Sunday, January 20, 2008

Vikings and Favours

I went to the Viking Games on the weekend, which was a really fun, low key event. I’d like to see more of this type of event. Baroness Aefled was wearing a lovely Viking style dress with appliqué figures around the hem. I would like to publicly denounce my former statements about Viking garb, and acknowledge that on some people it does look quite pretty.

I caught up with Maeve, who gave me my silver bell for coming equal second in the Roman Garb competition at 12th night. I am going to sew it onto my purse together with the butterfly token from the event so I know that’s where I won it.

I have done some reading and thinking about favours both in period and in game. It seems that, in period, love tokens did not tend to bear any symbol denoting the giver’s identity. In SCA, a favour typically bears the arms of the giver or other identifying image. So, my plan is to make a SCA-style favour for Finian to wear, in addition to a period-style favour. I hope to enter them both in the Kingdom comp at May Crown. This is a plan and not a core promise ;)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

More Shiny Things

As noted before Christmas, the Kingdom A&S Competitions at 12th Night Coronation this past weekend included a Roman Garb competition. I decided to enter my green Egypto-roman inspired outfit with my new burgundy palla and sash. Since the competition cam at the end of 3 weeks’ holidays one would think Belle had plenty of time to put together her supporting documents. On the contrary, Belle’s brain switched off completely and so the entry was accompanied by: an article from the internet; a few pictures printed out; and a piece of pink note paper listing the items that formed the entry, all of which I was wearing. Not surprisingly the 3 judges all said they’d have like to see details of what I had done, how I made the pieces and why I made the decisions I made. In spite of that I got marked in the high 20’s (out of 50) and the balance of the comments pleased me. I was also glad that I had entered, ensuring that the competition could run.

I wasn’t in Court on Sunday when the results were announced, however I was delighted to learn that Artemisia had won the garb competition and was declared overall Event Champion. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that I had been awarded a highly commended for the garb competition, and that a token was on its way. I was also amused that my dear friend Blayney, who was relaying the news, hadn’t recognised my full SCA name when used in Court, he he he.

So, I have entered 2 competitions in the past few months, won the first and received highly commended in the second. I think I will enter a few more. Some Kingdom A&S Comps I might enter this year: Favours; Household items; Men’s clothes; Beauty treatments; Earrings. Stay tuned.