100 Days of SCA lite

A bunch of friends do A&S challenges, but as much as I love crafting, I also love service.  So after having taken an LOA from derby for the month of May, I realized I had done something SCAdianish every single day.  Here are some of the smaller things and a calendar I will be updating as I go.

1.  Done on April 30 instead of May 1st because I had to give out my final exam. 
• Started to plan a Spanish Trenzado coif.
2. Researched bobbin lace patterns.
3. Pulled out my pillow (purchased and last used in 2008 >.> ) and made my first foot of lace!






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4. Saturday, went to Queen's Rapier Championship
• Did some kamikaze calligraphy over someone else's art.  Not my best work, but I blame it on not having my own equipment and having to cram too many words in a very small space with a failing marker.



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5. Found out that the hat I want to make follows the pattern for a St Birgitta Coif.
6. Found patterns and fabric for the coif.
7. Went to the Spinners Guild meeting and talked with some weavers about the AEWP class I was planning. 
• Hunted down tubers for soups for sideboard.
8. Pinterest hole researching bobbin lace.  
• Found sources for weaving silk.
9. Nithgaard business meeting
• Sliced up All The Tubers.
10. CLEANED.  
• Hardboiled 90 eggs for Crown Tourney. 
• Worked on blanket stitching the edge of the braid case.
11. Crown Tourney, worked kitchen and setup, shenanigans.
12. Peeled and steeped lemons for Limoncello. 
13. Drafted Venetian bodice from saturday's fitting, realized I missed a couple of points >:[
14. Bought some embroidery books at the PSU book sale
• Went to Joanne's for bobbin lace thread.
15. Got 10 books out of the library to use in my weaving class. 
• Decanted and refilled limoncello peels.
16. Nithgaard A&S meeting.  
• Drafted up my weaving class while Andreas taught calligraphy. 
• Finished up limoncello and balanced the flavors.
17. Went to Æ War Practice!  
• Taught my first class "Whatcha' Wanna Weave?".
• Participated in the Brewer's Competition, won the Cordial category (only participant), got good reviews.  Volunteered to start the Boozy Food category.
• Was the Resident Scribe and found supplies for Maddoc to sign in an apprentice.
18. Worked the Scribal breakfast.
• Carved my first soap stone medallion! Thoroughly enjoyed Shea's class and giving him just enough hell for a new teacher to learn. 
• Went to the Brewer's mead tasting class and learned how to give an evaluation.
• Got great tokens at Court for teaching and winning the competition, and a nifty bar towel that I want to embroider the event on for participating.
• Found amazing pickling recipe!
• Made contacts with a pig farmer.
19. Worked the Scribal breakfast, again.
• Caught people to measure for dresses.
20. Made AEWP recap post.
• Researched linen for dresses.
• Made a list of all the projects I need to complete for Pennsic -____-
21. Started making scroll cases from leftover breakfast bread boxes.
22. Bought and washed linen for two kitchen dresses and two chemises.
23. Cut cardboard for 8 scroll cases.
24. Test out camping equipment for Pennsic.
25. Bought fiber for project
26. SCAdian family party.
27. Spent way too much money I don't have on stuff I will probably only ever use for Pennsic (got a roof rack!), dried out the tent.
28. Beet pickled motherfucking three dozen eggs.
29. BLOG ALL OF THE BLOGS!
30. Get 50 cigar boxes for scribal retreat.
31. Sew scroll cases.
    
32. (June 1) Scribal retreat: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 161
    
    
33. (2) Scribal retreat Part 2: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 170
34. (3) Put away everything from the past three weekends, start coordinating feast
35. (4) Ball up weaving silk
36. (5) Emotional Support Drea, talk through summer plans
37. (6) Nithgaard meeting, continue balling up silk
38. (7) Make a bliaut
39. (8) Scarlet Guard Inn
    
40. (9) Go to Pittsburgh Pride, scare Heavy fighters
41. (10) Make SCA resume
42. (11) Warp and start weaving
43. (12) Weave
44. (13) Nithgaard meeting, weave
45. (14) Didn't want to tame my hair, so I made a Birgitta coif and inset the first bobbin lace.
46. (15) Æthelmearc Æcademy 
47. (16) Beer Pickled Eggs
48. (17) Weave
49. (18) Finish weaving!
50. (19) Research "Ancient Deviled Eggs" and krupnik
51. (20) Meeting with Italian White Vine class! Start Om krupnik.
    
52. (21) Try to sell helmets
53. (22) Read about wild fermentation
54. (23) Read about Basque names, order library book
55. (24) Hood class outline
56. (25) Hibiscus mango krupnik, name research, print old handouts
57. (26) Coffee krupnik, Vigil organizing
58. (27) Spicy pickled eggs
59. (28) Make new shirt for Dave
60. (29) Kingdom For My Horse (so much fun!)
61. (30) 
62. (July 1) Buy way too much linen
63. (2) Cut out Helga Ball dress
64. (3) Sew together Helga Ball dress
65. (4) Hand finish seams
66. (5) Pack for PAX, fit dress
67. (6) PAX Interruptus, retaining
68. (7) Add gusset to Helga Ball dress, hunt down pizzelle press
69. (8) Jump on Jen's elevation dress
70. (9) Meet with Jen for fitting
71. (10) Orangello, dress bodice lining
72. (11) Honey Anise eggs, dress kickplate, Nithgaard potluck
73. (12) Bog Three Day, kitchen prep
74. (13) Bog Three Day, kitchen and retaining
75. (14) Venetian bodice
76. (15) Soy eggs, bodice
77. (16) Blueberry cordial, bodice
78. (17) Bodice
79. (18) Chipotle honey mango eggs, bodice
80. (19) National Museum of Art: 16c research
81. (20) Drive back from DC, post pictures
82. (21) Line bodice
83. (22) Line bodice
84. (23) Finish lining bodice
85. (24) Sleeve panels, viking underdress
86. (25) Decant boozes, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
87. (26) Class handout, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
88. (27) Tiki!viking dress and underdress
89. (28) Last viking under dress, and PENNSIC!
90. (29) Æthelmeark hospitality
91. (30) Get weighted loom form Hrolfr, start new set of garters.
92. (31) Take classes (Aztec Illumination)
93. (August 1) continue weaving
94. (2) Morning Troll, airport
95. (3) Archery, Process at Opening Ceremonies with BMDL, man radios at the Watch
96. (4) Finish apron dress, stamp cabbages on 28 aprons, HOLY SHIT SERVE VIGIL
97. (5) Finish weaving garters, stage makeup for Comedia
98. (6) Retain for TRH at Great Court
99. (7) Teach class, Cartridge pleat Venetian, serve Seven Pearls dinner
100. (8) Attach skirt to bodice, party like a Roman
101. (9) Tear down Æthelmeark Royal, host krupnic "competition"
102. (10) Close up camp and drive home.
103. (11) Three loads of laundry, two of dishes, put bulk items away

Plus so many things I forgot at Pennsic. I took Owen's whitework illumination class, Nicola's died parchment class, Aztec illumination and costuming, and German hats!  It was exhausting, amazing, and probably going to continue.

ROOOOOOOOMAN

There's been a lot of impromptu SCA sewing since this summer, and I have forgotten to document all of it >.>

This week was Aethelmeark Coronation, for which we wanted to dress in Roman in support of Anna Leigh's ascent.  I found three yards of purple linen in my stash and some sari trim Dani had given me and put them together into an under dress. I also used a sari from my stash to wear as an over dress (toga) with veil.  Even when I'm "quickly throwing something together out of my stash", I still take 8 hours to meticulously hand sew the trim on.

I also found myself as part of the slave labor crash team putting together Sven and Sioban's step-down clothes. 12 more hours of meticulously sewing on bias tape and trim!  Other people did the embroidery and tablet weaving and construction, and it was GORGEOUS. And that wooooool...

And the last thing I haven't documented is the doublet I made this summer to wear under my armor.  I loved it so much that I also made pants to wear with it (and, of course, a codpiece).  I wore them as a set once at the beginning of Pennsic, then strapped my arms onto the doublet and haven't pulled it out since -_-  The pants have been getting some regular wear though, so I want to make another doublet that is better fit now that I understand the pattern.  I've also been commissioned by Gary to make a Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez outfit once the linen comes in.

Best thing about this weekend was freaking out people with my dick cheese.  It was beyond amazing.

Tailcoat V2.0

Despite all the shit that I have experienced this year, I have still been excitedly looking forward to Victorian Christmas. Especially now that I live in Bellefonte! I haven't really made anything for myself, but I was tasked in making a tailcoat for Cas, and I'm not failing at it! I used the same 1950's pattern I'd used for Dan a couple of years ago for Rocky, and made some modifications.

First of all, Cas is significantly straighter up-and-down than Dorito Back Dan, and it would be nice if the shape preceded the pattern by, oh, 60 years. The easiest fix for both of these was to change it from a one-button to a three-button front, and to make the tails rounded and not pointy.

And then there's the fabric. Oh, the fabric! Surplus City had this gorgeous greenish teal/oxford grey cross weave wool blend that has such a nice hand to it. The interfacing isn't giving it as much structure as I had wished, but the lining steps up to the challenge. And oh what lining ::swoon::

Dapper AF

Sleeves can still go fuck themselves.

I ended up not affixing these buttons because they were too big for the proportions of the coat, and I (mostly Dani) didn't have anything 3/4" in stash.  But that will be a quick fix one of these days.  I also made a cravat out of the leftovers of my Idris dress.  The crosswoven blue looked fantastic!  But damn did those fucking fabrics refuse to iron flat -_-

As for my dress, Dani and I went Thursday to The State Theatre for an early showing of the new PBS show Victoria, and a test run of our dresses.

I felt the beaver was four inches too long and kept getting caught in the bustle, so of course I woke up at 8 am and made myself a new circle skirt and let Nicole wear this one.

Stairwell

Progress on the house has been slower than I would have liked, but I finally finished painting the foyer and stairwell.  Unfortunately, the colors I chose for the upstairs and the downstairs aren't playing nicely in the center, and the olive drab looks more evergreen up against the crimson with the lamp light.  Now that I stained the trim and it is no longer blonde wood, the colors look a bit better, but I think I'm going to need to stencil something on to the wainscoting or glaze it with something that makes it darker and yellower.  But hey, progress!

On a side note, maybe I shouldn't have stained wood during the first snowfall of the year >.>

I did the thing! But she'll probably score the points.

A girl recently transferred to SCAR from California and decided to change her skate name to Zombabe.  I told her she should totally paint her helmet into a brain, but apparently people charge a shitload to do this, and she claimed she didn't have the skill to do it herself.  So I jumped in head first.

1) First, I cleaned off the helmet with alcohol. Simple enough.

2) I traced some pencil lines where I wanted the folds to go, and then filled it in with paint markers.  I didn't particularly like how this looked, but I figured it would adhere pretty well to the helmet and give a good base layer.

3) Clearcoat

4) Clearcoat

5) Clearcoat

6) The easiest thing for me to use was acrylic paint.  It comes in all colors, and it is pretty stable once it dries.  I had to do about three layers overall to get full coverage and good detail.

7) Clearcoat

8) Clearcoat

9) Did I mention Clearcoat?  I even did a light layer after the first acrylic layer.  I want this paint job to survive being banged up in a gear bag.

10) I wanted to add a sblechy red jelly feel to it between the folds, so I caked on red glitter glue.  Again, it took a few layers to build up well, and I probably did a couple of clearcoats in between, for good measure.

11) I added the green shading with a translucent acrylic made for stained glass.  I'm not too thrilled that there wasn't black in my set, so the green came out pretty neon.  But it looked pretty cool all in all.  With probably eight more clearcoats.

12)  In the end, she added name stickers.  I think they fit well.

I did not add a penis.  I have no idea what you are talking about!  Get your mind out of the gutter.

 The vulva is totally legit.

Also, the clearcoat is just Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Gloss in Clear.  Maybe less than half a can?  And the beauty is that each coat didn't have to be perfect, since I put so many on in the end.  Just give it about 20 minutes between each coat.

Curiously shaped purse

I had a last minute invite to an SCA event this saturday and only had one day to make something.  A 16th century dress was out of the question, mostly because I hadn't yet settled on what I wanted.  I have way too many dreams!  But something is starting to congeal >:}

So, instead, I made a... pouch.  In my studies I found a reference to three extant "lute shaped" purses.

Apparently some Italian decided that they wanted to hang a dick off their belt.  Who wouldn't?

I loosely followed the wonderful Morgan Donner's plans and made my own in about four hours.  I started with the cardboard from a 24 pack of Monsters and cut it into four full shapes (a six pack each) and three... girth expanders.

I glued all the layers together and covered them with a fake suede scrap I had in the bin.

As for the pouch, I measured the circumference of the... sac... and used it as the diameter of the semi-circle.  Finished it with a simple rolled hem.

I used a lot of glue and a lot of pins to stick a bias strip of fabric all around the edge.  The double thickness helped cover some of the glue stains.

I finished it off with golden beads along the edge and a finger braided cord.  

It went through the pleated sack and then pierced through the cardboard to tie in front.

Shit wasn't going all too awesome and I ran out of time to attach an appropriate pearl strap.

I learned a lot from this prototype.  First of all, it is necessary to embroider and bead the fabric before attaching it to the body.  Second, it is a bitch to sew through dried glue.  Lots of dried glue.  Penis Purse v. 2.0 will be made of black velvet (to match the gorgeous dress I am planning!), heavily decorated, and with some batting or padding.  The hard cardboard looks too uninviting.  Oh, and definitely needs the acorn tip.

Rocky Horror Tail Coat

Tail coats aren't normally shaped for people shaped like Dan.  Since he was playing the narrator at this year's Rocky, I got him a 1940's french tuxedo pattern.  The pattern isn't difficult, per sé, but definitely different.  It came with three small squares and a bunch of "tape measures" that correspond to chest circumferences so that the same pattern can be scaled to any size, including dolls.

You anchor the small square on to your craft paper and draw points at certain distances marked on the schematic, then connect all the points.  The pattern does not come with seam allowances or markers of any type, so it took me a bit of staring to figure out which piece was which and how they were all linked.

After transferring to the muslin, I laid out the body pieces to figure out which seams are which and lined them up.

I had to take out four inches on either side of the back instead of the minor darts it requested.

The outside was a cotton blend and the lining was a linen blend in order to have a bit of stretch and not over heat.  Herb was helping me transfer.

Most of the body together.

Of course I forgot to take good pictures once I was done.

While I was at it, I made Riff Raff some wrap around pants for his stilts.