Buttons and wool

As usual, I am always on the hunt for more projects since apparently I dont have enough already.

My E.S. dress.....yeah, Im still doing it, but its been kinda on the back burner while I refigure out the headdress. Some new research has come to light and I would rather not go back and take the stupid thing apart.

The golden Burgundian gown is still draped over Sally, and it will stay there I suspect until I can stop being broken hearted over it. I am still upset that I screwed up the stupid gores and will now have to take the gore off, and piece the rest of it together. Stupid gores.....

The stained glass scroll project is going ok, but its going to cost a pretty penny and I havent talked to Myfanwy yet about that one. She might be waiting a while until I am making a crapload more money then I am now.

My guild is on pause until after BG Anniv. to give people time to freak out on the clothes they are sewing and such. We all do it, Im not going to pretend like we actually all get sleep the day before a big event. Shhyeah, right.

So with all those projects on pause or hiatus or simply waiting until looking at them doesnt cause me emotional pain, of course I had to add more crap to my 'to do' list.

First was to work out the kinks of the oven bake clay stuff. I am not going to work my butt off making golden fleece bits only to learn I have the wrong clay or it will break or whatever. So to work that out, I am working on some buttons. I will be wearing mostly 14th century at Anniv. since I just worked out the last remaining problems with my crispinettes, and I just gotta show em off. I found a picture of Margaret of Dampierre, see above, and of course she's looking all kinds of medieval fabulous. The buttons are to die for, so as I type this I am waiting for my prototype to come out of the oven. If all goes well.......and it should, Im following the instructions after all......then this should provide me with a sturdy look-a-like for gold buttons. And, best of all, it will make ready my next big clay piece.....the Golden Fleece :)

Second, if I am going to go to all this trouble to make a really cool looking fleece, then my model MUST look the part! My buddy Gaston always looks awesome (his wife can sew like it's going out of style!) but he doesnt have the uber-cool Duke Philip black tunic. Just for fun, I hit up my favorite fabric drug-dealer, fabric. com and snagged 11 yards of designer wool with free shipping for under $40. Yes, I know......I totally hit it. Anyways, so I got 4 of that 11 in gorgeous black, and its so thin you'd swear it was linen. I plan on buying the pattern after the next paycheck and getting started. I am sooooo stoked!!

So the buzzer is going off, time to go check buttons.....

...but it's period

My first true Burgundian gown has quickly become a disaster. It pains me just looking at the poor thing draped over 'Sally,' my trusty sewing mannequin. It began as such a lovely dress.....

I bought Kass' pattern for the V-necked gown, what most SCAers have come to know and love as the Burgundian gown. Granted, Burgundians werent the only ones wearing it, but hey. So I got the pattern, and omg it's just confusing as all get out. The way its laid out is the totally correct period way, but consider this......the period way is using thick wools or velvets for the outside of the thing, and the lining is fur. Ok heavy wool or velvet lined in fur + Texas = death. So I decide to toss that idea and instead make the gown out of the prettiest cross-dyed gold and purple linen youve ever seen. From far away, it looks like a classic antique gold....just loverly. I also manage to snag a near 4 yard bolt of the softest black faux fur ever invented. Golden Burgundian gown with black fur collar, cuffs, and hemline.....I am thinking of wafting about a court event or even around a list field looking and feeling like a million bucks.

So I get into the pattern, and drape my sloper. All looks good, except the pattern is waaaaaay too short (see the pic....way too thick fur hem for my tastes.) I want it longer without such a thick bottom hem of fur, so I elongate everything, trim the fur hem to a much more palatable look, and start cutting linen.

All is going well. The dress is coming out beautifully and every seam is straight and ironed flat. It's laying so prettily on Sally and Im doing the inner-hollaback girl dance congratulating myself for such a big project coming along without a hitch. And then......the hitch.

I elongated all my pattern pieces.....except the side gores.

Shit.

The hollaback girl dance is gone, replaced by that visual back in the 70's of the Agony of Defeat guy from Wide World of Sports. I have tumbled down the snow slopes of costuming with my proverbial skis flying off my feet as I slam head first into a brick wall.

All is not lost, of course. Piecing is period. And I have lots of scraps. And its on the side in the massive folds of the gores. No one is really going to be able to tell unless I get gown-checked. And someone will gown-check me. Just like Im sure Im going to get veil-checked. I cant help but hang my head at how much promise this dress had, and how upset with myself I am over such a dumb mistake. Sure, it happens to the best of us, and no doubt even the finest costuming Laurel has had these snafus. But man.....to just once make it through an entire dress without having one of these moments.

"The Thrill of Victory.....and the agony of defeat."

Glass panel done for Her Majesty Elisabetta

A while back, I was asked by Lady Isabella to create a stained glass panel for Her Majesty as a gift from the Autocrat of Her Majesty's Queen's Champion event held at Castleton this year. It was a great success, and I had all kinds of fun creating it. Below are the pictures showing the progress of the whole thing, from drawing the cartoon to the final piece. Needless to say, Queen Elisabetta was quite pleased, and even called me up into Court.....and she even hugged me! Later that night, she totally stealth-Queen'ed Claire and I at the tables near the tavern. I think that night was the first night I truly understood the 'courtly love' all rapier fighters have for the Queen. I was smitten, and ever since, I honestly think she is just amazing :) So here for the enjoyment of whoever might want to see.....the birth of the Queen's heraldic panel :)

Progress on the E.S Project

This is how far Ive come on my beaded had for my Elizabeth Seyntmaur project. So far, Ive gotten responses from people ranging from 'Wow, thats gorgeous!' to 'You are insane!' to 'You have wayyyy too much time on your hands.' LOL

In any event, Im about done and hoping to have it done by the end of sunday at the latest. Once the beaded cover is done, I will be wrapping the hat frame and sewing/ gluing it all down. Ive decided NOT to attach the wires permanently, that way I can wear the truncated henin with other veils or without any at all if I want. To limit myself like that just doesnt seem the smart thing to do.

So here we go.....the pictures of the work so far. The flashy beads are gold foil rocaille beads, and the center dots are garnet round beads. The pattern is what I copied from the brass rubbing of Elizabeth, which I then cut out from a blank stencil template that I drew up. I used gold fabric paint to do the pattern.





As for the dress, I have decided to go with a soft petal pink, a totally period color, and out of the softest linen I could get my hands on. It should look absolutely smashing, and when paired with the velvet belt with brass fittings from Raymond's Quiet Press that are a perfect replica of the belt Elizabeth wore in the rubbing, I literally should look like Ive stepped right out of a scroll. At least, thats the idea.....

More to come once the beadwork is done!

Heraldic yumminess for a friend

My E.S. project has been great fun, and I continue to work on it, perfecting it since I have the time to do so now. However, endless beadwork and research and planning a dress can get tedious, and a bit......well, endless. Knowing how I am when faced with such a situation, I did what always works for me. I took a break.

Putting the beadwork down, I decided to have a go with heraldry. After all, I do like heraldry, especially heraldic display and heraldic clothing. That said, I also knew that if I was going to do something like that, it would need to be something easily recognized by a large group of people in case I wanted to show it for an arts competition. I have plenty of SCA friends that have a really impressive fruit salad.....Sir Gaston, Baroness Claire, etc. that I could have chosen for a heraldry project, but the one person that I decided to do this for is certainly one of the most deserving of a little hero worship.

His Grace, Duke Aaron McGregor

Aaron is a very kind gentleman, definitely a knight in every way, but what always gets me about him is that he treats every person as if they were his equal or better. He does not look down his nose at anyone, he is fair, and his pride in his people, his Kingdom, is so strong I continually stand in awe to hear him tell tales and recount the history of the Kingdom he has had a stake in making so great.

Another thing that always gets me about Aaron is that he is so humble. For some reason which I dont think I will ever understand, he does not believe himself worthy of admiration, or gifts, or the service of those around him. If asked whether or not he would like an artisan to make him some new clothes, he will smile shyly and suggest that he would be honored, but only if everyone else already has the clothes they need. If asked whether or not he might like someone to bring him some water or perhaps a snack, he would appreciate it but never asks.....he would rather everyone else enjoy such things, he will go last. His level of self-sacrifice and willingness to be so giving consistently warms my heart and reminds me of the romance of chivalry that, for me, was one of the factors that lured me to the SCA in the first place.

I decided to combine my love of heraldry with my appreciation of such a wonderful person, and have come up with my latest project (which will be completed tonight, yes!) I dug around the heraldry pages at the Kingdom webpage, and came up with some information about Duke Aaron, namely his 'fruit salad' or awards listing. Surprisingly, almost shockingly, he doesnt have a ton of stuff to his name, but what he does have is meaningful and significant. To do honor to this, I researched the details of each award, the tinctures, and placed them within my design.

When I am done, I will post a picture here since I found the cam and stuff I need to post. Its definitely one of my best heraldry display pieces, and I am very excited to see his reaction tomorrow at PiP. To see the mans smile at receiving a gift he has no idea is coming his way should be a pleasure in and of itself :)

The Golden Fleece Project

As if I dont have enough projects going on.....but seriously, how could I resist?

The Order of the Golden Fleece knight's collar project

One of my best friends here in the SCA, Sir Gaston, who is just as much of a Burgundian geek as me if not moreso, gave me this great idea.....how about recreating the Order of the Golden Fleece chain? Talk about a great project!! The collar is such a beautiful work of art, and it just screams out to be copied.....but who wants to fork over $200-$300 to some renn faire guy to make one for you? Waaaaayyyy more fun to do it yourself, I always say.

Ok first thing's first....I have no idea how to do this in true jewelers fashion, and PMC is right out because I dont have a blow torch. So my remaining choice is basic polymer clay. Not a bad choice, imho, and fairly inexpensive and easy to work with, all pluses in my book. I also have lots of glass beads and shards at my disposal, left over from previous beading projects and stained glass panels to use as my jewels.

Now, this will be my first endeavor with polymer clay, but I have a secret weapon.....I got a book over at Half Price Books today called 'Creating Your Own Jewelry' by Cris DuPouy, and its practically written for just this sort of project!! She basically shows you how to copy museum pieces using polymer clay, shards of glass, and glass beads. I dont think it could get any more perfect, and best of all, the book itself was only $10!

Im thinking the fleece collar I want to copy is going to look roughly like this:



I have a feeling this is going to be a really fun project! :)

Progress

So the E.S. project continues to go well. The beadwork on the canvas part of the hat is just about done. Ha, Claire told me I was insane for even trying it!! Well, maybe so, but its going to so kick ass when I wear this thing.....I intend on making a sensation, and a butterfly hennin definitely qualifies! I have also figured out how to do the wiring, and I have to say that I totally disagree with Cynthia Virtue on how it's done.

Dont get me wrong, I think highly of Ms. Virtue's work. Hell, just look at all she's done!! But, I tend to be a 'big picture' sort of artisan.....yeah, it's all well and good that someone else has done it, but until I get my hands on the thing, find out all I can about the thing, its life, why it was created, why it looks the way it does, etc. I just cant go along with the 'I told you so' reasoning. For some reason, her pictures and such about the wiring on the truncated hennin was just rubbing me the wrong way, and I could never figure out why. Its the sort of thing to make you crazy! So one night Im messing around, drawing sketches and trying to wrap my head around the idea.....

1) The brass rubbing shows the veil coming way way forward on E.S's forehead....why does it do that???

2) If Ms. Virtue's documentation is correct, then it should account for that veil sitting so far forward, but the wires coming up from the back just doesnt fly in this particular situation. For other hats, absolutely....but *not* for this one.

The following is from Ms. Virtue's page:



So it rises up like it should, but the veil stops where the front brim of the hennin stops......and the E.S. hat does not.

Now, before you freak out on me, I *know* the E.S. rubbing is an exaggerated design. There's really no way for a hat to sit THAT far back on the head without a buttload of bobby pins, but still....Im willing to bet it wasent right on the hairline. It probably sat further back, especially if you consider that plucked hairlines was in vogue at the time. Given that fact, I would say it's fairly safe to say while it wasent at the back of her head, I think the hat would have sat further back then what we would consider 'normal' today.

Ok, back to the hat thing....

Ms. Virtue's constructed hat, while lovely, again doesnt really have that nice point in the front.....



So Im left to conclude that her method just isnt going to work for my project. Not that its wrong, because I think it is a viable method of producing a butterfly hennin.....its just not the one for my E.S. project.

At this point, Im kinda left sitting here going 'now what the hell-icopter am I going to do?' I decide to cruise the net to see if maybe I can glean more info. or find some inspiration, and lo and behold.....what do I find?

A cheesy little kid's book on amazon that actually has a method that will work!! Check this out.....



Holy wow!! So naturally I order the book immediately so I can look closer and stuff, but I broke out a wire hanger, snipped it with hubby's bolt cutter, and bent it just so to see if it worked. Voila! The V-shape of the wire when positioned on the truncated hennin provides that deep V that will sit just passed the brim of the hat and over onto your forehead. Genius! I have since bent a few more in the hopes of messing with it enough to build a double-butterfly hennin.....why have only one level of insanely HUGE awesome hat goodness, when you can have two??

(Insert mad scientist laughter here)

Another update to follow once Ive got the beadwork finished and secured to the base of the hat.....