Protege Belt

My amazing husband became protege to Baron Don Vilhelm Silberhammer at Solstice Court in December.  Let me back up a bit, for those not into the SCA.

There are those who receive recognition for their outstanding service to this historical study/reenactment group. Baron Vilhelm is one such who received that recognition, by way of an award called the Order of the Pelican.

Members of this order sometimes take on students, to learn the ways of service. These students are called proteges, and are recognized by yellow belts they are asked to wear. Vilhelm and Sven took on that master/student relationship in an official capacity in December.

Sven's persona is that of a Templar, who cannot wear buckles (according to the Rule of the Templar, the book on how Templar soldiers were required to live, dress, eat, etc.). Templars often wore rope belts - a practice Sven took on readily. When it came time to don a yellow belt, however, we determined the best way to make this happen would be a linen sash.

I added a section at one end of the sash with a symbol from Baron Vilhelm's device embroidered onto it. This helps determine who Sven is "tied to," and it becomes a part of Sven and Vilhelm's history together, perhaps one day to be passed on to someone else.

This is done in black silk, mostly stem stitch, on dandelion yellow linen. This section of the sash is lined, so the ugly back side of the embroidery won't show or snag on anything.

Other than the fact that their tongues sticking out kind of got lost in translation and ended up looking like lame beaks, I'm rather pleased.

White Scarf Closure

This blog post is a difficult one for me, on several levels. If I get too wordy, forgive me in advance.

Reason #1: This was difficult because of SCA political reasons. If you're not in the SCA, skip down to Reason #2. The short version is that Artemisia has chosen to close the Order of the White Scarf, because there is a new Peerage specific for rapier called the Master of Defence. A new Grant level rapier award was opened in its place (Order of the Defender of the Papillon).

I have no issues with the actions taken, it's just a bit bittersweet because the White Scarf has a special place in my heart. I spent many years stalking the rapier field and have had my hands on more than a few White Scarf scrolls. Some of my dearest friends are members of the order.

I was very excited to be asked to collaborate with Mistress Bethany of Windermere to create a commemorative scroll in honor of this historic event in Artemisia's history.

Reason #2: Moments after Bethany dropped the layout and inspiration artwork off for me to begin working on the calligraphy, I was called by my obstetrician's office, and asked to go check myself into the hospital. Based on some test results they had just gotten back, I was sick. Very sick in fact, and they were worried about my son who was at 25 weeks gestation.

I was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, and it was too late for my poor son. I was induced into labor and after nearly three difficult and scary days in the hospital, gave birth to my stillborn angel. I was kept for another 24 hours for observation because of the gravity of the health issues I was going through.

Nobody can understand the agony of these tragedies but those who have gone through them, but most people have been very kind and understanding as my dear husband and I grieve the loss of our son. When I got home, I had to make a choice - pass the calligraphy assignment on to someone else, or use it as a catharsis to help me heal. I chose the latter. Bethany was so very patient with me - this took far longer than it should have because I did not anticipate the physical requirements my recovery would have on my body.

Now these amazing men and women of Artemisia are not only tied to my memories of this order, but are linked to my personal healing in a way they will never truly know.

Don Conchobhar mac Michil wrote the text. I did the calligraphy, and of course the lovely Mistress Bethany did the illumination, based on a fencing treatise by Thibault.

Fiametta's Laurel

Last August I jointly worked on a project with a crew of ridiculously talented individuals. I hadn't blogged about it previously, because I never got a picture of the final, finished product. Well, I've decided to write about it anyway because I *do* have pictures of my part, and an in-progress photo as well.

The team comprised of:

Scroll design/layout by: Yamnouchi Eidou
Calligraphy by: Maîtresse Jaquelinne de Radonvilliers, OL
Illumination by: HE Bethany of Windermere, OL, Lady Malatesta, Duchess Caryn von Katzenberg, OL, and Lady Allesandria de Capella

Eidou started the project by compiling a Pinterest page full of late Italian manuscripts to use as inspiration, and collecting a list of Fiametta's "wishes," which included diapering and sparkle. I asked him to include pearls because when she became an apprentice to Duchess Caryn, she dissected a pearl necklace and gave pieces to her friends. We decided that the calligraphy should be in Humanist, and I volunteered.

Lord Eidou created the layout and made it available electronically for me to print out and use to trace out the final scroll. This was a great way to collaborate across two Baronies to make this project more successful. Duchess Caryn and Lord Eidou crafted the text, which I then had to tweak just a hair to get it to all fit in the space available on the end product.

I then passed the piece on to the Illumination team to go wild. This is an "In-Progress" picture, provided by Duchess Caryn.

Saccoccia Largesse

When my beautiful Baroness made a cry for largesse to give to visiting nobles at our premier court event, 12th Night, I almost immediately knew what I wanted to do. A few weeks following this event, there was to be a Masked Ball in another Barony, with an Italian theme. So I chose to make a few saccoccias so that the lovely ladies would have an Italian accessory to sport.

I'm afraid that these are far from my best work - I'm a bit rusty with the needle these days, and I was having fights with the iron as well as the fabric.  But they are what they are!

The first is a lovely green damask (cut from a curtain I picked up at a thrift store!), lined in a horrible, evil, shreddy nasty satin. The lining pealed out of the sewn front slit like a banana, when I was flipping the lining inside where it belongs. So I had to make bias tape from the same evil satin (hiss), to clean up that hot mess. Don't we all have fabrics in our stash that were purchased unwittingly over a dozen years ago that we are a bit ashamed of?

The second is a brocade from my stash lined in a similarly evil satin, but it behaved a bit better on this one. I added a silk wrapped button as a pointless decoration for the fun of it, left over from my eggplant veste project. This one has a more rounded, tear shaped bottom.

The third is a bit of damask left over from my butter sottana from the Artemisian Costuming Challenge, lined in white linen. The casing for the belt is made of ivory silk taffeta.

Award Commission

I was very excited when Melia, the key organizer of the Utah Winter Faire, contacted me to create award artwork for two sword fighting competitions to be held at the Winter Faire this year.

These are based on the Stefan Lochner Gebetbuch (aka Prayer Book) c. 1451. Despite the huge lead time I was provided, I was unable to start on these immediately due to personal reasons, and ended up finishing the second piece the night before the Faire, largely because I greatly underestimated how long it would take to paint the tiny gold details on all the orbs.

Due to this timing, I varied from period practice on the versals, but feel that they fit the feel of the overall pieces despite this. Normally the versals would be grounded on detailed diapering (tiny repetitive patterns), and the letters would be decorated with whitework. This modelbook also sports quite a bit of miniature work with the versals - a beautiful decorative feature that I simply didn't have the time to do.

Obviously, I used the same design for both pieces, but changed the color schemes, including the gold. While I feel that the second piece is very elegant on its own, the gold I chose was much cooler in tone and didn't have the same "zing" that the warm gold has, when compared side by side.  I'd love to hear your opinions/thoughts.

Pictures taken at strange angles to give you an idea of the light reflections on these extremely sparkly pieces. Click on the images to see up close.

The gold used is Finetec Artist Color Gold set, which are pan gouach paints made of mica. The shade above on the first is called Inca Gold, and below I used Moon Gold.

Scroll Case

Oh, this poor neglected blog... 

So I haven't been creating too much lately, or at least not that which I can share at this point, so here's a little something I made to help safely transport the Archery Champion scroll to its destination. My aim was that it's merely for transportation, and that the recipient return the case to their local group or Kingdom for re-use once they have their scroll safely at home.

I cannot make any claims as to the color-safety of keeping a piece of art in a fabric covered case for a significant amount of time, which is why it's important to pass the case on as quickly as possible. It's also important to note that because it's made of plain cardboard and fabric, it is not water-safe. At least, not for more than a drop or two.

This case is made with two custom-cut pieces of cardboard, which I cut specifically to be a good size for this scroll. Since this is a standard size paper, it will be good for many pieces in the future. The cardboard is about one inch larger than the paper on all four sides. 

I then sewed a cover for the cardboard using some remnant fabric in my stash. When sewn, I slid the cardboard leaves into the pockets and voila!

I chose to adhere the scroll to the case with a small piece of drafting tape (a very lightly-adhesive tape that will not damage the paper, made specifically for art projects - do not use masking tape!). Some people make similar cases with elastic bindings to help keep the scroll in the case, but I didn't want anything rubbing tightly against the artwork save the soft fabric itself. When the case is closed, there was little risk of it slipping out anyway, especially when treated with the care a piece of art deserves.

If there is interest, I'll make a step by step tutorial.

Archery Champion Scroll

When I saw a page in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves depicting various archery/crossbow paraphernalia, I knew I wanted to one day use it as an archery award.  Thus, when the opportunity arose that our Kingdom needed an Archery Champion scroll, to be awarded the evening of the archery competition.

The winner ended up being HL Owen ap Howell.  It's awesome to see him out shooting again.

This is done on Bristol vellum finish paper with Pilot Iroshizuku black ink, and Winsor & Newton gouache.  I did add a touch of sparkle with some Finetec metallic gold pigment.  The calligraphy is Gothic Textura Quadrata.  The name is left blank in the pictures, because I took the photos before shipping the piece to Idaho where the competition was held.

 

All in all, I have to be honest in that I didn't much like this piece.  While I was excited in the beginning, I quickly got bored of the whole design and its floating archery...stuff.  I guess my heart lies with super colorful flowery designs.  Oh well, I hope it is enjoyed by Owen, because in the end, that's what it's about.

Quick Templar Surcoat

My fantastic husband decided to shift his SCA persona, Sven, from being a generic Norseman into a Templar.  He asked me to sew him a simple surcoat in black.

This made up rather quickly, even for my slow skills (no really, a normal seamstress could hand sew a garment in the amount of time I take to make one by machine).  Between Sven and I, we went with the cross pattée over his heart(ish).  The tricky thing with Templar research is that there were no firm rules early on, just suggestions of what warrior fighting for God should/would/could do to delineate themselves.  I'm still looking for solid documentation on Templar clothing as this is most certainly not my area of expertise.

This surcoat is split up to the groin (front and back), for easy horsemanship, and slips over the head with no need for ties, connectors, etc.  It is made from a lightweight wool gabardine, lined in white linen (all from the stash, and designed for comfortable wear in Utah's warmer months).  The cross is red linen, machine appliqued into place with a tight zig zag stitch.  I'd have preferred to applique it by hand, but the amount of time I had to complete the piece was tight as he wanted it for Southern Regional Collegium in April.  It was done on time, but I didn't take pictures until now.

He accessorized with a belt made of rope, a paternoster, and a fuzzy beard.

He seems to enjoy it.  And really, that's what it's all about.  I had to post this picture because who doesn't love anachronistic disco?

Flame of Pharos

The Flame of Pharos award (service to the Barony of Gryphon's Lair in the SCA, for reference), has very special meaning to me.  It is named for the lighthouse of Alexandria, symbolizing constant service for the betterment of all people.

This weekend at Quest for the Mary Rose, I was pleased that Fiametta da Trastavere received this Flame of Pharos scroll.

Based on one of the many gorgeous plates from the Visconti Hours, this piece was done on pergamenata, with Winsor & Newton gouache, and Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink. The gold is also gouache, providing a similar look to shell gold.

The best part?  One of the main reasons I do this...

Photo by Gwendolyn Quitberg

I don't often get a good look at the recipients faces, being in the audience most of the time.  But Gwendolyn took this photo from behind the thrones, for which I am SOO grateful!  That makes my heart full of love.  Thank you, Gwendolyn, for allowing me to share your photograph.

April and May Activities

From the looks of things here, I haven't been up to much lately.  But really, I have!

In April, I was the class coordinator for the Southern Regional Collegium in the Barony of Gryphon's Lair.  It's an arts event that is always held in the south of Artemisia; a collaboration event amongst the southern groups.  So with all the scheduling and begging for teachers, I was a little crazy.  We also hosted the lovely and talented Sarah Lorraine / HE Mistress Tullia da Ferrara at my home, as she was a guest speaker for the event.  Her trip was a whirlwind - it would have been awesome to spend more time with her.

The event was fabulous though (sorry, no pics - I was too busy!)

Since then I've taken some time to wind down and I spent a day doing cute craftsy things with my mom and sisters.  In retrospect I wish I'd had some of my own paintbrushes and whatnot as I know I could have done a better job with more familiar tools, but c'est la vie.  Maybe some of you will do something amazing and share your achievements?

It's a family birthday calendar!