An ODE to GOOD FRIENDS,

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

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'

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.

Where I was in 2005

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!

How I developed My SCA name

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