As a way to try to keep myself on track I am going to post end of the month updates on how my 50 challenge is going.

Project 1: Erec's tunicella:
This one is finally moving along at a pace that I like. I have been learning quite a few things about my own habits while working on this project. The biggest lesson has been about how much my own dislikes about a small part of the project can slow my work down. The embroidery part of this project is the real challenge part for me. I've only completed one previous embroidery project in the SCA (Erec's favour that I made many moons ago..it was also my first and only other SCA embroidery project..I think. There may have been one other). However, since that is moving along I find myself looking at the other aspects of the project and the direction of research that I'm going to need to take to finish it. I am also starting to conceptualize a possible class from this project but the idea needs much more fleshing out before anything goes into print.

Project 2: pewter casting for project 1:
Well..I've figured out what I am going to make for this project but that's about it.

Project 3: linen rubahka:
I actually tried to start this project and then found out that I didn't have enough of the linen that I wanted to use. So, this one will have to wait until next pennsic when I can hopefully track down more of the fabric, unless I'm lucky enough to find the same type of beautiful lightweight linen here.

Project 4: Amaryllis' garb:
I patterned and fit the under-dress and I have recently tried to find some fabric to use for the over-gown. I have fabric that I am going to use to embellish that gown but I haven't found anything that I like for the main fabric. If I can't find something that I like soon then I may have to alter my original plans for the over dress. That's about all I've done so far on this one.

Projects 5-20:
Haven't started yet.

Project 21: Learn to write my own name:
I haven't attempted any more writing since my start in September. I have fleshed out a bit more of how this project is going to be presented in the end and I've worked on the research to support that.

Projects 22-25:
Haven't started yet.

Project 26: Teaching:
This one has been moving along quite well. My goal was to teach a min of 4 times before the end of the challenge. I have taught my intro to Rus clothing twice now, with a probably third class coming up in Feb (dependent on getting the leave from work). I am also trying to work on the research for another class in a different topic.

Projects 27-29:
Haven't started yet.

Project 30: Find a proper use for silk in Rus clothing and then make it.
All I have been accomplishing on this project is a review of my research.

Other things I need to accomplish;

- I probably should remember to actually sign up for the challenge at some point.

- I want to put a binder together with short papers for each project (or long depending on the project), along with photos for use as a presentation tool at the end of the challenge.

Even though I am not really doing anything for Thanksgiving weekend I did manage to make a couple of dishes for the weekend or more specifically, for Monday while at work.

The first was a squash soup that I affectionately call 'orange soup of numminess' (I actually don't know what it is really called - though I suspect squash soup). It amazed me the first time I ate this soup as prior to that I did not like squash or ginger and this soup is full of both. I tend to eat it by the bucket load. There was quite the adventure in making this soup as I had to go for a couple of ingrediant runs (got the wrong apples, the buttercup squash was moldy inside and so on). Then I forgot to add in any fat ingredients at all - no butter, no oils. Oh well. I still think it tastes nummy. I also forgot to use the vegetable stock I had and used straight water instead. Oy. I will still be bringing it along with some molasses oatmeal bread (store bought unfortunately. I didn't get around to making any bread) to work tomorrow.



Since I usually end up spending my holidays with my co-workers I had long ago decided that we would still eat yummy holiday type stuff. We even usually get the chance to actually eat some of it. This year's treat is chocolate turtle cheesecake. It is full of yummy goodness. And while there were adventures in the making of this dish as well (breaking pans, broken glass everywhere, tearing apart a springform to get my cheesecake out) little of it was directly related to the baking of the cake. Most of it was just collateral damage. Never let it be said that my tiny kitchen is boring.



I did end up experimenting with this one a bit. I used light & no-fat ingredients where possible. The bits and pieces that I munchied on along the way tasted very yummy still so I am pleased with that. Of course, when I went and calculated the nutritional info between the original recipe and the modified one there was only a difference of about 5g of fat and about 37 calories in an already high fat & calorie dish. But hey, I will take what I can get. There is a reason I bring this stuff to work. Oh, and the nutrional info did not include the turtle garnish. :D

I spent the weekend at the Castel Rouge event and had a fantastic time as per normal. This year I even found the time to work on four of my A&S challenge projects in between all the socializing and fooling around I was doing. :D

( Project 1 )

( Project 4 )

( Project 21 )

( Project 26 )

On Wednesday evening a friend picked me up to take me to the local dance practice. I had a very good time. I re-learned a few dances I had been taught years ago, I danced some old favourites and a learned a couple of really fun new ones. It was really nice to get back to the basics for me. I joined the SCA here in Castel Rouge because of a friend but it was the dancing that drew me in and held me here.

Over the years, I have drifted away from dance for a number of reasons; busy with other things in the SCA that demanded much of my time, dance practices at my local group waned and then interest disappeared altogether, etc. I have tried a few times over the past few years to teach dance once again but the interest never seems to hold and we have very few people. That and our current meeting place has a cement floor. It is very hard to spend hours dancing on a cement floor. There is talk in Greyfells about moving to a new location and I am hoping that we will have something other than cement so that perhaps we can try some dance again. I had forgotten how much I missed it.

I have just finished up my course notes for the Introduction to Kievan Rus Clothing (with a focus on Women's clothing) for the Castel Rouge event this weekend. I am looking forward to it. I have run this in a modified form and in a much less formal setting at one of our local A&S nights so I am interested to see how it runs in the more formal setting.

I have already had one glitch though and I haven't even gotten to the event yet. I had decided to leave my laptop at home and instead just brought my notes on a USB stick but for some reason my bibliography/references section didn't make it on to the stick. *shrug* Oh well, I will just have to forward that along to anyone interested when I get back home. The only thing I have left to do on the notes is the sketches but I am hoping to enlist a friend who can actually draw a straight line to give me a hand. :D

That is project 21 on my list; learn to write my name. I am looking at 10th - 12th C Rus writing techniques for this one. My goal is to be able to write my name as properly as I can. I am hoping to learn along the way whether or not this is something my persona would know and if she did, how she would have learned. First though, I need to learn to write my name. :)

I haven't gotten much further on this one other than getting some research going and purchasing a couple of calligraphy markers to start practicing with. I had been hoping to get a little more done on this project by now but that things have been conspiring against me. However, I thought I would share some of the things I have found while poking around on the internet in regards to Early Rus manuscripts. I am currently browsing about here.

And here's some photos to show what I've been up to recently with this project.



I had decided to outline the border design first and then fill it in. While doing that I noticed that I still hadn't gotten the design right. This above photo is from one end of the first panel. The photo below is from the other end of the first panel. You can see how I adjusted the design to be more what I had in mind. I will make the corrections to the design as I go.






This photo is a close-up of the design. It is all being done in split stitch; silk thread (2 strands) on silk.

I realized as I put this post together that I don't seem to have more recent photos of the work. I will get to that.

I am sitting here on a chair looking at my embroidery project sitting on a table a couple of feet away from me and I realized that it is looking really good. Every so often I must remember to take a couple of steps back from the work and see it as it is meant to be seen.

More than a few months ago I read about the Arts and Sciences 50 Challenge that was set out in honour of the SCA's upcoming 50th birthday. I read through it and thought that it was a fantastic idea. I gave it a little thought at the time as to whether or not I wanted or could do this and decided against it. I just wasn't sure I had it in me.

However, I recently learned that my laurel, siglinde99 ,has decided to take on this challenge and I, of course, followed what she was doing as she blogged about it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) I found myself thinking that if she, with her busy lifestyle and job, could do it then I should be able to as well. So, with her quietly inspiring me, I began to more seriously think about the challenge. Taking on the challenge became solidified after a visit with said laurel. I knew I would need help and accountability to keep me focused so we discussed a couple of ideas to help with that and voila...I am going to attempt this challenge. The nice thing is that it actually fits in with my desire (and increasing energy levels towards this topic) to improve myself in my A&S work. Due to some life challenges a few years ago when I ended up somewhat fringy with the SCA for a bit, I have felt as though my knowledge base in my main research areas has slipped and while I am getting that back, I also want to expand what I know.

I have started a list which, while not complete yet, seems to be a combination of the breadth and persona challenge. Some of the things on this list require a bit more clarification in my own mind and a couple of things are probably going to end up as more than one project. It will be further developed as I go.

( A&S 50 Challenge list; )

There is more but I need to sort it out in my brain a bit first before I commit it to a list.

I think that this is going to be a lot of fun. I have no idea whether or not I will actually accomplish the challenge but I am not sure that completely matters because I will be learning new things the entire way anyway.

Anyone else want to try? ;)

I finally finished a piece that I started in late February. It was the piece that I mentioned in an earlier entry - the one that I stated that my weaving skills needed a lot of practice. A lot of practice.



I am not overly pleased with this piece as the edges are not as even as I like and there are other obvious mistakes but it will do what it needs to do. I had planned on using it as a strap for my pouch but I now may use it as a belt. Not exactly sure yet. If I wear it as a belt it will be hidden from view and for now I am leaning in that direction.

Once my back has healed (finishing up the last of this project hurt me more than I'd care to admit sometimes) I will have to get some more practice in before I weave the beautiful red skiens that I have been given by a friend and that I am itching to use. My skills right now would not do them justice.

The seneschal (and A&S) officer of my local group set up a once a month A&S informal roundtable/discussion thingie at our meetings. I think it's a great idea as it's a very nice way to chat about your current interests or projects but it's also an easy way for new people to become involved as well. Yesterday was my turn to present a topic - a basic primer to Kievan Rus costuming. My audience seemed to enjoy themselves and there were some good questions asked but I think the person who learned the most out yesterday's discussion was me.

The basic premise of my presentation was to take people through the layers of clothing worn in the Kievan Rus time; what the layers were called, how they were worn, what combination of layers could be worn - that sort of thing. I started with a basic rubahka (shirt) on a dress makers dummy and then dressed it up or down from there. I really like the idea and will prolly do it again. People got to actually see the items. They could come up and touch them or take a look at how they were constructed.

The things I learned were;

1)This is easily a 90 min class and should probably be booked for 2 hrs if I'm doing it formally. At 90 mins I felt like I was still rushing through the information but I did have time to answer questions.

2)I figured out where and how to break up the class so that I could do shorter more focused topics. For example; a class just on the Rus shirt (rubahka, sorochka) could easily take an hour on its own.

3)I need a head. :D Really, I do. Dressing up the dummy was all well and good but I need a head or two to show the head coverings/hats - a very integral part of Rus costuming.

4)All my examples are female because that's what I wear. I can describe the differences between what men and women wore but I don't have any actual examples. Yesterday I didn't even have any photos since I didn't have my books with me. Either I need to make sure I have those pictorial examples or I should get around to making a set of male Rus stuff (that is much less likely to happen).

5)Having an unfinished piece to help demonstrate the cut and construction was a great idea. I will make sure to do that again. I am a very visual learner and my teaching style reflects that in that I am a very hands on teacher so being able to show people all the individual pieces of a shirt (or in this case a svita) really worked for me.

All in all, it was a good trial run for a class I've had sitting here.

On a different note, I have my next discussion topic lined up but I don't think I'm due for that one until the new year. Which means I have to make sure I take photos since it will be a discussion on the tunicella project.

I finally have a decent photo of the refurbished navershnik. I've had the opportunity to wear it at the past couple of events (Coronation and the Baronial Investiture). While warm (a product of the synthetic fabric as well as the fabric weight)having it seamed properly makes such a difference on both comfort and how it looks. I am incredibly pleased with the results.




There are still things wrong with the outfit overall. Some of which I am even in the process of fixing (like making a proper ubrus rather than using pre-embroidered synthetic cloth - as pretty as it is). :)

When I became a territorial Baroness (oh so many years ago) one of the first things I did (after recruiting help for finishing up the investiture garb) was to set about making favours. I didn't really know much about what I was doing but I did know that I wanted some sort of token available to hand out to members of the baronial populous and that I wanted them to be made by my hand. I have no idea what that meant to the people who received them but it was important to me that I be the one to make them. So I did. The baronial favours were simple; red linen back with white linen with an appliqued Hare (the primary Baronial charge in its heraldry)with our initials quickly embroidered in the corner.




The above photo is the favour I gave to a very good friend. She has decorated her favour with other tokens that have been given to her.

Last year when I found out that I was going to vicar of the same barony that I was a territorial baroness for one of the first things I did was to figure out favours. I am a big fan of handing out a token/favour as a thank you. One of my current favourite memories as vicar was handing out my first favour to someone very special. It was such a sweet thank you. This time however I decided to put a bit more thought into them and personalize the favours a bit more. I needed to keep the Hare in the favour but I wanted to make it a bit more me as well, which meant that I wanted it to have a Rus flair. So I did some research. I actually managed to find a Rus Hare off of a 12th C bracelet.*

This time I made the favours out of red silk and I painted the Hare. I did have some help with the last batch of these favours (the first batch I managed to do on my own) which I truly appreciated since I did not have the kind of prep time as I did the first time I had to make favours.



This one is a photo of one of the remaining favours in my possession. I was not quite as pleased with the final product on this one as the initial batch I made (I painted the hare better in the first set).

*Rybakov, B.A. Russian Applied Art of the Tenth - Thirteenth Centuries. Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad. (pg. 112).

I believe the book is out of print, which is a bit unfortunate.

I had received a package from an overseas friend who had found some jewellry items in a market that he thought I might be able to potentially use as temple rings for my Rus costuming. He did mention that they might need some work.




Unfortunately the above picture is quite blurry which is the result of the camera I was using so while you can't see how dull the piece is you can at least get an idea of what its original shape was.

I took the bells off and polished it up. This shot I took with my cell phone which gets better close up shots than the digital I was using (scary but true).




Obviously they are not exact reproductions of original Rus temple rings but they are close enough and they are pretty. I am very happy with how they turned out and can hardly wait to start wearing them.

Below is a link to a great article on temple rings just for anyone who may want further info on the subject.

Peter Beatson's article on Rus Temple Rings

This year's attempts from pysanky day (an annual tradition with a couple of close friends). I tried to do a poppy based egg (the design) but the poppies were getting the better of me or more accurately; the diamonds within the poppy designs were getting the better of me. So I moved onto other designs. I am also a big fan of stars. The first of these eggs is based off of a pattern. The second I made up as I went along.







They aren't as good as I would like them to be but that is just my own fault for only doing this once a year. However, I still really enjoy this activity. It's just fun and relaxing (even when the design is winning)and time spent with some good friends.







These are taken before the varnish has been put on the eggs. Next time I will try to remember to bring a camera rather than using my cell phone. :)

I was asked recently to teach at a couple of our events. I ended up not teaching anything at practicum in February but I did set up to teach a class at the upcoming Break the Back of Winter event later in March.

I spent today putting together my class notes for my introduction to Kievan Rus clothing. I have four of the five sections fairly complete. At least the text part. I still need to get my drawings sorted out and see if I can find any photos that are available to use.

I also still need to organize some of my garb to bring with me as demos. I will be wearing some stuff and I haven't been sewing much later so I will have to see what's left in my closet. I have a svita here that is cut but not put together. I knew there was a reason that I never got around to sewing it up as now I can use it as a demo pattern. :D

I picked up my inkle loom for the first time in quite some time. I believe the last project I did was the belt in the userpic and that was last summer, possibly last spring. I attended an inkle loom class at Practicum last weekend and ended up starting a small project. Due to an illness that I picked up on Monday I wasn't able to get back to it until later in the week. However, I was able to spend a nice Thursday evening working on the loom and watching some telly.

During this I learned/remembered a couple of things;

1)I remembered how nice it is to just sit and work on the loom. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the movements and watching the project grow right before my eyes.

2)I learned that I am out of practice.

3)I learned that I am *way* out of practice. :D

At practicum I picked up some silk that I am itching to work with. It needs to be dyed first which will give me time to get my skills back up to some sort of decent level. Especially since while I was at Kingdom 12th Night I have (hopefully) managed to convince someone to let me work on their handspun silk. I have been waiting to get my hands on her stuff and work with it.

Years ago I made a Byzantine Dalmatica that, even at that time, I knew to not be entirely correct - at least in fabric colour. I was wearing a garment that would have probably been entirely too purple for my persona rank/station. However, I loved the fabric so much that I did it anyway. I also really liked how the piece turned out. I wore it as my investiture garb when I was made a territorial Baroness many years ago.

It was also constructed before I knew as much as I do now about proper cuts and patterns. It never did look completely right but that's always going to be true when one is not using the right pattern. It didn't hang right. It didn't look right.

I stopped wearing it because I could not get past the whole 'it's wrong' concept in my head. The more I researched and the more I learned about cut/construction the less I wore my Byzantine clothing.

But I still loved the piece. So I revamped it to a Rus navershnik. For those of you that know me you will understand how much I didn't want to just get rid of this piece since I rarely (and I mean rarely) repair a piece. I hate that kind of work. I'd rather make a new piece (and usually do).

However, the finished piece is much more correct in construction and I am much happier with it then I ever was as a Byzantine piece.

What I ended up doing was cutting off the bottom embellished piece to save for later. I then marked where the appropriate seam lines would be for a navershnik. I did not cut the garment apart except for the hem removal which needed to be done as the width of the piece was going to drastically change.

I then went and hand stitched the marked seams creating the right construction for the Rus piece. It fit so much better and looked so much better than the original piece. Much happier with it.

Re-attaching the bottom piece was interesting as the pearl embellishments were already present and I was *not* going to pull them all and start over. Just wasn't going to happen. However, I had to remove entire blocks of the embellishments in order to fit the reconstructed garment. I figured out which ones had to go. Stitched the seams closed. Reinforced the surrounding pearling and then cut out the blocks that were no longer needed. That was fun.

It is done and has actually been done for a few months. I forgot to take photos of it before I started the transformation unfortunately so I will try to find a photo of me wearing it prior to the changes.

Now I just needed to make a sorochka (shirt) to go under it and then I need the right event to wear it at.

Edit: I got the chance to give the navershnik a test run this year at Gimli. It worked. It was warm, but it looked okay. The following is the only current photo I have of the piece (I still have to find and scan a photo of it in its previous life). I will hopefully find a better image soon (or at least remember to take one myself).

I have started the embroidery on the hem of Erec's tunicella and already I've pulled the stitches out. That didn't take long. However, I was using 3 strands of the silk but it looks too chunky to me so I am moving to 2 strands and the effect is much more like what I want. Once again I am much happier with the outcome. Pics will be forthcoming when I get enough done to actually have something to show for it.

I have also decided that if Erec is not going to be able to cast the pewter bits that I want to add to the embellishment of the tunicella that I may take a try at it. I know enough people with the casting equipment that I do not need to purchase anything but the necessary raw materials and it will give me a chance to try some casting. I have no real desire to get into casting as a more serious thing (like I don't have enough hobbies already) but I like the idea of giving it a try. However, that is not for quite some time yet. Have to finish the embroidery first.

This year at Pennsic I actually managed to make the majority of the classes that I had wanted attend. I missed one because I just couldn't get my ass out of camp in time to be up the hill for the start of class. There was another class that I really wished to take (Rus archeology) but it was only taught before I arrived at Pennsic. Disappointing on my end but what can you do. Missed another because it conflicted with another class that I wanted to take more.

I ended up taking a variety of Rus classes: A survey of Medieval Russian Clothing, Embellishment tips for Russian Clothing, Kievan Daily Life, Kievan Rus: Who lived where when and Early Russian History.

The two Russian clothing classes were interesting in that I did get to meet a couple of good sources (one was a Rus Laurel and the other was the class instructor) and we got to have some good discussions while at the Slavic gathering later in the week. For the most part there was nothing taught in those classes that I did not already know, but it was really nice to see that someone else is interpreting the same sources in a way that is similar to my ideas. However, I did get a couple more ideas as well as a couple of new sources.

The Kievan Daily Life and the Early Russian History (two different instructors) were both interesting. Learned some stuff I didn't know before and was reminded of stuff I had forgotten about.

The Kievan Rus:Who lived Where When class was very interesting. Very quick, but very interesting as it had to do with the Rus tribes that populated the area. Lots of info...hence the quickness of the class. My own general focus is on Kievan Rus but I would love to narrow some of my focus to the Galicia-Vohlynia tribes and she had some info on that. Not much more than I had already gleaned on my own unfortunately but hey, I'll take what I can get.

I also ended up taking a class called "The Renaissance barber-surgeon". It was quite interesting and at time amusing. I had taken a couple of very general medieval medicine classes last year, but I have to admit I enjoyed this one more. It was probably the obvious enthusiasm and knowledge that the instructor had for the topic or it was the toys he brought with him. Actually, I would guess that it was both. He had actually amassed quite a collection of renaissance surgical instruments. I would have loved to had a chance to play with some but we ran out of time.

I took a class on 12th Century clothing and was not as impressed with it. My main focus is Rus with Byzantine second but I also greatly enjoy the western end of 12th C clothing and was looking forward to seeing another perspective on the topic. However the instructor in this class seemed fairly unfocused in her delivery; she jumped from point to point without having much in between to connect her ideas. I also disagreed with some of her theories. They didn't make sense to me given some of my knowledge of the surrounding cultures. It was more like the instructor was developing her theories about the clothing with tunnel vision to the time and place. Meh.

I took in the Knowne Worlde A&S display and I have apparently been roped into creating something to display for that next year. It's not just me and I do intend to make sure that everyone else sitting around the table at the Inner Vagabond submits something too. Since that was the point. I know what I am planning to do, I just need to put a bit of thought to it yet.

I did manage to get to the slavic group gathering this year and this time I actually talked with people as well as furthered some new connections. This is unlike the last one I went to a couple of years ago where I didn't really talk to anyone much. All in all, it was a fun time. The food was good. The books were drool worthy and out-of-print (so very, very sad since they are catalogs of actual archaeological finds - in Russian of course, but the pics were so nice).