Food Dyes and Cookie Sculpting

Posted on January 14, 2020 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

It’s Yule time again and for the local Barony’s Yule I was asked if I would take on making the subtlety for the head table. I wasn’t otherwise involved inthe event and said yes. (Helium hand sticks again.) The head chef had a rough idea involving a cookie chess board as a nod to the mid-16th Century German Julfest and I just ran with it.

Since I’m more of the artistic type, I went and roped in my bestie, Eithne, for her knowledge in the chemistry side of baking. I took to puzzling out the what this would look like. Initally, I had grand ideas of building a cookie box with chessboard top but due to kitchen time availability and space, decided against it. There were a couple of other variations before I settled on the final layout. After talking with Eithne, we worked out which materials we should use and how to keep it mostly period and fun, while working with a number of challenging allergies at high table.

Elements

The final layout and design of the subtlety came together, and we had a total of 3 separate elements.

Chess Board

For the chess board we knew we had to go with a cookie that wouldn’t spread or puff too much. We played with the idea of using gingerbread but discarded it in favor of using Eithne’s recipe for fynecakes. They puff far less and don’t spread at all. On a very rough test bake the score marks stayed and the square that we cut it to did stay square looking. We decided not to play with it too much since we found a workable solution. We did opt to swap the rose water for orange since I can’t stand the stuff.

Not All Black and White

Food based dyes (left to right) - beets gave red, blue is from cabbage with added baking soda, purple derived from cabbage.
Food based dyes (left to right) – beets gave red, blue is from cabbage with added baking soda, purple derived from cabbage.

A chess board is usually black and white. In my head, I visualized using food based dyes to get, at least, a dark brown. The easy way of coloring anything dark brown is to use chocolate. Unfortunately, due to allergies, the use of chocolate was out. We briefly played with the idea of using food based dyes to make a purple and yellow or blue and yellow board or pieces.

SCIENCE!

This is where we got to go a bit mad scientist. Colors are interesting, and we tried to get the brightest colors we could. We knew that mixing colors with the cookie dough and marzipan would wash out the colors to some degree.

Test samples of marzipan dyed blue, "yellow", and red.
Purple, “yellow”, and red marzipan.

We derived yellow from saffron, red from beets, and purple from cabbage. The color blue was played with as well, which we acquired by adding baking soda in minuscule amounts. We found that we had to wait after adding each bit of baking soda as it would take time to react. If we added too much it turned green. We also found that adding the color to marzipan turned it slightly purple again as marzipan is apparently acidic. So we had to over add baking soda so that it was slightly green so that it turned the right color when added to the marzipan and cookie dough.

The yellow dye was too pale and would have required more saffron than I had. I wish I had had access to safflower as I may have been able to reach the desired saturation with that. Overall we couldn’t get the cookie dough to take the color well, especially after it was baked, the color faded. So coloring the cookie dough that way, was out. The blue faded to pastel or went green in the marzipan so instead we decided to go with the purple from the cabbage and leave the marzipan in its natural state. Purple and white chess pieces, check.

What’s good for the goose…

The chessboard still needed a solution, however. Since we had no allergies to spices, we opted to color part of the cookie dough with cinnamon. The cinnamon and orange flavors in the base dough worked really well together, so we decided to keep that going forward. Erin made a few modifications including using orange juice for moisture instead of water to intensify the orange flavor and cut back on the orange oil and replace a portion with orange extract. The recipe with orange oil alone tased somewhat soapy, which was unappealing. All in all, the resulting flavors were amazing!

Chessmen

The chessmen, I decided early on, were going to be molded. The molds themselves were fairly cheap (which I should have spent more on) and a huge time saver. That, and I suck at sculpting, so that option was out.

Chess piece that went into the freezer and was cleaned, colored with red cabbage.

The first molding came out okay but trying to clean the molding seam only resulted in a disfigured blob. Marzipan keeps well in the freezer and comes out firm, so we made a few in the molds and had to rubber band the halves together since the molds wouldn’t lock together. After about 20 minutes in the freezer the chess pieces came out much firmer, and we were able to use a very sharp paring knife and xacto knife to clean the seam lines.

We let the chess piece sit out and found that it cracked. Not large or too significant, but enough that it didn’t look good. To be fair, the air in the house was very dry due to heating and all, and so we supposed that the pieces dried too quickly. I molded a few more and put them in a Tupperware in the fridge. That seemed to slow the drying process and those pieces didn’t crack at all.

Thanks to the experimentation, I knew I would be able to mold and clean these pieces a couple of days in advance. That took a lot of stress off in the end. Pre-baking is the way to go!

Goblets…Or Not

The galmourous glass works…

My initial intention was to serve up this chess game in progress with two goblets and a bowl of fruit on a pretty tray. I have worked with sugar and made goblets before and thought that they would be a nice touch. I used Isomalt, which is made from beet sugar and is really easy to work with. As long as you have a microwave safe bowl you can warm it up in 30 second increments and reheat when necessary. I added two drops of commercial blue dye and one drop of green to get a blue glass color as the clear of the Isomalt wasn’t very pretty. However, nothing went as planned. Also, I had forgotten what a disaster sugar work makes of my kitchen.

Balloons Are a Bust

First goblet shape that came out okay, 2nd round but cracked before I could assemble.

Apparently there are variations on balloons. Quality, regularity of shape, etc. I tried on three separate occasions and went through so many balloons. Silly of me, I forgot that the hot sugar made the air expand in the balloon the first time and while I tried to keep the balloons small but no matter how little I inflated them the first round of balloons only produced larger bowl shapes. Too large to be used for goblets. I also ran into trouble with the balloon inflating so much with the hot sugar applied that I had a hard time rolling the balloon around in the dish with melted sugar.

The second round produced a couple of potential goblets. Unfortunately one cracked when I removed the balloon and the other was too thin and cracked in the cooling process. My third attempt, made a day later, produced two thick and uneven bowls among a variety of failures. Frustrated, I decided that my goblets would be bowls, and they would be filled with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Stressing myself out was only resulting in more mistakes, so I opted to end there.

Project Completion

Our completed project came together well, though there are few things that I would change in the process. The cookie board build I think we would have toyed with a bit more, if only to see if we could get the pieces any more square and I would have liked to play with the dyes and their concentration. But, as Mistress Eleanore says, “80% of plan is still a plan” and all the elements were there, if not in their originally conceived forms and overall it was well received.


Categories: Arts & Sciences, Cooking | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Travel in the Time of Perronnelle – Pt. 2

Posted on August 26, 2019 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

In a previous post I addressed the question posed by Baron and Master Ulric von Der Insel a couple of weeks ago. His question: “Where did your — persona — always want to go? To see what?”

This got my brain weasels going and the post was so long that I was forced to stop after the analysis of my persona’s local towns, home town, and nearby geography. I had realized that I couldn’t address the question in its entirety without addressing my persona’s surroundings.

That having been addressed I think I can move on to where my persona would have wanted to travel. I believe that there are a couple of things that I need to consider while doing this exercise:

  1.  Religion and commerce played the largest influences upon travel in the Middle Ages. Keeping this in mind and pinpointing common trade cities and routes as well as common pilgrimage sites.
  2. Knowing myself. My persona is an extension of myself, and I am a fairly practical person. Knowing my monetary circumstances, as well as my station, along with my persona’s backstory would place the limit on my travel.

I believe these two factors will help identify and narrow down likely travel locations. I’m going to break it down in two sections religious and commerce motivated travel and backstory related travel.

Map of France c.1035 with home (green), local towns (blue), the nearest major city (red), and potential points of interest (yellow).1

Religious & Commerce Driven Travel

Pilgrimage

Religion played a major role in the medieval person’s life. The church calendar dictated life for most people. It told them when to plant, when to harvest, etc. It only makes sense that the desire to visit holy sites would be of interest to the medieval person.

The role of pilgrimage in the medieval era is well documented. The ultimate pilgrimage was a journey to Rome or Jerusalem. Pilgrims would sometimes even sell their land to walk hundreds of miles to the holy sites. Not everyone could afford to walk this oftentimes dangerous and time-consuming journey. Therefore, it would make sense that for those unable to travel to the holy cities that more local sites of religious importance would be likely.

Ways of St James

Pilgrim routes to Compostela.3

History

St. James was the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred. James was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I and, according to Spanish tradition, his body was taken to Santiago de Compostela on the western edge of Spain.2 His tomb was supposedly discovered in the 9th century, at which point a church was built on the site by Alfonso II of Asturias and enlarged by Alfonso III. However, it wasn’t until 1078 AD that the current cathedral was begun by Alfonso IV.

While no grand cathedral may have been on the site, this would have been a great pilgrimage while still being relatively close by. It would have been a major undertaking and, I think that while it would have been of great interest to my persona, not something that would have been readily attainable for me.

Routes

The routes that pilgrims took are still in evidence and in use in France today as walking trails. Looking at the map included above you can see the three major routes leading to Compostela. The route leading from Paris, The Way of Tours or Via Turonensis, would have been the closest departure point for me. Therefore, before even beginning, I would have had a two-day journey to Paris, before joining other pilgrims before leaving.

According to the Agence de Coopération Inerréigional et Réseau (ACIR), which oversees the traditional paths of St James, it would take approximately 73 days or roughly two and a half months of walking to go from Paris to Compostela. The walk covers an incredible 1839.6 km or 1143 miles. As I said before, I don’t believe that this would be something undertaken by my persona. My backstory aside, pilgrimage was usually discouraged through sermon literature as was other unsupervised travel.5

Interestingly enough, the first “tourist guide” was a publication from the 12th century for these routes.  The Codex Calixtinus (written in Latin by a French monk) helped the pilgrims identify the best places to stay over the course of their travels.6

Local Holy Sites

Rouen

Smaller trips to local holy sites would have been far more feasible and likely in my opinion. In my persona’s history I was born in Croixmare, the little green dot on the map of France above, near Rouen. Rouen was only a half a day’s ride if we hold that a moderately loaded wagon could do approximately 35 to 40 miles in a day.7 The cathedral in Rouen had a fairly recently built tower, completed in 1035 and 1063 a Romanesque Cathedral was consecrated by Archbishop Maurille in the presence of Duke William, the future Conqueror.8 I think that would have been a fairly interesting and significant draw for people in the surrounding region. While the cathedral structure standing then didn’t live past the early 1100’s there are still some remnants of the Romanesque building remains under the current construction.

Topical view of the Labyrinth of Chartres (Sylvain Sonnet/Corbis)

Chartes

Chartres would have been another fairly local pilgrimage site. Over modern roads it’s 161.3km (100.2 mi) according to google maps. Estimating travel times to be about two and half to three days this wouldn’t be too unreasonable. Chartres had become a great center of medieval learning in the 10th century and the cathedral was also the center of a thriving marketplace. While it’s now famous labryinth would not be completed until 1200, there were other interesting attractions. For instance, its acquisition of a biblical relic (a scrap of silk, the veil of Mary worn during the birth of Christ) in 876 AD given by Emperor Charles the Bald, would make Chartes a very appealing destination.9

Points of Interest Further Afield

Further afield there were other points of interest, of course. Places such as Mont Saint Michael, Bayeux, and Paris lay 3-5 days away. I do not discount any of these as places as part of my narrative. These are places that were quite significant and popular to visit and  had such historical significance that I don’t believe that I could really do them justice in a simple paragraph.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road…

Rather than short change these amazing locales. I’m going to opt to stop here and pause to do a little more digging…that is, research. Doing these last two posts has gotten me thinking about something and I now I’m curious to follow the white rabbit down the rabbit hole and see where it leads!

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my ponderings and research but now I’m curious…where would your persona have traveled?

1“Medieval France Maps Home Page.” www.pitt.edu. April 18, 2019. pitt.edu, Web. April 18, 2019. Site

2“Saint James | apostle, son of Zebedee.” Britannica.com. May 02, 2019. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., Web. May 02, 2019. Site

3“Traditional pilgrim routes.” walkinginfrance.info. May 02, 2019. JA & KP, Web. May 02, 2019. Site

4“ACIR – Itineraires | ACIR Compostelle.” chemins-compostelle.com. May 02, 2019. ACIR, Web. May 02, 2019. Site

5“Whose Rules? Medieval Women and Pilgrimage | American Catholic Historical Association.” achahistory.org/. May 02, 2019. ACHA, Web. May 02, 2019. Site

6“The Codex Calixtinus – Vivecamino.” vivecamino.com. May 02, 2019. LA Voz De Galica, Web. May 02, 2019. Site

7“Raven Cross Press – Travel in the Time of Perronnelle.” ravencrosspress.com. April 20, 2019. Caroline Daniel, Web. May 02, 2019. Site Reference to the section titled Travel and the book “Mistress, Maids and Men: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century.”

8“Patrimoine – Histoire.” cathedrale-rouen.net. May 02, 2019. Web. May 02, 2019. Site

9“Chartres Cathedral – Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres.” chartrescathedral.net. May 03, 2019. Chartres Cathedral, Web. May 03, 2019. Site

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Travel in the Time of Perronnelle

Painting of Jumigés Abby by John Sell Cotman
Posted on April 20, 2019 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

Down the Rabbit Hole

I enjoy fleshing out my persona within the SCA. It is an ongoing process that I add to and edit as time goes on. One aspect is where my persona is from and where I may have traveled. His Excellency Ulric von Der Insel has posed the question:

Where did your — persona — always want to go? To see what?

This got my brain working. I’ve ironed out my home town, general story, and local trading towns. This particular question though is making me think and go a bit deeper into my persona. Where would I have traveled during my lifetime? Where would I have wanted to go or visit? What was the reality of living where I say I did?

I think in order to get a better, clearer answer I’ll have to dig a bit. Certainly religion played a large part in the life of people and pilgrimages were a common reason for travel. I’ll be doing a bit of research to find my answer and I’ll be addressing the common factors and likely locations in this post and continue in a second post, if needed.

My France

This map is the clearest one I could find of France during my persona’s time period. I’m doing a bit of overlaying with google maps to orient myself and incorporate rivers into my picture. Some rivers are marked on the map above but I have a hard time seeing them.

Home

Map of France c.1035 with home (green), local towns (blue), nearest major city (red), and potential points of interest (yellow).1

According to the story that I’ve fabricated I was born and lived a portion of my life in a town called Croix Mare (green dot on the map above) approximately 28.3km or 17.5 miles (following modern day roads) north west of Rouen.2

Painting of Jumigés Abby by John Sell Cotman

Jumièges Abbey, as painted by John Sell Cotman in 18186

Croix Mare (also referred to as Croixmare) is first mentioned sometime in the 7th century, as claimed by the town history site. It was well enough established to be mentioned in the history of Jumièges Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, some 24km (15 miles) away. I haven’t found the primary source that this is referring to but I haven’t given up.3

It wouldn’t be surprising for the town to be mentioned by the abbey accounts as the main sources of income were their crops, livestock, and (more importantly) weaving. In the registers a large amount of people in the town recorded their livelihoods as weavers. The abbey in it’s heyday had over a thousand monks that needed robes. That alone would keep a number of weavers busy throughout the year.

Travel

There are a few opinions about travel times during the middle ages.  I have one book on hand that mentions travel times in the 13th century:

Some estimate of the average distance covered in a day by [a thirteenth-century English] household can be gained from the countess of Leicester’s account in February; when the household was at Wallingford, it moved on to Odiham by way of Reading, spending one night there. The journey on each of these days was just over fifteen miles, the normal pace of such a move in midwinter. But in June, when the countess had to hurry across country with her household to the greater safety of Dover castle, she consistently traveled thirty miles a day. This may reasonably be considered as fast as such a large company could move, and the sustained rate of speed hints at the urgency that drove them on.

All thirteenth-century travelers did not of course belong to large retinues, and small groups with good horses traveled much faster. The merchant could do between thirty-five and forty miles a day, traveling only in daylight hours, if his merchandise was light and easily carried on one horse. Freight services, such as commonly transported wine in England or traveled the alpine passes with goods from Italy for the fairs of Champagne, were among the slowest of all traffic. Fastest of all was the messenger, for he also traveled at night and often requisitioned extra horses along his route. He might cover as much as fifty-five to sixty miles a day. (pp. 156-7)5

Many opinions tend to hover around these types of figures. Taking that into account there are a few towns that would have been within a day’s reach. Jumièges Abby was about 15 miles away but there were a few other towns that were a bit closer that are worth mentioning.

Local Towns

House of the Templars 12th and 1th centuries

La Maison des Templiers, 12th et 13th centuries – Photo by Urban

The town of Caudebec-en-Caux (blue dot, west of the green one) situated on the Seine River a little over 16km (approx. 10 miles) away was, and still is, an active trading town. The town was also home to Templar knights in the 12th and 13th Centuries. Combined with it’s perfect location on the river, it would be the ideal places to get a barge or boat to points further south, such as Paris.

The town of Ivetot or Ivethot (modern day Yvetot, just north of Caudebec-en-Caux) is found only about 9km (6 miles) west and was another well established town during my period. Given the proximity of this particular town, I believe that it makes it highly likely that my persona would know it well and perhaps even travel there on a regular basis.

River Travel

I think its also worth mentioning the proximity of a smaller navigable river located closer than the mighty Seine. The river Saffimbec (bis a little under 4km or 2.3 miles east, near Limséy. While on the narrow side, I believe that it may have been possible for ta horse drawn barge to navigate it quite easily. The Saffimbec is a tributary of the river Austreberthe and joins it in the town of Pavilly.  That, in turn, joins the river Seine in the town of Duclair. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that this would be a very serviceable trade route to Paris.

Paris over land is 160km or nearly 100 miles on today’s roads. Let’s say the roads were clear and the wagon not too heavy. According to the a fore mentioned accounts it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that you might cover 20 miles or 32km in a day. A trip to Paris from Croixmare would take you 4 days. I’m fairly certain that traveling by boat or barge down river would get you there in half the time. Even if the Saffimbec was not navigable with Caudbec-en-Caux only about a half day’s ride and access to the Seine River would still cut you travel time to Paris and points south in half.

Break Time

This post is already long and there’s still a good page and a half of notes to go. That being said, I’m not going to try to post it all here. That would be silly. Instead I’m going to be satisfied that I have established viable local towns and routes to major destinations. I’ll post again next week about places my persona would want to travel to beyond the limit of a day’s ride in a wagon.

I’m really looking forward to this. This post has been a great deal of fun and a great trip down a rabbit hole heretofore unexplored. Here’s to the next adventure!

 

1“Medieval France Maps Home Page.” www.pitt.edu. April 18, 2019. pitt.edu, Web. April 18, 2019. Site

2“Rouen, France to 76190 Croix-Mare, France – Google Maps.” Google Maps. April 18, 2019. Google, Web. April 18, 2019. Google Map

3“Histoire de Croixmare – Croix mare.”http://www.croixmare.fr/. April 18, 2019. Croix Mare, Web. April 18, 2019. Site

4Cyprian Alston. (2019) “Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) – Abbey of Jumièges”. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from Catholic Encyclopedia

5“Mistress, Maids and Men: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century.” Google Books. April 18, 2019. Phoenix, Web. April 18, 2019. Site.

6“Jumièges Abbey.” John Sell Cotman. 1818. Wikipedia, Web. April 19, 2019. Site

Categories: General | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Newest Scroll & Issues with Perg

Completed 16th Century German scoll with modifications
Posted on April 18, 2019 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

One of the many hobbies I do within the SCA is illumination. I love painting a scroll. I get to pain pretty things and be creative. Like most artists, I’m never truly happy with my finished product and I grumble a great deal through the process. This particular piece was more difficult than average and last minute issues stressed me out to no end.

Inspiration

So this particular piece was for a landed baron stepping down from his post. His persona within the SCA is a German lord from the Strasbourg area from the 1100’s. Usually, when I am given a scroll assignment, I try to find an inspiration piece from the same time period. Unfortunately, this time, I was unable to find an existing piece from that region that matched his time period. What I did find is a page from late period (around 1500, pictured left) that I really fell in love with. Out of the several that I found this one was the one that stood out the most. It also seemed suitably “baron thank you-ish,” if that makes any sense. The text is inspired by a letter from Conrad III to Wibald, Abbot of Corvxy,  in 1148.

It is a bit of a mis-match, I’ll admit. Since I wasn’t able to find an illumination that fit what I was going for, I was determined to at least find inspiration for the text. The original text is a letter written  by Conrad to the Abbot of Corvxy to share with the people of Germany. While it’s purpose is to set the  disastrous events of the German part of the Second Crusade in a good light to the people, there were elements that I could use. I searched the usual sources for appropriate wordings but only found texts for awards, not thanks you’s. I stumbled across this on a random google search and finding it was a definite win.

Conrad, by the grace of God, august king of the Romans, to venerable Wibald, abbot of Corvey, ­ his most kind greeting.

Because we know that you especially desire to hear from us and to learn the state of our prosperity, we think it fitting first to tell you of this. By God’s mercy we are in good health and we have embarked in our ships to return on the festival of the blessed Virgin in September, after having accomplished in these lands all that God willed and the people of the country permitted.

Let us now speak of our troops. When following the advice of the common council we had gone to Damascus and after a great deal of trouble had pitched our camps before the gate of the city, it was certainly near being taken. But certain ones, whom we least suspected, treasonably asserted that the city was impregnable on that side and hastily led us to another position where no water could be supplied for the troops and where access was impossible to any one. And thus all, equally indignant grieved, returned, leaving the undertaking uncompleted. Nevertheless, they all promised unanimously that they would make an expedition against Ascalon, and they set the place and time. Having arrived there according to agreement, we found scarcely anyone. In vain we waited eight days for the troops. Deceived a second time, we turned to our own affairs.

In brief therefore, God willing, we shall return to you. We render to you the gratitude which you deserve for your care of our son and for the very great fidelity which you have shown to us, And with the full intention of worthily rewarding your services;, we ask you to continue the same.¹

– Conrad to Wibald, Abbot of Corvxy 1148 
Bouquet: Recueil, xv, p 534. Latin.

 

Trouble in Paradise

Shakespeare wrote that the course of true love never did run smooth. Apparently the life of scrolls never runs smooth either. For those that aren’t aware I’ll provide a bit of backstory. The life a scroll, where scribes and illuminators are concerned, starts with a piece of paper… well an email, really. I’ve posted the one I received for this scroll below:

Notes:

  • The royals would prefer König and Königin for Their Titles, (though They are fine with regional alternates for scrolls specific to a recipient’s persona).

  • Inquiries about Royal court may be directed to the Eastern Crown Herald (Royal Herald) for TRM Wilhelm and Vienna: Baroness Theodora Bryennissa, called Treannah at email redacted for privacy.

  • Scrolls that are protected against bending can be shipped to Their Majesties at: Address redacted for privacy.

———————————————————————————————————

Recipient:    Ulric von der Insel
Award:   Thank you scroll
Date:    March 23, LIII (53)
Event:   Black Rose Ball/Investiture
Royalty:       Wilhelm and Vienna
SOSN:        WV18-140
Assigned to:   Perronnelle de Croy
Blazen:  Not armigerous

Thank you for being Baron of Bridge

This particular email was one of the least descriptive but then it didn’t need much. This was a “thank you for your service” scroll, not an award. It has all the pertinent details -the who, what, where, why, and when. It also includes the royals preferred titles, mailing addresses, and the Royal Herald contact information. The section at the bottom after all of that would be the recommendation, persona details, preferred scroll style, etc.

This was my first baronial thank you so I was a little intimidated at first, to be honest. I wanted to make sure that it was appropriate. Fortunately Baron Ulric has an East Kingdom Wiki page. From there I learned that he has a German persona, approximate year, and location. Armed with that information I was able to narrow my search for a scroll style and appropriate wording.

This particular scroll I decided to use pergmanata (a vegetable vellum) instead of my usual Strathmore Bristol paper. I also ended up altering the layout a bit and did a 3/4 border, leaving out the bottom edge. I did this to allow more space for the necessary signatures from the King and Queen. Everything went swimmingly….the first time around.

Accidents Happen

I handed off the scroll on a Friday, a good two and a half weeks before the due date, to a calligrapher I had paired with. Overall, I was happy with the work but was dumb and only realized after that I hadn’t taken any pictures. Oh well. I could get pictures at the event with the calligraphy on it. Even better, right?

Monday, early afternoon, I got a message saying that there had been an accident. The scribe spilled ink on the scroll and there was no way to save it. I’m not going to lie, I panicked. I was leaving that Thursday for a trip and would be coming back on Sunday evening. It finished the scroll in roughly two weeks due to my carpel tunnel and arthritis acting up, how could I get it done in time? It felt important, you know? I’ve never had a scroll not be finished on time. I’m proud of that. I wasn’t going to let this one go without at least giving it a try. I contacted a local calligrapher in hopes of being able to get that aspect sorted. We arranged to meet the following Tuesday to hand off the scroll.

Gouache on pergmenata section

A section of base layers of paint.

Process

This time I would take pictures. I ended up penciling the design on Monday night and started laying down paint on Tuesday. This is where I ran into my issue my perg ended up having a waxy residue in some areas. Several scribes warned me about using lotion on my hands and using a paper towel or bridge to rest my hand on while painting. I had avoided lotions and everything so this was something that was on the perg when I purchased it. It caused my paint to puddle like rain on a Rain-X treated windhield. I had never run into this before.

My solution was to thicken up  my paint to get it to stay. I ran into an even trickier version of the issue with my gold work. The gold would bubble. I had to scrape and reapply the gold in sections several time to solve the issue. I’ve since learned that using pounce or even a superfine grit of sandpaper can be a solution to deal with this. Needless to say, it wasn’t amusing to me in the least.

Wednesday I was able to finish the base layer of paints but didn’t get much further due to real life commitments. I was frustrated, I’m not going to lie. My arthritis and carpel tunnel were aggravated and I was pushing it. I had to paint in about twenty minute sections then take a break of twenty or thirty minutes to stretch out my hand and arm. Progress was far slower the second time around.

Thursday I left on a family trip and came home Sunday night. Sunday night was shot as we got home too late and once we got home it was all about getting the kids to bed, unpacking, and getting everyone ready for Monday. I was thankful that Monday everyone was out of the house. Three days of rest for my hand and arm meant that I could do longer stretches. I was happy that I was able to get about three-quarters of the shading, highlights, and details in. The scroll finished up on Tuesday morning and was able to get it dry and handed off to my calligrapher. I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved.

Completed 16th Century German scoll with modifications

Completed Scroll

Results

The scroll made it to the event and to court on time. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out…kind of. I still think that the first one was better since I had more time to work on it.  There were a few things that I would change in the future though. On the facsimile the highlight color on the green vines looked white to me. I got a suggestion that it could have been a pale yellow, and often was. Due to fading over time the pale yellow can look white especially when scanned by or photographed. It’s definitely something I’ll remember next time.

In retrospect, looking at the photo, I think I also would have liked to improve my shading. There are some areas where I feel like it the shading could have been more prominent. The gold work also looks likes it could be improved. The bubbling was a major issue in at least four spots in the gold work. It looks a little bumpy and not as smooth as I would have liked. I’ll have to work on that some more I guess. There’s always room for improvement.

 

¹Dana C. Munro, “Letters of the Crusaders”, Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, Vol 1:4, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1896), 12-14

Categories: Arts & Sciences, Illumination | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Themes, Topics, and Trouble

Posted on April 13, 2019 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

Lately I haven’t been posting much here and I’m trying to change that. I’ve taken on a few projects and, while fun, I’m terrible at taking pictures of progress. So! In an effort to be more regular in my posting I’m going to try to corral some other SCAdian bloggers into doing something “old-school” with me.

An Old School Idea

For a while in my other hobby of writing, we had something called a Merry-Go-Round Blog tour. It was a glorified blog ring. A theme or topic was posted each month and each writer participating was assigned a day to post a response. It could be written whenever and, thanks to the publishing scheduler in most blogs, assign it to post on your given day. The result was awesome. Each writer has their own take on a topic, whether a more specific one or a more broad one. Sometimes it would lead to rambles that were only loosely connected but it was fascinating and often times thought-provoking for the writer.

For this to work it means that I will have to come up with themes/topics/questions. Twelve a year to be exact. While it would be easy to pick the simple things (favorite event, Pennsic memories, etc.) I want to dig deeper and also address the larger questions (the Omnibus Peerage, accessibility, and visions for the future). I want to hear from people newer in the SCA and those that have been in for the long haul and, if possible, from all over the Known World.

As I’m re-reading this, it occurs to me that this is very much a sociology-type study for myself. I wonder how often it occurs to us as SCAdians that we are a unique culture? As individuals we are amazing but as a group? We are downright impressive. Traditions that vary from region to region, people participating with others that they might have never come across otherwise. I’m hoping that I can start this as soon as May.

For now, if you’re a SCAdian blogger and would like to be a part of my crazy idea please add your name and blog link to the spreadsheet below.

>>BLOG SIGN UP<<

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Organization & Storage Solutions – Fabric Edition

Posted on February 11, 2019 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

Hello, world! I’ve taken to doing videos lately on the great book of faces and I thought to add them here. This one happens to be on fabric storage and my organization solutions. This is one of many so stay tuned!

What follows is the video and the transcription (with related links) for those that need it!

Transcript

Okay, good morning everybody!

So I’ve been following a conversation on Facebook about fabric storage solutions. What’s the best way to store a large quantity of fabric because a lot of us tend to have those. Stashes or not, and how best to find all that stuff.

Good morning, girls! Ladies!

Swatch Cards

I’m talking about my favorite way to store things. So I’ve actually posted a link and what I do…I’m OCD, I am type-A personality about this sort of thing. I actually have swatch cards. These are fairly old. I keep them, they’re about the size of a…one of the little note cards, and I keep them in here. They look like this. I can staple a piece of fabric. They have the date, a store name, the price I paid for it, the width, the yards, the fiber content, the item it may be used for, and the customer. But in our case, on this particular one, I’ve switched it to projects because sometimes knowing which fabric you’ve used a project for, or if you want to earmark that fabric for a specific project. I know I don’t always remember. So this is how I do it.

I have… Let me pull out a selection here. So I have the fiber content. Sometimes it’s a best guess, depending on where you shop, and sometimes you can easily tell by doing a burn test or something like that.

[Laughter] Good morning Tammy!

Yeah, I have enough fabric now that I actually have those big, large bins. The really massive ones. I have one for cotton, linen, wool. Which I think I actually have one and a half of those because wool is rather bulky. And then I have the dead dinosaur bin, which is basically rayon, polyester, or anything like that.

Pink and gold striped cotton/acrylic blend swatch card - fabric organization
The Cotton/Acrylic Sample

Well, what happens if I have a blend? So do I have one that’s a blend in here? Nope, these are all my cottons. I just happened to grab all my cottons. If I have one that’s a blend I will go…here we go. This is a cotton acrylic blend. You can see I wrote it down.

Hi, Fiona!

I wrote it down that this is a cotton acrylic blend so I would probably find this one in my cotton bin. What I usually do is if I know the quantity, if it’s like 60% cotton and 40% acrylic then I would go under what the bulk of it is. Actually, this one is unknown, so this one would probably be under acrylic. If I don’t know, and it’s just a cotton acrylic blend and I can guess from a burn test…I can make an educated guess, from a burn test, then I would probably put it into the dead dinosaur bin under acrylic and that’s how I would sort that one out.

21 Wale brown corduroy swatch card - fabric organization
21 Wale Corduroy

But yes, I have all of my lovely little cards. So this is a cotton poly. I have some lovely cotton corduroy that’s like a 21 wale corduroy. These are the cottons that I got…that I used for my pants, my middle eastern pants. 100% cotton, 44 inches wide and I have ⅛ of a yard.

What happens is as I go through and I use this, what I will do is I will scratch it out and perhaps write down, you know, how much I have left. On some of them…I don’t have them here, of course.

Striped cotton watch card - Fabric Organization
Striped Cotton used for Middle Eastern Pants

What happens is as I go through and I use this, what I will do is I will scratch it out and perhaps write down, you know, how much I have left. On some of them…I don’t have them here, of course. But! What I will do is if I use…if I have a large quantity of fabric, like I have some silk. Some of the lovely green silk that I have made…Here we go, that was a sari. I made a Byzantine dress out of the bulk of the sari. But the rest of that is now swatched on the card and I’ve put down as…you know, how many yards I have left. And on the back of the card, the back of the cards are blank, for the most part, some of them I’ve reprinted them. If the back of the card, even if the back of the card is not blank, I will write down, somewhere on the back of the card, how much I have left or what project it was used for and how much it was used for.

What happens is as I go through and I use this, what I will do is I will scratch it out and perhaps write down, you know, how much I have left. On some of them…I don’t have them here, of course. But! What I will do is if I use…if I have a large quantity of fabric, like I have some silk. Some of the lovely green silk that I have made…Here we go, that was a sari. I made a Byzantine dress out of the bulk of the sari. But the rest of that is now swatched on the card and I’ve put down as…you know, how many yards I have left. And on the back of the card, the back of the cards are blank, for the most part, some of them I’ve reprinted them. If the back of the card, even if the back of the card is not blank, I will write down, somewhere on the back of the card, how much I have left or what project it was used for and how much it was used for.

So that’s how I sort my stuff. That’s how I keep myself organized and that’s how I can find my fabrics. I am actually needing to get a new little box because my little box is quite full and keep going on that. But I have a lot of things in here, some of them, you know…and you come across stuff that you have.

Swatch card with teal wool - fabric organization
Teal Wool

So, here’s a really good instance of it: This was a teal coat weight wool, fairly thick piece of wool, the date I purchased it, the store (which was Sewfisticated), the price, the width, and then the yardage. But you’ll notice that I have….I bought three yards but then what happens is I updated it with a date. It’s now a scrap which means it’s going to be found in my scrap bin and not in the actual wool bins. The fiber content is 100% wool and my item that I made is an apron dress.

This is something that I stole completely off of my…out of costume design back in college because we had a lot of fabric. It wasn’t organized. It was done on a bookshelf. It didn’t stay organized for very long but at least you could see what you had when it was used last, or if it was gone.

So if you’re done with it and you don’t have any more of the fabric, then it’s important to update the card and get it out of there. On the upside, if you buy a fabric and you need more fabric, then you can always take a look and see where you bought your fabric and maybe go back there and see if they have more. This happens a lot when you’re costuming shows and sometimes you’re doing a project, making a dress, whatever. And you forget. Perhaps, when you’re in your buying of all the fabric, what store, or where you sourced your fabric from. So that’s how I store my stuff!

Then, you have…I have a few exceptions. So, if you come with me, let’s take a little walk. I have a few exceptions…Excuse me. Sorry! There you go, Mabel!

A clothes rack with works in process on hangars. Fabric storage solution.
Standing Rack with projects in progress.

Okay, so I have a few exceptions. So you’ll see behind me a standing rack. This is the rack I used to bring with me to Pennsic, but I don’t anymore because it’s just not conducive in my tent and really stupid. So I actually will hang projects in progress, fabric, right here on the hangers. That way I can see what projects I have in progress, on a hanger, right here. If I stop in the middle of something I will usually take a sticky note, or a post-it or a scrap paper and I will safety pin a note right to the dress. This is…this is some of the pre-washed, a note for a pre-wash that I did on the stuff I’m working on now. But I will pin it right to the fabric. With maybe where I’ve stopped and my next steps. And that’s how I figure out “okay…,” especially if I’m working on multiple projects at a time, “what do I need to do?” As opposed to having to take everything out, lay it all out, kind of look at everything, and get an idea of where I was, in order to go back into my project. I find that just writing a quick note, “Okay nest up: facing the neckline.” “Next step: hemming the sleeves.” And then from there on I can kind of…I know where I am so I can keep going from there.

Smokey blue cotton fabric hanging on a hangar for a project in progress with a note pinned to it stating the next steps.
Project with note pinned to it for next steps.

So! I hope that’s helpful. I’ve gone ahead and attached those swatch cards. It’s a google spreadsheet. Feel free to use them, modify them as you wish. If you use them. I always bring some with me when I go shopping. A lot of places will let you take swatches. There are some places that won’t but I find that’s kind of rare. But, if you can take a swatch and that way also if I go shopping and I’m like, “Hey I need a trim color for this!” I can bring my little swatch card with me when I go shopping and I can try and match the colors or find something that will work nicely with what I have.

Selection of fabric swatch cards printed on blue and green cardstock
Swatch Cards and Box

So those are my swatch cards. My collection is ever growing. Like I said, I don’t throw away the swatch cards if I use up all my fabric. They stay in my little box…or boxes, actually. That’s box number 2. And I will keep them so that way if I’m looking to do a project I can rifle through and I can see, “Oh hey, this would be a really great material to do X with!” Do I have any left? If I don’t, where can I get it, and how much did it cost?

That’s pretty much it, so there you go. Those are my swatch cards, that’s how I store my fabric and hopefully, it’ll be useful to somebody. If not, meh, it’s useful to me. Swatch cards are a thing and they are fantastic. Yes, if you have a large collection, setting them up at the outset can be a pain. However! They are well worth it in the end. So! That’s my bit for today. I hope everybody has a very happy Wednesday and I hope everybody enjoyed the warm weather yesterday and the slightly warmer weather today. So now I’m going to get back to sewing and I’ll see you all later.

Categories: General, Video | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

A New Motivation

Posted on October 7, 2018 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

So I’ve been fairly quiet on here for a long time. Partially due to real life: figuring out if we were moving or not, a new job, and all kinds of things like that. It was also partially because of feeling like I had hit a bit of a rut in my modern medieval life. It’s something that happens to people once in a while from what I hear. It took me a little bit to realize it for what it was, which was interesting. Mundania had swamped me. We had to figure out if we were moving or not, I got a new job, and more things like that. I had no real direction for a while other than my own personal projects and going to events. I was somewhat refreshed last Pennsic (2017) when I got started in voice heraldry.

Progress

I’ve done more heralding now and I’m working on creating a bank of blank scrolls as way to better my art. Stupidly I haven’t taken any photos of the last couple scrolls I’ve done. So I’ve felt like I was drifting. I suppose after so many years in the game it shouldn’t be too surprising. So for the past several months I’ve been working on upping my game as far as my persona and garb are concerned. I realized I had one complete outfit (my viking stuff) but not a complete Norman outfit which is my primary persona. I’ve been feeling pretty good about it too. I’m making good progress on updating my wardrobe and such so slow and steady progress.

I’ve also come back to fencing. This has been awesome. I have a lot to work on but keeping my head and working on my attacks have given me somethings to focus on. I have some personal issues to resolve before I enter a tournament list but I’m getting there.

Crazy Trips and Hints

So things changed a bit last May, when I was up  in Ruantallan (Nova Scotia) for the spring crown tournament. It was a crazy trip: 14 hour one-way trip Friday, event Saturday, drove 15 hours home on Sunday. It was insane and a bunch of fun and I got story time with uncle Cedric for the trip! I ended up heralding most of the tournament and a good chunk of the court as well. It was great fun and I haven’t been to a Ruantallan event in years so partaking in their hospitality was awesome.

We were at feast and I happened to nab a seat next to a certain Baron (Master of the Pelican) and Baroness(Peli-Laurel). It was near the end of the evening when something that was said in passing about potentially changing the color of my belt. To tell the truth, I was so tired I just looked at the Baron rather blankly, like “Quoi?” So then things were spelled out for me and I was gobsmacked. I was sent home to think about it, which I did.

Continuing the Conversation

I did some asking around. A long distance peer, well, it wasn’t something I was sure about. I’ve heard horror stories but I’ve heard good things too. I spoke to his protogés. What it boils down to is that I think this would work out. I think we would be a good fit. I spoke with my teacher and she agreed and so I was looking forward to continuing the conversation.

Schtick

I was flagged down at the Bergental Baronial Investiture by both Godfroy and Alisay saying that they were doing a bit of Schtick in court. Something they had arranged with the out-going Baron and Baroness (my teacher.) So court happens and I’m retaining for their Excellencies Bergental during their last court. Nearing the end, Baron Godfroy interrupts and this is what follows:

What they are bargaining for is the opportunity to converse with me about my future. I didn’t know I was going to be part of the schtick. Which is why I’m laughing like an idiot. Following this we did talk a bit more about the coming months and really moving forward with entering an agreement as peer and protogé. I’m thankful for my friends who got pictures and video of this. It was a happy moment and it made my day.

But Wait, There’s More…

I have never been approached by a peer before so this bit of theater left me rather speechless. It was very flattering. Discussions continued between Master Godfroy and I and it’s decided that I will become his protogé at Birka this year. It’s a new part of a continuing adventure and I look forward to what’s to come!

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Eura Dress Update

Hole from wear and tear in a beige Eura Dress reproduction
Posted on April 27, 2018 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

So once upon a time, about 2 years ago now, I made a version of the Eura dress. (You can read about that here.) This is an update on that dress and how it’s worn over time. There are a few pros and a few cons and I’m actually curious as to how many other people experienced similar things.

So the linen I used for this was a standard 100% medium weight linen. I love the fit and it was very comfortable in the shoulders and sleeves. The v-neck was great too, once I figured out the proper fit.  Not to mention that the Eura dress was super easy to assemble. Four trapezoids and two long triangles and no pesky center gore to worry about.

The one thing that I noticed early on through was that the underarm triangles began to wear rather quickly. Now, I’m no expert, but I didn’t expect those areas to wear out as fast as they did. It’s even stranger that the wear is happening in the same way on both sides of the gown. I’ve included some pictures below.

Hole from wear and tear in a beige Eura Dress reproduction

Eura dress right under arm wear and tear. A close up – each of these holes is about an inch to an inch and a half long.

Repairs

The saddest thing about this is that it can’t be patched, at least not easily. The patches would have to be large and would make the underarm area bulky. The best way would be to replace both gores on either side. Unfortunately, there is no material left to make two such gores. My next step is to see if I can find some material that is similar in weight and color to fix the dress. If I can’t find something suitable I may try darning it using needle weaving techniques before I use a different color to replace the gores entirely.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Beige Eura dress reproduction with wear beginning to show in left underarm gores.

Left underarm gores. Beginning of wear on the seam.

Categories: Garb, Norse Garb | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bergental Baronial Championship – A&S Edition

Posted on September 15, 2017 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

Maybe I Will…

This past weekend was the Barony of Bergental‘s Baronial Championship, an event which I generally look forward to because it’s a lot like “Old Home” week. It’s mostly a laid back event and  I get to see several of my friends and have a really nice day. This year I helped put together the dayboard or lunches and had both kids with me so it was a little busier than usual. Fortunately, the kids had friends to play with and they kept themselves busy while I helped in the kitchen which worked out nicely.

There was another reason I was a little more stressed out than usual at this particular event. I had decided, on a whim and at the last minute, to enter my Skjoldehamn hood into the Arts and Sciences Competition. This was the first time that I entered into any A&S competition in over 12 years. Why? Bad critiques. I don’t just mean someone saying, “This isn’t what we’re looking for,” but rather “It’s childish,” or “This sucks.” These are legitimate critiques that I was given. There was no constructive criticism or “This is good but you should work on this, too.” No. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just once either but rather three or four times over the course of five or six competitions. I won’t go into to more but they were experiences that decidedly put me off entering them again. Until this past weekend.

Baronial Championship Requriements

This past weekend was a fairly informal competition as far as A&S competitions go. It was more about the process, choices, and growth that happened during the course of the project. I’ve included the announcement details below:

Come, those who shine brightest beneath Bergental’s light! Your Barony asks you to bring your art, bring your research, bring your science, and shine. This year’s Luminary will be chosen among the stars of our populace, each bringing proof to our eyes of the skill of their hands and the journey the arts and sciences have brought to the individual. We shine most in the growth our path brings, and that is the focus of this year’s Luminary tour. It is our hope to choose from among our populace a new Luminary champion of the Arts and Sciences, who will showcase not only skill in their chosen field, but also how pursuing this project has helped the light within them blaze and grow!

Participants are asked to provide a written process, the more involved in the step by step decisions, the better. Each participant may provide photographs of the creation process, research, failures, and decision points along the journey, showing the way they have grown in the project. Also displayed is the project as it stands now, completed or not as it is at the time of the Champion’s event.

 

After talking with a few people I decided on Friday night, before the event, that I would do it. This was almost as good as being on home turf. There were high chances that I knew the judges and figure that it would be a good time to get real feedback.  I had no paper written and it was 10 PM. I a little under two hours I cranked out my paper, with pictures, and citations. Not bad. I stuck it into my basket with the hood and forgot about it until the next day.

My hood on display at the Baronial Championship

My bare-bones display…

The Day Of

When I got to the site I went to go put my hood on display right away. I did it before I could chicken out. I did not have a very elaborate display, to say the least. My research, growth, and steps I was able to condense into a simple two-page paper. I taped it to the table becuase of the wind. I even had to use rocks to hold down the hood! See….I can be period! Looking at the other displays I kind of figured I would wind up at the bottom of the pack but at least I would get good feedback. This is especially true since part of the judging would be done according to the new rubric set out by Master Phillip, the East Kingdom A&S Minister.

Fast forward about 8 hours and Baronial court is going on and I get called up for 3rd place. You could have bowled me over with a feather. The feedback, however, was really great. It told me what I did well and what I could improve on. Most of the items on the “to-fix” list were minor, like forgetting to write down why I cut the material the way I did or why I chose to machine stitch the base. These are easy enough to fix and, in fact, I already have in my write-up.

Overall this was a really great competition. There was plenty of feedback and the use of the new rubric was really awesome. I liked how it told you what the judges saw and also gives you an insight into what they may have missed. I actually gained confidence and maybe I’ll enter something else soon!

Categories: Arts & Sciences | Leave a comment

First Scroll Assignment & Annual Pennsic Prep

Posted on July 19, 2017 by perrodecroy@gmail.com

Back at the end of April I was asked if I thought I’d be up for taking my first scroll assignment. I was more than a little nervous since these tend to me more geared toward the recipient and it’s held up in court for everyone to see. It did not help that my previous experience with submitting things to Arts & Sciences competitions have not gone well.

Illuminated page from Gospel of John

Gospel Book
England, 1051-1064
MS M.708 fol. 67r
Morgan Library

Bolstered by my teacher’s confidence I accepted the assignment and had to do a bit of research before I found something that I thought might fit the bill for my 11th Century Anglo Saxon recipient. I stole a simple frame with a fair bit of shading work and gold application from the Gospel of John, at left, and used it to frame the device, blazon, and signatures.

The scroll work was interesting and I have to admit to repainting a couple of the swirls a couple of times before I felt it was acceptable. I was so paranoid that I actually did a few test drafts of some of the swirls and shading to get it how I liked and even then I ended up repainting. I am a bit of a perfectionist, even if it isn’t period.

Schminke Aqua Bronze

Schminke Aqua Bronze

In the end my completed portion came out quite nice and I was pleased. My next item on my to-do list is to try playing with some shell gold. For this project I used the Schminke Aqua Bronze Rich Pale Gold. Since I’m still a baby illuminator and new, I chose this option since it was cheaper and something I already had on hand. Pennsic’s right around the corner though so I may try to pick up some shell gold there to try out.

Pennsic prep is underway and my sewing room looks like it has exploded. No real surprise since it’s what happens every year pre-Pennisc but I always wish I could skip that part of Pennisc prep. It’s inevitable though. Usually two weeks before I get ready to hit the road, I’ll discover two to three items in my wardrobe (at least) that need replacing or repair. I try to keep it all clean and orderly but it doesn’t always work out and I end up having to put away a bigger mess when I get home. Oh well. Here’s to the crazy Pennsic prep season. I can’t wait to see you all there!

Categories: Arts & Sciences, Illumination | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment