You know you're an SCA costumer when...

...you look at paintings and all you see is the fantastic detail of the seams of that doublet and completely fail to notice the severed head.

I had a folder of paintings from Rogier van der Weyden with me at our A&S gathering last night. One of our members had her 5 year old daughter with her, who was a bit bored so we passed her some folders to "look at the pretty pictures", failing to think about the fact that most of them were allegorical. Fortunately she has the attention span of a goldfish so any slight distress at the graphic violence displayed in the pictures was replaced by the next shiny thing on her radar.

So the evenings serious discussions about various types of gown construction were punctuated by the following:

"'scuse me"
"Yes Amber"
"Why is that man's head cut off"
"Because he was a bad man sweetie, how about you look at some other pictures"

--
"'scuse me"
"Yes Amber"
"What are they doing to that man?"
"They're taking Jesus off the cross sweetie"
"Is he dead?"
"Yes he's dead dear."
"Why has he got holes in him"
"Because they nailed him to the cross"
"That's not very nice"
"No it isn't very nice"
"That would hurt"
"It probably did"
"I like that ladies dress"
"Yes its very pretty."

Feast of the Four Winds A&S Competition

I ran my usual Feast of the Four Winds A&S Competitions on the weekend. The competition is for a complete outfit from head to toe, of which 80% must be your own work and 80% new since the last Feast of the Four Winds. The prize is a choice of an SCA membership or Rowany Festival ticket.

I also ensure that I submit an entry myself, to show that I can put my money where my mouth is so to speak.

Last year I had 8 entries, this year I only had 4. On the plus side, although there were less entries, they were far more "complete" than some of the entries from the previous year. Many thanks to Duchess D and Lady Maeve who volunteered to be judges.

The entries were:
Zanobia Adimari - 10th century Norse costume
Eadie Porterose - 16th Century working class hollandish
Eadie Porterose - 1st century Roman
Bleddyn ap Guyver - 1st century Roman military costume

Zanobia's entry was the winner with a beautifully complete outift, well executed in construction and good documentation. Eadie's outfits were both quite complete, but her documentation and execution were not as well done. Bleddyn didn't have any documentation, but is still good to see some guys giving costuming a go.

The main thing that impressed me was that every entry had shoes! Check them out:

Zanobia's Felt Boots

Eadie's Hollandish shoes

Eadie's Roman Shoes
Bleddyn's Calligae

I am so impressed. Despite having a thing for period shoes, they really do make an outfit and I am amazed that people who are quite competent costumers don't try their hand at shoes. As I'm sure these entrants discovered, making shoes is not really that difficult.

I'm thinking about what to do for next year to encourage more people to enter. I was disappointed that a number of people who I thought were going to enter, didn't. I think they may have been confused about the competition as the reasons for not entering were "I couldn't document all of it". Documentation certainly got you bonus points, but it wasn't essential.

Though some options I'm playing with for next year are:

• Lower the percentage of own work (bonus points for if more than 80% is your own work) and maybe drop the "new since last year" or change to "not previously submitted for this competition".
• Consider "grades" of competition. Keep beginner level basic to encourage entrants. Have an intermediate/advanced level that requires min. 80% own work with documentation. That way those who are new to costuming or a particular style can still enter and get feedback and those who are more experienced will be challenged appropriately.

I'll have a chat to the group and see what I can do to get more entries next year.

November Crown Tournament Results

As usual, I kept track of the list for Crown (mainly so that finals cannot sneak up unexpected). Sadly, Team B (as we have been dubbed) was not successful, but it was still a fantastic event and a list to be proud to have been a part of. So, on to the list and the results. I'm still missing the names of some of the consorts (if anyone knows, please let me know).

The Side of Chivalry (King’s Side):
Duke Sir Aedward Steadfast fighting for Duchess Yolande Kesteven
Jarl Sir Alfar of Attica fighting for Countess Gudrun Bodvarsdottir
Sir Agro Agwesi fighting for Mistress Glynhvar of Riverhaven
Sir Hugh the Little fighting for Baroness Therasa Cummins
Sir Asbjorn Pedersen Marsvin fighting for Mistress Mariena Jensdottir
Viscount Styvyn Longshanks fighting for Lady Elissande de Montrose
Viscount Reynardine de Clfiford fighting for Mistress Glynhvar of Riverhaven
Baron Master Thaddeus Blayney fighting for THL Artemisia da Quieto d’Arzenta
Baron Master Drake Morgan fighting for Baroness Blodeuwedd y Gath

The Side of Honour (Queen’s Side):
Baron Master Bran Torc dubh MacBrude fighting for Baroness Mistress Eleanor of Caithness
Master Steffan Glaube fighting for Branwen (?)
Master Piers of Malmesbury fighting for Katherine (?)
Baron Somerled of Redcliff fighting for Baroness Celia the Fair
Conan MacAindreis fighting for Isíbéal inghean Chorcráin
Eoghann MacAindreis fighting for Angelina Enriques de Torres
Miles de Colwell fighting for Lady Maeve ni Iasachta
Joab Cohen fighting for Lady Jehanne de Finistere
Wulfgar JarnsÞa fighting for Baroness Ascelin d'Ypres

Victor and Crown Prince & Princess of Lochac:
Jarl Sir Alfar of Attica and his consort Countess Gudrun Bodvarsdottir
Wreath of Chivalry:
Sir Hugh the Little and his consort Baroness Therasa Cummins
Wreath of Valour:
Viscount Reynardine de Clifford and his consort Mistress Glynhvar of Riverhaven

Final Standing: Victories
Jarl Sir Alfar of Attica 7
Sir Asbjorn Pedersen Marsvin 6
Sir Hugh the Little 5
Baron Master Thaddeus Blayney 3
Viscount Reynardine de Clfiford 3
Viscount Styvyn Longshanks 3
Sir Agro Agwesi 2
Baron Master Bran Torc dubh MacBrude 2
Duke Sir Aedward Steadfast 1
Baron Master Drake Morgan 1
Wulfgar Jarnsioa 1
Eoghann MacAindreis 1
Conan MacAindreis 0
Miles de Colwell 0
Master Piers of Malmesbury 0
Baron Somerled of Redcliff 0
Master Steffan Glaube 0
Joab Cohen 0

Full Tourney Draw and Results

First Round:
Styvyn def Wulfgar
Aedward der Steffan
Drake def Piers
Eoghann def Agro
Asbjorn def Conan
Hugh def Miles
Blayney def Somerled
Alfar def Bran
Reynardine def Joab

Second Round:
Styvyn def Aedward
Wulfgar def Drake
Agro def Steffan
Asbjorn def Piers
Hugh def Eoghann
Blayney def Conan
Alfar def Miles
Reynardine def Somerled
Bran def Joab
Eliminated: Steffan, Piers, Conan, Miles, Somerled, Joab

Third Round:
Blayney def Styvyn
Alfar def Aedward
Reynardine def Drake
Agro def Wulfgar
Asbjorn def Eoghann
Bran def Hugh
Eliminated: Aedward, Drake, Wulfgar, Eoghann

Fourth Round:
Alfar def Agro
Asbjorn def Reynardine
Hugh def Blayney
Styvyn def Bran
Eliminated: Bran, Agro

Fifth Round:
Asbjorn def Styvyn
Hugh def Reynardine
Alfar def Blayney
Eliminated: Styvyn, Reynardine, Blayney

Sixth Round:
Hugh def Alfar
Bye – Asbjorn

Seventh Round:
Asbjorn def Hugh
Bye – Alfar
Eliminated: Hugh

Final
Alfar def Asbjorn
Alfar def Asbjorn