Most recent piece and scribal kitten

I recently finished a new scroll for kingdom use based on the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry - it's a horoscope page with some modifications for scroll use. There's about fifteen hours of work in this one, give or take. The most interesting part was those itty bitty horoscope signs in the border.

This was an interesting shape to work in for the calligraphy and required a bit of planning to get the text in properly and to fit. There's also a rather crazy amount of gilding involved, though that was, ironically, one of the easier steps. I modified the background of the border a bit as it was originally gilded, however I wanted more contrast and to cut back on the amount of gold leaf required and so I filled in the "background" of the border with gold gouache.

This one will be submitted to kingdom for use for a Triskele as a GoA level award.

In other news, scribal cat is scribal. This is one of my kittens, Shakespeare, who has decided to become involved in the scribal arts.

Here, he oversees Sarah looking through my new book. "I can has scribal nowz?"

And here: "Go call your laurel. Now." Apprentice kitten?

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Why we serve

Since becoming a peer, and particularly since becoming a landed baroness, there's often this moment where I go to take action and three or more people leap to stop me. Now, I have accepted that I will often not carry my own things - though this is sometimes difficult. I have accepted that I will often delegate a problem solved that I would have often taken care of myself - though this too is difficult.

But there's a reason that sometimes at the end of feast James and I stealth off to the kitchen to grab pots and towels and dirty dishes. There's a reason sometimes we are found with coronets safely tucked aside as we move tent poles or hold stakes or wield a hammer, or why sometimes we even unload our own thrones from the car when there are hands nearby to help. There is a reason when people say "I want you happy at the event" that my response is always "I want the populace happy. We are here for you."

Understand that it is not because we do not wish assi…

St-st-studio

Bonus generational points if you get the title reference. Someone on the SCA scribes group recently asked what folks work spaces looked like so it's time for some studio pictures. One of the requirements of buying our house was that my lord needed his own office and I needed my own studio space. Scribing is - by no means - the only art I work on and so having space where projects can get laid out, left out, and worked on without interference from furry felines or the rest of the world is extremely important for me.

This first one is my main work space. It's a little cluttered looking here but mostly that's poor lighting as it's late afternoon in these pictures. This is my central desk with light coming in from a side window, an overhead fan light, and a desk lamp. I also have an ott lite that isn't shown here. Love the rolling chair and the laminate wood flooring (great for spills). The phoenix on the wall was painted by me and is a stylized design given to m…

Courtesy and Being a Peer

This one's a bit rambling but is something I'm contemplating.

Courtesy tends to be a double edged sword. We seek it as a laudable quality but the practitioners of it who value it the most are sometimes then caught by it as we try to maintain it around those are acting discourteously.

I have a pretty strong stance on addressing issues of rudeness or discourteous behavior. I am strongly in the camp of "if it's not addressed it will continue to happen" but I struggle with how best to do this, both as a person and as a peer. There is, in the end, no one right answer I suppose which is why its something we always struggle with.

I have realized I don't like the internet for these purposes - FB and email and other electronic forums lack the force of having a face to back an opinion and make it easy for arguments to spiral out of control with name calling and commentary, often from parties who have nothing to do with the original problem. On the other hand, discou…

Phoenix Feathers

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