Tag: SCA

Creating a Persona: Starting Points

Persona Development– where to begin? The answer to this question is amazingly diverse.  It begins with, “what do you like?” and “what do you want?” and everything else will follow.

Case: a lovely member of the SCA is into spinning and weaving. She finds a particular period in which the methods and materials are well documented and dives into a new aspect of her passion for spinning. She learns to card weave to produce her own trim, which she is careful to match fiber to fiber so that everything shrinks at the same rate. She studies period methods of dyeing the fiber. She gets a small period correct loom. She makes some garb to go with this persona.

Case: a gentleman takes up the practices of Chivalry. He goes to fighter practice, loves it, and makes his own armor.  He stays with it, wearing the same simple t-tunic he sewed first. However, he discovers a book by Dr. Timothy Dawson titled, ARMOUR NEVER WEARIES SCALE AND LAMELLAR ARMOUR IN THE WEST FROM THE BRONZE AGE TO THE 19TH CENTURY.  He is hooked on lamellar armour.  He creates his own armor and that requires some new garb. He discovers Sartor, a fabric company that recreates period fabrics and gets a piece of brocade from his period and culture and uses it to trim his “court garb”. Suddenly his persona has begun to develop!

Case: a young college student comes to a garb session and sits down with some books that trace clothing styles through various time periods and cultures.  She spots a dress. THE dress, that dress that she wants bad enough to buy linen instead of cheaper cotton, and spend hours sewing.  The DRESS sets her time period and culture. From there she learns about the foods available and how they were preserved and joins the cooking guild. She even hunts down some herbs that were commonly used by her persona and grows them in pots on the window sill of her apartment.

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The photos are by Anna Maleine and were taken at the Laurel’s Prize Tourney in Ansteorra. This is the artisan Murienne Corbeau discussing her work with Mistress Kaitlyn.

My last case is me. I am fascinated by the writings of Early Christians.  In grad school the course was Patristics. The Cappadocian Fathers were incredible to read and fascinating to learn about. I wanted my persona to read, and to live where she could read early Christian writers like these.  So, Eastern Roman, 10th century during the reign of an emperor powerful enough to secure the borders and create peace enough for a reflowering of learning and art.

Geography, Culture, Art, Clothing, Armor, Method of fighting (rapier is later period), Equestrian, Fiber Arts, Ethnicity, Gardening, Cooking, Metal Working, Wood Working, Chivalry, Knights, Education, Books, Authors, Artists….the starting points are as varied as the amazing people who enter the SCA.

Have fun!

 

Awesome Byzantine Related References

Ate with Society for Creative Anachronism friends this weekend and had marvelous conversations with wonderful people. References came up during our conversations which led to my promising links and book references to each of them.

I will begin with the blogs for Byzantine clothing I like best.

Anachronistic and Impulsive: Anna’s Rome: A View of Ancient Rome and Byzantium in the Current Middle Ages

This is an absolutely awesome garb blog by a member of the SCA (a Maunche) who has just completed her dissertation on Byzantine Garb.  Her focus in her garb is just past my period, but she also does Ancient Roman, and knows her stuff.  I can say that because I have read so much that I know that she knows her stuff.  So, for Roman or Byzantine, this is the blog I send friends to read.

Then there is the blog by another knowledgeable lady of the SCA. She is an EARLY period Byzantine, so her persona and work tend to pre-date my period of Byzantine, but again, I send friends to this blog because she knows her stuff. Even more fun, she goes beyond garb into arts and sciences.

Konstantia Kaloethina

Konstantia Kaloethina is a Herald in the SCA, and makes jewelry. Really pretty jewelry that she generously describes and shares about on this blog.

Both of the above blogs are my favorite garb and etc. Blogs for Byzantine. I read them as soon as they post!  You can also find both these ladies on Facebook where they share a page they call BYZANTEAM.  I prefer the page BYZANTINE ARMY because the scholars there are amazing at sharing references (academic papers)  I would never find on my own, which I print out to read later, and am filling notebooks with, so I don’t lose them. They also are wonderful at locating the artwork and images for everything imaginable. I get more general clothing information from BYZANTINE ARMY,  than I do from Byzanteam.

I think I have shared these two blogs before on my blog. But I wanted to put them in the same post.

A Third website I like is better for male garb than female, is LEVANTIA.  This web site is general, and not as deep as I would like. His books are better than his web site. Still, he has interesting ideas, and strongly held opinions based on years of re-creating the culture for demonstrations and SCA.  His is one of those blogs that fits my short list of those I send people.

Lastly, there is this blog: 10th Century Byzantine.  I write here. I need to write more, to have greater discipline and to spend more time sharing my findings so others can benefit. But I like my blog, and its focus.  Someday I hope people will recommend mine with the same zeal I recommend the two blogs above–but I am not there yet. 🙂

These are where I start. Have fun!

 

Penn Museum Online Collection: Roman items

The Penn Museum online Collection is small but nice for the anyone looking to see Roman lighting and glass. They have a nice example of a glass stopper! This should give you the documentation for a similar stopper. There is an example of pressed glass in the mediterranean collection, and several blown glass flasks and pitchers, which look modern and elegant, and as they are very early A.D./C.E., it could be argued that similar pieces were likely possible throughout our SCA period, at least for the Eastern Roman Empire.

Also useful and interesting is their collection of oil lamps. I had not seen an oil lamp with the wider end curved up. The other examples had tiny molded handles but not all pierced. One interesting bronze version is also present. Something I like is at least one had a comment on the method by which it was made.

These items ranged in date from the 1st century through the 5th as far as I took note in my quick viewing. Quite nice, definitely another museum to keep on a list of places to visit and online collections to check when thinking early period glass and lighting.

I didn’t have time to explore the online collection any further before posting– so if you spot something particularly nice in their online collection, do mention it in a comment.

Sable Sparrow for Garbing a Child

A friend, Lady Dianna as she is known in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), was awarded an Ansteorran award for garbing a child. MY child to be exact. My child seeks to learn to do Rapier fighting in the SCA and so needed garb appropriate to that late period activity. Lady Dianna Blakely dove right in and created this garb:Version 3IMG_2193

Two pair trousers, vest, doublet, hat, tabard, shirt, and a fighting cloak not shown. Also not shown, gloves, hood, and gorget!  She is working to add one more shirt to round out the wardrobe.  She made each item carefully to allow for changes in height and breadth.  THIS is a top flight example of garbing a child.

The Sable Sparrow is an award given for a one time service that is above and beyond. I would say this was a very beautiful example of a well deserved award!

The garb is late period because rapier (fencing) is a late period activity. In the 10th century the fighters would have been Chivalric in nature (in the SCA these are the medieval knights with the heavy armor) and dressed very differently, but that is one of the wonderful qualities of the SCA. A family does not all have to dress alike.

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Also, the Tabard clearly informs the educated SCAdian to which group this child is attached and to whom you return them if they are found where they ought not to be.

And that, dear readers, is an example of children’s garb.

My gratitude to the good Lady Dianna!

Children’s Clothing for SCA Events

Children’s Clothing for playing in the modern middle ages, AKA the Society for Creative Anachronism(SCA), is an ongoing problem. The other day as I explored the Ansteorran web page, seeking information, I ran across this excellent article: Children’s Costumes at SCA Events by Ælflæd of Duckford (the author’s SCA name).

The article is good, with pictures, patterns mentioned, and other useful and practical ideas about clothing children for events. She did a far better job than would I!

So, while my basic kids garb, influenced by the Metropolitan Museum where their online pages have two extant items (child’s hooded tunic, Child’s dress, similar to adult) that suit my period, is easily done with a t-shirt, linen, and a bit of trim; practical and simple to make but not all that varied in design, this author wrote on all sorts of fun options, with photos of her own children fully garbed.

So, in addition to Children’s Costumes at SCA Events, you can dive into the many options at Stefan’s Florilegium.

Go, follow the links, and enjoy!

 

 

Coriander Seed in Sauerkraut

OH WOW!  This is an eye opener, indeed.  I put coriander seed in a fermentation of cabbage and this morning the resulting excess brine was added to breakfast.  This is a one bowl sort of meal, with the steamed veggies and cut up meat mixed together with whatever interesting flavor is available. Today, it was coriander seed brine and cinnamon.   Coriander with cinnamon produces a pungent odor, almost like the smell of a really strong cheese. I enjoyed the flavor to a surprising degree.

So my breakfast, in addition to the lovely probiotics found in the brine after fermentation, was amazingly flavorful.

As this is a fermentation process that was common in the 10th century, and the coriander seed was a common seasoning in that period, and human beings love to eat what tastes really good, and the Byzantines loved strong smells (just research their take on perfumes!), I suspect I just ate a breakfast that would not have been out of place on the table of my SCA persona. FUN!

I apologize for scarfing it down before I thought to take a photo for the blog. MUST improve on my habits!

UPDATE: Fermenting Cabbage

The first attempt at making sauerkraut by the means of a possible in period recipe was a success. The initial kraut was shifted from the fermentation crock to containers for the refrigerator after 3 months fermented. They further aged in the refrigerator as they were used up.

The flavor improved over time even in the refrigerator. Initially the sauerkraut was too salty and not as sour as I like. Each successive container we opened to use was less salty tasting and more tangy. So there wasn’t anything we did not end up enjoying.

Evaluation of how it tasted initially led to the conclusion that my use of the salt was heavy handed and would be better if I went lighter in my next attempt and if I were to allow it to ferment longer in the crock before placing in the refrigerator.

My reading about the history of cabbage has taught me that the firm tight heads of cabbage we enjoy now are a more recent development. “Heads” of cabbage in period were looser. So for the next batch of sauerkraut I selected a different kind. I have no idea what it is called but it is darker, smaller heads, and the outer leaves spread away from the head as they mature, thus leaving only the center tight. I think it is also a modern variety, but just not the common large heads I usually see in the stores.

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So currently there are THREE crocks fermenting on my desk. Thyme and whole peeled cloves of garlic went into each crock. One crock also received whole cumin seeds, another received sliced, peeled, fresh ginger, the third nothing extra. Cabbage was sliced very thin, almost shaved, and mixed with less salt than last time and squeezed until liquid began to form. I packed each crock with the wet salty cabbage and pressed it repeatedly with each handful to pack it as tightly as I possibly could pack it. Folded whole cabbage leaves were used to cover the contents, then weights were added to hold it all down. A 2% brine was mixed and pour over everything until even the weights were covered.

And we wait.

What I love in our SCA

Recently I read a comment about a family starting out playing in the Society for Creative Anachronism. They began with borrowed garb and a modern tent and camping gear and no funds for a period tent and fancy period equipment. They felt that sometimes in our zeal for recreating historical aspects of the middle ages we forget that not everyone can afford all that. It made me think about our little Shire and how period correct is encouraged, but not at the expense of everyone participating!

We are not a large group, we have a lot of history loving members whose tents are period and their tent furniture is period, and their garb is marvelous, and we applaud them and peek at what they have done with admiration and for ideas we might adopt to move our camps up closer to that excellent example.

But we also have long time participants who play on a very tight budget. Their tents are modern, their equipment the same– but even there, we applaud the person whose tent is covered with a tarp that hides the modern tent in the shadows and adds a sun shade, and an over-head to make a porch– and suddenly his camp is more period looking on a small budget. He has great garb and a well developed persona that serve as another good example to us all.

Another aspect of our group is that we all camp together. Modern and period side by side. It is important that we support one another and help each other get the most out of the event– and it doesn’t matter that you do not have the cash to be more period. We say do what you can and have fun!

I think that the ideals of the SCA are multifaceted. We serve a dream. Each effort to create period ambiance is a boon to that dream. But fussing too much over what people cannot afford to do detracts from that dream.

Taking garb for example. You can go many ways with it. A period good t-tunic in a nice linen can carry you a very long way. Over time, at little expense, you can add some embroidery or sew on some trim, and have even nicer garb. For many people, that is as far as they need to go to be both period and have a good time–and there is NOTHING wrong with that!

Another person in our Shire has a wardrobe of marvelous later period garb. She can do a turn-out that is FABULOUS. Another period correct garb person does the basic tunic– but decorates and trims it so marvelously well that it is equally excellent garb. A third person in our group makes period looking garb for her hubby but uses costuming techniques to keep the number of layers manageable for the heat. It may look like three layers but it is one very well done piece! Again, the dream is served by the quality of the outcome– and this represents a third path to great garb.

To wrap it up, we urge our newcomers to go with basic period appropriate garb like a simple tunic to begin.  Then to take their time discovering which aspects of the SCA are their favorites.  We want them to spend their money were it will give THEM the best experience possible.  Again, this serves the dream.

I love the ideals of the SCA. Both the love of authenticity, and the practical acceptance that it is never going to be perfect. I feel that our little Shire does a marvelous job keeping the balance.  After all, learning to recreate history in an idealized form should be fun.

In service to the dream,

Lady Anna Maleine

Well, not everything runs smoothly!

We have had an interruption to our lives here. An 18 wheeler exploded and took out the windows of the workshop, caused quite the grass fire, and as the workshop is connected to the house, filled the house with the stink of the smoke. It also took out the internet and electricity. A week later, both of those are restored.  Sadly, the contents of the refrigerator got warm and had to be tossed. Small loss compared to the thousands of dollars of repairs and cleaning that restoration will take. God bless friends for all they do to keep us sane in crazy times!

So I am camping out in the RV which is not fully renovated. It is a challenge.  Hubby is cooking in the house, but I have moved my office to the RV because the smell makes me feel ill. Doesn’t bother my hubby though.

So my exploration of fermenting cabbage like in period is on hold.  I took this opportunity to explore what spices to use in it with the help of SCA cookery persons on Facebook. Say what you will about the flaws of facebook, I am enjoying the wide array of SCA folk who are on there!

I think I may have a spot for my crocks…. time will tell. LOL!