Displaying the Anglo-Saxon, Copper Alloy bound bucket.

This past weekend at the Barony Beyond the Mountain and Bergental Yule celebration, an Arts and Science display was held among the many other activities that were happening. I was unable to make it to St. Eligius with my project so this was to be its debut. Ástríðr Sægeirsdottir and I arrived and were presented with a space to set up our displays. She was displaying a small silver spice spoon which she had made for me as an anniversary gift.

I barely had the bucket unpacked when the first questions began rolling in. I would continue to set up my display while talking about the project as a whole. I will admit that while I had an idea of how I might set things out, the first few questions really helped me place items out upon the table. An early question was about the designs and repoussé work, so those tools and samples gained a prominent place in the display. The extra wood bits and sample staves helped me illustrate grain direction and some other choices. The books I brought allowed me to show other samples, tools, and helped describe other aspects of the project itself. Of course, I forgot to snap a photo of the display while I was there, so the above photo was recreated the next day at home.

I met some wonderful people that day and was filled with so much encouragement at every corner. We talked about culture, construction, cræft, and despite my nerves and shyness, I had the most wonderful time. One woman even proudly brought back over her utility bucket made by a master cooper within the SCA, so that I could see it and perhaps gain some insight. (It had the most wonderful chamfer on the bottom cutting up to the base.)

I could not have done this with out the encouragement and love from Ástríðr and to her, I am forever thankful. I left there with a list of questions, suggestions and ideas to further this project along. I would like to make a sample split pin rivet and gather some samples of yew and natural dried pine for example. I was also asked if I had thought about either Kings and Queens A&S champs or Artifacts of a Life. The truth is that I had, but not so much as to have made a decision. On the drive home I listened to a great podcast called Cut the Craft. This episode featured the wonderful, Roy Underhill.

The work we did early in our evolution with the materials of nature shaped us – as we shaped it.

Roy Underhill

To see the project in person, I guess you’ll just have to come visit me at the event, Artifacts of a Life.

– Alric the Younger

Token Tuesday – The Endewearde Hunt – AS LVII

The Endewearde Hunt, Newburgh, ME. October 7-9.

Axes, Knives and Spears were thrown alongside new friends. The archery woods walk with Baronness Deirdre brought great joy despite the numerous broken and lost arrows. Ástríðr, I, and several others were promoted to Underforester within the East Kingdom Royal Forester Guild. The weekend event truly rejuvinated me in a way I did not plan or expect.

~ Alric the Younger

Palio 2017 – Barony of Stonemarche

Note: Another old post I never got around to publishing until now.

The Palio of Stonemarche is one of our local larger events. Stonemarche is broken into three Contrada’s based on location within the Barony. Those living outside can score points for whomever they choose. Games and events are organized to score points for your Contrada similar to war points. Aside from various fighting, archery, and equestrian points, there are very family friendly games such as barrel rolling and the ever popular cheese roll. This year there was also a competition for the children to find dozens of creatively hidden and named sheep.

The Furison created by Ekkehardt of Oakenwode that I was given upon induction into Stonemarch’s Order of the Furison.

Ástríðr and I got to stay in our new (to us) pavilion however as feared, the poles do not fit in our car so it will be a bit more before we can really make it our own. I am already planning out some of the extra bits we will need.

I spent a good portion of the event with Osmond de Berwic working on the Archery Range (and shooting… poorly.) Alex brought his crossbow and it was a dream to shoot. Peter The Red then began a series of challenges after the official shoot had ended and we all ended up trying to hit targets with the 15-pound loaner bow.

Sunday as we packed up, the Barony’s Golden Sword and Golden Foil competition was held for novices. After that, Baronial Court was held. Ástríðr and I were inducted into the Order of the Furison, which is a Baronial Award that can be described as ‘Those that ignite a spark in others to make this a great game.’

 

 

Calligraphy by Harold von Auerbach, Illuminated by Carmalina da Vicari.

Harold von Auerbach did the amazing calligraphy upon my scroll for the order of the Furison.

Carmilina da Vicari did the amazing Illumination upon my scroll for the order of the Furison.

Baron Harold von Auerbach did the Calligraphy and Carmalina da Vacari the Illumination. (My camera I am sure skewed the scroll slightly.)

I am humbled by this award as I really just feel I do things to do them and to have fun. I am glad that in doing so I can help others.

New Arrows Require New Points

Tomorrow is Balfar’s Challenge  Hosted by Barony of Dragonship Haven in Meriden, CT.

Panteria XXII – 2017

Over the summer in beautiful Thetford, Vermont I attended my first SCA Camping event hosted by the Shire of Panther Vale. It’s been forever that I have camped at any other event sans cabin or hotel and I was filled with excitement. The event had many highs, a few lows, and at least one van stuck in the mud.

Balfar’s Challenge 2017

We traveled south this weekend to the Barony of Dragonship Haven to participate in Duke Balfar von Grunwald’s annual challenge.

On the way to the Soapstone & Pewter Practicum

Today, Ástriðr and I are on our way to Windham, Maine to attend the Soapstone & Pewter Practicum led by Stefan of Silverforge.

Pewter casting has been around for a while and it seems that Medieval Pilgrim Tokens may have been among the first mass-produced souvenirs in the industry (pre-dating the popular snow globe ¹.)

Photo from http://www.johngraycentre.org – Pilgrimage medals have been used since the medieval period as souvenirs of a trip to a shrine or church.

Today in the SCA casting is often used for event and personal tokens, which interest me the most today.

This is intended as a roundtable discussion of technique and a hands-on shop day of working on molds and doing casting.

1) Historical and modern examples, design thoughts and mold carving tips.
2) Carving of soapstone molds. Please come with at least a concept to execute. Designs can be finalized in phase 1.
3) Casting and refinement of molds. It ain’t gonna be pretty the first time.
4) Cleanup of cast pieces.

I am debating my ideas for #2 and won’t know until I put chisel to stone which one I’ll go with however right now it is a toss up between something with a Boar motif or a Hunters Horn for the foresters guild.

Speaking of tools – we picked up these from Harbor Freight, which should work great.

Purchased at Harbor Freight – here’s to hoping they work well.

More updates later in the day (if service allows.)

Be sure to check out Stefan’s Portfolio at https://silverforgeportfolio.wordpress.com/

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¹ – Snow Globes seem to have originated around the 1900’s in Vienna Austria – http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25298507

Birka 2017

Every year I look forward to Birka and this year was no exception.  Birka is a large indoor Market themed event in the Barony of Stonemarch and held near the end of January at the Center of New Hampshire convention center.  While there are tournaments for both Heavy List and Fencing, there are also plenty of meetings and classes throughout the day.  There are Haflas and Dancing and Bardics throughout the evening.

Items purchased, created and gifted.

This was the 28th Birka and it is hard to believe that my first SCA event must have been the second or third Birka when it was in Nashua. On an aside though Obob and I were two wide eyed teenagers and while I have been in and out of the SCA since, it’s been the last few years that Sue and I have jumped in with both feet.

This years score for me included a Flint and Steel Firestarting kit and another ball of linen thread in a natural color to go with the others.  I also bought a small book on creating possaments from the woman who presented a small lecture on the subject.

After we got home on Friday night from helping out with check in, I was inspired to start work on a 6 panel hat which is pictured above.  I packed all of the necessary tools and supplies to sew what i could throughout the day and when it was time to begin work on it I had discovered I had lost two of the four panels.  Well, when we got back to the car I was fortunate enough to have found that they had just slipped out and were sitting there awaiting me.

As I type this the hat is now finished and you’ll be able to see the progression of this hat in an upcoming post.

The Boar clasp was a gift to me from a good friend that was purchased at a previous Birka a few years back.

I also purchased a longer Nailbinding needle and someday I may just figure it out. My thought is that the short wooden one I have now may not be helping.

The last bit of treasure is a short how to book on Posaments. I attended her class and while she had some materials to make them to purchase, it was a bit more than I could spend at the time on some silver wire.  She did suggest that everyday Paracord however was a great material to learn with.  We will see more of this in the future.

Ástriðr and I got to dance our favorite, the Carolingian Bransle and we were certainly out of breath.  Another time I’ll tell the tale of us teaching it to a bunch of Girl Scouts – like 80 of them.