Graphic Design

I think I'm done futzing with my blogger design for a while. I changed it so much recently I feel silly, but I wanted to put something up that was done by me, for me, rather than borrowing someone else's graphics. Being new to CSS and all things bloggery (yeah, it wasn't a word until now), it took me some time to make final decisions and get things set up in a way that makes me happy. The true test will be when I start looking at this thing from various computer screens and resolutions and find out how it looks on each. I sort of took a guess on the image size and hopefully it won't wrap all funny-like.

If you experience any odd things with my layout and background, please let me know so I can fix it!

If Only...

If I had a reason to, I'd love to make these dresses:

Jean-Phillipe Worth evening dress ca. 1910 via The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Seriously. Go to the Met's website and zoom into the crazy beaded details of awesome.

Dress ca. 1888 via Abiti Antichi

Golden Maple Leaf - Maysun

I'm very excited to share this little gem. When I say little, I mean it. The overall dimensions (which I'm estimating with my poor memory), were about 3" x 5.5" or so. This was my first piece ever done on real parchment, and it was a scrap that I trimmed down to a rectangular shape. It was an interesting experience as parchment has a bit of a texture to it, which I wasn't necessarily expecting.

This is done in a pseudo-Arabic script, but is actually english. It reads: "Maysun nura al Ishfahani al Samarkandia is hereby made a member of the Order of the Golden Maple Leaf. So say We, Tummur and Saige King and Queen of Artemisia. October 16, AS XLV." (signed Timmur, Saige).

This wasn't based on any one specific piece, but extrapolated from several historical sources (see below) to obtain the correct feel, but more realistic for a fast turn-around and tiny work space.

Princeton University
Christie's
National Library of Medicine (This page in particular)

I found many sources, and found it interesting that the pre-16th Century documents looked the same as the post - the traditional styles have not changed, at least not based on my very preliminary observations. I'd like to check into this further.

The above piece is very rudimentary and simplistic compared to the inspiration pieces, but my hands were a bit tied on the matter. I have, however, done a piece more accurate to the style, though the photograph of it does it no justice. Below is the Award of Arms for Ashlyn. The pseudo-Arabic script used for Ashlyn's is far more fantastical and crazy - Maysun's Maple Leaf is much more realistic.

Collegium

Collegium this past Saturday was lovely. I got to hang out with my chickies, steal and snuggle babies, and learn fun new things. I had Serafina take pictures of my final product of the ginger linen dress, complete with sleeves. I'm now wishing I'd bothered to look in the mirror first, but here they are anyway.

And of course, for the world's viewing pleasure, is a photo of the spontaneous button-making class that Serafina taught.

Award of Arms - Lianor

This post is about four months late. I'm trying to be better about adding content, honest. Knowing that the lovely Lianor da Costa has an amazing knowledge and application of Spain and Spanish dress, I was disappointed in my own personal knowledge and inability to provide her with a scroll that would be more fitting her persona. This Award of Arms was done based on a page from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, though I did use colors with Spanish influence. This piece was presented at Solstice Court in Loch Salann in December 2010.

I layered Holbein brilliant gold gouache to give an appearance similar to gold leaf over gesso. This adds both a hint of sparkle as well as some texture to the piece. All other paint is Winsor and Newton gouache. Click the image to see it in more detail.

Sleeves Done!

The Ginger dress is done at long last. Last night I opted to sew additional lacing rings to the shoulder straps, rather than sewing ribbons directly on it, so that I can change the color of the ribbons if I choose. This decision was somewhat based on the fact that I didn't find any fluttery ribbons on my quick jaunt to Hancock, let alone ones in the color I wanted. I was hoping for a springy color like butter yellow or salmon. I ended up with some eggshell twill tape. Not quite what I wanted.

At any rate, I can wear the sleeves now, and for some reason I have yet to take pictures of them. They are reversible!! I will be sure to obtain pictureness at Collegium. I will also be sporting my new laurel medallion which I commissioned from Deb at Time Travelling Traders.

I picked up some red coral beads as many portraits I've found are sporting lovely Italian beauties wearing coral bead necklaces. As jewelery making is outside my realm of expertise (and while I love it, I have to draw the line somewhere in my pursuit of hobbies), I will be commissioning the lovely Aine to help me come up with a way to wear said beads. She is brilliant, beautiful, and disgustingly talented. Everyone should go buy something from her right now.

Ginger dress revisited

With Southern Regional Collegium coming up this weekend, I thought I'd better ensure I have something to wear. Weight fluctuations have rendered my garb wardrobe as a topic of annoyance, at best. So last night I pulled out my ginger and teal dress to find that I never did attach lacing in order to tie the sleeves on (oops). The one time I did wear this dress, I wore it Campi style with my smock sleeves rolled up.

Tonight I'm off to the fabric store to find some suitable twill tape or something, so I can finally call this project done. Oh, and yes, it still fits (woo!).

I will be doing a test-run on my new shoes at this event as well, which means I should go about finding some insoles so that I don't whine incessantly about foot pain by the end of the day.

In other news, I'm looking at getting assistance in building a tape double so that I can work solo instead of constantly dragging friends into my projects. Also, Sven's cousin will be visiting us for a month this summer, which means I'll need to make a tunic for him for Baron's War. Guess I should stop slacking, hm?

Gryphon's Bits

I have oft pondered over the various names of awards in the Kingdom of Artemisia, and while I hold great respect and reverence over what they are and represent, at the same time I can't help but smile at the irony that the awards inevitably dissect our beloved Gryphon. The latest installation of this occasional artist is one such award: The Gryphon's Heart.

Having watched Giovanni aka Rat grow in the society and develop into a gentleman (a flirtatious one, but one nonetheless), has been a pleasure and it was thusly meaningful for me to be asked to create his Gryphon's Heart.

I didn't have much lead time on this piece and therefore needed something that would pull together very quickly. I also wanted something that was a little more masculine than the typical flowers/ivy borders that are quickly put together. When I found an oak leaf border in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, I knew I had to do it (oak trees are strong and manly, right?).

I used Windsor and Newton Gouache in shades of green, and Holbein Brilliant Gold gouache for the acorns. Ideally those would have been done in gold leaf, but I had none available, and no time to procure any.

I used Higgins Eternal ink for the text, and it's all done on Bristol vellum finish hot press.

In other, somewhat unrelated news, I had a flood of sorts in my art studio (kitchen sink was directly above my bookshelves), and while I was lucky to not have any significant damage to my beloved books, the room needed serious work. I had to relocate everything out of the room so that the ceiling could be fixed, carpet torn up, disinfected, padding replaced, relaid, and cleaned... on and on. It's all done now, and I have a room once again, which has been greatly improved through the process. I also have a brand new set of shelves that is begging to be put together which will help my storage needs!

Recent(ish) Scrolls

The text in this blog will be pretty short. Mainly because I honestly don't remember many of my references for these pieces and don't have my library at hand at this moment to refer to...

This is a Golden Maple Leaf scroll made for Allegretza. It was a back-scroll assignment done with Windsor and Newton purple gouache, Holbein brilliant gold gouache, Higgins Black Magic ink, on Bristol vellum finish hot press. I'm thinking the border on this was slightly modified from a border from the Winchester Psalter, but don't quote me on that. I'll have to check my references and edit this later.

Here we have a Gryphon of Artemisia Scroll done for Duchess Caryn. This was based on the Hours for the Use of Paris in a style that I've just loved for years. Most pieces in this style have a sort of "patch-work" look, but the more organic shapes here drew me in and told me I had to do this piece. The white cat is based on Caryn's device or Coat of Arms, and I admit that I arbitrarily chose to do the Gryphon in white - mainly to see if I could, and to match the cat.

Latest Projects

I have not been sitting in the dark since the gold brocade gown, though that may seem to be the case. After the announcement that I would be sitting vigil for elevation to Laurel, I depended on the lovely Serafina Basso, who did my gown with the assistance of several people in beading and jewelery. I was utterly pleased with the results, pictures of which can be seen all over the web, but here are a few of my favorites:



I take pretty much no credit for that gown, save perhaps the design and fabric choice (a fabulous green/blue shot silk taffeta imported from Thailand). But, of course, I had to share.

Since then, I have created a Golden Maple Leaf Scroll, a Norse tunic, and a norse rectangular cloak.

The latest project was a ginger colored linen gown, with aqua linen guards. It was originally intended to be a middle-class Open-front Venetian, but ended up more of a Campi-style working class, with a dropped V-waistline rather than straight. This all happened accidentally due to an error in seam allowance, but it all worked out rather well, I think.

The dress is quite comfortable. The bodice is interlined with cotton duck and the front, along the hand-sewn eyelets, is boned with four pieces of 1/4" spring steel boning (2 pieces in each channel, 2 channels on each side). The guards were hand sewn, and the apron was added at the last minute with a scrap of grey linen and some red cotton cord from my stash. The apron was 100% sewn by hand.



I'm overall quite pleased with how this project turned out, though I do intend to create matching sleeves for days I don't want to be quite so "dressed down." I now have camping garb that both fits and is in good repair. It is a momentous occassion!