I adore this particular Book of Hours so very much. I think it’s my favourite and I intend to spend a lot of time trying to get the style right to make future scrolls, so I might get a bit boring about it. I’ll try not to. The Book of Hours of Marguerite d’Orléans is…
The Meditteranean DYE it
I’m doing a workshop on natural dyes at an event my new Tuatha (roughly equivalent to a Village) is running at the end of the month. I’ve been refreshing my knowledge, doing a bit of online shopping and spending a couple of evenings doing some new research with my laptop while the TV is on…
Never underestimate someone who sucks their thumb
There is a place, hidden in the gloaming, where the waters of Connla’s Well rise unfailing. By tide it roars, full of gush and turmoil to the circling sea, by other tide it mirrors the slumber of the Universe, glinting far off worlds above and below its silk, silver surface. From this well, in its…
Glass bead workshop at Yule Ball
This post will be a sort of round up of information to support the hands on workshop experience at Yule Ball this weekend just gone. I want to say thanks to everyone who came along because everyone did a fantastic job and gave me more back than I could have hoped in terms of interest….
Oh the heralds of the Barony at the Court at Crown Tourney..
..were just passing by. (A mangled song from dusty caverns in the very back of my mind, which will now likely earworm me for days. I will spare you all the link to the original) So thing one about me: I don’t like being in the way and I’m not fond of being obvious in…
Méadar an Mháistir (the Master’s Mether)
I had a sekrit project, it’s one of the reasons I went quiet here again despite being back in SCA circles, the other being that I’ve moved out of my old house and am currently in weird limbo waiting to be able to start work on my new home. That’s a story for another day…
Three recipes for Buckthorn Ink and one attempt
The recipe I have attempted is from the Paduan Manuscript via Mary P. Merrifield’s Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting. (1999). I haven’t managed to get a workable-for-me version of the original manuscript source, but the Manuscript Miscellanea 992 contains recipes for all kind of colours, fine inks, and varnishes, gum arabic,…
Getting ready for more ink making
There has been much much embarrassed clearing of throat after uncontrollable maniacal laughing in my house…. No, not really, but I am hugely enjoying finding myself back into pigment and ink making mode. I did find that the oak galls were harder to smash up than I remembered, maybe I’m more chill this time. (Pro…
Hawthorn Ink
I was all excited when I discovered hawthorn Ink was made in period thinking it was possibly the berries I’d need to use. When I looked it up I actually remembered that I had seen it before and had registered too late, then as now, that the ink is made from the wood just before…
Fennel in Bartolomeo Scappi
I was doing the staring out the kitchen window, not really thinking about anything, waiting for the kettle to finish boiling and vaguely admiring my mini herb bed. The fennel went a bit more mad than I was expecting – which is good to know for my next garden – and I was admiring the…
Adventures in castle camping and camp cooking
Art and I recently (June bank holiday weekend) went along to Strawberry Raid at Sigginstown Castle, Tacumshane Co. Wexford, hosted by Liz and Gordon – who are doing the incredible work at the castle itself (and Dun in Mara generally) – and Agnes Boncuer and her event team. To say it was fantastic is an…
Green Oak
I really, really want to get refocused and ready to rejoin SCA life. I should start by reattaching my brain to Órlaith’s and do some research, right? Órlaith’s brain is full of interesting (to her at least) projects and A&S ambitions, Cee’s is wall to wall work, C#, CSS, SQL late nights and quite probably…
Time traveling Órlaith 