Showing posts with label A and S. Show all posts

So, you are thinking about entering an A&S competition.
Great! Where do you start? Well, that's a great question.

The goal of an A&S competition is not to compete against others, but yourself, in a manner. A faire gives you the opportunity to document your work and get feedback from judges. Your judge list will be comprised of Laurels and OVO members, and sometimes also "Shadow" judges who are watching and learning the process but not giving feedback.

First of all, it's all about the research and documentation. While you can enter an Open without documentation, it is a MUST for a Regional faire. So, if you want to make a project you can document, it's wise to do a little research FIRST. It's never fun to get started only to realize after the fact that maybe that's not something they did within our time period. If it's after 1601, it's too late. If you can find it documented within period, great! It is also helpful to do this research before making your project because you may discover techniques or materials you weren't aware of.

Sources. You need to use good sources. Primary sources are great! What's that mean? Books that were actually written in-period. This is not to say that modern books written about medieval topics are off the table. But the author needs to have credible sources, references, and information. If you find that the author has no sources, well... their material just might be questionable, so you'd better research it deeper before using it as truth. Sources like Wikipedia are not academic resources, and any University will tell you the same. (I'm not going to tell you that I've never gotten a general idea from it though, then gone and found actual, reliable sources to back up that idea and use it as a launch point. :) (NEVER source Wikipedia! It's a fallible source of information which is often lacking sources, and can be edited by anyone.) If you find a secondary source, that means it's a non-period source referencing a period source. That's also fine! Sometimes you can't get that primary source.

Documenting.  How do you reference all those great sources in your paper?  Pick a style and go with it.  Just be consistent. Footnotes, MLA, APA, whatever you want.
Try these: http://www.citationmachine.net to generate citations you can add to you paper.
And the Purdue Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Obtaining sources to use for reference. You don't have to go out and spend a lot of money to get a reference library for your project. A lot of people in the field may have resources or have suggestions to point you at, so do not be afraid to ask. You can also get some really surprising, hard to find materials through inter-library loan, so check into that if you have access to a University library.  You also don't want to go out and purchase a whole bunch of books that you later discover really aren't so great after all.  Search and ask around within SCA communities for what's hot and what's not!

Making your project. If in period they did it a certain way, this is the way you want to do it for your project.  (If the herbal recipe says they bruised the leaf in the mortar with a pestle, don't chop it up on your cutting board.)  This isn't to say that you need to cook in a copper cauldron like they might have, for a cooking project, for example. That's not very economical and you may not even have some of the same implementations in other cases. Though you should observe material specifics.  If they used a certain metal, that's what you want to use, or a reasonable substitute.  Ask a mentor before substituting because they can tell you if maybe the real deal isn't as hard to obtain as you thought. Or maybe it is and there's a common substitute. Maybe there's another name for something you just didn't know. Maybe somebody in the know about your project's area, like a Laurel, has done this before and knows where to get it cheap.  You never know!  It's always great to ask around first. Sometimes it's worth it to spend what it costs to do the project right. You're only going to be doing it once. Buy those fish air bladders and make that fish glue yourself (unless maybe you know someone who happens to have them lying around, haha.  SCA'ers just might.....!).

In cooking especially, you should always look up terms to be sure they mean what you think they mean.  You may find that what we use for a measurement now is totally different from what they did back then!  They may say to use good water. What's that mean? Check it out before you start. By the way, the Oxford English dictionary is a wonderful resource for looking up the origins of words to see what they mean.  http://www.oed.com/

Writing down your steps. Describe what you did.  Don't write it like a recipe, telling people instructions.  (First you add a cup of this, and then a spoon of that.)  Instead, tell what *YOU* did to re-create this project.  (First I folded the paper in half, and then I tore it.)

Read the documentation forms first and get a feel for what they're going to be grading you on.
Don't be afraid of your score! Don't think of a 10/20 as a bad score, by any means! It's not the same as a 50/100 on a mundane test. There are 5 categories which you'll see when you review the form. There are 5 possible points in each category. If you make a simple project (example, a tart, or a plain herbal oil) you know you're not going to score high on complexity. And that's ok! You know what you're entering, and what to anticipate on things like this, if you study up a little before you enter. You can always build later, like a comparison project on tarts from different times or places... or the way different spices used affected the outcome of the flavor... or something like that.

Remember that A&S is a building process!  You want to get some good constructive info to help guide you towards making it better and better.  The Faire circuit ENDS with Kingdom A&S.  You can enter your project many times before you get there, having taking all the advice and worked to improve your project to make it more period and learned a lot along the way, and by then it will show. Kingdom A&S is the final destination, so you can't enter the same project again once it's been there. Start elsewhere and work your way there.  Maybe you would start in Menier or Iris Faire, move on to Magna Faire, then Gulf Wars, before landing at KAS just for an example.

We are all here to learn and grow and share, so the feedback you get is not a harsh score to cut you down with a red pen like your college professor.  Nay, I say - the Laurels are here to teach and guide you, and tell you things you can do to keep getting better and better!  Please don't think of it as criticism. Your judges also love to talk about the topics that interest them, just as the topics interest you, obviously, since you made a project about it!  So seek them out and ask questions. Get clarification if you're not sure.  They should leave their contact info or names on that form and that's for a reason, so you can get additional guidance. Education and recreation is what it's all about, after all.
And if someone does grade you in a manner that you feel is harsh or unjust or flat out mean, please talk to someone else about it! It shouldn't ever be like that, so don't be afraid of this being what the scoring process is all about.  IT REALLY ISN'T.  :)  The goal is supposed to be to help you learn.

Find a mentor, and enter the Stella Nova!  This faire is designed for the novice!  You can find out more at the Kingdom A&S Website at: http://www.artsandsciences.meridies.org/

Yours in Service,
THLady Aranwen of Willow Ford
Apprentice to Mistress Alianore la Cuisinare

This is of course not a full class handout or anything.  Just my notes I wrote down during class, so I can remember these things! Thank you Lady Charmayne!


Paper
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- Use a standard size. Folks are going to want to put these in a frame, so make it easy on them.
8.5 x 11, 9 x 12, 11 x 17

- Hot press paper is smooth.  Good surface.
Cold press paper is bumpy.  Bad surface.

- Use acid-free. Card stock is ok to use. Parchment is the period paper, though this is a bit expensive so you can also use pergamenata which is vegetable based. Grab parchment scraps for cheap at Gulf Wars from the merchant there making and selling parchment.


Paint
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Goauche is the paint to use. It's a water-based paint. Mix it with a little water, and use.  It's non-toxic.  Though you can use watercolors (just use less water), goauche has more pigment.

You can also mix your own paints from powdered pigments, if you can find them!
*Note - Russian ones are cheap.  Avoid
Mix the pigments with gum arabic powder and water, and use.
* Nice tip, if you put these inside a little container to mix and paint from, you can just close it up when you're done and keep those nice pigments to use again later!
Griffin Dyeworks sells pigments.

Student grade paint is cheaper and more forgiving.
Michaels and Hobby Lobby craft stores sells a Reeves student grade paint.
Windsor is one professional brand. Newton has a kit online. Hoelbein is top of the line stuff.

Brushes
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Tiny! Use small brushes.  Ok, not like, microscopic, like 3 bristles, but you know.  Just really small ones.
Fake are somewhat easier, because real ones tend to shed.  Doesn't really matter though, either kind.

Stuff for a Kit
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Paint pots or palettes.  Palettes are scriptorium-friendly. Order covers for them.
*Note - never wash these!
A cup for clean water
A cup for dirty water. And make it doesn't look like a beverage glass. Somebody might accidentally drink that dirty paint water. Eww!
Paper towels
Pencils
Eraser
A thin and acid-free liner pen, if you wish to draw over your pencil drawing.
Ruler


Tips
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- Leave a 2" border around the outside. This accounts for a standard matte should the recipient frame the scroll.
- Leave room on the scroll for the calligraphy.
- Try to match the print and the art. You can put a note on the back to the calligrapher about what style to use. It helps them out a lot if you have something specific you're doing, especially.
- As for colors to use, colors that are "period" to use are black, white, blue, green, yellow, red, silver, gold.... some others, maybe? flesh? Not really orange or pink, they might be construed as a faded red. there is some controversy here, though. Surely they had to have used flesh tones since they have people on their scrolls. We do go ahead and use a flesh tone though, because we want to make the scrolls pretty. The recipient is by odds likely not to be a Laurel in the area of C&I.  They will appreciate a lovely looking scroll.  Appearances matter, so fussing over being perfectly accurate is not critical, unless perhaps you are planning on entering this scroll in an A&S competition, in which case just avoid those "other" colors!
- Leave room for words, signatures, and seals!  Don't make lines where signatures go.  But, it is ok to put a small circile where the seal will go. You can use a Dixie cup as a good guide on the size to leave available for the seal - currently in our Kingdom, it needs to be about an inch and a half or on up to 2 inches. You don't have to worry about leaving room for the Beacon Herald's seal unless it is certain scrolls.  That seal is huge!
- Scribe's signature. You should sign your work, but please don't make a blatent obvious mark on the front. A maker's mark is totally fine. But it should be subtle or small. Or, you can just write your name in pencil on the back. If you are painting someone else's art, write "painted by".
- Don't put someone's arms on the scroll unless you have been commissioned to do so.
- Know your group and your Kingdom awards.
Badges for specific awards should be on the design. The can still be given without, but please try to add these. For example, the Meridian Cross has a badge Scrolls for that award have that badge.
The badges are online right here.
*For example there are some widely unknown badges, such as the queen's award Bough
"The scroll must incorporate a cypress tree and should include a small frog in the design."
These specifics can be found in the Meridian Scribes handbook.
Pay attention to the color of the badge. Like for a Sable axe, use sable.

-Calligraphy -- don't worry about adding titles. This will be done later.  The current sovereigns may wish to use a different title than the standard Rex and Regina.


Documentation is not necessary!  But you can write down the source that inspired your desigin on the back.  "Inspired by ____"

Where to go
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Craft stores, Hobby Lobby and Michaels for paints and supplies
Parchment and pigment - you can pick them up at Gulf Wars
Join the Scribes Yahoo and Facebook groups
The Parchment Pursuivent website
Bagatelle

- Sources for art you can use to create original scrolls - original manuscripts, Dover coloring books, the Morgan library online, the Book of Kells, sacred texts, other scrolls - even other Kindgoms'. Bookstores - check the religion and history sections. Use trim to inspire borders!



Styles of Scrolls
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Early - Norse, celtic, No gold.  "Kiddie" like as far as styling.

Middle - Color book, in style.  Flowers and bars. Goldwork.  No people. Scrolly flowers and leaves. Red and blue bars mainly, and "squashed bugs"
(This means the trompe-l’oeil style that emerged during this age, which is "A style of painting that gives an illusion of photographic reality.") In other words, 3D looking art designs that no longer looked just flat.
(good source for this is: Dover book  Ready-To-Use Medieval Herb, Plant and Flower Illustrations: 294 Different Copyright-Free Designs)

And Late - "Rembrant!" Very fancy and pretty. Hours of work, lots of tiny stuff in the background (diapering). Lots of acanthus leaves used in these styles.


Wording.  Check out the typical examples here.
http://www.loggiaserena.com/Parchment/ScrollWordings/ScrollWordings.htm
But don't be afraid to suggest a new wording! Look at other examples and if you'd like to suggest a different text, just include a note on the back. Not all scrolls have to begin with the same old "Whereas."  Be creative.

See also
https://sites.google.com/site/ironmountainnewcomers/activities/scribes
https://sites.google.com/site/ironmountainnewcomers/what-is/regalia

Oh!  One more exciting note to blog about while I'm here. I'm excited to say that at Gulf Wars this year, I will be teaching along with Magdalena! We will be covering History of Herbals, followed by putting together your own herbal/field guide. Mistress Marsali has offered to demonstrate how to soft bind your own field guide which will be especially helpful to wrap this up, so to speak!

If you've seen any of my Identification Project notes, then you may have an idea of where I am going with what I have to offer on that class. ;)  It is always fun to share what you have learned with others.

I guess I should have posted about this already, but I took my A&S project "Plantain Oil" to its second event - Midwinter A&S, last month. I had worked on some things to improve it since Magna Faire. I realized several more things I should work on, in preparation for its next event. There were some things which I had wanted to do yet didn't have time! But, I will have these things all done before Gulf Wars. :)

YIKES - Gulf Wars is almost here!!!!!

So after that, hopefully I will feel well prepared to do any further work to the entry and then take it on to... gulp... Kingdom A&S!  Well, that is the goal, anyway. :)

Tonight I taught the Barony a class on making herbal lip balms. It was my first class, so thanks for taking it easy on me, you all!  I do hope that the balms all got solid. What I brought home looks good, at least.

I mentioned that I would share some links to the resources I used for my supplies.  Here they are.

First, the plastic jars and lids (food grade safe!):
Jars.  17 cents each.  http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=64706
Lids. 8 cents each. http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=33684&catid=683
Of course there's shipping, but those are pretty darned cheap!

If you want to get fancy, these metal tins are darned cute.
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7.html Again, food safe! This is important with cosmetics. Lip balm goes on the mouth so it needs to be in a safe container, especially with metal.
Pricing varies, bulk is naturally cheaper, but for just 12 you're looking at $1.31 each. You want 144 of them? Great!  Only 35 cents then, but who really wants THAT many?

These slide top tins are excellent for healing salves and other such ointments!
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7k.html
Similar pricing here. 1.10 each for 12 of them but bulk pricing is better.

Oh yeah. If you are really going for bulk, then these are another option. The lid screws on for these metal tins.
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7d.html
$62 for 100 so again you'd have to be doing a pretty big project for these.

Whatever container you choose, you don't want it to be more than about a half ounce. Otherwise it starts getting pretty big.

I am so sad that the source I bought the beeswax from is apparently no longer in business. But finding cosmetic grade beeswax should not be too difficult. Heck, finding some nice natural ORGANIC beeswax around the barony should not be too difficult, in fact!  ;-)

For the essential oils: choose something that is a real actual essential oil, not a flavoring. You'll know it's the right one if it's expensive. Unfortunately they're not super cheap!  But, you don't have to buy a huge container, or a large variety. Best choices are peppermint, and citrus ones - orange, lemon, grapefruit. I'm certain there are others but these are my best finds so far.

Extra virgin olive oil is what I used.

Have a peek at this. It's a herbal skin product being sold for $10 and it's almost just like what we made tonight!http://www.massageandskincaresolutions.com/Products.html
So as I mentioned, you can see how versatile this basic formula can really be.  Salves, ointments, balms, so many possibilities.

Hope these links will be useful, and ask me anything about it - if I don't know I'll sure seek for the answer!

~Aranwen
Aranwen@thewillowford.com
https://www.facebook.com/crowshade

Alright!  So I decided I was ready to enter my first A&S project entry at Magna Faire. The project? Plantain oil. It's something I had done, and felt I could document. Now the better way around, as Magdalena pointed out, is the other way around that, and afterwards I totally see why and agree.  In fact I ended up re-doing the project after I started documenting it, just to do some things right.  :-)

So I did pretty good I think for my first! My Laurel, Mistress Alianore, did of course also check it over and give me some pointers which really helped me finish things up right, as well as help me think of direction for next Faire. That combined with my judging commentary will definitely help me carry this project into another entry.

I figured I may as well enter it in both the Magna Faire as well as the regional Faire since I had some good sources documented and I came out with a 24.8/30 and 16/20 :D  I can live with that!