guenievre | BIG update post

So it's been a very long time since I posted - oops! Therefore, this will be a rather long post...

OK, dear readers, when I left you I was about to go to Pennsic... it was a very interesting Pennsic... it's been a while since then though, so I guess I'll just list a few high and low points...

Watching Nick fight was one of the better parts of my war. In the battles, his Fleur-de-Lis shows up clear across the field, which is the whole point of heraldry I suppose, so it's good that his works. Also, he entered the Known World Novice Tourney - he didn't win, but considering he's only been authorized since Ymir, going 8-6 is NOT bad.

Billy and Charlie are awesome. I found out approximately 20 minutes before the above-mentioned tourney that Girard had left my favor (a piece of Clifford the Big Red Hat) at home. Now, those of you who know me, know I take the whole consort thing fairly seriously, and letting MY lord out on the field without my favor Just Won't Do. So, off I trot, clippity-clop (I'm wearing my new pattens) to the merchants, something at a lost as to what I'm going to get - I want something visible, so a ring or brooch won't do; a veil (which is really an appropriate favor) looks (IMO) too much like a White Scarf, and none of my gowns have a spare sleeve. I ran into Mistress Clare Healy working at the pottery wheel in the tudor house, and she suggests a garter. Bingo! Except, of course, I haven't gotten around to making hose and garters yet. So I go next door to Billy and Charlie's, and explain the emergency situation - and they make me a garter quickly enough that I only miss one fight! (I'm sure emergency garters aren't a common request, either - belts, perhaps, but not emergency garters...)

Sunday night's party hopping with assorted peoples (none of whom have LJ) was a blast. And that's all I have to say about that...*wink*

Somehow I managed to make it to a grand total of 1.5 classes this year - that was kind of pathetic - but everything I wanted to take either got full, was too early in the morning (whine whine, I know) or got cancelled. I'll do better next year, I hope.

I didn't even think about entering anything in the A&S display, and therefore didn't. Again, next year.

There was way too much discussion of baronial politics - it didn't spoil otherwise nice evenings, but it did make the tone a bit more serious than I had expected. Also, I found out that some people have a much higher opinion of me than I would have guessed - which is flattering, but now I have to live up to it! eek! Still not sure about how this fall is going to turn out - more on that in a much later post, I think (don't expect it for a month or so).

Girard's cote turned out well, at least once the buttons finally got put on it. It's a pity we didn't get a good pic of us together...but here's an amusing pic of him passing out sausage while tailgating court...
And then, of course, there was the rain. The tent held up well to it, and we didn't get flooded (yay randomly being on the good side of camp), and we even got to have a huge bonfire Friday night... but it did end up meaning I didn't end up going to Duchess Izzy's party, *pout* and I had been looking forward to that. Actually, I didn't party nearly as much as I meant to (though Girard partied a bit much...) and that was even part of why we camped where we did. Next year we might go back to the Barony, though...

Oh yeah, and I did a hell of a lot of shopping... perhaps too much, but that's what's vacation is for, right?

Now, of course, we're just busy. The weekly schedule hasn't changed (Mon = Kberg, Tue= Buckston, Wed=Eldrid's, Thurs=kberg practice) and I have a mile-long list of projects I'd like to do, as does Girard. Whether any of this stuff will get done on time or not, is anyone's guess, but here goes...

The Bed Project This one's been taking up most of my mental energy lately, in figuring out how it's all going to go together. For those of you who have only heard bits and pieces, we're making a camp bed, something like this one, with canopy and curtains hung off the spokes of our pavilion. It's going to be black velvet, stenciled in a design like this (it'll look really busy, but that's a whole curtain worth - the overall size of each circle is almost 2 ft). The goal for getting this done is Crusades.

Hats I'm making myself a draft of the one I'm doing for Adriana, which is something like this except hers matches her coronet (which is DAMN cool if you haven't seen it). I'm also making one of these for a certain new Italian Laurel, out of green wool done in leaf shapes, but she doesn't know it yet so *shh*.

Garb Orange cote for Girard, "checked"cote for me, hosen for both, his gambeson, and oh yeah, 12th night. All of these are SO far on the back burner it's not funny.

Food I haven't been cooking much, period or mundane, lately, and I need to fix that. I'm thinking about entering a period sweet into the competition at S.S.B.B., and I need to work on the Tavern feast for spring...

OK, that might be everything... but what with events and such I have very little time to actually do it.

And if you're reading this and wondering whether I do anything that ISN'T SCA, these days, the answer is practically no...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Arnolfini houp? Cos I've been poking around with dagges and I may have solved your "how did they do that" problem.

Hmm, I had forgotten about that. I kind of put that project to the side because I never did find the right fake fur for it (the wool is easy, the fur not so much...)

I'd love to hear about your dag solution, though - I saw the stuff you posted on Auth_SCA...

Check the page out again. I decided to try a single layer sample of her dagge pattern and, when the dagges are properly 'massaged'* after cutting, even at one layer, it hangs like the picture. It would look even more like the original if I made two strips of the right length and basted them together down the center.

To me, it looks like it's a variation of the fancy complex pinked dagge form from T&C. My sample is clumsy, but with practice, it'd get better. And then all the ugly bits could be hidden in the middle row, where they'd just be bulk.

* I decided, after cutting my various samples, that they were kind of ... blah. Not fluttery or dagge-like enough, and hard to see the individual 'leaves.' So, in the spirit of Experimental Archaeology, I tried playing with the fulled wool to see what worked best to finish the strips and make them look te way they were supposed to. Gentle (I MEAN gentle, too, I tore a couple of my samples) pulling, stretching and twisting of the entire strip seems to be the key. The individual leaves only need manipultion if they are large.

Also I have an idea for quickly producing enough strips for the sleeves without possessing an apprentice or two to do the scut-work for you. Though, really, it should be "mark x's and strips, cut x's with pinking balde and clean up with straight blade, then cut strips."

Oh my, I do think you have it - that's gorgeous. It still seems as though there there's a little bit more going on with the edges though, though now that I've seen your dags I'm leaning away from the beading or thread edging that I was afraid it was. Wonder if the fabric of the dress was thick enough that it didn't quite dye all the way through? (so the original color of the wool was showing a bit) Just a quick thought, haven't looked into it that closely though.

Well, I have theories on why the pinked edges stand out so much visually:

1: That's just how Van Eyck painted the pinking, so it was obvious (It's pretty extravagant, so there's probably some symbolism regarding prosperity there).

2: The cloth looks to be a light/medium wight fulled wool, and it's green. Green, in period was dyed in a woad/weld overdye process. The cloth wouldn't be fulled until it was already dyed, so the thickness of the cloth isn't the issue. If it is the cloth actually being lighter in the middle, then It's the dye process.

Woad is an Indigotin dye (woad being the indigotin-bearing plant native to Europe), and indigotin is a deposit dye, that coats the outside of the fibers (think of your jeans when they get worn). Weld is a tint dye, and more fugitive, but it will dye the fibers all the way through.

You'd get a lighter green or even a greenish yellow in the middle of the cloth when it was pinked, if it was a weld over woad complex dyed cloth, and fulling would thicken the fabric enough that you would see it somewhat, but it'd just be a hint, as wool takes indigo better than, say, cotton does.

3: It's a combination of the two.
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As for something else going on with the dagges structurally, I am absolutely certain that the dagged strips are doubled and sewn together to increase their visual impact (and possibly also their durability - I'd want them to be sturdy, too, if they took that much labor!).

Fake 'silver seal', 'white mink', white 'chenille' fur. This, of course, assumes you are making the gown as it appears, though it would be stunning in red and with black fur...and you wouldn't have that dye problem, either.

Hehehe, well, then, this project might get picked back up again. Not till after 12th night, though, I think. I bought some really lovely shot linen at War and so I want a transitional gown (cote with long dagged sleeves) made out of it...of course, I'm going to have to roll-hem all the dag edges to keep them from ravelling, but... (I'm not lining it because it's a different color on each side, which is a really yummy effect).

And that's all I have to say about that...*wink*

Awww! No fair leavin' out the really good stuff.

BIG update post

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