Join the Industrious Barony of Thescorre as we partake in our annual wintertime schola, this time with a new twist!
Our Theme
Rediscovering the Dream: It’s the Journey, Not the Destination.
For more information, see the event page.
Classes
Class Registration is live and we are now accepting classes for this fabulous event. We cannot run our beloved schola without the work of the amazing teachers throughout the SCA and we’re delighted to offer themed tracks this year that fit our theme of Its the Journey, not the Destination. We’re honoring that spirit of the newcomer (to the SCA) and the novice to our crafts!
Track 1: SCA Newcomers. These are classes geared toward people who have just joined the SCA. These can be about SCA-specific terminology, or clothing that signifies a station/order. What even are the awards? What are the officers and what do they do? Think back to when you joined and teach about something you would have loved to know back then.
Track 2: Novice. For people new to an art/science/activity. These are fondly referred to as “Beginner Classes”. What can you teach the very beginning of? Basic footwork? Simple stitching? Maybe making rice? Whatever you can think of to get someone started on their own journey.
Track 3: Tips and Tricks. These will be classes taught by veterans of an art/science/activity, that offer hacks and helpful hints on how to accomplish that task easier/quicker/better. Maybe it’s a class on how not to burn out, or how to organize a kitchen so that you serve on time. Maybe you have tricks for how to herald a court or how to make a specific award medallion for easy largess. Anything you have done that makes life in the SCA easier and more fun, pass it on!
Track 4: Peer Challenge. We issue a challenge (all in fun, of course) to the Peers of the Kingdom! We want you to try something NEW! Have you been doing service since you joined, but never had time to try out calligraphy? Now is your chance! Have you spent every event in the kitchen, but never had the opportunity to try out fencing? This pause in our SCA lives has allowed us a beautiful moment. We have the chance to think about what we really WANT. We have the grace of this moment to consider WHY we spend our precious little time on THIS hobby. Use this time to explore something new and then share that experience with us. You can do this as a question and answer, a show and tell, even amusing anecdotes about your times trying out your “new thing”. Step off your personal path for just a moment and try a different journey, even just for a short time. We hope it brings you joy and that you find renewed interest in our Dream.
Track 5: Other. Of course, there will be an “Other” category for those who have classes that they would like to share that don’t fit the above categories. We would just ask that you give us a short blurb about how it might fit the theme of “Reimagining the Dream – A New Journey”. You can get creative. It’s kinda what we do.
A&S Challenge
We, the autocrats of College of Three Ravens (Virtual!) wish to issue forth these Arts and Sciences challenges unto you all!
We know our Kingdom, as well as all other kingdoms who might hear of our missive, is full of skilled artisans! Masters of their crafts! We know this and celebrate you all for it!
And now we ask you to challenge yourself and try your hand at a NEW arts and sciences track, and show us your results! For this year’s College of Three Ravens, we have three A&S tracks that we seek entries to, all within our theme of Reimagining the Dream!
Our categories of competition are:
1st Attempts – anything you have never done before, but always wanted to try out. Share your new found excitement with us!
The Journey – Show us your project, from the earliest learning of the art to as complete as you want to consider it. You don’t need to have a “complete” project for this one, just show your work!
Beauty in Failure – Share your attempts that didn’t succeed. We learn from our mistakes, so this is your chance to help us all learn!
**For all of the categories, be prepared to share your favorite part of the experience, even if it was laughing at yourself when it didn’t work. Help us experience your art through your joy.**
Are you thinking about entering in the Ice Dragon Arts & Sciences Pentathlon this year? Great! It is fantastic to see our Sylvan Æthelmearc artisans get back in the swing of things – although some did not seem at all slowed down with the transition to virtual competitions in the past few years! We have faith next year’s Arts & Sciences Pentathlon will happen in some shape or form – preferably in-person, of course – which means we need to get our act together soon. The entry deadlines are starting to creep up… with the first one being:
Research Paper deadline (category Literary Arts): February 15th
The category Literary Arts includes, but is not limited to: Poetry & prose, Research paper, Musical arrangement & composition. Entries are not to exceed 10,000 words (approximately 40 pages double spaced exclusive of images) and should be sent electronically or via hard copy in the mail.
But what exactly makes a written work a research paper? Ideally, a research paper should do more than simply summarize known information. It should ask a question, make an argument, prove a point or present a conclusion about a topic of interest to those in the SCA. The subject might draw from history, or it might relate to the way in which we attempt to accurately recreate the past in the SCA. The end of the introductory paragraph of the paper usually includes a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved (called a thesis) and would offer a neat summary of the main point or claim of the paper. And like the literary arts, research papers come in different types, too.
Research papers can come in different flavors – which one is yours?
A research paper can be Argumentative: this would be a good one for writers presenting a debated topic. First clearly explain and present two opposite opinions on the issue at hand. Then take a position in the paper with your view for one side of the topic. Present facts, data and authoritative opinions in support of your position to persuade and convince the audience and argue against any contradictions. Argumentative papers can be quite fun to read!
A research paper can Compare & Contrast: this type of paper is used to compare two different subjects, or concepts, and how they relate to one another in both similarities and differences. The paper’s statement provides clarity on the contrasts and comparisons throughout the paper. The goal is not to persuade the reader, but to neutrally inform the reader about distinctions between varying viewpoints of related topics or genres.
An example of this would be my comparison of medieval gruit beer with modern gruit ale, using oft contrasting viewpoints to figure out why and how gruit ale changed so much from its historic origins. It was entered in the 2018 Ice Dragon Pentathlon.
A research paper can be Analytical: here, you would focus on facts instead of opinions. It is informational in nature and uses a large variety of viewpoints and sources on a subject without a specific opinion. It provides the reader with as much information as possible, but allow the audience to draw their own conclusions. However, instead of merely presenting the information, you should be able to present a factual analysis of the data you are working from.
A concise example of an analytical paper (research does not need to be many paged to be effective) would be A Brief Survey of SCA Bardic Music by Gwendolyn the Graceful. Another, yummy, example would be Krupnik and the Plausability of Landrace Honey Cordials by Lord Cassiano da Castello, entered into the Kingdom Arts & Sciences Championship, 2021, and smartly accompanied by a practical, sip-able, example.
A research paper can be a Report: Report papers are merely an organized and detailed list of facts about a topic. In many cases the report works to outline details related to a case study or process. The statement of the paper would describe the subject being explored and define the scope of the report, and can include your personal experience related to the topic under consideration. Authors of reports choose a subject, research it, and convey the evidence to the reader using quotes, graphs, tables, interviews, experiments, a summary and appendix
A research paper can show Cause & Effect: These papers guide the reader through a series of “chain of event” scenarios. Such papers work to study results; considered, expected, probable or, perhaps, unexpected. Cause-and-effect papers are not written based on opinion, but on quantifiable evidence with supporting documentation. With supporting evidence, this format can be both informational and quite intriguing for the reader (especially when accompanied by YouTube videos!).
Experimental archaeology, finally! An practical example of a cause & effect paper (I did this, and that happened) would be Experiments with Bone Ice Skates and Their Associated Poles by Master Robert of Ferness, entered as an Applied Research paper in the Ice Dragon Pentathlon 2019.
I hope you enjoyed my TED talk on research papers; for sure a topic close to my heart. Of course, don’t expect all papers to neatly fit into these five broad categories. SCAdian artisans are known for their out-of-the-box thinking and category mash-ups happen just as much in writing as elsewhere, of course. I do admit it took me more days to track down (mostly) appropriate research paper examples, than I did writing this post – so if you know of a better example, let me know. I can’t wait to see – and read – what will be entered in this year’s Pent – you’ve got winter break to start thinking if you have not already… nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
Yours in service,
elska
Want to know more about the Passing the Ice Dragon Arts & Sciences Pentathlon? Look no further, the website is updated with the latest information, including updated deadlines.
Their Sylvan Majesties, King Gareth Kincaid and Queen Juliana Delamere, are pleased to let it be known to all that they are looking forward to choose their Arts & Sciences Champions at the Kingdom Arts & Sciences Championship to be held at Tavern Brawl, hosted by the Shire of King’s Crossing this October 30th.
We encourage entrants to join us in-person at a wonderful site for a day of sharing and celebrating of all the wonderful things that our Arts & Sciences community has to offer. There will also be room for Arts & Sciences display and we are even working on some cool demos! However, we do understand that going to events is still a difficult choice for many of us and we have therefore decided on a hybrid in-person/virtual format for this year’s competition.
Entry by Lady Ilaria in the virtual Arts and Sciences Championship in 2020
The in-person competition will be held along the same lines as in the past. Candidates with their entries will be judged face-to-face and the scoring will be based on the Kingdom A&S rubric. In order to reduce the indoor face-to-face time for candidates and judges, we will limit this year’s competition to one 45-minute judging session with a panel of 2 or 3 judges. Although not a requirement, we ask that candidates register their in-person entry online ahead of time, to make planning for us a little easier!
Candidates who are not able to join us at the event can submit their entry online. We created a basic web form where you can securely upload some photos, your documentation and some basic info. The virtual part of the competition will be held much along the lines of last year’s competition. Each candidate will meet face-to-face with a panel of judges over Zoom for one 45-minute judging session during the week leading up to the event and their presentation and entry will be judged with the same rubric as used at the event. The site is discretely damp and we are excited and happy to accept alcoholic beverage entries at the event!
We want to emphasize that we totally love to see partial projects! It doesn’t have to be a completely finished entry to be eligible. As usual, you may also enter up to three related objects as a single entry. Prior entry in another competition or display does not disqualify you from entering, we love to see continued progress on existing projects. The scores will be tallied once all judging is completed (the combined online and in-person entries) and relayed to Their Majesties who will choose their champions and announce them at the event during court.
Their Sylvan Majesties and the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences are very much looking forward to seeing what our Kingdom has to offer!
Greetings from the Pennsic Known World A&S Display deputy! That’s right – WE’RE BACK. Thanks to the innovation of the eSCA, this year’s display will be fully virtual!
August 1 to 8: Website space is available to post photos/videos and documentation of all entries for public viewing.
August 8: Interested entrants can schedule Zoom “office hours” to discuss their work with the populace.
If you are interested in displaying this year, please register using this form.
For more information, or to view the entries, please visit our website.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email the KWAS staff.
Yours in Service,
Lady Adele Lochlane, Display Coordinator
Magistra Beatriz Aluares de la Oya, Deputy Coordinator
Lady Glenna Cholmondeley’s sprang from a past Pennsic A&S display.
As the Æthelbard General, Lord Éadaoin Ruadh is the coordinator for our war points at the upcoming First Bardic War. The First Bardic War will be held virtually on May 15 – 23, A.S. LVI, and will showcase the many talents of our populace with a week-long performing arts war! Lord Éadaoin organized the Æthelmearcian responses from whoever filled out the form shared by Nezhka of Atlantia to use for participation interest, and matched folks with events; balancing which they wanted most versus where our alliance needed entries. Any entrant could only participate in two solo points, and only one of those could be live, with no limit on group participation events like Improv or any of the relays.
Unfortunately, a couple of big mundane problems have hit me since taking on the role, but fortunately, our populace has been great at keeping me updated, asking where they can help, and thanking me for my efforts. The other Generals have stepped in where they can, and have been incredible examples, too–herding bardic (and bardic adjacent!) cats is its own rewarding chaos.
Greni from Blasted Rock and Elska á Fjárfelli entered in the Equestrian Dressage category with ” A Viking Raid.”
Some performances will be publicly accessible, but the staff has to edit entries in order to take out those who didn’t consent to have their content posted. The Bardic War channel on YouTube is here
This was a huge project for the staff to bite off in one chunk in the initial year, but they’re an amazingly dedicated group of folks. We cannot wait to see what we’re able to do in person in the coming years for the Bardic War. Likely, because of our learning curve during this pandemic, virtual entries will still be allowed, or at least have a foothold in years to come. Undoubtedly the biggest thing mentioned at all our bardic circles is that we miss the atmosphere around a fire, at night, with people on either side sharing in live art. Granted the bardic community I think has flourished in lots of ways during the pandemic, but we miss contact with our cousins just as much as anyone else.
So… who does what, where?!
The following is a list of our participating artisans:
Baroness Amalie Reinhardt
Arts & Sciences, Wordsmith/Scribe/Herald relay
It is with great pleasure that the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences can relay that Their Sylvan Majesties King Maynard von dem Steine and Queen Liadain ni Dheirdre Chaohamnaigh are pleased to announce the second installment of the Arts & Sciences Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney!
The Prize Tourney will be run similar to last year, see the website for details. After the resounding success of Kingdom’s Champ, the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences is happy to offer face to face discussions between the candidates and their advisors.
Three Early 15th c. Bourrelet Headdresses [Best Documentation] by Lady Ilaria of Delftwood.
The intent of the Queen’s Prize Tourney is to provide a platform for anybody to receive constructive feedback on their A&S work in a friendly and non-competitive environment and to stimulate enthusiasm and motivation within our A&S community by sharing our art. Therefore, the Tourney is not a traditional competition. Instead, you be meet with a panel of advisors to share and discuss your entry to help you in grow your skill and knowledge… and helps us teach something new about your passion.
La seconde estampie royal, from the Manuscrit du Roi, on a vielle by Tiffany of Myrkfaelinn
With travel restrictions easing and small meetings with the proper recommended precautions being a possibility, we strongly encourage any and all entries that need to be sniffed, tasted, or quaffed for proper feedback! The online nature of the Tourney also gives us a chance to share your bardic entries and gives us the unique opportunity to give research papers the attention they deserve.
As is traditional, Their Royal Majesties will pick Their favorite entries. Additionally, to show our appreciation to those artisans who go the extra mile to document their projects in such depth and detail that not having them in hand does not seem a handicap, the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences will again sponsor an extra prize for documentation that went above and beyond the usual.
White Scarf Scroll [His Majesty’s Choice] by Gesa von Wellenstein.
Prior entry in another competition or display also does not disqualify you from entering: we love to see continued progress on existing projects.
Their Sylvan Majesties and the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences are all looking forward to inspiring new and existing work from our A&S community!
Like last year, prospective participants are asked to fill out a web form with some basic info and (few) photographs of their work and their documentation. The main site has a link to the form or you can find it directly from here
Work in Progress Report: a preview of my virtual IceDragon entry. Interested in entering yourself? Visit the IceDragon website for more information or contact the Pent coordinator at (idpentguy@wnysca.org).
Elska and Greni
As all I did last summer was work the weekends and entertain the kid during the week, I had to come up with ways to keep us all entertained. We gardened (sooo many tomatoes and marigolds…), we fermented (home-made soda rocks!), we played with clay (baked crusty bread, fired mugs to drink our soda…). Normally, we’d be kept busy going to events. But not so in the Year of the Plague. Instead, I decided to focus on something I never had, or made, time for that would entertain us all, and introduced mounted equestrian games. Whacking dummy heads with foam swords and catching rings with a converted pool-table lance sure did interest the kid, and had the ponies thinking too. At the end of summer we were all adapting to virtual get-togethers, and both my kid and I participated in a video-submission-only Equestrian Games challenge.
Which made me realize, we humans had great outfits, but our ponies were sorely lacking in appropriate attire. My persona is Viking, a time when heraldry and colorful horse barding were not yet quite a thing (like, at all). I could somewhat envision a style of bridle I could make for him to give him a more historic look, but making a saddle? For the sake of both of us I decided not to meddle with that (saddles do have to fit, hence the mundane existence of the job of saddle fitter). Then my interest in felt and my Icelandic Horse’s heritage joined. Low and behold, the old Icelanders had a padded-seat riding contraption with stirrups which was completely made from felt – no saddle fitting required. And even better, for ‘carpet’-like felted sheets like this pad the wool did not even need to be roving!
Traditional Icelandic felt saddles; possible for Viking era, plausible for SCA period, proven for 17th century and in active use until the 19th century.
I’ve always been fascinated with felting fabric, like the thick sheet felt used in shoes. A good friend of mine makes beautiful leather turn shoes and has poked me a few times already to make some sheet felt to use as insoles. But I did not feel confident in being able to do a good job. And I especially could not quite wrap my head around the amount of roving needed.
Finding enough affordable roving proved challenging. Then I realized I did not have to use roving, as long as the wool was clean and fluffy it worked fine. Luckily, I had watched fellow Dominionite Eadgytha clean wool many times over the years, and last summer I attempted my first suinting experiments. And guided by a several videos showcasing Mongolian felting techniques used to make felt carpets and felt yurt walls, my son and I set out to experiment with the different suggestions. I will share with you the highlights of what worked, what did not, and what I intend to try differently next time.
What did we do:
Collecting the wool. With a project like this in mind I had collected not-so-good quality fleeces over a couple of years. I started with about 5 fleeces of various colors, making one large tub of variegated fluffed wool, but worried this would not be enough for this specific project. Luckily, Eadgytha has a Stash and she gave me two more large garbage bags of fleeces to play with!
Simon hard at work whacking the wool. According to him, this needs to happen several times, at least!
Processing the wool. The Mongolian videos instructed to use fluffed wool for the outsides, with the nicest first to create the face of the fabric. The raw fleece is fluffed by laying it out on a tarp and beating it with sticks. This opens the fibers as well as helping it release dirt and hay etc. It was surprising how effective this beating method is, and how much dirt was beaten out of the wool! We were also picking up bits of hay and fluffs of wool for days afterwards.
The wetted pre-felt, ready to be rolled up.
Construction. Traditionally, Mongolian felt is made on top of an already made ‘mother’ felt, which is then rolled up as a whole. Since I was doing this indoors, I chose to use plastic shower curtains. The fluffed wool was grabbed by the handful in one hand, pushed in place and pulled out of the handful to create a somewhat scale-like overlapping collection of wool tufts. The center of the felt ‘sandwich’ could be clean but untreated raw wool, fluffed, topped with another layer of fluffed wool. The better the tufts are interlaced top to bottom, the better the layers of wool will be felted together. The wool would be wetted with hot water while the different layers were constructed, enough to make it damp but not so much it was dropping wet.
Felt shrinks. I was going for a felted pad of about 30 inches wide by 80 inches long and eyeballed a starting dimension of 40 inches by 115 inches, as the Mongolian videos seemed to suggest more shrinkage lengthwise than in width. This seems to be plausible for their method, but not when using a machine, we learned later.
Agitating the wool. Historically, the baby sheet felt is tightly rolled up with its mother felt around a large wooden post. The outside is protected with hides, duck cloth or tarp, and tightly wound with rope. Two collars are slid around the wooden beam ends, attached to another long rope, and hitched to horses or camels to be dragged around over the grasslands for about two hours, often at high speed!
This obviously was not going to happen with us, as there was still a foot of snow on the ground, and a lack of camels, so we used our own feet. While watching TV, the kid and I would move the felt-roll back and forth and at one point figured out we could use the binding rope to pull it back after rolling it away. We kicked it, kneaded it, sat on it, walked all over it, anything to simulate rolling over the plains at speed while being dragged by galloping ponies. Although this might still happen in the future 🙂
What we parents have to come up with to keep the kids entertained…
Repack, and agitate. Each time the wrapping loosened, we’d repack. Followed by more rolling, lots of YouTube, another re-pack, and even more rolling. We rolled it on and off for about 3-4 hours over I think 4 days: my legs felt as if we’d hiked a mountain! We added hot soapy water as needed: the soap is not essential, but the alkaline environment will speed up the felting process. As we worked in our living room, in front of the stove, the felt was nice and toasty much of the time, and the wet wool felted as well as suinted.
Agitation and rinsing. Because the wool had suinted, indicated by earthy beige liquid leaking out, it could be rinsed indoors without dumping too much oil into our septic. In the process of suinting, minerals from sheep sweat and the oily lanolin in the wool dissolve in the hot water and bacterially ferment to make a crude soap, which then suspends remainder oils and dirt without leaving an oily residue. At this point I moved the felt roll into our bathtub, removed the shower curtains, sprayed it with hot water and with my bare feet walked all over it. When flattened sufficiently, I’d reposition the roll. When the roll became warm through and through, I changed the water to cold, trampled it, etcetera. I did this until the rinse water was mostly clear (and my feet very, very clean).
Drying. I squished as much liquid out as I could and move it in front of the hot stove. Evaporation while lying flat was not going very fast, even in front of the stove, so I draped the felt over a chair for gravity to offer a helping hand. At the end of the day, the felt was mostly damp, not wet.
And then I second-guessed myself… I felt (pun intended) the sheet felt (left) could use a bit more tightening after trimming off the thinned edges, so I ran it through the dryer on hot (see right). While this is generally very effective, and part of my dryer balls felting process, in this case it was too much. I need to remember, when using the dryer on a new project, to check every 10 minutes or so to make sure the effect is what is wanted. While before, the sheet felt mostly shrank in length and not so much in width (as expected from scrutinizing the Mongolian videos), in the dryer the felt shrank mostly in width, and quite significantly too. It made an amazing fuzzy, springy pillow-type felt which while awesome to sit on, but as a saddle I worried might be a bit tight for my knees.
Turning the felt into a felt-saddle I sewed leather patches to the felt, two at each corner, so it can be folded and securely tied into the pad-saddle shape (see the illustrations in the beginning: the sheet is folded twice, unlike a modern Western saddle pad). Unlike most saddles, the pad-saddle girth is a one-piece which wraps around the ponies belly like a belt and includes attachments for stirrups.
Greni making faces for cookies, while showing off his new felt-saddle.
Thoughts? I’ve ridden on the felt-saddle a handful of times by now and found it to feel quite different from my modern felted pad. The barepack pad rides close-contact and I should not need stirrups to balance. The quite comfortable but thicker felt-saddle is not close-contact at all and actually feels a bit perilous to balance on: here, stirrups are not at all a luxury!
What is next? I commissioned the rectangular ring and the stirrups from fellow Dominionite John Michael Thorpe to recreate my recreation of the combination girth & stirrup “belt.” For now, I’ve used a modern girth to try out the seat of this pillow-y pad-saddle. And I have to admit, it sure feels comfortable!
Simon and Elska á Fjárfelli, of the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn
Sources for the felted pad-saddle:
Reiðtygi á Íslandi í aldaraðir (2002) by Þórður Tómasson í Skógum, [Reykjavík] Mál og Mynd.
Continuing the freshly-minted tradition of virtual sharing in these times of plague, the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences once again reached out to our fabulous Arts & Sciences Championship artisans to share their work with the populace at large on a more personal level. The virtual Kingdom Championship was also a juried competition, and included a week’s worth of face to face judging – with judges especially selected for their knowledge and background – as well as an online populace “meet and greet the artisans.” Master Hrólfr and I, your Kingdom Arts & Sciences officers, enjoy finding new ways to inspire and motivate our artisans in these trying times and we are happy to see the Championship ran so smoothly!
Could you tell me a little about you, your persona? My persona is Japanese artisan from late period Azuichi-Momoyama (1573-1603). I am in the household of samurai class.
What inspired you to make your entry? The Kikko braid book by Claudia Wollney inspired me. I braid on the marudai almost exclusively and having a book with that particular kikko pattern adapted for the marudai with 85 different patterns was too tempting. The kikko pattern is very old in Japan dating back at least to Heian period as a braid. The pattern is symbolic of the tortoiseshell pattern and symbolizes the long life of a tortoise. I wanted to try the pattern and this was my first 32 strand braid. I have braided a couple 24 strand braids, but mostly stick to 16 strand braids.
Did the entry throw up any unexpected issues? The pattern is very simple set of 8 moves, but with 32 strands on the marudai, it was very easy to set a strand down in the wrong place or to pick up the wrong next strand or forget exactly where I was. So I had to develop some techniques to keep the cords organized, and make up a little chant to keep track of where I was. I also had to make sure I never braided when I was tired, and not braid for too long at any sitting.
What did you think of the virtual face to face judging concept? I think the way the virtual judging was done in the sessions worked well. It was awkward somewhat when there were judges missing, but I was delighted at how the organizers were able to pull together judging staff and make it work. I think there is a lot of good in something that is more accessible and doesn’t require the travel.
What motivated you to enter the Kingdom Championship? I participated because the local baroness urged local artisans to enter. I had been working on the braid and figured if it turned out well, I could enter. I don’t like competitions and judging feedback discourages me.
Hara Kikumatsu posted about her entry on her personal blog as well.
Are you interested in reading more about the entry after this appetizing interview? You can! All entries including documentation and images are available at the Kingdom Office of Arts and Sciences website.
Continuing the freshly-minted tradition of virtual sharing in these times of plague, the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences once again reached out to our fabulous Arts & Sciences Championship artisans to share their work with the populace at large on a more personal level. The virtual Kingdom Championship was also a juried competition, and included a week’s worth of face to face judging – with judges especially selected for their knowledge and background – as well as an online populace “meet and greet the artisans.” Master Hrólfr and I, your Kingdom Arts & Sciences officers, enjoy finding new ways to inspire and motivate our artisans in these trying times and we are happy to see the Championship ran so smoothly!
Today’s interview is with Lady Ilaria Rosati, who entered the Kingdom of Æthelmearc Arts and Sciences Championship with A French Hood, from circa 1525. Lady Ilaria entered the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney, as well as the Æthelmearc Kingdom Arts & Sciences Championship with a different set of head coverings, and her skillful artistry secured her the honored place of the Queen’s Champion!
Could you tell me a little about you, your persona? I’ve always been interested in all kinds of headwear, and I’ve been working my way through a chronology of representative styles of high-status women’s headdresses of the 15th and 16th centuries, which ended up being centered around France. I’m more interested in the styles themselves than trying to match them to my persona, so I just followed where they led. The first style I made was the bourrelet for my Queen’s Prize Tourney entry. The French hood comes a little more than 100 years later.
What inspired you to make your entry? I expected French hoods to be relatively challenging, but this ended up being the hardest project I’ve ever done! It was quite a puzzle trying to figure out the different parts and layers and how they might fit together.
Did the entry throw up any unexpected issues? Artistic evidence can be incomplete, hard to interpret, or have uncertain dating. Textual evidence is hard to find, because it is locked away in archives, and what does exist is fragmentary, ambiguous, and sometimes contradictory. Also, the French hood spans over a century across different places, and has many variations. Trying to dial in on a specific style in a particular time and place was very difficult.
I also wanted to find my own way through the construction without copying anyone else. It makes the process more engaging, and it’s fun to see other reconstructions and whether we’ve reached similar conclusions.
Did you learn something specific, something you would do differently, or would recommend others to do again? I would recommend to anyone making French hoods to get a good head block that accepts pins, and a stand that can be secured. It’s preferable to trying to fit the back of your own head!
What did you think of the virtual face to face judging concept? I really liked the face-to-face judging. I could tell that the organizers put a lot of effort into matching entrants with judges, and that made feedback very rewarding. I thought the rubric was very clear, and it helped me think of the questions I should ask myself as I worked.
What motivated you to enter the Kingdom Championship? I wanted to enter Kingdom Championships to represent my Barony, Barony of Delftwood, and to challenge myself. I’m very glad I did!
Are you interested in reading more about the entry after this appetizing interview? You can! All entries including documentation and images are available at the Kingdom Office of Arts and Sciences website.
Continuing the freshly-minted tradition of virtual sharing in these times of plague, the Kingdom Office of Arts & Sciences once again reached out to our fabulous Arts & Sciences Championship artisans to share their work with the populace at large on a more personal level. The virtual Kingdom Championship was also a juried competition, and included a week’s worth of face to face judging – with judges especially selected for their knowledge and background – as well as an online populace “meet and greet the artisans.” Master Hrólfr and I, your Kingdom Arts & Sciences officers, enjoy finding new ways to inspire and motivate our artisans in these trying times and we are happy to see the Championship ran so smoothly!
Lady Thalia resides in the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael.
Could you tell me a little about you, your persona?
My involvement with the SCA began when I was living down in western Virginia in the Charlottesville area in the Kingdom of Atlantia with a small local group, the Shire of Isenfir. My first SCA event I attended was the Kingdom of Atlantia Arts and Science Championship. I participated in monthly archery practices, took classes in Arts and Science, and attended weekly dance practice. I moved to Buffalo and joined the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael in 2016 and Ice Dragon was my first event I attended in Æthelmearc. The persona I chose was Viking as the style of garb with apron dresses and strings of beads which I found particularly interesting. The aspects of my heraldry include two of my favorite things, the butterfly (as my mundane first name means butterfly in Spanish) and comedy masks which translated into finding my SCA name which is both French and English that means butterfly in French (Papillon) and comedy masks (Thalia) as English representation for theater in England.
What inspired you to make your entry? Did you have a specific need?
The inspiration for making my entry is my love for doing needlework as I have been doing cross stitch since I was kid, which I learned from my Aunt. After entering several arts and science displays, making largesse to donate to the Kingdom, as well as entering completed cross stitch work into competitions including the Pentathlon, I received encouragement from peers who saw my work with cross stitch to branch out to trying blackwork because of the skill I already had with needlework, to move towards doing work that is representative of the Middle Ages period. I found myself being open to trying a new skill as I have the basics down with doing needlework and felt that I had the ability to be able to branch out to try a different form of needlework.
Did the entry throw up any unexpected issues?
As I started working on the entry, due to the nature of the pattern being a chain-like pattern, I chose to inquire with a peer what would be the best area of the pattern to start with, the length of thread to use, and how to loop it in on the other side so as not have too many loose ends of threads on the other side as it is custom in blackwork for the work to look identical on both sides of the fabric. I am accustomed to starting in the center of the fabric when working on cross stitch so that the design is centered. I found it a bit challenging to start on a different area of the pattern other than the center only because that is what I am used to doing with cross stitch, and had concerns about the design not being even or centered. I had to pay particular attention to the reverse side of the fabric to make sure stitches were going in the same direction as the ones on the other side so that both sides would be identical. I was able to grasp this concept to some degree, however, I would have to continue to work on ending the stitches on the other side so that there would less thread tails showing, which would take some time and continued practice.
Lady Thalia’s blackwork entry.
Did you learn something specific, something you would do differently, or would recommend others to do again?
This piece was my first venture into stitching a project using a pattern from a period sampler. Something different that I would do is to continue to work on pieces that are from a period reference and have historical significance. I would also like to spend time exploring blackwork to look for other patterns to work on and do additional research of how black work was utilized in the Middle Ages time period.
There are several things that I learned in the course of the virtual judging. I had been under the impression that black work patterns should look the same on either side of the fabric no matter which side was being looked at. It was helpful to find out during judging that the stitching should look identical on either side if the blackwork was being used to adorn clothing such as cuffs at the end of sleeves, etc. The other thing I learned was that if only the front portion of the design was visible that it was not as necessary to have both sides of the stitching look identical.
What did you think of the virtual face to face judging concept?
The kingdom championship was my first encounter with face to face judging for my work. I had entered A&S competitions / displays before where face to face judging was not a part of the competition. I was quite nervous about the prospect of going through the judging process. There were multiple aspects of the virtual judging that helped with my comfort level and nervousness. I liked the fact that I was paired with judges who were familiar with embroidery and also cross stitch. It helped the conversation flow with the judges, as I could share my experiences and knowledge of cross stitch and my experience with blackwork embroidery thus far. It was also helpful to have judges with similar interests to be able to be open with them about my work process and understand their recommendations with expanding my work in terms of trying different materials, making the work more to scale. For example, trying to use a different type of fabric and thread. I also received advice about how to space out stitches with the different type of fabric in comparison to the type of fabric that I had been using for years.
I was very pleased with the four judges that I encountered as they really made the effort to let me know about how detailed and clean my work was, which I very much appreciated as I really put a conscious effort into doing the needlework well. I also appreciated the encouragement from the judges to keep on going with advancing my work and how they appreciated seeing works that are in progress. I was also very pleased with the feedback that I received regarding my documentation, as I try ongoing to make improvements every time with feedback I received from a previous competition. Overall, I was very pleased with the scoring that I received ranging from a 3 to 5 and 6, which I felt was quite an accomplishment for only the first time being judged for an A&S Competition. I felt the overall process from the judging to how the competition was run was very successful and well organized.
What motivated you to enter the Kingdom Championship?
I chose to enter the kingdom championship for several different reasons. I would like to have opportunities to showcase my work and to be able to share with others because before coming to the SCA, the pieces that I worked on were only shared with a few close people in my life. I would like opportunities for feedback / guidance as I have taken the first steps towards branching out in different type of needlework as encouraged by peers. I find that being able to create things with needlework to be very satisfying and uplifting. I have also had the personal satisfaction thus far of seeing how my work can be appreciated by others, and that items that I have had made with cross stitch for largesse have been shared and appreciated by others. I would like to continue in this path be able to learn more and gain more experience with blackwork.
Are you interested in reading more about the entry after this appetizing interview? You can! All entries including documentation and images are available at the Kingdom Office of Arts and Sciences website.
Join the Industrious Barony of Thescorre as we partake in our annual wintertime schola, this time with a new twist!
