Mid-November, 2020, I was honored to be recruited by my Vicereine (ceremonial head of the NYC-area SCA group) to help make regalia for the newest inductee into our Order of the Sea Urchin of Østgarðr. The Sea Urchin is for youth who excel in service, arts or martial accomplishment — “and” in the case of this extremely deserving young person.
Springerle cookies
Earlier this year, my province hosted our kingdom’s Twelfth night celebration. I contributed cookies (and a subtlety, which deserves its own “Doin’ it WRONG” mention, ha ha) to the feast.
We be Soldiers three
I asked my friend Lilie to compose a song for our province’s largesse presentation to their Eastern Majesties, for which we parade from our Østgarðr encampment at Pennsic to the East Kingdom royal encampment, singing as we march. Her contrafact (filk) to the tune of We be Soldiers is delightful.
In preparing for the presentation, I discovered that the melody with which I was most familiar is not the original melody, but is instead an interpretation by Curtis & Loretta, who learned it from a Renaissance band, possibly after an arrangement by William Chappell. You can go down this rabbit hole yourself — there is much interesting information out there. I began here: http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-Soldiers3.html
Desirous of returning to the original melody, I turned to Greg Lindahl’s helpful scan of Ravenscroft’s Deuteromelia, and typeset Thomas Ravenscroft’s original harmonization with my own interpretation, so we can practice beforehand.
Whipstitching a decorative element to a base fabric
A friend asked for help stitching Girl Scout patches, so I made her a video, since we don’t live near each other. The technique is the same as I would use to appliqué trim or an embroidered element onto a medieval garment, so I share with you the video I made for her.
Pride cord
My local SCA group, the Crown Province of Østgarðr, is participating in Brooklyn Pride festival this year, yay! What better way to show off our affiliation and support than with a period cord worked in Pride colors? Presenting a lace bend round of 8 bowes in the inclusive (Philadelphia) Pride flag colors: black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
A thing of rags and patches — mending braes
My husband managed to catch his braes on something and tear an L-shaped rip into them. Conveniently, I had some leftover fabric from making two pairs of them, and was able to patch using the same fabric. Given the shape and amount of tear, I opted for a darn-and-patch solution. Continue reading “A thing of rags and patches — mending braes”
Sprang!
Sprang is a weft-less, warp-only twisted weaving, made with wool, silk, papyrus, linen or cotton yarns stretched over bars, using fingers for weaving & sticks as placeholders. Continue reading “Sprang!”
Cords: Lucet vs. 4-Strand Plaiting vs. Tablets vs. Fingerloops
Handout for my class on Cords: 4 construction methods. A comparison of lucet vs. 4-strand plaiting (whipcording) vs. tubular tablet-weaving vs. finger-loop braiding, and the merits of the cords produced therewith.
Viking Era Headgear: a fashion survey
Handout for my class on Viking Era Headgear: a fashion survey.
Process photos and additional construction information coming soon….
Fingerloop braiding a lace bend round of 8 bowes
Figuring it was time to branch out into more fingerloop braiding patterns, I elected to try the lace bend rounde of 8 bowes on fingerloop.org, a very attractive 2-color spiral when worked as suggested. Continue reading “Fingerloop braiding a lace bend round of 8 bowes”