Gilding!

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I helped run Mimir's Well this last weekend, and it went really well, for a first time. One of my duties was to recruit teachers, and I begged and pleaded well enough that **4** Scribal Arts teachers came from Aethelmearc to share their wisdom with us, and one of them taught GILDING!!!!

Long-time readers may know that trying gilding with real gold has been one of my Challenge goals from the very beginning, and now I have done it! The real loose leaf wasn't all that different from using the fake loose leaf stuff, but the patent gold is on a paper backing which is just WAY easier to work with, although thinner, so you need to put more layers. Gee shucks. ;) (I loved that part!)

The part that I thought was the absolute NEATEST was trying different period sizes or glues, to get the first layer of gold to stick to the paper/vellum/etc - I tried period gesso, fish glue and garlic juice glue (which stank the most). It was AWESOME, and THL Mea the Bold of Aethelmearc, actually included recipes for all of them in her little booklet that she gave us! She even sent us home with our gold scraps to make shell gold with (mix real gold scraps with gum arabic)!

I learned a bucket, and can tick off another big item off my Challenge wishlist. Hurray!!!! No one came to the A&S 50 meeting, but I had so much to do, I was ok with it. Folks know where to find me anyway...

I also put embroidery, spinning, my first lampworking, and a whole bunch of illumination doodles in the exhibition (which I ran, and which went great!)

Now we're gearing up for next year, and the same teacher says she'll come back and teach how to make both period pigments and period gesso! (She even gifted our local scribes, in the form of me, with a box full of vials of period pigments! OOOOOHHH!!! I can't WAIT to try those out with the crew!!!! Mea - you ROCK!!!)

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Database Bliss!

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Ok, so it isn't on the website, but we actually now have a searchable database for our Contact Info! Hurray! It is on the Yahoogroup site, and is working well. :)

I'm really excited about this, since a) it has been a real thorn in my side, and b) I feel that this is really the heart of the infrastructure that I can provide folks - the ability to discover and forge relationships with others who share their passions and who want to share their interests with others, across the shire, or across the Knowne World. Joy!

The new website may be, well, the old website, but just with more stuff. With the yahoogroup handling both the threaded forum and the database, I'm just not feeling the need to keep pulling my hair out over Joomla. I'm hoping we'll get a flashier site eventually, but the rush is OFF! Hurray!

And good timing, too. My husband, Owyn, had hernia surgery last week, and I'm helping to run our fist shire A&S and War College (Mimir's Well, see mountainfreehold.org for details) this weekend, including doing all of the scheduling, a solid majority of the recruiting (indluding 4 OOK C&I teachers!), I'm running both the exhibition and the youth program, AND I'm running an A&S 50 session, natch! ;)

(I REALLY want to go to the gilding class I begged for someone to come teach, but probably won't get to.... ::pout::)

Not having the lack of a workable database hanging over my head is going to make for a MUCH nicer holiday season. I might even make some art! :P

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Over and Under

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No, not weaving patterns, just over and under estimating the new website; underestimating how frustrating Joomla can be (how dumb is it that it doesn't automatically make text fit the space assigned to it?) and overestimating how much time my kids will allow me to work on it.

I know we have 7.5 years still, but I'm hoping that the Challenge will grow, and I *really* want us to have the infrastructure to grow into when we do. Websites just aren't my forte, and I'm donig my best not to let that stand in our way...

In better Challenge news, group projects are well underway, and overcoming fear of entering displays/competitions are forming an entire Challenge for another individual. Wow, wow, wow. I love hanging out with inspiring people!

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Canterbury Report and Recovery

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Well, Wrong Way reports that Canterbury went very well (she got her Kingdom level Service award too, Congrats!) - and that a bunch of folks came by the A&S 50 booth, and that most of them were already on-board with the Challenge. Hurray! She also said that lots of other folks were interested in attending, but too busy RUNNING the event to get to attend. She plans to hold A&S 50 Sessions at some of their local events this fall, to give everyone a chance to get involved. All in all, good things! Thank you, Teresa Wrong Way Giani!

As it turns out, it was a VERY good call for me not to attend the event - I got sicker, my husband was down for 24 hours, and both of my kids got it too. Then we had a massive 'pack away that stuff from Pennsic, we have a houseguest coming' cleanup, and then he came, and it was wonderful, but tiring! My house looks FAR nicer, but the website? Not so much. I'm still recovering from it all, but hope to pick up the pace considerably this weekend, including a conference call with our webguru, Alaxandr. My goal at this point is to have the site up for Oct 1. It probably won't have either the forums or the Contact List database or its front end up yet, but every journey begins with a single step. Did you know that walking is considered to be a form of controlled falling? Sounds about right!

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How NOT to infect 50 people

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I'm really bummed out, but it looks like I'm not going to Canterbury afterall; I'm sick. :( The A&S 50 Session WILL be happening though, with Teresa of the Wrong Way Giani running it! Hurray! (I LOVE LOVE LOVE adaptable people who can take something on at the last minute and run with it! I will also admit to being nervous about the first time someone else runs a session, but my trepidation is WAY down, now that I know that first person is going to be Wrong Way!)

I AM still really bummed out, though. I wanted to go the event, for starters - it looks REALLY cool (and I even dug around and found out that my sideless surcoats - made for Viking stuff - would have been tolerably ok for 14th Century!) - and I was looking forward to trying the Artisan's Row concept too. :( Hopefully they'll hold the event again next year, and I can get a second chance at it?

Oh well, at least the Session will still be happening at what I'm sure will be a VERY happening event! Hurray! Hmmm... maybe I can drag my laptop into bed with me and make some more progress on the website... presuming that my computer can't pick up my virus! ;)

To all of you heading to Canterbury this weekend, ENJOY! (and tell me all about it, so I can live vicariously!)

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Artisan's Row

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I've been invited to present A&S 50 as part of an Artisan's Row at Crossroads to Canterbury this weekend, and, since the offer included use of someone's pop-up tent and the assurance that my lack of 14th Cent or even *period* chairs/tables, etc will be no problem, I accepted.

How it goes, I'll tell you next week! I'm going to bring some modern chairs and card tables (yuck) and I need to find more table cloths and blankets to throw over things so they look better. I'm going to have flowers on the table (if I remember to buy them!) and I'm hoping to do some baking later this week so we have munchies and lemonade during our chats. I'm going to have Contact List sheets and my spinning and an open door. That and an actual Session on the schedule (right before Court, but that couldn't be helped; maybe they'll run late), and that's all. I'm hoping folks will be dropping by over the course of the weekend; using the space to schmooze, hold informal mini-lessons, talk A&S, get excited and comfy.

It should be interesting! We are even going to try and camp right behind the booth so I can be in the booth and near my kids while they nap at the same time. I've never merchanted before, so sleeping 'on the strip' will be a new experience for me - I hope my girls don't make a ruckus at 3 AM and tick everyone off! Fortunately, my husband isn't fighting in the tourney, so he can help with the girls. I'm not going to be at the booth all of the time, just 'live' there. I'm hoping that folks are interested, but I might have to have 'hours' when I am open, just so I can get a break between waiting for folks to drop by.

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Progress!

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Forward momentum is officially happening! I've been working on our new site, both structure and content, and even - gasp - got into the studio yesterday, and set my first ever 14th Cent sleeves! (It was on an undergown, and I doubt I'll get an actual dress done for Crossroads to Canterbury, ie next weekend, so I probably won't even get to wear it, but *still*! And heck - it counts as a new thing too!!!)

And did I mention yet that we have a Yahoogroup now? Hurray! Folks are finding it, and are *starting* to chat some, so I'm feeling a bit less like things are languishing now. Random emails about folks' progress on their Challenges keep coming in, too, which can only be a good sign! :)

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