28th Birthday of the Barony of Hidden Mountain

After being unable to travel for more than a month, milord Talan and I set forth in the company of Lutolf von Stuafen to rejoice with the denizens of Hidden Mountain. We accepted the hospitality of John Emeris of Ellenar, enjoined also by Mistress Megara di Alessandra.

Twas a beautiful summer day. Green darners danced all over the grass, and spicebush swallowtails perched on low tree branches and the dusty ground, slowly fanning their wings, revealing glossy blue tips. A soft breeze lifted the banners and house standards of Ellenar, Hidden Mountain, and Moorhaven.

I must confess to enjoying a peaceful period of meditation and slumber in the sun.

Diamonds adorn the necks of Hidden Mountain's populace

At Atlantia's Spring Coronation, I had the opportunity to speak with His Excellency Thylacine Aquila, Baron of Hidden Mountain, about his kumihimo patterns. He prefers a 16-strand diamond pattern in black and white. He often incorporates one strand in a third color, depending on the purpose of the cord. This third color makes a dot in the center of the white diamond. I've used a red thread in the cord I'm working now. Baron Thylacene will use red when the cord is going to a  warrior, blue for an A&S award or black for a service award.

Here is the layout of the loom to achieve this pattern:

32,1=B,B.
4,5=W,W.
8,9=R,W.
12,13=W,B.
16,17=B,B.
20,21=W,B.
24,25=B,W.
28,29=W,W.

I'm using #5 Perle cotton, which produces cord of about 3/16" diameter.

In Service to the Dream...

Tangled up in blue.. and white and gold

Soon after becoming active in the SCA, I started looking around for something to keep my hands busy. After observing several gentles creating cords on foam looms, I decided to try my hand at the Japanese art of Kumihimo. While still a novice, I've become quite taken with this art form.

Recently, Her Royal Majesty Padraigin put forth a request for cords in the Atlantian colors for the Kingdom medallion box. I was delighted to find a focus for my efforts. The next step was determining the exact colours and pattern of threads. Baron Takeda and Dame Morwenna came to the rescue, providing both floss colours and number of threads.

I realized after completing two cords, that I had neglected to use the correct combination of thread-- my fault entirely. So I once again went searching for direction. Mistress Ealdthryth of Humberstone has documented in several places the history and illustrated directions for making Atlantian medallion cords.

Dame Morwenna recommended using a #5 perle cotton for the cords. Embroidery floss will work as well, but I like the perle cotton much better. Floss colors are DMC 796 (blue), B5200 (white) and 725 (gold). The cord is an 8-strand cord: 4 of blue, 3 of white and 1 gold.

When I first mentioned my interest in learning kumihimo to milord Talan, he brought home a foam loom. Unfortunately for me, the directions on the loom were all in Japanese. I found a wonderful YouTube video demonstrating how to braid using the loom. I also found a kit online here that includes bobbins for controlling the dangling threads.

I look forward to presenting a dozen cords to Her Excellency Etain for inclusion in the Kingdom chest.

In service to the Dream.

Adventures in Cloisonne

On March 26, the Canton of Tear-Sea's Shore hosted a Glassworking Symposium. Quite a few workshops were available: enameling, lampworking, wire-wrapping, stained glass, mosaic, and beading.

Talan and I took advantage of the enameling workshop. Mariana Francisco of the Barony of Tir-y-Don lectured on the history of enameling, and provided a fine illustrated handout. She also shared some of her library on enameling and medieval crafts. Lady Mariana prefers to work in Champleve enamel, where the design is etched either by hand or using a chemical solution onto the metal, and then filled with enamel (ground glass) and fired. The design is recessed. It was a most enjoyable and educational lesson.

Mistress Megara di Alessandra provided the hands-on section of the workshop. Her handout included an extensive annotated list of supplies and suppliers. After a thorough review of supplies and equipment, we proceeded to create a design for a medallion. Mistress Megara works in Cloisonne, in which metal strips are used to create raised channels on metal, and then filled with enamel and fired.

Talan created a triskelion design. Megara suggested he use a clear for the background; this allowed her to demonstrate what a clear enamel does on copper. After firing the clear, she placed the wire design on the copper, and then fired again. The wire sank somewhat into the initial coating. Talan applied the blue enamel within the cloisonne channels. As you can see, Talan's medallion turned out beautifully.

My medallion did not fare as well as Talan's. It was an example of "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong". This provided Mistress Megara the opportunity to demonstrate the more delicate side of enameling. The background coat burned on one side, but Megara showed how to reapply enamel for refiring. The spiral design first refused to lie down; then when it was fired, it sank too deeply into the base enamel, so that the cloisonne channels were lost. After filing around the wire, she applied the white enamel; however, the channels were still too uneven to take the enamel properly. As a result, the spiral is blotchy.

Nevertheless, the afternoon was well-spent. Any errors in the description of what occurred during the workshop are mine alone. Our deepest thanks to Lady Mariana and to Mistress Megara for their time and effort. This was an intense workshop, and I know I speak for all when I say we learned from a master.

Talan and I did some more research after returning home. We want to pursue this craft further. We hope to purchase a kiln that will work with both enameling and PMC clay.

Vivat to autocrat Tegan de Moreton and all gentles who provided this wonderful A&S opportunity. It was a most fulfilling day.

Unto All Good Gentles, Greetings

With all goodly grace, I welcome you to share in my adventures in the Known World of the Current Middle Ages. My lord husband, Talan Gof, and our son, Rónán mac Aodha, join me in these adventures.

Although I've been aware of the SCA -- Society for Creative Anachronism -- for decades, I've only been actively playing since 19 November 2007. My first event was The Pilgrimage, hosted by the Canton of Cyddlan Downs. I went at the instigation of my good and longtime friend, John Emeris of Ellenor.

Next, I convinced my son to come with me. This was not a difficult undertaking at all. About a year later, I convinced my husband to join me, under the guise of seeing some of the jewelry. He has found a niche, and is an active player as well.

My family and I had tried to become part of the SCA in the early 1990's. I thought it would be marvelous for the children, who were then young enough not to mind that this might be an unusual undertaking. (But I really wanted to play... so the benefits to the children were, shall we say, secondary...) We attended several fighter practices, but were most disappointed. The primary problem was the unwillingness of the other people to share. We had no information about the other local or regional events, and so were very turned off by our reception.

It was during a conversation with John Emeris several years later that I mentioned my continuing interest. He met me at my canton's local fighter practice (traveling up from Tear-Sea's Shore) and introduced me to several people there. A few months later, I made the "pilgrimage" to the site at Camp Barstow for my first event. I'm very glad I persisted.

In this age of the Internet, it is so much easier to learn about local and regional events-- and therefore easier to overcome "less than perfect" initial experiences. If you have any interest at all in learning more about the middle ages, I encourage you to explore the official website at http://www.sca.org. From there, you can find local groups and people willing to answer your questions.

In Service to the Dream,
Catguistl