I’ve never been much of one for blogging, but I’ve decided to start monthly recap of what all I’ve been up to in the SCA and my various crafting hobbies. I often find myself short on time to get professional photos taken and write-ups done for my portfolio, but I still want to share what all I’ve been working on, so going to give this a try and see how it goes.
Considering it is August that I am finally publishing this, I’m already falling a bit behind. Life has been an absolute madhouse since the end of May, and things are only just now starting to slow down. Hopefulle I’ll be able to keep on track now that I’m not being pulled 5 directions at once.
Lilies War
This was my only event in June, but it was a doozy. This was not only my first time at Lilies, but it was my first war ever. The week honestly went by too fast, and I hardly ever found myself without a moment to relax (in a good way). From the Blue Feather Social, to Tor Tuesday and the Knowne Worlde BBQ Contest, to the fireworks at the Barony of Three Rivers party, to gaming well into the night, or just drinking at the Broken Harp, there was hardly a dull evening. And by day, I was attending all the A&S classes under the sun, and made a number of new friends in the process.
My personal highlight was the all day coin making workshop put on by Master Philippe de Leon, Master Alan Darkdale, and William Douglas. Coin making was the first A&S I ever explored in the SCA, and to this day it is still my favorite. I learned a lot of new information, especially on making new tools, and ended with day with a new reverse die, which was struck with the commmorative Lilies War die made specifically for these classes.
I also spent more than one full day at the workshop of Her Ladyship Mwynwen (Moon-win) Marilyn Sands Holt, aka “Strawberry”, where she and Master Philippe taught pewter casting and making period pins (penannular brooches and fibula pins). Even when I was done with those projects, it was a great place to sit and craft with folks.
I also assisted Master Philippe with an attempt at smelting bronze on-site. Unfortunately the period crucibles (made from clay taken from the lake) did not successfully fire and ended up spilling the molten copper in the forge, but Philippe marked it as a partial success as it was at least a proof of concept that the forge could get hot enough to melt copper, which was the most challenging part of the process.
Another activity I would like to highlight is Parallel Play with Master Alan. Every day he had an open shade at his camp where anyone could come and work on their projects. It was an extremely welcoming environment and a great space to meet other crafters, especially having come from out of kingdom and only knowing the other visiting Midrealmers when I arrived. Plus, I got an impromptu lesson in the art of chasing and repouse, and ended up with a new type of metalworking to explore (not too bad for my first try).
All in all, it was a fantastic time. In addition to all those already mentioned, my heart goes out to Yngerame Erskine. I didn’t have any particular attention on Lilies until she invited me to come with her group this year, and as a Lilies veteren was extremely helpful in knowing how to prep for a war and what to expect. With plans for Pennsic next year, this was a great dry-run, so to speak.
Projects
Aside from all that got done at Lilies, this was actually a relatively light month for me in terms of A&S. Not by choice though, as directly after Lilies I was in Arizona for work for the remainer of the month! I was able to bring a few craft supplies out with me to pass the time, and got a good amount of practice on the Inkle Loom, which I started learning just before Lilies. I had some downtime for beading and kumihimo as well, and got a LOT of research done on coin making.
In my little bit of time in my project room, I worked on commissions for more WedCo hats for my fellow members.
More detailed project posts will be coming eventually, but in the meantime here are some photo highlights.
Angist Arts 
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