So, at Glötagillet, the event in Gyllengran this past weekend I brought the new black tablet weaving with text, plus thread and the hood to do edgeweaving.

The plan was to do the hood first, then continue with the tabletweaving. Yeah, that didn't happen as the edge weaving was super-annoying. I managed about ten centimetres before I gave up and switched back to the new belt.

Yesterday when I got home and today I continued working on it, and I finished the entire warp now. So, at home I managed two whole repeats of my device, at the event I did one more, and I did it twice more again before reaching the end. So it's on there five entire times. It's practically impossible to make out though, as black wool on black wool doesn't cast much shade.

In other news, at Glötagillet, I had the honour and pleasure to deliver a writ of summons to Viscountess Anna Laresdotter to contemplate elevation to the Order of the Laurel at Lucia Feast/Baronial Investiture. We received the official word early Friday afternoon that Their Majesties had decided to give her the offer. I was contacted by His Majesty and called him up an hour or so before my travel-mates were due to pick me up. They thought it would be nicer for her to receive the news at an event rather than via a phonecall, and asked if I and Helwig were willing to deliver it to her. I asked if they wanted me to write up a writ to deliver and he said that would be delightful.

So, I had about an hour to do some calligraphy. That was a bit stressful, and the writing wasn't my best ever. Not helped by the fact that when I did the pencil lines (using my Ames guide) I didn't pay close enough attention and ended up using the wrong row of holes, so after two lines had to basically write by eye rather than on a nicely drawn out line. Gaah! I didn't notice that mistake until I came to the third line of calligraphy, so couldn't really start over.

I was kind of sweating and my heart was beating quite fast, with thoughts and memories of receiving my own writ (which is what I used for inspiration for the text).

It turned out decent, and I think it was the right choice to give Anna something tangible to take home.

It was also one of the most awesome things I've gotten to do in the SCA so far.

Vivat! for Anna Laresdotter, our next little Laurel :)

The scroll was a Silver Guard for Lord Karl Alrune up in Frostheim. I had fun with the miniatures in the bottom :)

Before Kingdom University I said I'd take on one scroll assignment for the Feast of Aurora Borealis which is next weekend, if nobody else claimed it. Nobody did, so yesterday I started with the sketching and layout, wrote out the calligraphy and inked outlines for the borders.

I'll be doing a portrait-type miniature as well as the award badge in the bottom, so there's going to be some fiddly bits. I chose a style inspired by the Bedford Hours, from the tiny book of inspiration I got from Duchess Alessandra Melusine, so it's going to be mostly gilded ivy leaves for the rest.

Yesterday I managed to paint down gold size, this morning I applied transfer gold leaf. I'll be cleaning that up in a minute and then painting base layers. This will be project #53.

Tuesday I'll be inviting people over for a scribal night - so if you're in the neighbourhood, feel free to drop by!

ETA: Gilding finished, and most base coats laid down.

I have been very bad about updating my livejournal. Partly because writing updates on facebook is much faster, partly because I've been working on "secret" projects so couldn't update continually without spoiling things. Partly because LJ has lost some of its readership to the aforementioned fb, me included.

Ah well, there is plenty to talk about now then. I've done scrolls, quite a few.
I did a backlog scroll for Elisabeth Gottfridsdotter. She received her AoA at Midsummer Coronation in 2009 from Franz and Willhelmina, and this spring I took over the backlog and finished it for her as number 39 (here before gilding).

40 (to the left), 41 and 42 were all given out at Nordmark Coronet (Stigot's VPV, SvartulvR and Elizabeth's viscounty) plus a prize scroll which I forgot to number it gets to be #47. It was the prize scroll for the A&S Competition, and went to Niamh.

#43 was a Court Barony with Grant of Arms for Felicitas Schwartzenbergin that she got upon stepping down as Gotvik Baroness at St Egon. I had no time to also make Clemen's CB scroll which irks me a little, but that's reality.

#44 was filling in the calligraphy on a blank scroll, Lali Ingermarsdotter received a Ljusorden (Nordmark A&S award) also given at St Egon.

The Queen (Siobhan) went off to an event down in Frankmark on her own and two gentles down there received Award of Arms, so Franck vom Berg and Carrisma vom Berg got scrolls 45 and 46. Thankfully I only had to do calligraphy for those as the Queen had a couple of blanks ready.

At Double Wars I was roped into some stunt scribing - doing calligraphy on two scrolls. One backlog for Eira and Torbjörn given to Hroald Pai (48) and a PCS for Vitus Flavius (#49). These two I have no pictures of at all unfortunately. I didn't have the wits about me to take pictures of them.

For Double Wars I also made a shirt for Sir William of Richwood's vigil, and a table-runner with his device, initials and a Knight's chain. I also half-finished a napkin with a Dragon Rose emblem. I chose to do a slightly too large rose to be able to finish it, so I am still working on it. Stigot won it in the raffle at the end of the war, so I know where it needs to end up :)

Backing up again, I finished a black (cotton) velvet 16th C gown for Nordmark Coronet Tourney which might be my new favourite item of clothing. It's wool-lined so nice and warm, it fits just right, and has sleeves. Plus it fills the slot of 'black velvet gown' that I've needed in my wardrobe. I wore it in the pretty dismal weather conditions at the Coronet and was not even a little cold where it covered me. And it looks pretty good too.

During the Easter holidays we booked a little household activity: painting silk standards. Isabetta did most of the preparations and brought the paints, gutta, brushes, paper for templates and she and William purchased lumber for frames. Me and Edricus and Helwig and Johann rounded out the numbers and we worked pretty much a full day on Friday, Sunday and Monday to paint eight silk standards. We each made a personal one and me and Helwig cooperated to make two household standards with the remaining two bits of silk. Mine still needs to be hemmed and attach a sleeve to put it on a pole. William, Isabetta and Edricus' standards all flew at Double Wars, and the two household flags were set up in William's vigil tent and looked awesome.

I also made a little patchwork pouch for Kerstin of Medeltidsmode. The pincushion I made for myself was stuffed with fabric samples from her, and the remaining pieces of wool samples I made up into a little bag, lined it with more of her summer-weight wool and then I braided a silk drawstring for it. She liked it when I handed it over to her at Double Wars :) The only picture of that one though, is from a distance and not very good. Again, I finished it on site and forgot to take my camera out!

Lately I've been working on a bit of leather tooling. I took a class during Double Wars, and it de-mystified the craft for me and gave me the courage to try it. I'm going to enter my first piece in the Kingdom A&S Competition at Coronation. Just because I was already going to write documentation to go with it, and a deadline is sometimes a good thing. It's supposed to also be a "secret" project, so until it reaches the recipient I won't post photos. Also, it's not 100% finished either :)

And now, I will post the above, and go see about uploading photos to update this post with shortly.

I am still a little foggy as I've been well struck-down with a cold after the Coronet Tourney my shire put on this weekend. But I have some things to report.

Firstly, the pincushion cube is completely finished and put to use already, and it's working out just as well as I had hoped. And the side with raised embroidery worked out even better, because I can store sewing needles through the raised bits, without them falling out, or disappearing into the cube. Double-score. Although my next pincushion will be a little bit shorter, and twice as wide as it is deep, and I will design the raised embroidery better to catch the tips of needles.

Secondly, I did three scrolls for this weekend, one Principality level fighting award for Lord Stigot, and the viscounty scrolls for the departing couple SvartulvR and Elizabeth. I did all three in a grant letter style, so basically all calligraphy. For Stigot's I did paint a white portal in the initial letter, though, using fake gold leaf which I just got and had to try out.

For the Viscounty scrolls I doodled in the initial letter, and added a few personal touches in the scrollwork. I also made them on real parchment. I'm pleased with the results for all three, and the recipients seemed to appreciate them :) They only lack seals, and I know SvartulvR has a kit to attach it to theirs. I might see if I can talk to someone local to add it to Stigot's.

I also finished a new dress for this weekend. I bought a black cotton velvet bedspread in Morjärv once upon a time... thinking I could turn it into a 16th Century gown, and I finally did. Most construction seams are done on the machine, and I patterned the bodice after my red kirtle which I adore. And since I wore the black gown all day Saturday with no discomfort or ill effect I now also adore this black one. I had a beige and black trim in my stash which I decorated the bodice with, also as a decoration around the hem, and down the seams in the sleeves. Ah, yes, it is long-sleeved, square necked, and has a slight dip in the front bodice where the skirt lies flat. The back panel of the skirt is gathered using knife pleats all pointing towards the centre back. For once I also remembered to have someone take nice photos of me in the new dress :)

I unfortunately do not have pictures of these items ready to post yet. But figured I should update this poorly neglected blog with some happy news.

At Nordmark Coronet Tourney and Aros Spring Sword and Buckler II our little household grew! Helwig took a fourth apprentice in Lady Isabetta del Verde. Which was awesome.

And I got to see Viscountess Filippa's gift-wrapping-paper dress of much bling and there was joy.

Also - no longer a lady-in-waiting! Yay! Although I loved serving SvartulvR and Elizabeth - they are good people.