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

So, you'd like to add a spiffy neckline to your tunic without using bias tape.  OK, Let's Go!

First you need to cut out a piece of fabric larger than the size of the neck hole opening in the tunic.

It can help to put some pins down to hold the neck hole open.

You can use dressmaker's chalk to help you mark the opening, then cut a few extra inches beyond that.
***See bottom for my alternate paper method.

Now all you need to do is flip that insert into the tunic, and you're done! You can stitch the insert down on the outside if you'd like.




***If you don't have any chalk, you can try the paper method. Lay down the neck opening over a piece of paper, and trace the circle.  Cut out the circle.

Do you know what gussets are?

No? They're little square pieces of fabric that insert into the armpit of a shirt/tunic/etc to give that area more room. These are really handy in men's wear, and especially fighting garb, so it has more "give" and won't be as likely to overstretch right there and bust a seam.  Also it's more comfortable to wear.

Yes! I already know what it is now, and I'd love to have some!  Where do I start?

To put gussets in to a garment that's already made, first you'll need to tear out the seams on the inside.


Cut out a square of fabric to sew in.


Lay open the square, and place the fabric square over the hole (turned sideways it looks a bit like a diamond) so it lines up with the hole you've made. See?





That's it! You're done.

I decided to put my class information into a digital guide by posting it to my blog. My class first began with how to make lip balms, so we will start there.

Summary

The balm we’re going to create here is a simple and effective base recipe and we’ll turn this one into a lip balm. Since beeswax isn’t exactly tasty, we can add an essential oil for flavoring. It also smells nicer, too.

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A Brief Outline on the Use of Herbs in Medieval Period

Culinary plants and herbs were grown for use during the summer and were preserved to add to winter fare. Herbs and vegetables had to be harvested in quantity and preserved, usually by drying, to last through the long and arduous winter months. Some herbs were able to withstand winter in the ground and provided a yearlong bounty.
Winter savory, some oreganos, garlic, and chives are often able to grow through all but the harshest winter conditions. Other plants, such as basil, curry, lavender, coriander, tarragon, sage, and rosemary had to be harvested and dried. Herbs were usually dried in bundles hung in a cool place with good airflow for 2-3 weeks.
Meats were heavily seasoned with herbs, not because the food was going bad (although this certainly helped if the meat was towards the end of its keeping time…) they were heavily seasoned because that’s what the popular thing to do was.  The wealthy were typically able to support an herb garden capable of handling heavily spiced food at every meal and if the wealthy were doing it, well, the rest of the population would want to follow suit, of course. 
Medicinal herbs, such as all heal, feverfew, lavender, sage, peppermint, goose grass, tansy, dandelion, and boneset, were grown and dried for use during the winter. Herbs could be preserved dried for up to a year without losing their potency, or they could be powdered or added to fats to create ointments and pastes.
Willow bark, garlic, and some other medicinal herbs and plants could be harvested throughout the year. All heal, feverfew, and willow were used to break as well as prevent fevers. Lavender, sage, and peppermint were considered digestive aids. Goose grass and boneset were believed to be good for healing breaks and well as cuts and lesions. Dandelion was considered a purgative and diuretic.
The most important reason for the herb garden was for its medicinal purposes.  A bad harvesting season with herbs could be the difference of life and death for some people.  Herbs were used in many ways: putting the powder in broths and stews to consume, steeping them into a tea, leaving the leaves whole and placing them on affected areas, combining them with animal fat to create a salve to apply to the affected area, etc.  We use a lot of the herbs they used today like using lemon, chamomile and honey for sore throats and coughs, peppermint used in digestive aids and calendula (marigold) to be used for bruises, rashes and abrasions - you’ll find a lot of very high end baby products on the market today include calendula oil in their ingredients (especially the “natural” products).  These herbs made for health were also used as preventatives.  It was believed then that illness traveled through bad smells.

The following plants were the principle herbs used by the villagers of Villandry, France in Medieval Europe. They are still grown at Villandry in the traditional medicine garden on the grounds. 


Click hyperlinked text for more detail.

• Angelica: Phytosterols,  No. 1 herb for women, PMS, expectorant, antispasmodic.
• Chamomile: Abrasions, carminative, anti-ulcer, anti-arthritis, anti-acne, respiratory.
• Fennel: Carminative, lactagogue, mild menstrual stimulant, treat diarrhea, cramps.
• Feverfew:  To treat migraine headaches (prophylactic), treat arthritis, psoriasis.
• Garlic:  Is anti-cancer, antibiotic, anti-microbial, heart disease protection.
• Hollyhock: Immunity, fevers, dysentery, diarrhea, laxative, sore throats.
• Lavender: Anti-stress, brain stimulant, vasodilator, antiseptic, spasms, sleep aid, headache
• Lemon balm: Cooling, relaxing, anti-stress, vasodilator, colds, flu.
• Lovage: Sedative, warms, diuretic, expectorant, spasms, anti-microbe, calcium sparer preventing kidney stones and PMS.
• Mint: Carminative, antiseptic, muscle spasms, warming, cooling, stimulating.
• Mullein: Upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, congestion.
• Rose:  Bark and floral tea stimulating tonic to treat dysentery, kill worms, eye wash.
• Rosemary: Anti-inflammatory, improve brain circulation, hypertensive, headaches.
• Spiderwort: Root: laxative, kidneys. Aerial: insect repellent, bites, stings, wounds.
• Wormwood: Bitters, anti-inflammatory, stimulant, antidepressant, worms, insecticide.
• Yarrow: Warming, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, diarrhea, styptic, immunity.

As I was cleaning up my apothecary this evening, I remembered something I've taught in classes before... herbs are better stored in glass bottles, not plastic bags! It will help to retain their freshness, their scent... their very essential oils. So don't lose potency in your hard grown, picked, and dried plants... place them in glass, I said to myself.  Hey! That's easy enough. For when you do what I do, you tend to collect jars that would be perfect for this or that, and have several on hand.

Well, things were going pretty well until I got to the really big jar and placed my rose petals inside. Great, there's no lid for this one. Well, that's alright! I also learned about the way people used to cover their jars. That's right - with waxed linen covers. So what did I do next? Well, I grabbed the linen scrap lying on the floor and some beeswax and ... yep, figured I'd create a guide to the process as I went along, so here we are!

• Beeswax
  First, you'll need some beeswax. It doesn't matter what format you bought it in, but it will need to be small enough to melt down at this point. So grate it, shave it, chunk it up, or however you can best manage it. Maybe you're lucky and you bought it in pellets.
• Next, the easiest way to do this is on a stove. So let's head to the kitchen.
• Now, you're going to need a skillet. Something about the size of cloth you're wanting to cover is going to be easier to work in.
• And for the best trick, some aluminum foil. This is to line your skillet!
• Just in case things get too hot, have a grease splatter screen handy.
• A utensil (fork is fine)
• Preferably, go ahead and have something ready that you want to put the cover on when we're done here.

Ok, melt the wax in the foil-lined skillet on medium to low heat. Don't do this on high heat or the splatters will be so bad they'll sound like popcorn. If you get it too hot, don't worry, just put the cover on and turn down the temp a bit. You'll want to let all the wax melt completely, turning clear, before moving on to the next step.


Step 2, put your cloth in. Use your fork to help all of the cloth make contact with the melted wax, turning it over and moving it around until you feel like it's all set. Raise the cloth up out of the pan (holding it over the pan - it drips!) and excess wax will pool to one side if you tilt the pan, making it easier to finish any uncovered areas. If you find you didn't melt enough wax, it's ok! Just add more and continue until done.


The wax layer won't look white until you let the cloth cool, but when you feel ready just lift the cloth out of the wax and let it drip into the foil. As it cools you'll see the waxy look.  When it stops dripping, and feels like you can touch it without hurting your hands, place it over the container you wish to cover.




The best part about cleanup is you can just leave the wax in the foil and store it away until next time after it has cooled, which takes hardly any time at all.



Now, while the cloth is still warm and flexible, just shape the cloth over and around the opening. As the wax dries, it will keep whatever's inside in, and other stuff out, pretty darned well!


No wonder this stuff is thought of as the waxed paper of the middle ages. I think it's even better, though, because of how you can just warm it back up (even just a little hand warmth is enough) and move the cloth somewhere else, and it will form to it just as easily. (Place over opening, cover with your hand, holding it around where you want it to go. It will listen, and stay.)