Two years ago I wrote a blog post on Sand Casting Medallions. For that project, I already had a master for the medallions that I wanted to cast.
This year, I wanted to cast another dozen medallions for the Kingdom (for a different award) but I had no master. So I thought it might be helpful to document the process of making one. Please note that this process is for sculpting a clay master. There are other ways to make masters, but this is the one I learned.
Here are some of the materials you will need:
Sculpey brand oven-bake clay (other brands, such as FIMO, work just as well but Sculpey is readily available at almost any store with a craft section)
Another medallion with the desired thickness for comparison
You can also use this same medallion to outline a circle in your clay. In this case, we actually used the black circle pictured above – it’s a 50mm Warhammer 40k base that served as a cookie cutter for the clay. If you don’t know what 40k is, you’re welcome.
It’s important to remember that the clay master you create must be able to fit inside of your ring molds, so keep those nearby for comparison. I used a 50mm medallion inside a 60mm ring mold, which gave me enough wiggle room inside the mold.
I’d also recommend tools for sculpting clay. There is a 52 piece set available on Amazon here. For this project I used a tiny blade and a dotting tool.
Once you have your materials, break off a chunk of the clay. I started with a piece that I rolled into roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. Once you’ve rolled your clay into a ball, set it on a non-stick surface like wax paper. Then, use a rolling pin (or any other tool with a long, tube-like handle) to roll your clay flat, trying to create as even of a surface as possible.
Once you’ve rolled the clay to your desired thickness, use your circular or cookie cutter type object to form your medallion and remove the excess clay from around the edges.
You can see the clay circle that I created in the picture below on the right. Now is when you can compare the thickness of your clay to your other medallion. I got lucky and managed to roll my clay to the exact thickness that I wanted on the first try!
For this design, I printed off a number of different sized images so I could best match the size to my piece of clay. Once I matched the size of the image to the clay, I cut it out. I then cut out the design itself, so it looked like this:
I cut out the stag’s head and the tridents.
This will serve as a pattern for the medallion’s design. The next step is to carve out the design from the clay.
Here is the clay medallion after I carved out the design.
I want to note here that again, this is just one way to transfer a pattern to clay. One other method is to trace your design or pattern onto a second piece of flattened clay and then lay it over your medallion shaped clay.
Here is what that looks like:
This clay master was made by my husband.
Both methods work, it really just depends on the style or look you want.
Once you’ve finished carving your clay, you need to bake it according to the package instructions until it hardens. This baked piece of clay will then serve as a rough first draft of your master. Then just follow the usual steps for sand casting, using the clay medallion first.
Here is the first pewter medallion cast from the clay master.
Here, the edges have been trimmed.
Once you have that first pewter medallion, you will want to clean up the design so it can serve as your permanent master moving forward. To clean up the medallion, trim the edges with metal snips, files, and a jeweler’s saw to create a smooth outline. For the recessed portions, carve out the design to have a bit more depth with a rotary tool, hand engraver, or files. This part is extremely important and will make for cleaner casts.
A quick side note, clean up is my least favorite part of casting so I usually ask my husband to do that for me. I’m very fortunate to live with someone who has their Laurel in metal working and is willing to teach me casting.
Final product – note that my husband sanded it fairly smooth, which will allow for easier releases from the mold in the future.
Now you can use your pewter master to cast as many medallions as you need!
For the Dirty Dozen Largesse competition for King’s Assessment I’ve decided to try my hand at sand casting pewter. Luckily for me, my husband, Baron Cataldo Querini, has been casting for years and was able to provide all of the tools, material, and knowledge that I would need in order to try this -new to me- art.
The parameters of the competition stated that all entries would be donated to the Kingdom. With this in mind, I reached out to Mistress Asta Knarrarbringa, Their Majesties of Atlantia’s Royal Secretary, to ask if there were any award medallions needed. She let me know that they were running low on Golden Dolphin medallions and so I decided that making a dozen for donation would be helpful.
The first step of sand casting is to design a master. The master will then be used for each cast to create the product; the product in this case being twelve Golden Dolphin medallions. Originally, my husband and I started working on a design to 3D print and use as the master. But then I remembered that I already had a Golden Dolphin medallion cast in brass that we could use. Using a pre-existing medallion saved us a lot of time!
My Golden Dolphin medallion that we used as a master.
This Golden Dolphin medallion is a lineage medallion that was originally purchased for Baron Christophe of Grey, then passed to Mistress Lorelei Greenleafe, then passed to Master Stephan Grimm, and then passed to myself. It does include a maker’s mark on the back – a petaled flower – but, despite searching, I could not find the original maker (if someone knows, please tell me so that I can give appropriate credit!). Regardless, I thought that using this medallion as a master would be a way to honor those who have held it in their possession before it came to me.
After deciding on the above, I set to work casting the medallions. The first thing I did was to light the burner to start the process of melting the pewter. Pewter melts at around 338° F depending on the mixture of metals within the pewter, which is a combination of tin and other metals.
Chunks of pewter melting in a steel camp cup.
While the pewter was melting I started to pack the sand into aluminum ring molds. For this specific set of molds, the sand is packed first into the smaller ring and tamped down with a hammer, which will be the bottom ring during the pour.
Packing the sand into the ring mold. You can use pretty much any tool to pack the sand. Here I am using a piece of aluminum flashing. This actually works great for packing the sand down, leveling, and scraping it smooth.
This is what it will look like after the sand has been packed into the mold and the excess sand has been leveled and scraped smooth.
After packing the sand into the bottom ring, I pressed the master – face down – into the sand. The master needs to be centered and pressed down so that half is embedded and half is still raised.
Pressing the master into the sand. You can see that the bottom portion of the ring mold must be situated so the lip of the mold is on top.
After pressing the master into the sand, I dusted it with a talcum-based powder. The talcum acts as a release to prevent the sand that is packed into the bottom ring from sticking to the sand that will be packed into the top ring. In this project, I used Gold Bond Body Powder for this purpose.
The talcum powder is sprinkled directly on top of the master and the sand, then brushed smooth with a small paint brush. Excess powder can be removed by simply using your breath and blowing it off.
The next step is to put the molds together and fill the other half with sand. The molds need to line up according to the index line (pictured below) and the top half packed the same way the bottom half was packed.
The two halves of the mold need to line up according to these lines. My nails are gross right now – sorry!
After packing the top ring with sand I separate the rings again and created a channel for the pewter in the top ring. The channel was created using a finishing nail. I lined up the nail to the center of top ring, in the middle of the imprint of the back of the medallion, and then pushed the nail through. The channel was smoothed out on the other side using a scrap piece of metal.
Smoothing out the opening of the channel on the top of the top ring. The pewter will be poured directly into this opening.
The last step to smoothly out the channel was to gently press on the opening of both sides with my finger. This helped compact any loose grains of sand in order to prevent them from falling into the pour through the channel.
Then it was time to pour! I put on my thick leather gloves and used steel tongs to grasp the cup holding the pewter.
A puddle of pewter formed on top of the sand, which indicated there was enough to fill the mold and the channel. After that I waited about five minutes for the pewter to harden and cool.
After five minutes, I separated the molds and removed the new pewter medallion.
This is what the medallion looks like coming out of the mold. The puddle of pewter is on top, with sand packed around the channel that we created with the nail. The medallion is face down under all that sand.
There was still a lot of sand packed around the channel. That was removed with a spoon and then the medallion was clean up with a small paint brush.
The pewter channel and puddle were removed by clipping the pewter as close to the medallion as possible. And, voila!
The finished medallion.
Now, the repetitive part of casting is having to do this 11 more times! I was able to cast three more medallions before I ran into an issue. While pouring the pewter, the mold started to separate and the pewter leaked out of the side.
Oops.
At first I thought I had failed to press the molds together properly and there was a gap at the seam. But it happened again, even after I had double and triple checked that the molds were fitted together tightly. My husband theorized that I might be packing the sand too tightly and there was nowhere for the hot air to escape – potentially creating an air bubble that was forcing the molds apart. We tried again, this time creating additional channels outside of the shape of the medallion in the mold and along the edge of the rings. Unfortunately that didn’t work either and it happened for a third time!
The fourth time my husband tried it for himself and it still failed. At that point we decided to take a break because we were getting frustrated. Later in the evening my husband tried a few more times and the cast failed each time. We decided that the molds themselves might be weaking from age and use (they have been in use for a few years) so we placed an order for a new set.
So for now I have four finished medallions and will have to make the last eight when the new molds arrive.
The final step in casting was the medallions to be cleaned and buffed. My husband was kind enough to do this part of the process for me. He used an 80 grit flap-wheel on his bench grinder and a 220 grit wheel on his angle grinder to give the backs a light polish. I’ll learn and use the bench grinder on the next batch. On some of the medallions we decided to drill a hole in the center using a drill press… add that to my list of tools to learn about!
The finished medallions before painting.
According to Dress Accessories 1150-1450, many lead alloy brooches would have been painted in period (Egan and Pritchard, 1991, pg 261). In keeping with this, I wanted to paint the medallions I had made. I used a variety of brushes in different sizes and model paints for this process.
The paints that I used in the order that I used them.
I started by painted the entire front of the medallions with a base coat in “Wraithbone”.
Painted base coat.
Next, I painted the white. White is a difficult color to paint due to the size of the pigment. I ended up painting four layers – thinned with water – in order to get the coverage that I wanted.
Painting the white.
After the four coats of white, I painted the blue. The coverage of this blue was fantastic. I only needed one coat and then some minor touch ups after drying.
The white and the blue.
Next I painted the dolphin gold. The gold paint was very thin! I ended up more or less blobbing it on there with the brush rather than paint a million layers and it actually turned out looking very cool.
The gold ended up looking raised, almost like a second layer of brass.
For the last step of the painting process I went through with a teensy tiny brush and cleaned up the outlines with the blue and added the details to the dolphin.
Painting complete!
I allowed the paint to dry for over 12 hours. To seal the paint, I sprayed the medallions with a Krylon brand lacquer. This will help prevent the paint from chipping and protect the finish.
After a coat of lacquer and an hour to dry.
The final step of this project will be to affix a jump ring so that a medallion cord can be attached as needed.
I am very pleased with how these medallions turned out! The new ring molds should be delivered in the next two weeks so I can finish the project then. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
UPDATE: After the new casting rings were delivered I was able to successfully cast the remaining medallions, paint them, and enter them into the Dirty Dozen Largesse competition at King’s Assessment on July 8, 2023. I won!
My dear friend, Baroness Jane Fox (OL), organized an extant garment challenge via social media back in November 2022 with the goal of recreating an original garment or accessory.
For reference, here is the description of the challenge and link to the Facebook Group:
This group is dedicated to the Extant Garment Challenge, where participants can recreate an original article of clothing or an accessory from before 1600. Any region and period is acceptable.
While this group is SCA focused, you don’t have to be in the SCA to be in the group. The challenge starts in November 2022 and will end in Fall 2023. Participants can choose to display or just gather together in Atlantia at October Coronation or November Crown Tournament. I also suggest posting your creations online for everyone to enjoy! You don’t have to make a close reproduction, simply use the original pieces as inspiration and then recreate them within your budget, ability, and taste. Please share your ideas and assist others! I have created a Pinterest board for ideas and will try to make it so anyone can post in it. https://www.pinterest.com/jezandjane/extant-garments-pre-1600/ This challenge is hosted by Baroness Jane Fox, OL, Barony of Tir y Don, Kingdom of Atlantia. https://www.facebook.com/groups/685674066263768
After visiting Baroness Jane’s Pinterest board I chose to recreate the surcoat of Eleanor of Castile, who lived from 1200-1244.
This image of the surcoat was taken from Pinterest and I do not, unfortunately, have the source. However, a high resolution photograph of the surcoat can also be found on the Patrimonio Nacional museum website.
After doing some preliminary research on the garment, my first task was to source the fabric that I wanted to use. I was super excited to see that Sartor had a Spanish brocade from the 13-15th centuries for sale in very similar colors to the extant. I bought 5m (16.40 feet) of the fabric, which comes at a width of 74 cm (29.13 inches).
While this fabric would be perfect for the primary pattern I still needed additional fabric or trim for the bottom of the surcoat, as well as a fabric for lining. I did end up purchasing a sari from Etsy, as well as setting aside some other sari fabric that I had left over from my Roman garb in hopes of finding a good match for the pattern at the bottom. For lining I decided to use a beige silk that was also purchased from Sartor.
After my fabric arrived it was time for construction! Lucky for me I live very close to Baroness Jane, who was able to help me with patterning and recreating the surcoat over the course of a weekend.
Our first step was to brainstorm how to pattern the fabric in a way that resembled the extant piece as much as possible. One of the things I found interesting about this garment is how obviously the pattern on the fabric does not line up at the seams. To our modern eye this is quite jarring and unattractive. But seeing this on an extant piece leads me to believe that the priority was conservation of fabric, even when worn by a Queen.
Despite this feature my goal was to have the pattern line up as much as possible. With that in mind, Jane and I brainstormed a variety of pattern possibilities using my hip and shoulder measurements as a starting point. The other measurement we needed to consider was the bottom hem as the kirtle that it would be worn with has a hem of over 200 inches.
Brainstorming!
The image above shows our brainstorming process, featuring a picture of the extant dress, some sketches in pencil, pins, and three measuring tapes. We also compared the pattern of the extant piece to another common surcoat pattern. That pattern typically features gores, however the extant does not have gores. Instead, it has four – what we referred to as – “trapezoid” shaped pieces – two in the front and two in the back.
Some preliminary sketches on the white board. You can see we played with the idea of adding gores to get more fullness in the skirt.
The final pattern with preliminary measurements.
In the end, we did not add any gores. The measurements worked out perfectly so that the bottom hem was wide enough at 116″ to accommodate the underdress.
Final measurements.
Despite all our efforts to plan the pattern as perfectly as possible mistakes were made! Two of the trapezoids were initially cut the wrong size, while two others were cut with the selvage on the left instead of the right. Luckily we were able to cut and piece the mistakes and fix the pattern!
We had to recut and piece together two of the trapezoids so that the pattern would be correct. The pieced section is at the bottom of the skirt so it is nearly invisible now. Remember, piecing is period!
The last step of patterning was shaping the neckline and side openings to match the extant garment.
Cutting the neckline. You can see the side has been shaped, as well, so it is no longer completely straight.
We didn’t take any measurements of this process. Instead, we more or less eyeballed the look we wanted by trying the surcoat on over the kirtle and shaping it to match the neckline and emphasize the bust and waist.
Final fit over the kirtle to mark and hem the bottom.
After we achieved the final shape we added a bag lining (aka the bagging method) to the top of the surcoat and a hem facing to the bottom in the beige silk that I mentioned earlier.
The finished surcoat next to a picture of the extant garment!
I’m very happy with how this turned out in the end – it’s a beautiful surcoat! I am still considering whether or not to add trim to the bottom to make it more like the extant piece. I’ll be pulling out my sari fabric soon to do some comparisons in order to visualize the final potential product. What do you think? Should I add trim or leave it as is? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
In early October my husband asked me if I could paint a prize box for our friend, Lord Matthew of Norfolk, who was fighting his prize fight to advance to rank of Free Scholar within the Academie d’Espee of Atlantia.
Even though I don’t have any advanced skills in regard to shading or dimension, I really enjoy painting so I was happy to do it. I surfed Pinterest for some inspo pics and settled on a design that would feature the letter “M” – for Matthew – and the colors yellow and black – for his heraldic device.
I started by creating a stencil for the letter M. I used The Art of Calligraphy: A Practical Guide to the Skills and Techniques by David Harris to choose a script that I liked.
The letter M from the script Bastard Capitals.
I just used a pencil and plain white paper to create the stencil.
After my husband sanded the box smooth, I drew the design I wanted in pencil on the lid of the box. Then I covered the entire box with acrylic gesso. Gesso provides a base layer that will prevent acrylic paints (which are water based) from absorbing directly into the wood and help keep pigments bright.
Basic design for the box.
One thing that I’ve had to incorporate into painting is good time management! It’s important to plan well so that there is plenty of time for the layers of paint to set and dry properly. I like to err on the side of caution and allow 12-24 hours between layers.
After allowing the gesso to dry I went in with yellow acrylic, which covered the majority of the box. Another thing that I’ve learned about painting – and from my husband, who has way more time and experience with painting than I do – is that some colors are more finicky than others. Yellow and white are especially difficult because the pigmentation is very thin. These colors can often be streaky and require more layers.
Yellow and white acrylic.
After painting an initial layer of yellow, I decide to go in with a base of white acrylic inside of the circle (seen above) in order to make the yellow there pop a bit more. The first layer just looked a bit too drab and flat. In retrospect, I wish I would have put down a layer of white acrylic first everywhere on the box that I planned to paint yellow.
Next, I painted part of the circle and the letter “M” black and added some black trim to the edge of the box.
I used some of my husband’s Tamiya model masking tape to get clean lines on the edge of the box. You can really see the difference in the yellow within the circle (where I put a base of white acrylic) and outside of the circle (where I just painted the yellow directly over the gesso).
Next, I created a grid on the lid of the box painting along the edge of a ruler.
The lines are not perfect but that’s okay!
I then took a dotting tool/ball stylus and created a design in black, white, and gold acrylic on the lid and along the bottom edge of the box.
Size of the dotting tool/finger for scale.
Dot design along the bottom edge of the box.
Dot design on the lid of the box.
The last element I added was some diagonal lines with the gold dots using a small, angled brush.
Voila! Box complete!
The last step of any painted box is to seal it in order to protect the paint and add some shine. I used a high gloss spray lacquer from Krylon .
I really enjoyed this little project. Painted boxes are a fun way to enhance gifts and add to the background/ambience of events and ceremonies in the SCA.
A clarification regarding the title of this post before I get started… No, I haven’t received another Peerage. I just consider myself to be a “New Peer” still as it’s only been 11 months since I became a Member of the Order of the Pelican. Most especially since I’ve only been able to attend a few events due to the ongoing pandemic.
Also, I needed a catchy/rhyming title for this post, so here we are!
Last year the Board of Directors re-opened the SCA for events starting May 31st. The Kingdom of Atlantia held 16 in-person events between June and December of last year. Many other events were cancelled or moved online due to continued concerns surrounding Covid-19. Of the 16 in-person events that were held, I was only able to attend three. Now, 16 in-person events might seem like a fair number. But, for comparison, the Kingdom of Atlantia held 68 in-person events in 2019, before the pandemic began. I attended 24 events that year!
Of course, because the pandemic is ongoing, a lot of activities remain virtual. The monthly Chatelain meetings that I run as Kingdom Chatelain are all virtual. The bi-weekly Great Officers meetings that I attend are virtual. All of the classes that I take and teach through the University of Atlantia are virtual. In fact, we are still having virtual courts, as Kingdom 12th Night was recently cancelled due to the Omicron variant.
Virtual SCA is still very much a thing.
And it is likely to remain so, on and off, as new Covid variants rear their heads. While I will continue to participate in Virtual SCA as I have been these past (almost) two years now (!!), I am very much longing for the day when we can gather again at big events and enjoy each other’s company. I truly believe the SCA is an event based organization and we are all hurting a bit from the lack of in-person contact.
Now that 2022 is off to a start I’ve been giving some thoughts to my resolutions for the year. While I don’t usually do New Year’s Resolutions for myself, I do like to make SCA resolutions as it helps me with goal setting. However, one (of many) unfortunate side affect of the pandemic is that it makes planning very difficult – as events can be cancelled and/or rescheduled rather last minute. This, in turn, makes goal setting very difficult. Additionally, I’ve been experiencing a lot of pandemic fatigue – as have we all! – and I’m not very motivated to start or finish projects. With the above in mind, and being a big believer in not setting myself up for failure, I’ve opted not to set any new SCA resolutions or goals for this year. Rather, I’m going to list my ongoing “projects” for the year and focus on the progress of these.
But before I do that, here’s a recap of my goals from last year with commentary/completion notes:
For Me
Update blog with posts about projects and events from 2019-2021
wrote and published two new posts in 2021
kept CV and events list updated
Commission scrolls for the three awards for which I did not receive scrolls
commission request sent
Complete five UFOs (unfinished objects)
completed one UFO – a sideless surcoat
For Others
Finish and gift Master Grimm’s Pelican cloak (write corresponding blog post)
progress on the cloak was made
additional details are being added as Master Grimm was awarded his Laurel in October 2021
Organize and support Pennsic Newcomer Activities as applicable (TBD due to COVID)
Pennsic was cancelled again in 2021
Continue with efforts as Kingdom Chatelain
done!
For Fun
Attempt brewing again
nope
Practice calligraphy – maybe even make a scroll!
nope
Attempt silk banner painting again
nope
I clearly wasn’t interested in doing anything for fun in 2021 😅
Now for the projects that I have lined up for 2022 (with some carry-over from 2021):
Finish and gift Master Grimm’s Pelican/Laurel cloak (write corresponding blog post)
Organize and support Pennsic Newcomer Activities
Continue with efforts as Kingdom Chatelain
Fulfill my role as Head Chamberlain for the reign of Cuan IX/Adelhait III
While there isn’t much on this list that usually falls in to the categories “for me” or “for fun”, I’ve realized that with the ongoing pandemic I am stretched relatively thin. Completing or progressing on the projects that I already have in motion is much more manageable than attempting to take on anything new. It’s a rather sad admission, but I remain hopeful that I can find fun and creative outlets when I have more bandwidth in the future.
I’m also eager to get back to attending SCA events regularly as a Peer. In some ways, because of the pandemic, my Peerage still doesn’t feel real to me yet. Once things are more “normal” again, how will being a Peer change my SCA experiences? Will events feel different now? Will expectations or responsibilities be different? Will my interactions with other SCAdians be different? I know what other Peers may say. I also know that it’s not the same for everyone. I want to be able to discover the answers to these questions myself. I’m hoping this year I can do that.
In November of 2017, I began the first steps towards forming a student-teacher relationship with Her then Excellency, now Princess Adelhait Fuchs. Her Highness and I agreed to a trial-period of at least one year before we would formalize our relationship with a contract. In 2018 we agreed that we felt our relationship to be a good fit and so we began making preparations for my Companion Ceremony.
While there are variations of student-teacher ceremonies throughout the Knowne World, there are some traditions that seem to be most common. In addition to the tradition of a contract and the gifting of a belt or favor, there are often gifts exchanged between student and teacher. When planning for the ceremony began, I started to brainstorm a list of potential gifts for Her Excellency based on what I knew regarding her whims and preferences.
I came up with many ideas, but the one that seemed to stick was the idea of a painted jewelry box. This idea was originally inspired by Dame Emma West, who painted a mirror box in the style of a reliquary box from the Uppsala Cathedral, dated from the 12th century. Her Highness, Princess Adelhait, is well known for her love of shiny things – jewelry and accessories – so I knew this would be a gift that she would both appreciate and find useful.
Originally I planned to paint a mirror box that I had purchased previously at Fool’s War in 2017. However, at Pennsic 2018, Her Highness’s husband Count Christoph purchased her a larger mirror box from Egill’s Woodstuffs and offered it to me to paint instead.
Before I began any work on the box, I sent a message to Dame Emma and asked her what steps she took in painting her box, what supplies she used, etc. She was incredibly helpful – as always – and so I followed her instructions exactly.
Next, I had to decide on a design that I wanted to use. For this step, I mostly browsed Pinterest since documentation was not of vital importance. I mainly needed visual inspiration and found plenty of examples under a search for “reliquary box”. I finally decided on the following design as inspiration since Her Highness’s persona is late period German.
The Pinterest caption read: “South German Jewel Casket, Nuremburg or Augsburg, c.1600”
After deciding on a design, I gathered my list of supplies and went to Michael’s to buy everything that I would need. I used very basic supplies for this project – nothing fancy – since this was my first time painting a box, a lot of the process would be trial and error. The first step was to gesso the entirety of the box. Gesso provides a white base layer so that the colored paints are not muted by the wood.
I bought a large tub of gesso because I knew I would use this for other projects.
After painting the box with two layers of gesso, I decided to make stencils for my design. I love working with stencils – I use them for my fabric painting as well – because they allow for a precision in design that is rarely achieved when drawing or painting free-hand. I came up with two stencils that I used in various combinations on different sides of the box. These stencils were drawn by tracing a variety of circular shaped objects on a brown, paper grocery bag. Very fancy 😉
Stencil #1
Stencil #2
I spent a lot of time visualizing how I wanted the stencils to be arranged in order to get the design that I wanted. But once that lengthy process was complete, I started to trace the stencils directly on to the box using a regular pencil.
The lid of the box after two layers of gesso and the traced design. It is very faint, but you can make out the pencil markings.
One the design was traced, I started to paint. Based on the box that I chose as my inspiration, I chose to work with only three colors.
I decided on these paints since blue and white are Her Excellency’s colors and the box that I used for inspiration was worked in gold.
I bought a very basic set of brushes to use for acrylic paints in a variety of sizes.
I started painting the gold first. I figured that if I went “outside the lines” with the gold, that would easily be covered by the blue. Covering blue with gold would not be as easy a task.
The first layer of gold paint.
Once I started to paint the gold I realized that I was going to need multiple layers. You can see in the picture above how light the gold color was initially and how streaky the paint started with that first layer. In the end, I had to paint four layers of gold in order to get the color that I wanted to achieve.
Second layer. Still very light and streaky.
Third layer. Almost there!
Luckily, acrylic paint dries relatively quickly so it can be layered easily without large amounts of time spent wasted while waiting for paint to dry.
Drawer design featuring my very fancy coffee lid paint pallet.
The inside of the box, with some of the trim painted gold.
Eventually I did need to work in time to allow the paint to dry – this ended up being the trickiest bit. I really had to plan out what sides of the box I could paint and allow to dry, while still being able to work on other parts of the box. The box also had to be flipped and laid on its side to be painted more easily, so that had to be factored in as well. In the end, I came up with a very rigid schedule of which sides I could paint when – in order to allow time for the paint to dry in between layers and the box being laid on one side or the other. This became especially important when I began to paint the remainder of the box blue.
The first part of the box to be painted blue was the removable box that sits inside of the top layer, to the right of the mirror. This smaller box was my test piece for the blue paint, and I’m very glad that I was smart enough to do it this way, because the blue paint turned out to be very disappointing.
This blue paint was terrible on its own.
You can see in the picture above that the blue paint was quite streaky. It was also much thicker and darker than the gold paint, not allowing for layers in the same way. I’ll admit, I had a bit of a panic attack when I first used the blue paint. The gold had layered so well and then the blue looked awful! I reached out to a few friends with more painting experience, in addition to searching the internet for a solution. One specific solution that I found online suggested adding Titanium White as a semi-opaque. Luckily this was the exact color that I bought at Michael’s. I added a dollop of Titanium White to Disappointing Blue and it worked like a charm!
The end result of mixing the white and blue. A bit lighter, but still a true blue. Nice and matte – no streaks!
I was very happy with how the blue turned out and it only required two layers, as opposed to the four layers I had to paint with the gold color.
A progress picture of the blue going on the top of the box.
In order to personalize the box for Her Highness, I added her device to the inside of the bottom drawer.
Her Highness’s device drawn in pencil.
The bottom drawer in its entirety.
The bottom drawer after painting.
Progress! You can see in this picture how I used masking tape along the edges to make painting the trim easier.
Painting is done! Here is the final view of the inside.
Final view of the outside.
Once painting was complete, I used a paint pen to outline the gold motifs and add a bit of detailing. This cleaned up the line that was painted by brush.
You can see the slightly darker gold outline here, with some additional detailing inside the gold motif.
Paint pen.
After the outline and detailing was done, it was time to lacquer the box. This was a trial in itself. For the first attempt at lacquering, I purchased a can of liquid lacquer from Home Depot and attempted to apply it in strokes using a foam brush. This did not work well. It was difficult to regulate the amount of lacquer on the brush and the strokes were very visible to me. It was especially hard to apply inside the box, with the smaller sides and corners.
The streaks of lacquer are quite visible here.
The liquid lacquer also caused a bit of a panic when I applied it to the bottom drawer over Sharpie, which I had used to outline the device, and it streaked horribly. I would never have guessed that lacquer could smear “permanent marker” but it does. Lesson learned!
I may have had a mild meltdown when this happened.
When I saw the Sharpie start to streak, I set down the lacquer and stepped away for the night. The next morning I attempted to fix the streaking by painting over the first layer of lacquer. I am quite certain this is some kind of no-no in the world of painting wood, but I knew I would be applying another coat of lacquer later and it was the only way I could try and fix the problem that the lacquer had created.
I used a small, white paint pen to cover up the silver streaks and also repainted with blue as needed. Not perfect, but I’m happy with the fix.
After the Sharpie incident, I opted to go back to the store, purchase spray lacquer, and try that instead. Not only did it work much better, but it dried much more quickly and I was able to apply 2-3 coats, finishing the box nicely.
The final step was to add some words to the mirror. I had a friend translate Her Highness’s favorite quote from Mean Girls (a favorite movie of ours) into Latin: “You’re really pretty! So you agree, you think you’re really pretty?” – “Tu ed pulcherrima! Tum adsentis, tu putas te pulcherrimam esse?” I then used the gold paint pen to write this on the edge of the mirror. This definitely could have turned out better – I wish I had a smaller, gold paint pen to use, but I was unfortunately out of time and the lacquer incident had taken more time to resolve, leaving less time for this detail.
The lettering with my grumpy reflection.
I applied a final coat of lacquer and then I was done!
I presented the box to Her Highness at Atlantia’s 12th Night event on January 12th.
Presenting the box to Her Highness.
Overall, I am very happy with how this project turned out. From start to finish, it took about two months to complete, though I was not working on it every day. It was my first time painting wood like this and while it wasn’t perfect, I managed to work around and fix most of the complications and mistakes that came up. It was a great learning experience and I already know how best to tackle another project like this in the future!
Last week there was a post to the Kingdom of Atlantia Unofficial Discussion Group (Cheapside Tavern) on the Book of Faces. This post addressed setting goals within the SCA, breaking them down into the following categories: something we do for ourselves, something we do for others, and trying something new – something that will help us break out of our comfort zone.
I rather liked this idea. As I am a very goal oriented person, I decided to try setting my goals for 2019 using this format. I decided on three goals for each category. Here they are (in no particular order) with explanation as needed:
For Myself
Work to complete unfinished embroidery and sewing projects. Completing small tasks will give me a sense of achievement and motivate me to continue working on A&S projects.
Acknowledge that in the past, deadlines that were set to complete new garb were a source of stress. Plan future deadlines more carefully and/or commission or buy garb when possible in order to relieve that stress. Sometimes time is worth more than money.
Continue to update my blog with projects and event recaps.
For Others
Volunteer to help in the kitchen, serve, and/or wash dishes for any feast I attend.
Support my Peer, Her Highness Adelhait, & His Highness Christoph during their reign as needed – retaining, donating largesse, etc.
Organize Pennsic Newcomers University Track & Newcomers Point.
New to Me
Make progress on learning to play a plucked/string instrument.
Perform said instrument and/or sing at a bardic circle.
Enter an A&S competition using a new skill. New skill still TBD 🙂
In past years I have used the SMART criteria for goal-setting. While this method has been beneficial in other areas of my life, I found that setting hard deadlines for projects that were meant to be fun rarely worked well. Most of the goals I am setting this year are more broad and less time-related. I’m interested to see how well this format works!
During the summer months Roman garb becomes quite popular in Atlantia, where temperatures can reach up to 100 degrees. Typically made from natural-fiber fabrics like linen, silk, and light weight wool, these loose fitting garments are quite effective in keeping the wearer from becoming overheated.
Roman women, or matrons, wear three layers. The first layer is the tunica, made from a light-weight linen. This layer sits closest to the skin and linen is a natural choice for helping to wick sweat from the body and keep it cool. The second layer is the stola. This layer can be made from a slightly heavier linen than the tunica, silk, or a light-weight wool. I always make my stola from patterned silk. The final layer is the palla. The palla is usually 6-8 feet long and is worn draped around the body and as a head covering. My palla is made from wool gauze.
Roman garb is incredibly simple in its patterning and construction. Both the tunica and the stola consist of two rectangles of fabric, cut to the length of the wearer from shoulder to floor, sewn up the sides. The width of the fabric can vary greatly, but must be at least as wide as the wearer’s hips. These garments can then be pinned and fitted to create a variety of styles, using a type of pin called a fibula. The palla is simply a rectangle of fabric with the edges hemmed.
A Roman Matron, photo credit to Lady Machteld Cleine. The three layers are seen quite clearly here – the light yellow tunica; the blue and gold stola; and the white palla.
My friend, Lady Marguerite, and I dressed in Roman and squinting in the sun 😉 Again, the layers are clearly distinguishable. Photo credit to Master Ursus.
Roman women in tunicas and stolas. We did not wear pallas this night.
As of June 2023, I have made numerous Roman “soft kits” that can be mixed and matched. These include six stolas, six tunicas, and three pallas.
Within the last year I have grown quite fond of the Landsknecht and Kampfrau style of garb. In April of 2018, an event with a German theme – Night on the Rhine – was held in the nearby Barony of Lochmere. I decided to dress with the theme and make myself a Kampfrau dress, gollar, and wulsthaube.
For the dress, I used a pattern that I already owned and was previously used for a 16th Century Italian gown. I simply extended the waistline so that it would come several inches lower, ending at my true waist as opposed to just below my bust.
I then added guards to the bust and the skirt, which was then attached to the bust using rolled pleats.
The finished dress with detachable sleeves. The dress is 100% linen. Made by myself in 2019.
The dress, this time without sleeves, but with the gollar – a style of hood. The gollar is wool, lined with linen. Made by myself in 2019.
A close up of the wulsthaube, or head covering. I made mine using a drawstring – recommended by a friend – for ease of use. The drawstring is not historically accurate. Likewise, the fabric is a patterned blend that I purchased from JoAnn’s due to its resemblance to embroidery.
A close-up of the wulsthaube and hat.
As of June 2023, I have made two 16th century German style dresses and accessories.
Resources
Reconstructing History has several patterns for both the Kampfrau style of dress and its accessories:
Baroness Margaret Lad is a 14th Century English Noblewoman. I would consider her to be my primary persona, though I often wear clothing from other countries and time periods.
When dressing as a 14th Century Englishwoman, I generally wear a front lacing kirtle (sometimes referred to as a gothic fitted dress – GFD for short); a belt, of which I have several styles; knee-high socks or stockings with garters; ankle high boots in the 14th century style; and a head covering of some sort.
I also have a variety of accessories that I like to wear. Accessories can really enhance the overall look of garb and are usually come at a nominal investment. Typically, I wear a variety of rings that are reproductions of pieces found in the 13th-14th centuries. I also have several annular and penannular brooches that I wear pinned to the chest/shoulder area of my gowns. For my belt, I like to wear a rosary or paternoster, which are found worn in illuminated manuscripts of that time period. I also have several bags that I carry so that I can hide my modern necessities.
A blue linen kirtle, made by myself, with a hood made by Historic Enterprises, bycocket – a hat typically worn in the 13th-14th centuries, belt, rosary/paternoster, and leather gloves. Photo credit to Lord Naran Numuchi.
The same linen kirtle with a red pilgrim’s bag, a shorter rosary, and no head covering – GASP! This picture was taken almost two years ago, before I realized how much covering the hair in a period style really lent itself to the authenticity of the overall look I was trying to recreate.
The same kirtle, this time with white tippets worn on the sleeves, and a coif with a frilled veil. Photo credit to Master Ursus. This series of photos shows how the same dress can be styled a variety of ways just based on accessories.
A red linen kirtle, made by myself. Worn with a belt and red pilgrim’s bag. You can see a small red paternoster hanging from my belt, as well as my pointed 14th Century shoes peeking out from the bottom of my dress. My hair is worn in a period style referred to as “hair taping“, though it remains uncovered.
Disregarding my ridiculous pose in this picture 😉 You can see the details of the rings I typically wear, along with details of this beautiful belt made by Billy & Charlie’s Fine Quality Pewter Goods. I am wearing my hair tucked into a coif under my bycocket.
A green linen kirtle, made by myself. Worn with a belt, annular broach in the shape of a heart, wimple, and frilled veil.
Another photograph of my green kirtle, credit to Lady Machteld Kleine. This is the only photograph I have where my 14th Century shoes – courtesy of Viking Leather Crafts – are visible, along with the knee-high socks that I typically wear.
In regards to the picture above, I do want to note that tucking the ends of a dress into a belt in such a way is NOT a period fashion. Typically the dress is pulled up from the waist, with the excess fabric hanging over the belt.
Patterning a Kirtle
The 14th century kirtle is typically meant to be self supporting, which means that the wearer does not need any type of supportive undergarments for the top half of the dress. In order to achieve this look, patterns need to be custom-fitted to the individual. I have had the great fortune to attend several workshops in Northern Atlantia where custom fittings have taken place, and the principles of which have also been taught, by Dame Emma West and Mistress Drea di’ Pellegrini. As a result, I not only have my own custom pattern for this style of dress, but I can fit others as well.
I have offered fittings in the past at events and hope to do so again in the future.
As of July 2023 I have made four linen kirtles using the same pattern, created for me by Dame Emma West, and two surcoats.
Resources
In the meantime, here are a list of resources for patterning and making a gothic fitted dress that may be helpful:
Baroness Margaret Lad, OP 