Sunday, October 26, 2008
Busy Lately
This has been a very busy month and I have forgotten to update my Blog. I suppose this is good and bad…I am too busy doing stuff to have time to write about doing stuff!! I will make a series of updates and post them in the next couple days to bring this current again.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Working on Armor
Robert stopped by last night (with his armor) and basically said “hey lets work on armor”!!!
So I dropped my homework (I will just have to stay up later to work on it) and we picked up the shop a little to set things up to work on his armor. He would like to get authorized as soon as possible so we are bringing his armor up to snuff (all his equipment is older and could use some TLC). His gorget was too large so we cut down the front and re-hammered the shape so it would fit better. After that was done we glued padding onto the inside of the gorget. We looked over the rest of the armor and decided to strap the legs slightly better and add a row or two to the aventail of the helmet.
He is going to stop by again on Friday and we should be able to get in a little fighting and then finish off the leg straps. I don’t think I will have the aventail lengthened by then but I will get a start on it over the weekend.
So I dropped my homework (I will just have to stay up later to work on it) and we picked up the shop a little to set things up to work on his armor. He would like to get authorized as soon as possible so we are bringing his armor up to snuff (all his equipment is older and could use some TLC). His gorget was too large so we cut down the front and re-hammered the shape so it would fit better. After that was done we glued padding onto the inside of the gorget. We looked over the rest of the armor and decided to strap the legs slightly better and add a row or two to the aventail of the helmet.
He is going to stop by again on Friday and we should be able to get in a little fighting and then finish off the leg straps. I don’t think I will have the aventail lengthened by then but I will get a start on it over the weekend.
Havoc In Hastings 2008
Over the weekend I attended the Havoc in Hastings event. It was a nice demo and a lot of people stopped by to check out the fighting area. I hopefully this will result in some new members for Three Walls.
Sir Angus Gordon was running the Authorizations. I put on my MIT hat and helped out. There were two new authorizations, one re-authorization and one out of kingdom authorization for the day. Sir Brannos did a great job of running commentary explaining what was going on to the spectators and it reminds me that we sometimes fail to do that well during demo’s. I received another signature for acting as MIT for the event and now need one more to be able to take the test to become a Marshal!! Hopefully I can get the last signature this month and try to wrap up this process.
As far as I could determine the only other members from Stormvale attending were Erevon and Eron. They spent the day shopping and at the archery field. I did not see them at the event but they had noticed me on the list and had expected me to come over and say hi. Without my glasses I am good to 75-100 feet but past that I cannot make out individuals. So they yelled at me Sunday for not being sociable but it was more blindness and not so much anti-social. I probably should have stayed for court but as the fighting was wrapping up I ended up running home.
Sir Angus Gordon was running the Authorizations. I put on my MIT hat and helped out. There were two new authorizations, one re-authorization and one out of kingdom authorization for the day. Sir Brannos did a great job of running commentary explaining what was going on to the spectators and it reminds me that we sometimes fail to do that well during demo’s. I received another signature for acting as MIT for the event and now need one more to be able to take the test to become a Marshal!! Hopefully I can get the last signature this month and try to wrap up this process.
As far as I could determine the only other members from Stormvale attending were Erevon and Eron. They spent the day shopping and at the archery field. I did not see them at the event but they had noticed me on the list and had expected me to come over and say hi. Without my glasses I am good to 75-100 feet but past that I cannot make out individuals. So they yelled at me Sunday for not being sociable but it was more blindness and not so much anti-social. I probably should have stayed for court but as the fighting was wrapping up I ended up running home.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Aventail
I am about 2 days behind schedule but I did manage to finish the aventail Sunday. Now I need to attach it to the helmet. Robert should be dropping it off tomorrow, so hopefully by Thursday-Friday it should be done.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Well it’s been a pretty slow week. I should be finishing the Mail aventail today or Friday and will attach it to the loaner helm this weekend. This should make the Helm SCA legal and let me get Robert authorized for heavy weapons.
I liked the Banner and Pennons so much that now I think it’s time to get a Standard. Someone on the Armor Archive makes beautiful Standards and I think I will give them a try. I still need to design the Standard and will work on that this weekend.
Since I seem to be planning out my weekend I might as well look at further out to fill up more weekends. Looking at upcoming events my short list will be:
Havoc in Hastings (Hastings, MI August 30-31 )
Rain of Arrows (New Lothrup, MI Sept. 13 )
Vikings Come Home (Kalkaska, MI Sept 19-21)
If possible I would also like to attend: (not sure if work will co-operate)
Harvest Days & Chivalry Tourney (Camden, OH Sept 5-7 )
This makes for a pretty busy September. I may have to skip at least one of these events between real life and work. I am duty bound to Pentamere and feel I should give preference to events in Michigan so if anything has to slip it will be the Chivalry Tourney.
I liked the Banner and Pennons so much that now I think it’s time to get a Standard. Someone on the Armor Archive makes beautiful Standards and I think I will give them a try. I still need to design the Standard and will work on that this weekend.
Since I seem to be planning out my weekend I might as well look at further out to fill up more weekends. Looking at upcoming events my short list will be:
Havoc in Hastings (Hastings, MI August 30-31 )
Rain of Arrows (New Lothrup, MI Sept. 13 )
Vikings Come Home (Kalkaska, MI Sept 19-21)
If possible I would also like to attend: (not sure if work will co-operate)
Harvest Days & Chivalry Tourney (Camden, OH Sept 5-7 )
This makes for a pretty busy September. I may have to skip at least one of these events between real life and work. I am duty bound to Pentamere and feel I should give preference to events in Michigan so if anything has to slip it will be the Chivalry Tourney.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Missing Pennsic and Chainmail
Erevon dropped by Sunday night and we had an impromptu Pennsic pity party. We both worked on our chainmail projects and generally bemoaned the fact we would not be attending Pennsic. He is not going this year due to a couple family matters and I am not going as this is my off year. My wife hates the camping and we have come to an agreement that we would attend every other year. So my August yearly vacation consists of alternating between Pennsic and somewhere my wife would like to go.
The chainmail project I have started working on is a butted chainmail aventail. Robert (my nephew) has been working with me to get authorized as a Heavy Weapons fighter. He is using several pieces of my old armor. My old barrel helm allows too much exposure to his neck so I am putting together an Aventail. I hope to have it finished this week and attach it to the helm so we can get in a more serious practice. I will get some pictures up when his loaner kit is finished.
I put to together a gorget first and that helped but there is too much gapping when he tips his head forward or back for the helm and gorget to pass an inspection. I believe a nice aventail will take care of this problem and look better than anything we could do to the helm or gorget to get it to pass. I haven’t done chain mail since the early Nineties and it brings back some memories of when the Shire of Stormvale produced a hauberk as a gift for the King nearly twenty years ago .
The chainmail project I have started working on is a butted chainmail aventail. Robert (my nephew) has been working with me to get authorized as a Heavy Weapons fighter. He is using several pieces of my old armor. My old barrel helm allows too much exposure to his neck so I am putting together an Aventail. I hope to have it finished this week and attach it to the helm so we can get in a more serious practice. I will get some pictures up when his loaner kit is finished.
I put to together a gorget first and that helped but there is too much gapping when he tips his head forward or back for the helm and gorget to pass an inspection. I believe a nice aventail will take care of this problem and look better than anything we could do to the helm or gorget to get it to pass. I haven’t done chain mail since the early Nineties and it brings back some memories of when the Shire of Stormvale produced a hauberk as a gift for the King nearly twenty years ago .
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
New Gonfalon and Pennons arrive!!!
About a month ago I ordered a Gonfalon and Pennons from The House of Dirk and Arrow. Examples of their work can be found at http://dirkandarrow.com/.
I had come across their work on the Armor Archive and was impressed. Since I have the artistic talent of a Walrus, I thought I would give them a try. I received the finished product last week and they are outstanding in quality and construction. I recommend them for anyone who needs beautiful and durable heraldic display. I am particularly impressed by the Panther Pennon. This only took a couple weeks total so that was also impressive.
I am going to save up my shekels and order a Gonfalon of my wife’s arms in September and also a couple more Pennons.
The Armor Archive can be found here. http://www.armourarchive.org/
Monday, July 21, 2008
Protege
A couple weeks ago I was having a discussion about the SCA with Melisande of Woodcrest (OP) and Balian deBrionne. The discussion went pretty far afield and included many different SCA topics. One of the topics covered was asking Melisande for some advice on some activities I could take as Regional Seneschal to help foster more communication and information sharing. Since she had been a past Kingdom Officer and Regional Seneschal for Pentamere, she could have some ideas I had not considered.
She made a couple comments at the time that I took to mean she would be interested or happy to help me if I needed any more advice on the topic. After I got home and made notes about the various topics we covered, I realized she may have been offering more than just help with advice but a more active arrangement (I have been know to be very slow on the uptake). She may have offered to take me as her protégé. About a week later I was able to ask her for clarification and she said she had indeed offered to have me as a protégé. I accepted on the spot !!!
Now I need to find out what she expects out of me as a Protégé.
She made a couple comments at the time that I took to mean she would be interested or happy to help me if I needed any more advice on the topic. After I got home and made notes about the various topics we covered, I realized she may have been offering more than just help with advice but a more active arrangement (I have been know to be very slow on the uptake). She may have offered to take me as her protégé. About a week later I was able to ask her for clarification and she said she had indeed offered to have me as a protégé. I accepted on the spot !!!
Now I need to find out what she expects out of me as a Protégé.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Resubmitted my Coat of Arms change
Well I have resubmitted the change to my registered arms!! I received the needed signed permission to conflict from THL Adela de Warren from Northshield. Thank you Lady Adela!!!!! I had the packet of material ready and after making a couple copies I sent off the submission. Now I get to cross my fingers and wait about 8 months or so to get an answer from Laurel.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
NEW ARMOR!!!
Well this will be a series of small updates to bring this Blog current.
I ordered a new set of armor. Arms and legs, both to look a little spiffier and also reduce some of the weight of my kit. This is ABS plastic covered in leather and looks very nice. I ordered these from the House of the Wolf after seeing some information about their product at the Armour Archive. I ordered this and it shipped in one week. That is outstanding speed considering most armor I have ordered before.
I have practiced in the Arm armor already and really like it. I have a small adjustment to make to the legs and also may make a quilted leg to wear underneath the armor to look more period. This will give me something to do over the holiday!! http://houseofthewolf.com/
Monday, June 16, 2008
Border War
I attended Border War this weekend and had a wonderful time. I am not sure what the overall attendance was but there were 77 heavy weapon fighters and 34 fencers who took the field Saturday. It was melee practice all day and I was able to fight about half the battles before I ran out of gas. My stamina has improved a little in the last few weeks but I need to get more serious about exercising if I am going to last longer. It will have to be back to Cardio class and the weight room!!
Thorormr (from Stormvale) and I fought together, he was a great shieldman (It’s a shame I wimped out) and lasted much longer in the fight than I did. I fought spear and he had a round center boss shield with sword. I managed to kill a couple with the spear so I thought it was a pretty good day everything considered.
Thorormr (from Stormvale) and I fought together, he was a great shieldman (It’s a shame I wimped out) and lasted much longer in the fight than I did. I fought spear and he had a round center boss shield with sword. I managed to kill a couple with the spear so I thought it was a pretty good day everything considered.
New Forester!!!
My good friend Erevon fitzGerald as inducted into the Order of the Greenwood Company during court!!!! It came as a complete surprise to him and I must admit myself. About a year ago several of us had suggested him for the award but it had not come to pass at that time. But better late than Never!!!!
Congratulations to the Honorable Lord Erevon!!
Congratulations to the Honorable Lord Erevon!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
New Armor on the Way!!!
After saving my shekels for a couple months I have managed to put together enough money for some new armor!!!! So today I have ordered a new Gorget (to use as a loaner ) and a new set of Arms and Legs. The Gorget should arrive in a month or two and the Arms and Legs will arrive in 2 weeks.
The new Arms and Legs are an ABS plastic with a Leather covering. I ordered them from House of the Wolf. http://houseofthewolf.com/ This should do a couple things for me.
First, when the Gorget arrives I should have almost two complete sets of loaner armor, if I use my current legs and arms as loaner . If I make a coat of plates I would have enough for two.
Second, I will have a lighter set of armor ( I am not getting any younger ) to fight in that will look better than what I have today and closer to the transitional 14th century look that I would like.
I will have to post pictures when the armor arrives!!
The new Arms and Legs are an ABS plastic with a Leather covering. I ordered them from House of the Wolf. http://houseofthewolf.com/ This should do a couple things for me.
First, when the Gorget arrives I should have almost two complete sets of loaner armor, if I use my current legs and arms as loaner . If I make a coat of plates I would have enough for two.
Second, I will have a lighter set of armor ( I am not getting any younger ) to fight in that will look better than what I have today and closer to the transitional 14th century look that I would like.
I will have to post pictures when the armor arrives!!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Stormvale Demo June 7th 2008
Stormvale put on a Demo this past Saturday as part of the Genesee County Autism Support Walk. I am not sure if my count is accurate but I believe 16 people attended from the Shire. Activities included Belly Dancing, Fighting, Metalworking, Henna Tatooing and showing off fancy Garb!!! At various times the Belly Dancing and Fighting had crowds of interested people asking about the activities. Several people sought out further information from Gerard about the group so hopefully some of them may end up attending a local meeting.
A rundown of the demo (forgive me if I get any names or activities wrong!! I will correct them as people let me know):
ATTENDING
Joseph, Suzanna, Thorormir and 2 daughters (don’t remember the SCA name), Ervon, Eron, Gerard, Breanna, Katy, Nikki, Silvia, Two Belly Dancers who I did not get the names of and myself. At some point I had counted 16 people but as I write this on Monday I cannot remember who the last person was. It was hot enough that perhaps it was a mirage!!!
The fighting was brutal. It was so humid that I was already tired by the time the armor was on. Thorormir and Ervon also armored up and we ran several sets of fighting with a good deal of rest in between. I had to slow down and take it a little easier (due to heat) towards the end and the bouts tended to be 3-4 sets of sparing with a rest called. I will have to work on my conditioning as it is not what it should be.
In my opinion, this seemed like a nice venue and worked better than a parade type of demo. The setting allowed people to spend some time and ask questions if they had an interest instead of just seeing some people marching around in a parade and wondering who they were. If may be worth looking for more activities like this for recruiting members.
A rundown of the demo (forgive me if I get any names or activities wrong!! I will correct them as people let me know):
ATTENDING
Joseph, Suzanna, Thorormir and 2 daughters (don’t remember the SCA name), Ervon, Eron, Gerard, Breanna, Katy, Nikki, Silvia, Two Belly Dancers who I did not get the names of and myself. At some point I had counted 16 people but as I write this on Monday I cannot remember who the last person was. It was hot enough that perhaps it was a mirage!!!
The fighting was brutal. It was so humid that I was already tired by the time the armor was on. Thorormir and Ervon also armored up and we ran several sets of fighting with a good deal of rest in between. I had to slow down and take it a little easier (due to heat) towards the end and the bouts tended to be 3-4 sets of sparing with a rest called. I will have to work on my conditioning as it is not what it should be.
In my opinion, this seemed like a nice venue and worked better than a parade type of demo. The setting allowed people to spend some time and ask questions if they had an interest instead of just seeing some people marching around in a parade and wondering who they were. If may be worth looking for more activities like this for recruiting members.
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