My earlier comment got me thinking - how many feasts have I done? I'm really not sure... most of the recipes I kept were on the 'computer that died'... I have a magazine rack with a wadge of folders stuffed in it, each one a different feast. But did I record and date them? Nah. I've done 12th night when it was in KG, a Polish feast, William Marshall this year, 2005, and 2003, Inter college war when it was on the Mornington Peninsula, the KG Feast of Seven Sins, the one Cormack autocratted not that long ago (Hugh and Teresa reign), several Fruits of the Forest (the first being in 1999), the Guild Ascension Day (where I got my cooks guild mastery), the soiree (refer Suth gild for recipes), one that I have no clue what it was for, but it's a really nice menu!
And then there are the soltelies... those ephemeral delights which are devoured at the feasts.. Just about every feast I've done has had a soteltie, whehter it's painted gingerbread, the amazing horn of plenty, the gingerbread dragon that terrified small children, the William Marshall effigy, Stormhold pie standards, the drakkar, painted plates, the sugar plate spice box, the gingerbread crown, the flower vase of raisin paste, those being from memory.
Hm, quite a few memories....
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Badge - the back
THe one and only view of the back before it gets put on the cloak. Tried to be neat, didn't always work...
Badge - detail of tail and back leg
Once it's on the cloak, I'll couch, and wrap, a thread around the edges to hide the sewing down and even out some of the edges.
Badge - full view, shiny!
I learned quite a lot doing this one - wrapping thread, using a single strand couched to gradate the design, spacing, and getting shadings (ie, or nue). The original had a glass eye, I just gave it a wrapped eye, which is not quite as effective as the original. In all of my embroideries, I try and use what materials I have on hand (for example, the silk was brought back from the UK by Fiona, and I wanted to use it on a project. The jap gold was a gift from Elspeth) as I tend to acquire interesting threads from various sources.
Badge - wrapped thread on wings
Man, did that take a long time - to get the spine and wings, I wrapped the gold thread with silk - great effect, incredibly time consuming.
You will most likely know me by my cooking, and probably not by face! I tend to spend most SCA events in the kitchen, either running, or helping. In fact, I think I've now done more SCA feasts than anyone I know. For cooking, I've posted to Suth guild at http://suthgh.blogspot.com/, and our cooks guild had spent about a year redacting the Forme of Cury. I can't recall if I've posted the recipes on the net, but I've certainly done a lot of them!
For some of my older embroideries, check out the web page Gwynfor had created - http://www.gwynfor.org/G/Gwir/Gwir.htm. Some of which I'd completely forgotten I'd done (I tend to use them for gifts, fighter auction, etc and rarely do I keep a photo).
Attached is the most recent I've done - an interpretation of the 'Badge of the Order of the Dragon' (circa 1414). I was more interested in the or nue, rather than in the padding, and my interpretation is quite different from the original. I wanted to play with the shading possibilities, and 'lively couching' techniques (refer, Medieval Craftsmen, p. 29 - leopards). The piece will go on Peregrin's cloak, which already boasts the sun and moon from the John of Thanet panel (circa 1300). Although the John of Thanet panel and the Badge are a hundred years apart, the individual design pieces are harmonious and, being conducted with the same techniques, are quite effective together. I'll join the pieces in with a 14th century overall design (yet to be worked out!). It'll take some time to put the Badge on the back of his cloak. The Badge took me about 2 years (on and off) to work, and the best compliment I've gotten is from Peregrin -he said it felt like real dragon scales.
As the images are quite big, I'll post them separately.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)