Adelheid in the SCA

A key part of the application to the Tournament of the Golden Swan is to hand write a letter in the style of your persona's time and place. I have zero skills in this so thankfully, my Pelican is extremely talented in Scribal! In our Pel/proto ceremony I wrote her a small poem in which I emphasized I would never be a scribe. Fast forward to being in her workshop today. Look how happy she is: I had worked with Elvina to have my letter blocked in an appropriate script and format. She created a document electronically for me to copy. It is gorgeous and it was fun to discuss the project with someone who was as enthusiastic as I was about letters and research.  Once I had the layout, I had to learn a lot in a short amount of time. I had about 2 hours of undivided attention with the talented and knowledgeable Dama Maminka. She talked about paper, and specifically what I would be using, vegan vellum. She talked about some different inks, and gave me a thorough overview of the ...

My projects this past month have been SCA tangential - basket weaving and some lessons in machine sewing basics. I took a class with Jessica Silvey (Red Cedar Woman) with my friend Belinda. Here's the finished project, which we are supposed to "gift". I'll give it to my mother. Another project has been my grey kirtle mock-up. I was so pleased with the results, I decided to add a skirt and next will do "Snow White" sleeves to make a fun summer dress. Here's a terrible in progress picture: And finally... My dear friend Janice asked if I'd like to go through her fabric. I ended up with bins of quilting fabric, cutting mats, and an embroidery sewing machine (on loan till she needs it back). We decided to make matching bags, which turned into an intensive sewing lesson. The constellations glow in the dark! Bonus... Her machine does embroidery stitches so I played around with those, and an brewing up some thank you gifts...

 This is a bit of an odd post - I have been updating my wiki and wanted to show some of my favourite things that I have collected and/or been gifted along the way. There was no real room for explanation, so I thought I'd put them out here. My very first token was from Fjordland Rising in 2012 (give or take a year). Due to some life circumstances, it was a few more years before I actually found the local SCA again, this time through a friend. This reminds me to never give up. My newcomer beads were given at Baroness' Inspiration, which would have been November 2018. This was my first official event. These remind me that everyone starts as a newcomer. My mousetail came from my second event, probably February Investiture, where I was volunteering for gate and I met the loveliest person who was a nalbinder. I asked how the tail of her very cute mouse was made, and she showed me. I actually laughed and clapped like a little kid seeing a magic trick! This reminds me to be humble and ...

What an honour! At Hartwood Yule, the Princess gave out three of her favours, and one was to me. I've enjoyed being part of their Highnesses retinue as an attendant. It has really opened my eyes to previously unknown parts of the SCA - especially service and outreach. I've so much admiration for their Highnesses, and their wish to spread (inflict!) joy! I've a deeper appreciation for how much joyful work is involved on their parts and through the work of their considerable and impressive team. With much gratitude, AW

Home today, not feeling well, but need something to keep my mind off of feeling sucky. Perfect time for an easy, low consequence project. Cute, isn't it. I made this very early on in my journey as I figured good headwear would compensate for a variety of garb issues. I clearly didn't know what I was doing and made the cap too big! I figure that can be cut, hemmed, and the strip repurposed as that unter... Well I forgot the word but it's the strip of linen that you pin things to. The wulst is also crooked... Go home wulst, you're drunk! You can see it's too high and narrow by the grey arrow and all kinds of shifted to the side of the white arrow. A few tucks, some pins, and that's more the idea. That photo cracks me up! Must be the cold meds. Before... After! Now to figure out how to put a veil on it! YIS AW

Last year, I said I wanted to make Mead. The sisters jumped in with both feet cause those are the kind of cool women they are. We did three batches, about 2 weeks apart. The first was blackberry with about 1 pound of honey. The second was almost exactly the same, but with 2 pounds of honey. Here's how they compare: The second has a much deeper colour. I was initially underwhelmed by the first batch, but it tastes lovely after sitting for a year. It's a really light, easy drinking mead. The second tastes freaking amazing, much more of a punch to it, getting closer to a port wine. The third batch was forgotten for a year and just recovered today. So with just the fruit being pulled out of it, here's what we got. This is peach and/or apricot. I can't remember how much honey I used for this one, but will guess a little over 2 pounds. I can't wait to try it. I'll give it a couple weeks to settle, then will have a taste test of the ...

Adelheid needs an everyday outfit. The ultimate goal is a linen undershirt, grey linen waisted kirtle, and a Burgundian gown of heavy blue wool with fur trim. Then sleeves, apron and a cap to match. Gorgeous!! But to get there, I need to learn how to do a few things, including how to draft/fit things for my body. I've had some initial luck using a purchased pattern for the Italian outfit, which has given me the confidence to try to draft my own pattern. Mr. and I found some suit wool at a thrift store which wasn't period, but the price was right (8 bucks for several wide yards), so if it didn't work out the cost was low. I grit my teeth and gave it a gentle wash and dry. Using some spare fabric, I mocked up bodices a few different ways before hitting on Morgan Donner's videos, "Drafting a Medieval Kirtle Dress Pattern" and "Making a Medieval Heraldic Dress" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yED06QFK2Q4  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXv5I1A3WQQ The d...

I figured out how to sew around an eyelet! And that's about a good enough place to start a blog as any.  I've been struggling with the eyelet hole since November, when I threw that project to the side and ordered grommets. (I'll post about that outfit later - it's a fun Italian number.) But today, it finally clicked. Needle into the hole, back to front, trap the thread, repeat. Look at that gorgeous thing! YIS, AW