sewing, sewing, just keep sewing!

Bar Gemels is this weekend!  It’s an indoor/outdoor sort of site, and although the weather forecasts are good, I figured it was still good to have some warm-and-dry stuff available.  So I finally started on the Norse coat I’ve been thinking about for ages.

There’s slim evidence for a coat like this, and even less for how specifically it might have been constructed, but I’m basically making a Nockert type I dress, a little bigger than usual to fit over layers, slitting it up the front and cutting a V-neck down to a couple clasps slightly above the waist.  The fashion layer is a wool blend, black with an overlay of SPARKLY RED STUFF.  It’s so not period, but I don’t care, I adore it!

I got it all cut out yesterday; I recently acquired a cutting table and mat and it made the process SO MUCH FASTER.  As usual I did some things weird or wrong, but I’m learning!  (Yesterday’s lesson: cut the sleeves FIRST.  I almost forgot about them completely, and I ended up having to piece one together out of scraps. Had I cut them first, I’d just have a shorter coat, but normal sleeves, which would be better.)

Since the fabric is already not-so-authentic, I don’t have to hand sew this garment (‘have to’ being my own standards, you understand .  That helps in terms of speed, although not in terms of back pain.  I continue to adjust the exact angles of the top of the body pieces (continual struggle is that at shoulder level, my measurement is significantly different than at bust level, and standard rectangular construction with a straight body piece gives me shoulder seams near the elbows!) – we’ll see how this one turns out.  I’m also trying two square underarm gussets rather than four triangles – the geometry is messing with me but I’ll persevere. Although given that I’m putting pretty wide sleeves on I’m not sure I’ll really need the gussets – we’ll have to wait and see.

Anyway. While I don’t know that the embellishment will get done by this weekend (in fact, I doubt it will!), I plan to try a new craft: needle felting! I scored some supplies via freecycle and bought some lovely wool yesterday, and I’m intending to do some felted vinework along the edges.  Stay tuned to see how it goes!

finished dress!

So I finally finished the red dress! Mostly, anyway. All the seams are sewn and flat felled and it’s ready to be hemmed. I didn’t have quite as much fabric as I’d hoped, so it hits about mid calf. I could either leave it is as a shorter overdress, or add a length of another color around the bottom. Given what’s in my stash I think I’d have to add white. Not sure how I feel about white at the bottom! Not the most practical idea, certainly. I could wait a little and see what I have left when I make up the gold wool for Galeran… ponder.

Anyway. I had originally planned to norskify the hell out of this with mammen embroidery but I have changed my mind; if I do something less culturally specific the dress is more versatile. But I do want to jazz it up somehow, just not something that screams ‘norse’ so I think I’m going to take inspiration from these lovely cuffs I saw at Crown last fall and seek out some metal findings and accent those. It’ll be sort of generically period-esque, I know, but beautiful and versatile!

moar projects!

So the longest-term project in my crafting life lately has been the red dress.  This is a red wool dress that was made at the last minute the night before an event and, well, looked like it.  Last June I picked it apart and started the process of careful measuring, cutting, and all that to put it back together (100% hand sewn, silk thread, bone needle).  I also made google drawings of my body measurements and of the shapes I cut for the kyrtel, so that I’d have a record of what I did and how well it worked.

Well, last night I finished everything but the hem and tried it on.  It’s tight, but it fits, and looks a zillion times better than last time.  There are things I want to finesse about this pattern (a pretty standard Nockert Type I  garment, with the shoulders cut in a bit), and there are a couple places where my sewing did not do exactly what I wanted it to, but overall I am very pleased with it!

I had originally intended to jazz this dress up with tons of Viking-style embroidery based on the Mammen finds, but I’m reconsidering that plan.  For starters, the dress isn’t perfect enough for me to want to spend  THAT much time on the embroidery – and I was figuring a LOT of embroidery!  I think I’ll do some simpler embroidery designs on the dress, and will probably do something pretty elaborate on my Jorvik hat, but I think I’ll leave the red dress alone at least for now.

Instead… MOAR PROJECTS!  I am torn between doing another Nockert Type I garment in hopes of perfecting the pattern, and doing a St. Francis tunic as described by Alianor, which has the advantages of (she says) producing a perfect 13th c. silhouette – and, as you will note, NO DAMN CENTER GORES!  (I am contemplating cutting all my future gowns that have center gores all the way up the front to avoid inset gores, since I simply cannot get them right.)

I dunno.  What do you think I should work on?

In which Galeran earns a spiffy accolade (and a lot of hard work)

Version the Short: I had the good fortune to claim victory at An Tir’s recent Kingdom Bardic Championships. Now I get to wear a big cloak and carry a shiny horn in court, and more importantly, have the responsibility to perform and teach the art of performance throughout the Kingdom for the next year. You can find some lovely photographs of the event by Talentus here.

Version the Long: I had been strongly considering entering this year’s Kingdom Bardic competition ever since last March, when my single entry of Cantiga 322 on harp and voice was so well received by the judges.  I generally dislike competitions in the Arts and Sciences, as I don’t feel that these activities are inherently competitive (topic for a different post), but at the same time there’s a lot to recommend this particular competition.  For one, the judging is highly informed and thorough, and the general skill of the competitors is quite high, so the event is a real pleasure to attend. For two, and more importantly, the position of Kingdom Bard is highly visible and provides the ideal position from which to encourage performers and foster more interest in the Bardic Arts.  I decided that I wanted that particular job and duty, and thus submitted my intent to compete last December.

I’m glad that I did submit that intent, as An Tir seems to have many great performers, but few performances.  This competition was a case in point, as there were only four entrants in the competition (and only two competing for overall best), but more than ten highly competent individuals serving as judges.  Had I not entered, the title would have gone uncontested, and that’s not a healthy thing. I’m not really sure what’s driving the phenomenon, but I’ve rarely encountered music, storytelling, theatre and so forth at An Tirian events, particularly in any organized fashion.  The problem is definitely not a lack of talent, but it may be a lack of encouragement or a dearth of appropriate venues. I hope to work to improve this over the coming year.

In any case, I performed three pieces at the event: the 14^th century istanpitta “Tre Fontane” on alto recorder, the 13^th century trouvère reverdie “Volez-vous que Je vous chant” on harp and voice, and one of my few SCA bardic compositions, “Laurel Green, Laurel Fair” for harp and voice.  The first two were for the formally judged rounds, the third was for populace’s choice.  The first two received very high marks from the judges, though I really wasn’t that happy with my performance of Tre Fontane.  It is a very difficult piece and some stumbles are almost inevitable, but I had performed it much better in practice.  So it goes. The last piece won the populace’s choice award, and clearly resonated with much of the audience, as I had hoped.

On day two of An Tir’s competition, (yes, it is two days long) each finalist repeats one of their performances for a much larger audience that includes the royalty as well as people that are primarily in attendance for the concurrent Kingdom Arts and Sciences competition.  I reprised the trouvère song (which is better suited to the SCA bardic tradition, more universally accessible and the stronger of my two performances) and definitely nailed it.  I’m very happy with my arrangement of the piece and I performed it as well as I ever have. The grill session after the performance also went well (I’ll chalk it up to the combination of my experience defending a Ph.D. thesis, and the rosewater wafers and hazelnut milk with which Rhi plied the judges).   My challenger Jahnkin de Leeuw chose a Gregorian chant as his final entry and performed exceedingly well.  I was particularly impressed with his control of pitch and tuning  . . . his chosen piece required completely exposed, very long notes. I couldn’t have held such tones nearly as constant as he did!  Still, for better or worse the judges chose my entry for the top prize, and in the closing court I received the cloak and horn of the  Kingdom Bard to wear and keep for the coming year.

I’m still planning out what I’d like to do with the position, but I’m certain that I want to encourage a lot more performances in a variety of genres.  That will certainly involve running some bardic circles and performing in court, but I’m also hoping to showcase some other folks and to insert music into some places where it isn’t as commonly encountered, such as tournaments.  I’d also like to build a greater community of performers, but I may end up with some challenges there due to a potential major division between (self-classified) bards and musicians that I’ll discuss in a subsequent post.

I’ll close with a question for any gentle readers who care to comment.  With respect to the performing arts in An Tir, what would you like to see happen in the coming year? My ear is open to you, and there’s no better position from which to spark some change in that area than the one I now hold.

Monthly Makers

I Keep. Wanting. to DO. Things.  Make things. Work on things.  Talk about things.  And it just doesn’t happen.  I do better with company, for starters; I also need variety.  I don’t have time for a C&I night, sewing night, music night, etc. every week or month.  Too much.  I think it’s too much for everybody else, too, and we lose focus.

I was also reflecting recently that if I were brand new to the SCA and lived in my shire, I would be feel a little lost.  Fighter practice is hard to just jump into, you need so much prep in terms of gathering equipment, and it’s not a practice super focused on teaching, it’s a… PRACTICE.  (Note this is not a criticism of the way things are – practices are important!  Just observing.)  We have dance practice, which is much easier to jump into as a newbie, but it’s also a fairly limited focus.  What if you want to do other stuff? Where do you start?

SO.  Thing of the month club, voila!  My goal is to host or coordinate a get together – with THEME – once per month.  It will be different every month.  It will be a different time every month, depending on schedule.  It will NOT be a class, it will be a general get together for working/chatting/sharing knowledge/asking questions, but nothing super formal.  It might be a sewing day; it might be a charter painting party; it might be a potluck dinner party where we all bring a dish from a single period source; it might be a bardic circle or period music night (note the same … etc.  But it will be scheduled, I will do it whether anyone else shows or not, and it’s open to anyone.

If you’re interested, please join the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/monthly-makers?hl=en.  I’m thinking the first meeting will be the last weekend in March, leaning towards a C&I day but that’s TBD.  Hope there’s interest!

aphrodisiac feast

Having finished the embroidery project, I am now deep into planning mode for my upcoming event, The Battle of Coeur du Valentine’s. Because I am CRAZY  (and because no one else would do it), I am both event steward and head cook.  I was worried it wasn’t going to come together for a few days but I did some fast (and somewhat superficial) research and I’m feeling better about the whole thing at this point.

Since it’s a valentines day themed event (sort of…) I am planning a feast of medieval aphrodisiacs!  I had two good sources that helped me figure those out… the book Eating Right in the Renaissance by Kenneth Albala, and the Tacuinum Sanitatis (Medieval Health Handbook).  Medieval food and health were very much linked, and the whole concept draws on the theory of the four humors, which is much older than the middle ages; goes back to Greek medicine, primarily Galen.  I did read some Galen, for background, but the Albala was probably the most helpful for giving me the theory.

As I understand it, while the ‘sanguine’ (hot and moist) humor is the one that produces the desire to reproduce, in the end all nutrition leads to sperm production.  And it is definitely about reproduction, not about pleasure!  The Tacuinum in fact ‘defines’ coitus as ‘the union of two for the purposes of introducing the sperm,’ and says that the optimal kind is ‘that which lasts until the sperm has been completely emitted’ and that it is useful because ‘it preserves the species.’  There’s romance for you!

You’ll notice this is rather male-focused… well, so were the middle ages, and it never seemed to be a concern whether the female was sufficiently ‘in the mood.’  I am guessing this is both because reproduction can happen whether she is or she ain’t, and because much of the medieval mindset was that women were too lustful anyway.  So don’t encourage them, right?

ANYWAY.  While some foods are more better (that’s a technical term) for instigating sperm production, all nutritious food preserves the body and leads to sperm production.  ’Nutritious’ here basically means meat over veggies, and processed over raw.  But a feast of spam wouldn’t really appeal to the modern palate … so for my feast, I’m focusing on the following: foods identified in the Tacuinum as aphrodisiacs, foods identified as being of hot and moist humors, hot and moist cooking methods, animals/meats that are known for fecundity (‘you are what you eat’) and spices that ‘fire the blood.’  My tentative menu (which may be cut to fit the budget once I do my price-checking) follows; I’ve tried to identify why each item is included.  Feedback is welcome!

• On the table
  • red grapes (H&M)
  • olives/garlic/salt (garlic=A, salty foods whet all sorts of appetites)
  • a truffled (A) liver (H&M) pate based on mortrews, served with crustrolles
• First course
  • pottage of chickpeas (A)
  • blanched asparagus (A,HM) with pinenuts (A), onions(A) and new cheese(HM) (my least medieval recipe – blanched asparagus with herbs is documentable, but this gets all the other bits into it)
  • chicken with cameline sauce (fire the blood with spices)
• Second Course
  • salad of apples (HM) and onions (A)
  • herbed (A) fritters
  • Rabbits (you are what you eat) in syrup
• Third Course
  • beef (nutritious) stew
  • seasoned turnips (A,HM – the best turnips are those that are long and dark, according to the Tacuinum)
  • Egg tart with onions and leeks (all A)
• Intercourse: a salad of watercress(A,H&M), herbs(A), nasturtiums (A), pine nuts (A) with a pomegranate (H&M) and olive oil (H&M) dressing
• Dessert: Marzipan balls (you are what you eat) – plus almond oil=A

Due to time constraints, I’m using many already redacted recipes, which is sort of a bummer… also, I don’t think I’m going to get the paper that I wanted for this written, but I might do it later.  Or I might just summarize and let people enjoy a tasty feast!  …so, do you think it sounds tasty?  And based on my summary do you think it gets the ‘aphrodisiac’ concept across?

 

not so sekrit project

Someone poked me a while ago for not posting recently.  Well, I didn’t want to post about what I was working on, since it was a surprise.  But now it’s done, and you are welcome to go look and review and offer comments!

In fact, I really hope you will offer comments.  I put a lot of thought into making this a period-appropriate piece, and since the Embellisher’s Guild sponsored a competition at 12th Night, I entered it there before giving it away as planned.

Total. Waste. Of. Time.  I got the feedback ‘love this pouch! you do great work!’  No comments on my two pages of documentation (i.e. about a page and a half more than most folks), on how well I did approximating a period piece/not, no responses to the various ‘things I wish I could change/want to learn more about/need more practice in’ section.  Srsly.  What was the point of entering?  Extra frustrating given that this has been my experience in almost every A&S competition I’ve ever entered.  How am I ever going to improve if no one does anything but blow smoke up my ass?

Oh well.  They just extended the deadline for single entries at Kingdom A&S, so I have until the end of the week to decide if I’m up for having it there.  A little nervous – that might be the other end of the spectrum and more than I want to deal with.  Thoughts?

(Ohyeah.  And I’s a protegé now.  Which is why I’m posting all about art stuff. )

Heraldry Day!

I’ve been chastised for not posting in forever.  Mea culpa, and all that, and here’s a post!

Part of why I haven’t been blogging on my SCA activities is because what I’ve mostly been doing is a 500p3r 53kr1t project!  (= super secret, for those of you who don’t speak l33t).  It is awesome and fun but cannot be discussed right now; and I’ve been working on that instead of the red dress, so… yeah.

BUT there’s stuff going on besides A&S, of course.  For example… about two weeks ago, Lady Elizabeth (our kingdom submissions herald) and I drove out to the Shire of Corvaria, which is a fun little group unfortunately rather isolated due to geography (they are surrounded by mountains and especially in winter hard to get to/from).  A lot of people there were interested in registering heraldry but had trouble getting access to the right resources (heralds and books).

This is where E & I came in.   We showed up with ourselves, around a hundred Crayola markers, and a whooooole lotta books and forms.  The Shire fed us lunch and dinner via potluck (and it was lovely!) and we helped people brainstorm and research options.  In the end I think we had a total of 17 items submitted – names, devices and badges!  Everyone seemed to get something they liked, and happily nothing made the heralds twitch, either. =D

It’s the kind of stuff that makes me love being a herald – helping people understand how and why heraldry is so cool, and helping them work disparate ideas about what they want into a unified whole.  Hopefully we did our conflict checking right and everything passes…!

a bardic exception

Most of the time I make no claims to be a bard.  In general, the SCA uses the term ‘bard’ to describe people who write original music.  I don’t do that; it’s not even my primary interest musically (period music fills that role).  I describe myself as a musician or minstrel; I play instruments, I sing, but almost exclusively I perform period music with a few SCA-compositions (by others!) thrown in.

But nothing is 100%, eh?  When I was driving home from the airport after my return to Pennsic, I got hit with an earworm.  My principality, the Summits, has no patriotic songs… until now!

Folk of the Grail

The river runs clear, the gryphon flies free
(Sing Hey! for the folk of the grail!)
Forever the mountains, forever are we
(Sing Hey! for the folk of the grail!) (repeat after each line)

Chorus (after every 2nd or 3rd verse)
Sing hey for the folk of the grail! Sing hey for the folk of the grail!

Sprung from the lion, our cups we raise high
Our pride in our people, it never will die

Gabriel, prince, is wise and is fair
Summaya, our princess, shares wisdom most rare (designed so that names of current Alpine Highnesses can be substituted)

Mighty in battle, we fight with our king
A torrent unleashed, our forces take wing

From artisans, treasures of beauty do flow
Their word-fame will spread, their skill ever grow

Our efforts in service are bested by none
Yet humble we’ll be when day’s work is done

United in honor and friendship we stand
And ne’er will forsake our gryphon homeland

The river runs clear, the gryphon flies free
Forever the mountains, forever are we

For those who read music, a PDF is available so you can get a sense of the tune.  (Folk of the Grail)

It was an interesting experience; I didn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about how to put things together, it just sort of … flowed.  Inspiration, I guess!  I do like how it turned out; the arts and service verses are a little clunkier, but overall not bad.  And I like that I worked in some of the symbols of our principality (gryphon, mountains, river, grails) – the very first line is in fact a direct quote from part of our ceremonial (you can take the song out of the herald, but you can’t take the herald out of the song… or something…).  Anyway, all feedback welcome and appreciated!

Now that I’ve done this, I’m kind of wondering if it’s something I’d be able to repeat… I’ve been listening to the songs of some of my fave wordsmiths/bards (Mistress Rosalind, Ken & Lisa Theriot, eg) and putting a lot of thought into what makes their words so powerful.  I think telling a story in words is a lot harder than a praise/patriotism song like this – with stories, you have to get much more specific and very concise.  One method that I have thought of is to first write out an outline detailing what should happen in each verse;  then in each verse, choose the main idea and write one or maybe two lines (depending on your rhyme structure) focusing on what you really want to convey and then work the other lines and rhymes in around that.

But I’d love to hear what other people do and any suggestions!

feast planning

There is a putative event in progress; the bid is not official yet (got to work with neighboring groups on selecting our date), but it’s highly probable our Shire will be putting on a valentine’s event this February!  The event is my idea but I am not going to be the event steward; I have bullied persuaded someone else to take that role so that I can cook!  It’s been a while since I’ve done much medieval cooking and I’m really jonesing to get back in the kitchen.

Given the theme of the event, the feast will of course be full of foods which induce luuuuuurve.  Research thus far suggests a couple different ways things could be aphrodisiac in nature: one, physical appearance (think of the banana scene from Dangerous Beauty); two, be rare and exotic (you spent a lot of money on me, you must really want me!); three, animal behavior (eg rabbits); four (and most prominent) balance of the four humors.

So I’ve started my reading re: humoral theory and how to cook foods in accordance with them; the period sources all recommend seeking a balance of the humors, but I will of course be seeking to promote the hot, moist humor: blood, i.e. sanguine.  There are a lot of foods which are hot and moist; the cooking method also impacts things, so boiling will be preferred to baking.  I have references to a few foods as being specifically good for coitus and sperm production, and will definitely try to include those.  I’m sort of amused at all the instructions that talk about how to prepare or combine foods to balance their humoral properties, since most of them just sound like they are mad tasty (and I wonder how much that was the reason!).  New cheese, like ricotta?  shouldn’t eat, unless you have it with honey and walnuts.  Pork? requires spices and mustard.  Acorns? You should roast and eat with sugar.

As far as the habits of animals go, though – medieval folks thought that beavers, when pursued, would rip off their testicles and throw them at their attackers, then escape while the pursuers were distracted.  Therefore, beaver testicles are aphrodisiacs (cause ripping off your balls is totally hawt. right?).  given that the mascot of our local university is the beaver…. well, I think marzipan balls in the university’s colors would get the idea across well enough!