Retinue for Tanists F&E

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This is the second time I've been part of a retinue. The first was for the amazing Viscount Saif and Viscountess Alessandra. I was simply an attendant for them, mostly Viscount Alessandra, as Viscount Saif would take off with his long legs and I'd promptly lose him in the crowd. But it was a great learning experience about the amount of work, organization, outreach, communication, and heart that goes into nine months of a reign. 

This time I am much more involved in the lead up to Investiture. And despite presenting my Pelican with a "scroll" of stick figures and a poem about "How I'll Never Be A Scribe", apparently I am. It took her 10 years but she caught me using copy calligraphy and wordsmithing.

I was asked to do another couple of assignments for copy, which worked out pretty well in terms of confidence boosting. Is it perfect? No. Do I have a lot to learn? Yes. However about part way through my last draft, I had the feeling that I could in fact do this on my own, without copying. I was comfortable with the particular font and could easily form most of the letters without the copy prompt. I guess the next step is to try doing some freehand, watching for spacing of letters and sentences.



Wordsmithing is another area where I got to play around, and as a bonus, use my English degree! Two of my "words" have been selected for charters, which I thought was really amazing. I don't know if I'm allowed to post them here so I won't, and I'm wondering if I will recognize them when they are read out in court. I'm very pleased with everything I wrote and am excited to stretch a little more into it. There's some studying to do, and maybe finding my feet with a consistent style, all leading to eventually being able to reflect a time and place appropriate for the recipient. Lots of stretch goals in wordsmithing.

I'm also working on some embellishment for one of the Tanists' outfits. Mistress Afra is looking after 95% of the outfit, quite capably, and doesn't really need me. So I'm quite touched that she is including me. Here's a tiny spoiler...

Other than this, the hubby, house, and work take up most of the rest of my time. At times I am frustrated to not have the time to delve into my sprang work, but this is 100% controlled by me.

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