As I am planning things for the coming scribal classes, I found an excellent handout about starting and maintaining a scribes’ guild. While my intent for our classes was to continue on from the information provided at the recent Barony’s scribal introduction class, not to form a guild, the information in Hillary Rose Greenslade’s article is…
Students at May’s Lonely Tower scribal gathering suggested we have regular calligraphy and illumination classes. This coming July 24th I will host the first one. While reservations are not needed responding to the event notice on Facebook would help planning. I can easily seat 12 without adding extra tables. Beyond that I’ll have to add tables….
Calontir‘s Lilies War is XXX. I spent five of its ten days enjoying wondrous sights and adventures. Sadly I could not do them all. Not in the day’s numbers nor the picture possibilities. I missed opportunities. Even so – even with the sweltering heat – I had the best of times. Arriving late I set…
Early in June the Barony of the Lonely Tower held their quarterly potluck revel and champion tournament. This one was to select the Barony’s Cut and Thrust Champion. The weather was perfect and there was a breezy populace turnout. The Cut and Thrust Champion Tournament was the day’s feature, as my pictures show. It had three…
In 1990 I sewed some boring brown homespun cotton into my first SCA garb. Using a pattern with princess seams, I added buttons up the sleeves and knotwork detail. My first attempt. Today, my camping garb isn’t much better even though I don’t use a pattern to make it.
My last post,, was about the research, design, and calligraphy of my most recent scroll. This post will be about its illumination. After the calligraphy, I penciled in my design concept. Then I used a black 005 Sakura Micron Pen to make chosen lines permanent. I then erased the pencil with a white eraser. My…
My scroll creation process is not a direct line. To begin, even before I have the text, I research the person to receive the award. Their persona’s time period and personal interests both within and outside the SCA. This has become easier if the person posts on FaceBook, as Bietriz does. I got motifs to…
For a few years, about 2008 and 2009, I enjoyed decorating glassware. The glassworkers in Calontir were making baskets-full of beads at that time. I wanted to decorate glassware. Making glass, like Calontir’s Glassworkers Guild now do, is a true labor of love. It takes skill, heat, and unique materials. …
Last year I spent searching for engrossments. Ways to connect and feel purposeful, alive. Labor day I visited close friends and others in November. I decluttered the house. I went shopping at Kris Kinder, helped with Lonely Tower’s 12th Night Event and attended the Clothiers Symposium. I started this blog, took up Tai Chi and found my…
May 8th Lonely held an afternoon of scribal classes. Mistress Aiden came from out of town to present Lord Kahlil his auction winnings, a scribal start up kit. It included books, paints, pens, tools, and other materials. A real haul. M. Aiden and Ld. Kahlil Kahlil spear-headed the scribal afternoon which included the introduction to…
What should you consider before committing to an SCA Peer relationship? In this post I consider 7 of many possible expectations.
Wow! This has been a year for reconnections and recollections. I recently visited Kansas City to visit long time friends and now Arnoud and Gillian have come to visit me. We were the closest friends before they moved to Texas in 1998. I can’t begin to write about all the many friends’ names’ recalled, and stories shared,…
With digital devices’ development and pervasiveness, educators have long promoted ending handwriting instruction. Something I cannot fathom or condone. Handwriting is not an archaic communication tool to be scrapped for modern keyboarding. Handwriting’s motions creating letters, words and sentences stimulate the brain in a way typing does not. According to Psychology Today’s Dr. William Klemm, Ph.D., learning…
  In the early 1990s the Barony of the Lonely Tower put on a demonstration at Oak View Mall that included a “Walk Through History” fashion show. These photos are from that show. I have attempted to organize them by approximate clothing era, earlier to later.        …
For your viewing pleasure, I give you my 10 most artistically inspiring illuminated manuscripts. Not all are lavish, but all encourage my creativity. I hope they do yours too. Book of Kells created c. 800, is a calligraphy masterwork and pinnacle of Insular illumination. Regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure, its extravagance and decoration complexity combines traditional Christian motifs with…
Artisan of the Steppes is a body of work competition that’s been held in the SCA Kingdom of Ansteorra for over 28 years. Work diversity is encouraged including endeavors that didn’t click with the maker. All items entered have documentation on their history and creation. Mosaic Entries I took these pictures August 6, 2000, in…
I’ve been a scribe way over 20 years and along the way I have collected materials and tools. Some end up in a bin never to see the light of day again. Other’s become as necessary to me as water. Here’s my 10 favorite scribal materials and tools, except for paint and paper towels. Things…
What’s the difference between script, hand, and font? I’ve heard these terms used almost interchangeably. There is a difference. A script is a handwriting form used as a model, the writing style a calligrapher scribe has in mind to create. In general, they have names like “Uncial”, “Carolingian”, and “Gothic”, to name a few. Researchers…
These were taken at Lonely Tower’s Twelfth Night event, January, 2006. The event was held at Omaha’s Masonic Center which has been outside our budget recently.
Each time I teach a class it’s different I’ll take stock of my handouts and supplies. Then I cajole/invite a few Lonely Tower scribes to take a condensed practice class. this time, you will see and hold my raw mineral rock collection. Ground to powder and added to a binder, these rocks make the paint used in early manuscript illumination . I share photos I snapped from my 2010 class.