA projects on Sunday afternoon and Monday night.
I finished painting Melisande’s banner stand!! Now only 4 more to go!!

Tuesday night fighting

Work is still kicking my butt this week. I am a couple days behind in posting!!

The Tuesday night fighting practice went well. We had many young people being trained by Terryl to strike each other safely. We need at least two sets of armor for the age range 15-18 as most of the equipment was too small and would not fit the two oldest youth fighters. So that will have to be worked on. Teryll and Torashi both marshaled for the youth combat
For Heavy weapons combat we had four fighters but only two suited up as the other two loaned out equipment for new people. Gavin of Blackwood (Victor) had finished padding his new helm and suited up to give instruction to Russ our newest fighter. Russ seemed to enjoy the process and is now looking at picking up armor of his own. Yay!!!! Torashi marshaled for the heavy practice.
After the heavy practice was over some of the adults indulged in some boffer fighting and seemed to have fun. Perhaps we will pick up another heavy weapons fighter!!
I will have to remember to take my camera to the next practice and post some pictures!
Well more later this weekend when I can catch up on my postings.

Didn't get much done this week

Well it’s been a busy week and I haven’t had much of a chance to work on SCA projects. I have a couple projects at work that have had me working late.
What I have done:
I have picked up the materials to make several boffer weapons for my son and daughter. Pressed but not completed two shields for use with Youth fighting.
I spent some time last night sanding my box project, I want to store my Marshal equipment in it when finished. I think I will carve the Marshals Badge on the front of the box and then paint it. It should be interesting as I have not done much carving before.

Another great guild night!! Thanks Terryl!!!
As the boffer making wrapped up, the guild meeting kicked off promptly at 7pm and we started making Japanese Books!! Terryl had thoughtfully provided the materials and asked for $10 per book to cover her cost. I believe we had 10 people making books. Those included:
Torashi
Torashi’s friend (Jeff I believe)
Drogo, Kayla and Jim
Terryl
Eron
Robert
Giovanna and myself

Torashi was first to finish his book and I have included a picture. Everyone else was finished or had a little stitching left to complete when we finish at 9pm. All the books looked great and it was a neat project to do. The directions are pretty straight forward and I am looking forward to making others with slightly more mundane paper .

Next week we will be making boxes to carry the books in. That should be equally enjoying but be sure to let Terryl know if you expect to attend as it takes some time to make the box “kits”.

Fighting Update

Torashi has worked out a schedule with Terryl for fighting practices to be held every Tuesday night 6pm till 8pm. This will include heavy and youth at the moment but anyone wanting to fence is welcome as well.
Guild night will still be held every other Tuesday from 7pm till 9pm in Terryl’s workshop.
Tonight things started out at 6pm with 8 or 9 kids, with help from the adults, making more boffer swords than I could count. From the looks of it we may have more youth fighters than heavy and fence put together. Next week during the fighting practice they will get a chance to try out the swords. I have committed to producing shields for them and should start delivering them next week as well.
Next week I will post pictures of the fighting!!

New armor!!

The armor I ordered has arrived!!!

I now have a set of half gauntlets that match, a set of full gauntlets and a nifty hat to Marshal in. It only took about seven days to arrive. I think that’s the quickest armor order I have ever received.

I decided to get a set of gauntlets as my current pair should be taken apart and reshaped. They no longer articulate smoothly after all the beating they have taken over the years. I didn’t want to take the time to fix them right now. In addition I need better hand protection for my loaner set of armor. I had been using hockey gloves as hand protection for the loaner outfit but they would probably not pass inspection any longer. So this should kill two birds as they say.
So I need to add to my SCA list of Things to do:
Add gloves to the new full gauntlets
Add helmet liner of some kind to the Kettle Helmet
Fix my old gauntlets for loaner armor.

Guild and Fighting Update

Tonight was our second night working on boxes. We had a pretty good size crew this time 13 or 14 if I remember correctly. When I arrived, Terryl was covering the finer points of Boffer fighting and fitting armor on several interested kids. She has offered to have a youth practice every Tuesday from 6-7pm and also explained to several parents what was needed for weapons and armor. It sounds like this will kick off next Tuesday Feb 27th. I will have to take my son next week!! He is twelve and it’s high time he started hitting people with sticks (even if it’s the padded foamy kind).

Balian next gave a quick talk on Medieval table wear, complete with Power Point slides and examples from his own feast gear. I have a link to his blog where he discusses many topics related to food and feasting. Remember it only looks like a candy dish it’s really a covered cup.

Eron next talked about carving and wood burning techniques as Medieval decorations and also brought many beautiful examples from her own experimentation over time. She had several books with different styles and periods of carving and also some example of boxes and chests in period. I believe I will get her to help me put a large carving of the Marshals badge on the front of my box. I will then store all the Marshal items I need for an event in the box.

We then started working on the boxes themselves. Several people had worked on them at home since our last meeting (2 weeks ago). I forgot to take my camera but will try to get pictures to post as these boxes are completed.

Terryl’s has been assembled, stained and had a Celtic picture painted on the lid. It sounds like she may put hinges on the lid or leave it free floating.

Drogo and family have made and completed assembly on two of them. He spent some time last night sanding. I did not hear what he plans on doing as a finish (leave plain, paint, stain, carve etc. )

Torashi worked on squaring his joints so it could be glued together and so did his young friend(I need to learn his name). In fact I think his box was clamped together after being glued just before we broke up for the night.

Vicki had two to cut out the joints for and I am afraid I measured them one of them wrong. Instead of cutting out the smaller side for the joint I told her to cut out the larger. This resulted in a large gap (about 1 ½ inches). After apologizing to her about my screw up we had two choices. One would be to cut the box shorter than the rest to make it fit or put it together with the gap and then inlay some material to fill the hole and pretend that we meant to do this. I think she is going to do latter. I will have to see if I have any fancy wood grains around the house to give her to use for an inlay. After this the second one was cut out correctly. She is going to work on gluing them tonight if I understand correctly.

That’s what I remember about the meeting anyway!! Just before people went home the question of youth fighting came up again and what we needed to do for shields. I offered to press a bunch of shields and (with some prompting from Teryll) to bring a couple for next weeks practice. I will have several shield blanks at the next youth practice and we will have to assign them to fighters. Then size them and strap them for the kids. We should be able to complete a couple each week until everyone has a nice shield.

Marshal Update

Great News!!! Well sort of…. On my earlier request to become a Marshal of the Field, I have received a response from Duke Sir Brannos the Kingdom Earl Marshal indicating that the current Regional Earl Marshal office was changing but to contact Sir Calador Quinacain (the marshal stepping down) and either he would handle it or turn it over to his successor. So I have e-mailed my second request to Sir Calador on Sunday and already received a reply that it would be forwarded to Robert ap Llywelyn who took over the office in January. I do not have his e-mail yet but will try to look him up at an event to press my case. It looks like the next event I am positive to be at will be Ides of March at Iron Oak. If I can get permission in time I will ask them if they need another Marshal and either act as a Marshal of the Field or start the MIT (Marshal in Training) process anew.

History:
This is eerily similar to the last time I undertook this task with officers changing and no one really sure who was going to handle what yet. Hopefully this time I am in at the beginning of this cycle instead of the end and will be able to finish this up with a minimum of fuss and bother.

Armor Update

Minor Armor Upgrade
Last night I started working on my armor and doing the periodic maintenance, fixing straps and taping swords etc. While doing that, it seemed time to set some goals for improvements and accessories that would be nice to have or make. When this list if complete I will have to post it.
In taking stock and listing my equipment I realized that I needed new gauntlets and half gauntlets. My gauntlets have been hit enough times that they no longer articulate well. They will have to be taken apart and reformed so they will work better. For half gauntlets I have one metal and one leather and thought that a matching pair would be better.
I believe I will order a set of stainless steel gauntlets and regular steel half gauntlets from Sussen Arms. Balian speaks highly of them and they seem to have a quick turn around on orders. This will give me a matching set of half gauntlets and also allow me to fix my current gauntlets and have a spare. I have a complete loaner set of armor except for gauntlets so that problem would be solved. It says two weeks for shipping on their website so I think I will give it a try. http://www.sussen.com/ They also have a kettle helm that would be great for marshalling!! Not sure if that’s in my budget however.
I must admit to having some armor envy. Balian was telling me about upgrading his armor kit and how he wanted it to look, which has made me take a second look at my own equipment. I will keep you posted on how this armor purchase goes.
History:
I used to have one set each of steel and leather half gauntlets. I loaned the steel set to Asa Ingvarsdottir so she could authorize in heavy weapons combat (which she did) but only got back one. To be fair I am probably got the gauntlet back but left it at the event. I never did figure out what happened to the leather half gauntlet. It was just gone one day. Luckily I lost one right hand and one left hand and so still have a pair. They are both pretty beat up now to. So it’s time to replace them.

Projects

Since the Tuesday night Artisans Guild was called on account of snow, I worked on a couple of the projects from my list. I managed to complete one of the sets of Banner Stands. This will be for Balian so I painted it in his Livery colors of blue and white. I think it turned out ok. I have had to remake several of the bases but should be ready to finish off several of these including another one for the Shire. Remaining to make are:
Stormvale Green/White
Ervon Red/Blue
Melisande Purple/Black
Eron Wood Stain
Skalla Red/White?
History:
A couple years ago I promised to make several of these stands but had a design problem with the base. I was making these from a plan developed and published by Sir Charles Oakley. Several of the bases I made ended up splitting. I had purchased pine as the lumber and it wasn’t holding up under regular use. Out of annoyance, I put the project aside and gave the only completed on to Stormvale. We painted it gold and used it at the St. Joan event. I am not sure who has it now or how its holding up. I have had to redesign the base and make it far less graceful so that I can use pine instead of a stronger but far more expensive wood.

Changing my Spots after all these years

While preparing art for my blog and upcoming household I went to SCA online armorial to make sure I was writing up my blazon correctly. I realized that I have blazoned it correctly with one exception. Officially the spots on my panther are Argent or White. For over 14 years I have been coloring them Or or Yellow. In heraldic speak Argent is Silver and Or is gold and on your shield the colors White and Yellow are usually used instead of a metallic Silver and Gold.
Blazon:
Vair, a panther rampant guardent gules spotted argent incensed proper.
History:
Somewhere around 1990 I gave up on trying to register a set of armory that was Checky Argent and Azure a winged cat Passant. A barony in the east used a winged cat extensively and getting a simple one to pass was looking impossible. So I stuck with the cat theme but looked for a rare form as I thought it would be easier to pass through the College of Heralds. Panther seemed to fit the bill nicely and so I designed my current set of arms. They were rejected also as conflicting with Lions and Tiger and other large cats. (In heraldry your device must be clearly different from everyone else) My good friend Balian (also a herald at the time) went to bat for me with the College of Heralds. He appealed the rejection using the not very obscure rule that Monsters (one type of heraldic charge) did not conflict with Creatures (another type of charge). After nicely pointing out that the rules themselves said it wasn’t a conflict my arms passed. In all the confusion and letters back and forth over the issue I frankly forgot what color of spots I had asked for.
So now I need to either submit paperwork for a change of my Arms or change all my artwork and such to reflect silver spots.

Thanks Balian....why didn't you talk me out of a design that is so hard to draw!!!

A new SCA Household!!

After 25 years in the SCA I have decided to start a household!! Or more precisely not just the close personal household that I have had for years but instead a larger house with an SCA purpose. I have at one time or another tried to interest several friends on some kind of Tourney Company based on medieval examples. This has never quite caught fire for one reason or another. It was awkward trying to determine what direction to go in for a group of equals. With no one in charge there was no real direction. So it’s time to step up and provide some direction if I want to see this actually come to pass.
So now I only have to come up with:
Name
Charter (rules and purpose)
Members
Schedule of House activities
Ceremonies/Duties
Accessories like Banners, Tabards, Badge etc.
Stay tuned for further developments!!

Marshal of the Field

A couple days ago, I sent an e-mail request to the Kingdom and Pentamer Regional Marshal asking permission to become a warranted Marshal of the Field. I haven’t heard anything back yet and will wait until Monday to bother them again. I am not sure if it will be possible to put this on a fast track or not. According to the Marshals Handbook you are supposed to request permission first and then help marshal at a minimum of four events. After you receive signatures from the marshals in charge of the events you helped at, you take a test administered by the Kingdom or Regional Marshal. If you pass you get to be a Marshal. This must all be accomplished within one year of starting the process.
History:
I had completed the process in the past including passing the test, but the Earl Marshal at that time lost all the paperwork. So I resubmitted my copies but while I was doing so the Marshals in office changed. The new Earl Marshal had his own ideas on how he wanted to run the system and essentially said “since I don’t have your paperwork and I want to change the test, go ahead and start over”. I was so “irritated” that I dropped the whole thing. One of the times in the past that the SCA bureaucracy had gotten my goat.