Scarab Rings, Pinterest, and You . . er, Me.

Sometimes, I go on Pinterest trawls.  I find awesome things.  Including scarab rings (which are a bit out of period/location for my persona), but also other sorts of rings, including one with a completely wire-wrapped band, intaglio rings with essentially a bead, and plain wire rings.

I was given a carved bead to work with about a year ago, and I wasn't sure what to really do with it until today, when I saw the scarab ring on Pinterest and decided to experiment.


Most of the time, when I experiment, I end up having to try a couple of times to get the results I want.  No exception here.  I first tried with 20 gauge Artistic Wire, and I found it difficult to get enough of a wrap on the bead to stabilise it.  So, I removed that, and went with 22 gauge non-tarnish brass wire, which is a little thinner, and a little less flexible, because of the nature of the brass itself, and just passed it through the bead hole twice.  In period, rings like this are almost all universally made of gold, as far as I've researched.  Gold is a much more flexible material and can be pulled, twisted, wrapped, and manipulated much easier than brass can be.  You'll notice that I also wrapped the brass wire around the scarab bead to keep it from moving around too much.  After all of this, I started to wrap the ring itself, stopping when the wires met each other at the bottom of round.  I then clipped these short and then smooshed (it's a technical term) them so they would lie flat and not get caught on anything.

The ring itself is large enough to wear comfortably on my left pointer finger, but as it's not really my period, I'm going to tuck this away for some largesse basket for my kingdom to give.  I'd be interested to see where this little guy goes off, and hear all of the adventures it has.

I now also have a great way to use up orphan beads, and it really didn't take too long.  In fact, I managed to make another ring today using some of the same techniques as this one, but that one looks quite a bit more suited for modern tastes.

Sorry for the Absence!

2013-11-02-1145, a photo by vhersch_rhianydd on Flickr.

I've had to get some non-SCA life things in order, hence my absence. Let's get caught up, shall we?

A couple of reigns ago, there was a blank border contest. I entered, and won third place for this entry.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. A well-deserving lady was awarded the Calon Cross. The scroll was turned around - and the realisation hit.

I painted the scroll.

Talk about a really cool thing, right?

Surprises, surprises. . .

Photo courtesy of Mergriet van Wijenhorst (Amanda Poirer-Kratz)

This weekend was a pretty big weekend in my Laurel's group of apprentices.  My apprentice-brother, His Excellency, Baron D'Unstable Peregrinator, was made a member of the Order of the Laurel.  Our Laurel all gave us things to do as we could - so I volunteered to make the wreath and the medallion chain.  Syr Yesungge, Bess' husband, made the medallion.  It is all kinds of super-spiff.

While the wreath is not based on anything in particular within SCA-period history, the techniques I used on the chain are the same wire-wrapped links that are used on Roman and Byzantine jewellery.  As for the pressed glass leaves, I'm not sure the periodicity of them.  I'd have to do more research.

Still, congratulations, Your Excellency! 

Queen's Prize Entry

100_3282, a photo by constantiak on Flickr.

It is time for Queen's Prize here in Calontir! This is the novice-level A&S event of the year here.

My original plan fell through - encaustic takes time and money that after a trip out of the country and sixty-hour workweeks I didn't really have, so I switched gears and did traditional scribal. I did want to keep it Byzantine (because, hi, me), so I went with this page from the Rabbula Gospels that depicts the apostles and Christ talking about who would replace Judas.

Not much is known about the artist (or for that matter, studio) who painted the Rabbula Gospels, other than his name was Rabbula.  The extant is on parchment (in the photos, the animal's markings are even seen).

Instead of going with this idea and doing a full-blown replica, I went with the idea of past imparting wisdom to the future, by using the first five kings and queens of Calontir speaking to the current king and queen of Calontir.

From the top, going clockwise - Arwyn and Chepe (1st), Cire and Elisabeth (4th), William (Humpk) and Mammara (3rd), Damien and Issabell (60th and as of this writing, current king and queen of Calontir), Asgeirr and Miriam (5th), and Shadan and Erzebet (2nd).

It is unusual to have the men and women in such close quarters, given how segregated Byzantine society was between women and men, and it is doubly unusual to have the women not veiled.  In hindsight, I probably should have veiled the women (modesty was a big deal in Byzantium, especially in the 5th and 6th centuries, and there's an example in the Rabbulas of Mary being completely covered, however, it appears that she is in mourning), however, looking at the royal ladies of Theodora's court in comparison, they're about as covered, though I will point out that the artist may be illustrating the difference in class.

One cool thing I found out is that the extant is just shy of 13"x10", or about the size of the perg (which is close at 11"x14", though this was due to being trimmed to be rebound. That was a really happy day, lemme tell you.

It is commercially produced gouache (Royal Talens) on pergamenata (purchased from John Neal Booksellers).

I am pretty pleased with this piece, though I really need to draw the figures bigger to fill the space better.

If you would like to see the step-by-step process, the scroll diary can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/belle-etoile/sets/72157634999333773/

Additionally, my documentation can be found here.

Queen's Prize and other Miscellanea

Hi everyone!

I'm in the process of madly writing documentation for Calontir's Queen's Prize, which is in a few days, and will have an entry mostly consisting of my documentation for my entry soon.  I do exist - but my goodness, so many things to do and see and write about!

I'm hoping to start on some Coptic embroidery soon for a new cloak, but I need to do some more research.  I'll hopefully be putting those notes here so you can see what I've written about.

Until then,

Konstantia

And I'm back . . .

100_3108, a photo by constantiak on Flickr.

. . . with more projects. So soon after my return from Canada, too! (I came back from my two weeks away yesterday. I have issues.)

I'm part of a group on Facebook called SCA Medieval Barter Town that is somewhat of an offshoot of Noblesse Largesse. People create items for other people, and then barter them off for other items. It's a really cool thing.

So, I'm working on four blank borders for someone. I've been given some direction - a Roman one, a Norse/Viking one, a 12th c Crusader one, and finally, a 14th c one.

This is the 14th c. one. I'm kind of pleased with it. I need to add some vinework to it, but it's really getting close to what I'd want out of it.

Now I have to get some more pergamenata, and I need to get started on my encaustic projects, too.

Off to war . . . kind of.

The pieces in the photo - a  paternoster and Roman-style necklace and earrings - are off to be part of a largesse basket for Lochac at Pennsic.  My Princess asked me to help with this, and while I can't be there, this is the second year in a row that I've done something for the largesse basket coming from Calontir.  It's an honour to be asked to do this.

The details of the pieces are as such: the paternoster is strung on silk, with the aves made with 8mm Swarovski pearls, the gauds made with 10mm red glass, and a tassel hand made with silk.  I am not particularly fond of using imitation pearls, as I feel they're too perfect, however, these Swarovski pearls have a similar weight to the real thing, and at a fraction of the cost, it was worth using them.

The necklace I used sodalite, freshwater pearls, coral, plated spacer beads, and a handmade hook and eye clasp, using 18 ga brass wire.  The matching earrings use sodalite, plated spacer beads, and fancy headpins on shepherd hooks.  If I had a jig, and the right sort of wire, I would have probably made the hooks myself - but that's neither here nor there.

So, this gets mailed off today to the largesse coordinator, as I will not be able to attend Pennsic, but for the second year in a row, my stuff will.