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.

Projects

Well tonight I helped Alex glue the sizes of his box together. I think we will put the bottom on sometime over the weekend. While the glue was drying I rummaged around my workshop and pulled out all the projects I have that are ½ done. Those include a rope bed that needs to be carved and painted, 6 banner stands that I had promised to make, a tourney viewing stand, a tourney barrier for a Pas de Arms and several other small projects.
I think I will start working on the banner stands first (since I had promised to make them). These are a slightly modified form as published by Charles Oakley. I need to make one for the Shire of Stormvale, Balian deBrionne, Melisande of Woodcrest, Erevon Fitzgerald, Eron Crawford and perhaps one for myself. I think I might paint them in the Livery colors of the people receiving them.
I will have to prioritize the rest of the projects and make sure they get completed.

Artisans Guild last Tuesday

Well thanks to Diego and Drogo (and Teryll) the Tuesday night Artisans guild went far better than it could have. I was not ready for 17 attendees (I had planned for 6 or 7). Drogo brought extra tools and instructions which helped immensely!! Diego and Drogo also manned the table saw and they made quick work of cutting out everyone’s lumber. In less than two hours we managed to measure and cut out 14 (I think) sets of boxes. We managed to get about 60% of the lap joints cut out as well. We may have rushed a little too quickly at the lap joint stage as a I heard a couple exclamations of “Oops” during that process.

So the next steps should be:
Finish cutting lap joints
Fit boxes together and make any necessary adjustments
Screw or dowel sides of boxes. (We may need to go a little slower at this point)
Fit bottom of box and screw or dowel into place
Fit top of box and attach hinges.

Decoration could be painting, staining, or any other treatment that suits our fancy!!

I have not done much wood carving so I think I will try to put a design on the front of my box. Alex had a good time working on his and Kelsey has decided after watching the rest of us that she would like to make a box for herself.

In attendance: (My humble apology I did not think to take down names during the guild so if I make any mistakes I am sorry. I am also typing this while at the hospital, I do not have access to look up SCA names)
Teryll,
Diego
Jim (Diego’s son)
Torashi
Young man brought by Torashi
Vicki
Drogo
Kayla
Drogo’s son
Carrie
Carrie’s son
Chris (Teryll’s student)
Colleen
Laura
Kelsey Geirmundrsdottir
Bjarky Geirmundrsson
Skalla Geirmundr