Lady Jocelyn's Workshop

2010-11-30T23:27:00.002-06:00

Ha, I crack myself up. My google fu is not with me tonight. I found my own website while looking for something completely different.

I am undertaking the making of Regalia for the Barony of Ayreton--baldrics for the archery, A&S, rapier, and heavy combat Baronial Champions. I cant seem to locate the specific badge for an archery champ.

And the search goes on.

G'night

I have Identified the Mystery Dragon

2010-10-25T23:57:00.006-05:00

This weekend, I found the dragon picture from my Sept 27 post in the book The Cultural Atlas of the Viking World edited by James Graham-Campbell, on page 139. I was browsing the book looking for pictures of bead necklaces (only had one small pic). Luckily this book is wise enough to include a thourough and detailed List of Illustrations in the back, and our dragon can be found at the Cambridge University Library, call number MS Ff 1.23, f. 37v.
Sadly Cambridge has not digitized all their manuscripts, but according to the website, items in the "double letter" collection are not restricted and can be looked at freely as long they are not being restored. Great, I'll phone British Airways right now... Just kidding. :)

An Exciting New Position!

2010-10-11T17:03:00.005-05:00

Saturday at the Canton of Grey Gargoyles' Stone Dog Inn event, the Barony of Ayreton held its first Baronial Court. I received the exciting position of (principal) A&S Baronial Champion!

I have alot of ideas to try out over the next year.... woo hoo!

Maroon Elizabethan Dress Diary Part 3

2010-10-08T12:47:00.004-05:00

Wednesday night Mistress Arrienne stopped by to help wrangle the skirt panels onto the now finished bodice. A had made a new hoop shirt with a 3.5 yard bottom circumference. It is sortof my training- farthingale. Arrienne had me one with a 5.5 circumference, but I think I need to work my way up to that big girl farthingale.

Tragically we discovered my skirt panels must have been originally cut for a lower middle class dress without farthingale. But over the spring I had collected some snazzy trim and taffeta linings, so that bumped it up to a more upper middle class-low noble status dress--farthingale required. This can be fixed with some guards--I have a small length of black wool i just need to dig around for. So I was was rather sad that even with a sewing frenzy Thursday night, it would not have been near ready for Saturday. Besides, Indian Summer is in full force, and it will be 80F on Satuday. So wool might not be the best thing to wear that lovely day.

There are 3 more local events in 7 weeks, so there will be more opportunities for the dress to make its debut. That gives me more time to redo the undersleeves, the matching forepart, make an underskirt to attach the forepart to, and possibly mail order a custom tall hat.

Last night I worked on a pair of Elizabethan venetians for The Boy. Lets just say 12 year olds are not thrilled with having things pinned on them sewn, put back on, and so forth. I took a shortcut with these--at Goodwill I found a pair of black ladies petite capri pants. I dont think they were even worn--the front pockets were still basted shut. Most important they had no back pockets so, but the front pockets were easier to hide in the pleating. So all I had to do is make a casing around the bottom hem, ran a ribbon through, and I think these should be good for a couple years. I had to take the waist in a bit, but they can be let out as he grows. Major score--$5, 30 minute boys Elizabethan pants.

With it, he can finally wear last year's Goodwill experiment of a $7 ladies linen blouse, which I shortened the sleeves, took the buttons off, butted the front seam together, covered the button holes with machine embroidery, and embelished the front of the blouse with more machine embroidery. He can borrow one of dad's flat caps, and I got some girls black knee socks, and he is ready to go. I just wont tell him ALL his clothes began life in the ladies and girls department. :)

I'm Published

2010-10-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote up an article about the Opening Ceremonies garb that Mistress Sarafina Sinclair's Sewing Group worked on over the summer. Here is the link directly to the article:
http://danscomputing.com/MidrealmAS/opening.html

Mistress Sarafina, Lady Jane the Tall, Lady Ann of Walton Woods, and Lady Margrett Norwoode and I all had a great time working on the outfits for their Majesties Radagaisus and Ceinwen.

A Look at all the other issues of the "unofficial" A&S monthly newsletter here:
http://danscomputing.com/MidrealmAS/

Maroon Elizabethan Dress Diary part 2

2010-09-27T12:40:00.001-05:00

Confined myself to the craft lair yesterday and bound the amscyes, hand stitched layer 1 of the trim, & sewed up the pair of tie on sleeves for the Elizabethan. The bias cut sleeves and lining gave me fits because the linen lining is streching too much and poofing out top and bottom of the sleeves.
Movies watched: disc... 2-directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven, then Ever After and Knights Tale were on TV. Excellent!

Can anyone identify the source?

2010-09-27T10:52:00.003-05:00

The only information I have for this picture is "Ringerike style Dragon from illuminated manuscript 11th century CE, England"

Can anyone help locate the exact source? I checked through a few of the English online manuscript databases, and can't locate the MSS source for this image.

Maroon Dress Diary-part 1

2010-09-24T12:42:00.001-05:00

Sewed the Elizabethan bodice last night, but the front closure is not laying as flat as I want. I am using heavy duty hook and eye tape to close. (See below) Its just basted on now, so it can be fixed. Hints? Other options for front closure? Will it lay flatter when I use smaller more sturdy stiches?

Jumbo Hook & Eye- Black/Nickle :: Jumbo Hook & Eye :: Hook & Loop

I am inserting it on the Underside...its not meant to be visible. But I am still getting slight gappage where the two sides of the dress meet.

Saturday:I beat it into submission....and I think it turned out ok! I just needed to yank that corset a little tighter, and also the loose basting stiches werent helping. Heres to 2 rows of machine stiching on the tape edge and then another hand sewn seam on the hook side.

Italian thoughts & 2 months of Crafting Time

2010-09-16T12:35:00.018-05:00

Looking at my SCA calendar, it looks like I have no Event related deadlines until November! That means I can retreat to my craft lair--or pit of despair depending on how messy it is :)

I have a wool middle class Elizabethan that was cut out last winter. But then the summer came with award scrolls, the Great Pennsic Royal Garb Project, gift basket projects, and other things that took more priority. When I start putting the Burgandy 'Bethan together, (shortly I hope) I will show you my progress.

I have also been knocking around the idea of doing some sort of Flemish or Italian peaseant-esque kitchen dress. I will be co feast-o-crat for the first time for 12th night, and it could be something I can wear. I have the linen for a nice Flemish stocked, but I actually dont think I would like the chance getting that stained.

So I will turn to my fabric stash, and see what mystery fabric is really there (But that means I hafta clean the attic, WAH!) to see if there is someting suitable for a different garb experiment.

I think i want to try an Italian. The paintings of Vincenzo Campi were the first place i started, but I am not sure I really want that late of a style. For some reason, I think the ruffled blouse seems to fussy, and the dresses have too many doo-dads and poofs to be good in the kitchen. See:
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/wkclass/portfolio.html

I think I want something a bit sleeker. So I found this very interesting set of pictures from the same site, but from about 100 years earlier, around 1475.

A. http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/earlyflor/3flor16.html
B. http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/earlyflor/3flor17.html

C. http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/earlyflor/3flor15.html

I kind of like the chemise peeking out of the sleeve gaps. I think I would go with a cap and side lacing like in picture A.

But what about the chemise? I will have to do some more research on it because this set of instructions

http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/chemise.html

http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/diary/diary3.html
seems to be for a later period-more poofier chemise-and not the slim fitting ones shown in the pictures above.

A Pretty Cool weekend: Yard Sale, Pennsic Bed, and Rush!

2010-07-08T12:47:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, I held a yard sale. It wasn't very big, but I got rid of a lot of toys, kids clothes, new and like new housewares, and a bike that never fit me right. I think one of the fun parts is chatting with the folks that come by. I didnt make a huge amount of money, but enough to fund a shopping trip to Ikea to get a Pennsic camping bed.

I wanted to upgrade from sleeping on an air mattress on the ground at Pennsic to having a "real" bed. Knowing that we are running short on time (and woodworking skills), I found a new model at Ikea that looks pretty simplistic, looked like it will break down into smaller parts in the car, and that will give a more period feel:
Presenting Fjellse: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80185066

All wood, ready to be finished or left plain. Later, I think I want to do some woodburned vine work, but that will wait to be a winter project. I have been coveting the sheepskin rugs they sell also, to use as blankets, but even the largest sheepskin rug would not have covered the bed. So I chose a flokati rug. Very comfortable and snuggly but half the price. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10093942

The bed needs a base to support the mattress. We decided against this, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/75844609, because it is actually two strips of slats, the center support of the bed is only 1 inch wide, and I was fearful of a collapse should the two strips slats ever began to spread apart and fall off the center support. So, we went to Menards Sunday after the 4th of July parade, and bought 16 1"x3"x8' furring strips for about $22, and Mark cut them to fit the bed frame. That way they lay across the center support as well. We had to get an new air mattress because our queen double high would not have fit the frame. Menards had the single high air matresses too. Lastly, to protect the air mattress from splinters, I got 3 cheap rug runners with rubber backing there to lay across the slats. The rubber backing helped to keep the slats from shifting as well. Also, runners can be rolled up and packed upright in the car better than a big long rug.

The test run Sunday night worked! My new medievaloid bed gets two thumbs up from me.

Monday night, we went downtown to see my all time favorite band in the world, Rush! I think this was the 14th time I have seen them since 1988.
Not so great: The venue, Charter One pavilion at Northerly Island, a tacky outdoor arena covered in spiders and rickety seating--even though its only a few years old.
Horrible: Our seats, could not even see Neil or the video screen at the back of the stage.

And then something happened at intermission...

Awesome: An employee came around our section and passed out tickets to the people who didnt get up, to go sit in the empty VIP boxes instead!
Flippin Awesome: The rest of the show, 2 more hours worth of rocking from in front of the stage. They celebrated the 30th anniversary of the album Moving Pictures by playing it in its entirety. Sweet! What a show!

And that is the tale of my pretty cool weekend

Gulf Wars

2010-01-28T12:56:00.005-06:00

Well this has been one heckuva year, and I am dying for a vacation. So its official---Bridget and I signed up and were going to Gulf Wars!

I think the trip would be really far out.

I still cant figure out what the weather would be in Mississippi in March. I have heard accounts that the weather at Gulf wars can be everthing up to 90, down to 17, rain, and even snow. Pack every piece of garb and hope for the best I guess.

Here is link to one weather site:

http://countrystudies.us/united-states/weather/mississippi/hattiesburg.htm
and another:
http://hattiesburgamerican.weather.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=WEATHER01&City=Hattiesburg&State=MS

Time to make some wooly garb!

Camp Cooking

2009-08-17T23:15:00.002-05:00

Next Pennsic, I want to experiment with camp cooking, over a fire if possible. Dad's hobby is blacksmithing and welding, so I could order up tripods, spits and whatever.

I will collect recipes and learn firecooking recipes during the next year.

There never seems to be enough coffee in camp. I saw this in the mega Walmart where we vacation, and think I need to upgrade the percolator for this:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/coleman-camp-coffee-maker/33283
Sweet.

However,I am amused becasue this is SO wrong:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/coleman-frywell-portable-fryer/37656

An Elizabethan Legal Scroll

2009-06-01T21:38:00.007-05:00

On January 31, 2009 THL Arrienne Ashford was called to be placed on Vigil to become a Laurel for her skills and teaching of Lacemaking. I was honored to be asked by her to complete her Laurel Scroll. We have been friends for many years, and I really wanted it to be special. Her persona is firmly Elizabethan, English of course, so I wanted the scroll to match her persona well.

CONSIDERATIONS

In planning the award scroll, I had a few things to consider:

1. The art of Illumination, sadly, was waning in the late 16th century. The advent of printing--the mass production of books with movable type text and block printed or engraved pictures, was causing the art of illumination and calligraphy disappear. Finding suitable period sources to use as inspiration might not be easy.

2. An SCA Award scroll is essentially a "legal" document, issued under the authority of the Crown of the Kingdom.

3. Its all about bling. Use the best materials and really make the piece special.

PERIOD SOURCES

For the past few years, I have become really geeked out about medieval manuscript ROLLS and SCROLLS. I had the book Treasures of the National Archives: Elizabeth--Golden Reign of Gloriana, by David Loades for a quite a while and was fascinated by these small pictures of what looked like bookmarks. There was not much description as to what they were in the book, so for a a long time I assumed they were small tags that hung from the rolled up legal scrolls, (I had no idea what the rolls looked like either).

(Coram Rege Roll, (Kings Bench), Hilary Term, 1581.)

Online searched brought up nothing until about 18 months ago I got a hit. Like a bolt of lightning I almost fell off my desk chair becasue I finally found pictures of the legal rolls themselves:

TA DA!!!!! ALL THE ENGLISH LAW DOCUMENTS DATING BACK TO THE 12TH CENTURY THAT WERE FIT TO BE SCANNED

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/IndexPri.html

SO, WHAT IS IT?

That tiny slip of painted paper is actually the cover sheet to the stack of court transcripts, the "Court of the Kings Bench" from a particular quarter term of the legal year. Actual size seems to be about 10 inches wide by about 30 inches long. While the documants from Elizabeths later years have not been digitized yet, they seem to keep scanning more each time I visit the website.)

Here is what a bundle of legal scrolls looks like from the side: http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/M/KB27no1168/aKB27no1168fronts/IMG_0001.htm The "roll" can no longer be rolled up because if its bulky size.

THE ART OF THE PLEA ROLL COVER SHEET

Placita coram Domini Rege stood for "before the king in person". Of course the monarch was not actually present at each court case in the entire realm, so by painting their portrait on the cover sheet it was a symbolic representation of their knowledge of the cases thus written inside.

ITS LATE AND I HAVE RUN OUT OF STEAM, I WILL REVIST TOPIC LATER

Capricon Demo 2-21-09

2009-02-22T22:56:00.000-06:00

I set out some period supplies to discuss. Wax tablet, different kinds of oak galls, walnut husks, handmade ink, cut quills, paints in shells, shell gold, gum ammoniac, gum arabic crystals, vellum scraps, malachite and lapis lazuli samples, agate and hematite nugget burnishers, and the Hours leaves I did for A&S last year.

Calligraphy and Illumination January 2009

2009-02-01T23:31:00.000-06:00

January 31, 2009, a Purple fret for Khadagan Jochilun. I did both the Calligraphy and Illumination. The calligraphy is an eastern or Bari type Beneventan Minuscule. The border is based on a border motif from the 11th century Bari Exultet Roll.

January 31, 2009, a Bronze Ring for Miguel de Santiago. I did both the Calligraphy and Illumination.This was based on the Berlaymont Hours, c. 1470-1475, a Book of Hours comissioned for a gentleman. The Berlaymont hours use an unusual color scheme of ochre, brown, teal, and a deep dusty rose/salmon.

January 11, 2009. Award of the Baton (a youth award) for Kinji. I did the calligraphy in an Uncial, Ruth Ellyson did the illuminated blank.

January 11, 2009, Order of the Evergreen for Elaine Ladd. I did the calligraphy in a Humanist Roundhand; Anna Rakel did the Illumination in an Italian Whitevine stlye.

January 31, 2009, AOA for Thomas Ayleward. I did the calligraphy in an Uncial; illuminated blank was by Mikhail Lubelska and Sorcha O'Brannigan.

2009-01-24T23:08:00.000-06:00

This is a 7x9' banner, or "fresco" I made as a decoration for Tree Girt Sea's 12th night. We had a Roman theme, and decorated the hall with paper columns.

I used "sign canvas", a vinyl backed cloth, and interior flat house paint, becasue it was going to be much cheaper than buying enough artists acrylics. I got it for a steal too--the paint brand had an $8 rebate special per can at Menards, and the cheapest flat grade of that brand was $8.99 a can. Thats right baby! .99 a gallon!! , but drat, limit 4. I bought 5 gallon pails of the main colors, and mixed artist acrylics to get the other shades.

When I get the chance, I will post what period building this actually came from.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-20T22:40:00.000-06:00

Hi all. Just checking in. I will be back to working on my web pages in a few weeks.

I have been very busy this winter working on art projects for 12th night, and my duties as Lincoln Signet.

Among my goals for 2009 are:

Finish the Exultet roll.
Do a fabulous job on a comissioned Elizabethan laurel scroll.
Get back to basics in the technical aspects of C&I
Explore more styles by creating more blanks.

Sew new garb for Mark in more period fabrics.
Get that Elizabethan ensenble going!
More garb for me in more period fabrics.
Finish the Astronomia Gown.

Travel more, but will be harder with less vacation this year.
Finish all the undone house projects.
Do more gardening.
Grow hops.
Throw more parties.
Stick to an exercise and diet plan.
Read more fiction.

Laugh, Love, and Live Life More!

Cant wait for 2009

2008-12-30T22:32:00.000-06:00

Just a quick check in, I havent been around here in a while.

The Astronomia dress is on hold while I do the preparations for TGS 12th night. I have projects out the wazoo to finsh in 2 weeks! And my real job, an accountant, is jammy packed with tax returns, new tax rates, PR deductions, etc to get loaded up.

See you in February!

Peace,
Jocelyn

Newberry Library Visit 3

2008-11-09T14:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I again met Meistarin Katarina and her apprentice Trini, at the Newberry Library here in Chicago again. She had arranged a behind the scenes tour of the bookstacks and vaults for us with one of the curators.
Before our tour, I had imagined the vaults to look either like an ordinary college library, or the secret library tower in The Name of the Rose. Well, it was both! Ha Ha. It was dark and very chilly. Metal shelves hold all sorts of things, from file boxes of paper records, 20th century book collections from benefactors, all the way back to the medieval books still laying on their sides because the metal cover bosses are still intact. We saw minature books the size of postage stamp, up to HUGE antiphonals, like 20x30 inches. Oh to have taken a notebook to pencil in the call numbers of these things so we can look at them later.
Before our tour, we ordered up a few manuscripts to look at. The Library allows you to take non-flash photos now, but I cant show you these treats on the web because of copyright rules.
This time we ordered an Italian roll of Prayers to St Jerome, c.1350-1400, a c.1173 German Missal, a girdle book, a 1459 book of hours I forgot to take notes on origin, and a 1559 item that was catalogued a roll, but turned out to be a letter on paper. I had to leave after the tour, so I dont know what other treasures the ladies requested after I left.
There is book out there, that I think is THE GREATEST general book on medieval manuscripts EVER. It is "Introduction to Manuscript Studies: by Raymond Clemens and Tinothy Graham. Most of the photo examples in the book are from the Newberry, so before we go, we flip through the book and select the things we want to see.
I havent become a member of the Library yet, although it is not that expensive, but whenever I go, I make sure to hit their bookstore. Off I go, for I have 4 new books to read...

Astronomia's Dress

2008-11-06T22:44:00.000-06:00

The theme for Twefth Night this year is a 16th c Roman Masque. Because I need some new clothes for my 12th c. persona, I will be making an outfit to depict Astronomia, the allegorical personification of Astronomy--one of the 7 original Liberal Arts.

Cod Lat 2599

Notice the ruffly sleeve lining peeking out from her pendant sleeve. I belive this to be the sleeve of a second layer. This is not the interpretation those on the 12th c Garb Yahoo list, or the folks I have been showing the picture to agree. But I have somone else to back me up.

Check out Teffania's research here:
http://teffania.blogspot.com/2006/09/wrinkly-sleeve-linings.html
This woman's research rocks!

I have a copy of the Stammheim Missal, (also contemporary to time and place as the MSS Teffania shows) again is an image of a ruffly sleeve lining.

I think this is definitely a regional style. We are talking southern Germany, Austria, and the Alps. I think layering 3 dresses is the way to go in an Alpine winter.

2008-10-23T02:12:00.000-05:00

Here is my inaugural post. I moved over here from AOL Journals, because AOL is shutting down their web page and journal hosting, and deleting all the old member pages. Sure, cut us loose and watch us thrash around in the great web sea. Phoo on you AOL.

I figured out you can play with the posting dates here at Blogspot. I might try copying over my best posts from AOL over to here, then back dating them. Let us experiment...

An ODE to GOOD FRIENDS,

2008-09-10T21:20:00.000-05:00

I had to say goodbye to 2 very good friends that comforted and supported me since Pennsic 24.

CHAIR: 13 good long years *sniff* of soft coziness after a long day, a place to rest my head when weary.
SHOES: *sob* You have carried me over many miles, up hills and down, in mud ,filth and dust, through water over their tops, and always ready to snap back into action after a sit in the drying sun or a good laundering.

You have borne the brunt of this toil, been mended many a time, yet your bodies have simply worn out and broke again, never to carry on anew.

I say adeiu, thank you, RIP my friends, Pennsic 37.

I have sewn the soles to the tops 3 times each, and again they tore. 13 years of outdoor SCA events not bad for Kmart sneakers.

On the chair, Dad welded the frame again, and reinforced where the frame kept bending. The reinforcement bent too. That is why the arms are bowed and the chair tries to fold you up too.

A Quote to Keep in Mind

2008-08-20T21:17:00.000-05:00

I was killing time one morning this week waiting for the first caffiene rush to hit and I found this on a business blog I have begun following:

"When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt."
- Henry J. Kaiser

(Henry Kaiser was a 20th century American Industrialist and Shipbuilder)

The as soon as I read it I did not think of business, I thought of being an Apprentice. How often does our work get complements and then we reply "Thanks, but....and into an explanation of the nit picky faults we ourselves find in it.

A '12th century painted chest'

2008-08-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

This is a project I finished this summer.

How to make a "12th century painted chest" for those folks who have no tools:
Take the Ikea APA toybox: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20078031

Start by staining the wooden rails. Then paint the panels with matte finish spray paints. Painters Touch Decorator colors work well. For the panels that are pre-assembled in the kit, mask the different areas with masking tape and paper.

This design is my interpretation of a Tree of Life pattern from the doorways of early medieval English churches.

Cut a stencil out of thin posterboard. Save the inner pieces to mask unpainted areas.

Paint the green vines first.

Pull the flower shapes away to then paint yellow.

Hold down the cardboard so mist does not get under the stencil.

When dry, pull stencils sway carefully. Your spray painting is done! Outline shapes with a black matte enamel paint (like Rust-o-leum). Assemble the rest of the chest according to directions.

I lined the inside with felt. The inner surface of the panels is a rough textured pulpwood, and I wanted to hide that.

Your chest is almost done!

Add handles to the sides.

I also added nail-in chair gliders to protect the bottom of the chest. The lid is left as a lift off type, hinges will not work because of the rail shape.

Embroidered Roses for Queen's Gift Baskets

2008-08-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

A trio of embroidered roses contributed to the Queens Gift Baskets at this years Pennsic. They will be appliqued to handkerchiefs.

The first 2 have satin, stem, and seed stitch.

The last one is done in blackwork fill stiches outlined in stem stich. While I worked on the blackworked rose, I watched the first disk of the Tudors. Nicely appropriate.

6 Feet of Scroll Cases

2008-06-01T21:18:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture from Crown Tourney back in May. Volunteers from Ayreton, Ravenslake, and Baile na Scolairi worked together during the winter and spring to donate supplies and assemble these scroll cases. The goal was to make a pile as tall as the thrones, and that day, we surpassed it! The cases were given to the Kingdom Signet.

Pictured are myself, Etienne des Roches from Grey Gargoyles, Philippa of Ottorbourne and Henry of Exeter of Rokkhealden.

Why Can't SCA Feasts Look Like This?

2008-05-05T01:10:00.000-05:00

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Why Cant SCA Feasts Look Like This?

God, I amost cried at these pictures. Look at what I found.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562037783eeVSFY?start=0
12th night at recreated Saxon longhouse--Wychurst by Regia Anglorum.

Now that is when the Dream comes alive. I have been complaining for years that they dont turn the lights off at feasts anymore. Yeah, I know candles arent allowed at sites much, but try and turn off the lights!!!! Sitting in a gymnasium going blind is no fun and not mood enhancing. Often, when the main lights in the room are off, there is still enough ambient light from exit signs, side halls, doorways etc to see and yet keep the mood.

I still reminisce about one feast from the early 90's down at Shattered Crystal. Even though it was at a school, we still got to use candles. The main lights in the caefteria were turned off, but the side lights and stage lights provided enough light for the minstrels and dancers to be seen and the servers not to kill themselves, but it was still dim enough for period ambience.
Also it didnt hurt trading goo goo eyes with a suitor.....ah memories.

Comment from aelfreda123 Email aelfreda1236/16/08 7:51 AM

I was there...and it was fantastic...it was a cold night, being January, but we had a huge fire all the way down our fire box, with cauldrons over it to keep food warm. Six or seven courses. Outside real wolves were howling (ok, they were in a cage in the wildlife park next door but it sounded great). Everything smelt of smoke for weeks afterwards (no chimney of course) - but the atmosphere is amazing.

AOA scroll, January 19, 2008

2008-02-17T01:08:00.000-06:00

AOA scroll January 19, 2008

I was in the mood to try something different so I was pleased to get this assignment for an Eastern Eurooean persona. I know the translation is not accurate or period, but I had fun doing it and think it looks snazzy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Bulgarian
I used the above source a starting point for my "translation". I took liberties with what shape of letters I wanted to use, and what letters I thought were matching the phonetics or pronunciation. Wherever possible, I looked at the period text to copy letter shape.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_numbers I used for the date numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraevangelia_of_Ivan_Alexander At Pennsic, I bought a book copy of this. The K is pulled from the Mss, and I drew the lady in a style similar to the royal family portraits.

Purple Fret, All Souls 2007

2007-11-12T01:06:00.000-06:00

Scroll for All Souls, 11-3-07

This is an award scroll for Vanished Wood's All Souls event held on 11/3/07.

Bristol, gouache, patent gold leaf on gum ammoniac size, home-made oak gall ink for outlines.

From the 1467 German Fechtbuch "Fight Book" by Hans Talhoffer.
Sorry the picture is sideways, I have the computer skills of a 7 year old.

The Great Oak Gall Experiment 2007

2007-02-20T01:03:00.000-06:00

This weekend Ian and his lady Hroswitha came over to bottle up the 5 quarts of leftover ink from we made at the event in December. I procured more bottles and some equipment form American Science & Surplus and we got to work. Because the ink sat for 2 months we decided to not re-filter what we had, just decant it.

Let me just say, that unfiltered oak ink resting on its oaky sludge for 2 months totally rocks! Nice and dark and we didnt have to add more copperas to that batch of ink. The pre-filtered ink needed more oomph with a dash of copperas. What we added to both batches however was ground eggshells to lower the PH of the ink. Hroswitha with her molecular-biology-grad-student-lab experience determined we were able to lower it from a 3 to a respectable 5 just from stirring the powdered eggshell into the decanted mixture before we re-decanted it into the small bottles-it worked that fast!

Well now we have 50 bottles of oak gall and 25 bottles of walnut ink ready to sell at Gulf Wars. We will see how it sells before I follow Ian into the world of SCA merchanting...to be continued. ; )

A&S and other stuff, 2006

2007-01-07T00:59:00.000-06:00

Saturday, January 6, 2007

A Retrospective

Tonight after a bad couple of days at work, I am feeling rather glum. I began to try to think of the good things I have done this year OUTSIDE of work and I think I didn't do so bad. Perhaps if I didn't spend the last 6 months in a depressed and anxious funk worrying about my job I could have done more with my life.

So....some cool things I did this year.
COOL SCA THINGS I DID IN 2006

JANUARY- Designed really cool site tokens for the 12th night event held in my home Province of Tree Girt Sea. They looked a like a Mongolian Royal Seal, and it actually said something! Helped run childrens art activities, made yurts from popsicle sticks, felt and paper plates. Really!
FEBRUARY & MARCH-Illness laid me low, (probably stress related, see below), but I managed to work on my Exultet roll.
APRIL 16- Entered Exultet Roll at Midlands A&S. Had no clue it could be cross entered into Calligraphy and Illumination. (Hey it was my first entry in 10 years) Got a First Place level standing.
MAY- First time I ever made it to Spring Crown. Wasnt going to miss A & S this year. First time ever traveling to an event in Ohio, met many awsome folks I had only known by name. Exultet roll got another First Place level standing.
SUMMER-Did a few award scrolls. Sewed myself a heraldic banner finally. Made garb for hubby for Pennsic.
AUGUST- Pennsic: Taught 2 sessions of my Alternative Adhesives for Gold Leaf class, and taught a new class on the Exultet Roll, a general overview class that was a summary of all my research. That class rocked! It was so fun to teach and I did a fantastic job, even though I wrote my lesson plan only night before in the fading light during a downpour. I hardly used the notes anyway, I knew this stuff in my head!
Later that week I was honored to become the Protege of Maestra Gwenyvar Nocturnal.
SEPTEMBER-Entered the "Gaston Phoebus in any Medium" contest at the Foxvale event. I did a cross stitched version of an illuminated picture just because the diapering just lent itself to cross stich. Tied for first place to a fellow who drew a scene from the manuscript on a ....diaper. Hilarious!
OCTOBER-Showed my "body of work" at Crown tourney in Swordcliff. Gots lots of positive feedback.
NOVEMBER-Back in September Ian volunteered us to run an ink making session at a scribal event in December. We had great success with our first test batches of iron gall ink and walnut inks. Did two calligigraphed and illuminated invitations to invite their majesties of Northshield to our event.
DECEMBER- Was supposed to teach a new class on the Beneventan Minuscule, at the fall RUM in St Fintan's Mor, but the city of Decatur was struck by a massive ice storm the day before and the event was canceled at the last minute. I dont regularly check my e-mail, but I did that day, and 2 hours before i was set to brave the roads, I saw the cancellation announcement. Phew.
Two weeks later, the ice had melted in central Illinois and the Inkin in Lincoln event was held. Yes we cooked ink, outside, on a hill, overlooking a lake, in gale force winds, but it was only 45F. It really wasnt that bad. As medievel people dressed, layers and headgear work!
With what volunteers braved the elements to go outside, we cook a huge potful of walnut ink, and another of iron-gall. The pots simmered all day, and later that day, we had the brilliant idea to move the picnic table to other side of the lodge out of the wind. About 8 volunteers helped filter the two inks through a multitide of coffee filters. By the time darkness fell, we had enough to fill 100 bottles, and proceeded to practically sell all of our bottles of ink. We charged $1 a bottle, half price for helpers, to cover the cost of the small glass bottles I bought. Ian and I also gifted His Majesty Bardolf with 8 bottles.
So, just off the top of my head, 2006 was not such a bad year, when I think about the FUN and SATISFYING things I did.

Back From Pennsic 35

2006-08-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

Sunday, August 20, 2006
10:07:14 PM EDT
Back From Pennsic 35

Today Mark and I have returned from our Pennsic and points east trip. I had a nice time on my vacation. Because we only spent 4 days at the War this year--visits to Pittsburgh to see family and a side trip to Gettysburg cut our stay at War short, I dont have a Pennsic top 10 this year. So:

Top 5 Best of Pennsic 35:

5. The Naughty Nautical party (which was not actually very naughty) VERY NICE and classy instead.
4. Again, Owain Pfyffe
3. Again, the Corn Party
2. The nice Bardic Circle hosted by the Barony of Debatable Lands
1. The fantastic feedback I got for teaching and showing my Exultet Roll. The class I taught rocked, and I got some great pointers to track down more info about them and the Exultet ceremony.

2006-06-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

Sunday, June 4, 2006

Fun With Google Part 1-What's in a name?

The "Lady Jocelyn" and the "Lutterworth" were clipper ships doing the immigration and supply runs from England to New Zealand the 2nd half of the 19th century.

More about the "Lady Jocelyn":
http://www.cossar.co.nz/c-lady-jocelyn.htm

And now back to work. I always find the coolest online stuff when I am supposed to be doing real job work. It is such a nice weekend outside but I had to bring home like 82 pounds of paperwork. UGGHHH!

My A & S Project, 2006

2006-05-02T00:48:00.000-05:00

Monday, May 1, 2006

A & S Results-Woo Hoo

OK now is time to unveil my super-secret A&S project that I have been working on for 2 years. Drum Roll Please....

An 11th century Italian Exultet Roll

An Exultet Roll is a liturgical scroll containing the text and music for the hymn of the Easter Mass. In southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries, the unique way the mass was presented gave rise to the use of these scrolls. The unique feature of these heavily decorated scrolls was that the pictures were upside down in relation to the txt. That way the deacon singing the hymn would unroll the scroll over the top of the pulpit and the audience would see the pictures upside down.

Follow this link to see the pictures of the Exultet Roll:
www.flickr.com/photos/jocelyn_lutterwurth/

Best of all, I entered my replica of an Exultet roll (the first part) in Midlands A&S on April 29th, 2006 and got
First Place--Illumination
First Place--Calligraphy

Where I was in 2005

2006-03-05T00:43:00.000-06:00

My 2005 Event schedule

I just threw away a 2005 calendar so I thought I would take a minute to list the SCA events I made it to last year.

January 15 12th Night, Tree Girt Sea (Chicago, IL)
April MKHSS, Shattered Crystal, (E. St. Louis, IL)**
May Chaos Caravan, Greyhope, (Lake Co IN)**
June Peasants Revolt, Rokkhealdon, (Big Rock, IL)**
July A Pas-ish Event, Tree Girt Sea (Chicago, IL)
August 13-18, Pennsic War**
Sept 17 Rendezvous at the Bridge, Rivierre Constelle, (Evansville, IN)
Sept 24 Fox Hunt, Foxvale, (Aurora, IL)
November 5 Event, Vanished Wood, (Elgin, IL)
November 12 MKHSS, Baile na Scolari, (Bloomington, IL)
November 19 RUM, White Waters, (South Bend, IN)**

**Events where I taught classes.

Hmm, 11 events-not bad for a year. I have never been to an event on Ohio or Kentucky, maybe I should try to do that at least once. Haven't been to Michigan for a few years. Every time we wnt to Val Day, driving home in a blizzard was guaranteed. Bah upon lake effect snow!

12th Century Manuscripts Online

2005-08-28T00:39:00.000-05:00

I just realized the post-it note I was keeping track of the really cool 12th century online manuscripts has leapt from the bulleten board and hurled itself to its death in the wastebasket below. I will keep track of my list here, so that others may share the glory and sheer coolness of 12th century manuscripts.

Stammheim Missal, German, 1170’s
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o111817.html

Fecamp Psalter, Normandy, 1180
http://collecties.meermanno.nl/handschriften/showmanu?id=1181

Winchester Bible,England, 1160-1175
http://www.beloit.edu/~classics/museum/WebSite/WinchesterBible.htm

St. Albans Pslater, English, 1140/1150’s
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter/english/index.shtml

miscellaneous 12th century English medical texts
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/mss/ashmole/1462.htm

The Bury Bible, English, 1130-1135
http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/biblepages.cfm

I will keep adding to the list as I locate them. Enjoy!

Home from Pennsic 34

2005-08-21T01:58:00.000-05:00

Saturday, August 20, 2005
11:58:33 PM EDT Feeling Chillin' Hearing New World Rennaisance Band CD "Odyssey"

Home from Pennsic
I returned home from War very late Friday night, and overall it was a great trip. Just as I was getting used to the hill walking, the heat, and the all-night drumming, it was time to go home.

The top 10 reasons Pennsic 34 was Cool (in no particular order)

1. The Corn Party
2. Listening to Owain Phyfe sing in the marketplace, Moonwulf's concert, and the bluegrass band singing atop pirate ship Ravenspittle.
3. Gwen getting put on vigil
4. Making a presentaion to their Majesties Alaric and Noelle
5. Getting over my fear of crowns to tell the Queen of Ealdormere her 12th century garb totally rocks. She probably thinks I'm a weirdo because I said I have pictures of her bookmarked on my computer--but her and the King's garb is awesome!!!!
6. STEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Our party amoeba)
7. Teaching my gilding class.
8. Creme Brulee Liqueur (Thanks Seamus!)
9. Shopping! I bought mostly books, period pigments, found more matching trim for the future silk bliaut, the CD listed above, and coolest of all-- turnshoes, hose and garters.
10. The wonderfully run Heralds Point. I officially changed my name. To document what I wanted, it has to be 13th century man's name, but that doesn't matter to me, my persona could make up stories why she is using a male alias. Jocelyn as a woman's name is post period practice, so it does not sound odd to our modern ears for a woman to known as Jocelyn. If everthing passes, I will be JOCELYN DU LUTTERWURTH pronounced loot not luht . Very interesting.
11. But this one goes to eleven! Having a Duke carry our ice and water all the way down to the lake! At night! In the rain! He told intersting stories about his coronation and vacation to Europe. That was so cool!

Best of all, coming home. I woke up this morning after sleeping about 10 hours, slowly opened one eye just a little bit, and thought..... gee what a huge tent I'm in..... a dry cool tent... O how odd there is a mirror and dresser in this tent... and what a huge bed I'm on.....OH WAIT I AM AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How I developed My SCA name

2005-05-20T02:03:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 20, 2005
12:03:44 AM EDT Feeling Frustrated
Rhiannon -- Change your name!

To make a short story long: I think it is time to contact a pursuivant to get my name officially changed.

Back when I started the SCA in mumble mumble 1990, I was delighted to find out Rhiannon was a period name. And as a college student immersed in the hard rock college music culture and classic rock DJ on the campus radio station WEIU "rockin the Embarras River valley with 2 watts" OK the 2 watts isnt true, but geologically speaking we were in near the valley of a creek by that name. But I digress. So being that Fleetwood Mac was among my fave top 20 bands of all time, and you know, they had a rather obscure song by the title of "Rhiannon", I picked that as my SCA name.

Additionally, being the bookworm I was in college, I spent some additional time in the library researching other period names. I found my actual maiden name in some Oxford Book of English Names or such and such and found that a medieval form of it was Jocelyn. Ta Da-- there was my last name. Rhiannon Jocelyn was born into the SCA in 1990.

Rhiannon Jocelyn had fun as an unmarried maiden in her early years of the SCA, roaming from town to town downstate as school and first job took her. Lo and behold she meets a kind young man, who offered his heart and hand and she returned home to the lands of her birth to marry. As she found new folks to meet in the Shires of the north there seemed to be quite a few Rhiannons, 2 even in some shires. Her new friends needed a way to name their new friend so as not to confuse anyone, so she became Jocelyn. Just Jocelyn, or Lady Jocelyn to be exact, because before she moved north Jocelyn did recieve her AOA and Willow and there scribed upon these documents was RHIANNON JOCELYN.

Lady Jocelyn and her new husband did go forth and travel to the Debatable Lands in the east, to Pennsic, where she did pay her tax and have her name and arms entered into the great books of the Known World.
Many years went by and she grew to be a goodwife and mother and Jocelyn was a good name to carry with her into middle age. Rhiannon was a name for a maiden, no longer a maiden was she. But she still signed her name and art with her full name, but it never seemed like enough name.

She studied the stories and wills of her forbears and discovered they once lived in a town in England named Lutterworth. Lutterworth, whose name appears in the mighty Domesday Boke and whose great cathedral once protected Wyclyffe and his work. To honor those in her fathers lineage, she now signed her name Lady Rhiannon Jocelyn of Lutterworth.

But now it seams that her missives have caused confusion among her shire neighbors. Who is this person who signs her name Rhiannon Jocelyn? Is she new among us? She has been here five years and we havent seen her once!?

Harumph. OK so the face says Jocelyn, but nobody seems to know my full name. Using my middle name apparrently just confuses people. Well, am I ready to put the past Rhiannon behind me for good and just be Lady Jocelyn of Lutterworth? I have started signing my documents and letters in this way only. I will see how it feels.
Sincerely,
LADY JOCELYN OF LUTTERWORTH

Build A Lighted Tracing Board

2004-11-06T12:24:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 6, 2004

Build a Lighted Tracing Board

Last weekend I needed to procure a tracing light box.

My old one has dissapeared into storage, but it wasnt that good anyway. It was an old plywood box with a 15w appliance bulb inside. Franz gave it along with 50 year old darkroom equipment to my sister and me years ago. I kept the lightbox as rent for having to store the equipment in my garage as sis finished grad school. I had to replace the cord because of age, and the surface would get rather hot while using it.

So I went to Menard's and acrylic plexiglass just happened to be on sale. The thin stuff seemed too flexible-I would have to stack it to be stiff enough to lean against while calliging. I paid a little more ($24) for the the .250" sheet, but I wanted the layers to be stiff and very strong.

Here's what I did:
1. Decide what size tilt board you want, and measure. Out of a 24x48 sheet, I got three 16x 24 pieces. I kept 2 and gave 1 to Dad to fix the window in his extra beater car. No, really.

2. Purchase a plexiglass cutter (under $3). Use a metal ruler to get your first groove cut. Keep slicing along the groove a few times. Flip glass over and repeat. With the ball of your hand, press gently on the cut. (Do this on carpet so it can bend a bit) You should start to hear cracks and pings--move your hand up and down the cut and it will break apart.

3. Peel off protective plastic wrap. Clean dust off, and stack the 2 slices together. You now have 1/2" thick piece of plastic. Tape all four sides together using tape, I used clear duct tape.
4. Purchase an under cabinet flourescent light. Be sure you get a unit with a normal plug and not the kind meant to be hard wired to the electrical line. The boxes do indicate this. The plug in kind came only in 18" long, but was a reasonable $8.

5. To use, lean your plexiglass board upon a stack of books to make a comfortable angle to work on. Place the light underneath, and voila! You now have a large working easel, with a cool bright light underneath!

What I noticed while using it, is that acrylic attracts static. If I rub the paper against the plastic, it sticks and doesn't slide off on its own--very handy!

Write your Own Epitaph Day

2004-10-31T12:00:00.000-06:00

I started by old AOL journal on 10/31/04. During that time we were living at my Moms house while our house was under construction. This was my first post then. Some days had a topic to discuss. As if pople needed to be given a topic to have somthing to write about. Ok, so I was a geek, I tried it.

Here lies Vickie,
ate something sticky,
choked,
then croaked.

OR

Lady Jocelyn of Lutterworth,
attacked by Mrs. Butterworth
clean up
the syrup!