Saturday, December 29, 2018

Back In Business

I Need to Learn to Pace Myself.

Ending the year with a trio of scrolls. One back log, one for Ice Dragon, and one for a possible award assignment, also for Ice Dragon. I feel no need to do 30 at a time, but I am of the opinion that as long as you have your paints out, you might as well work on a few at a tine. I put down a coat of gold on the first scroll, and by the time I finish with the 3rd, the 1st is ready for a 2nd coat. 

I'm on the some new meds for my arthritis and it appears to be helping: my hands weren't hurting after an hour of painting, or shaking. I took it slow, today, so that I didn't over do it. 

The scroll, above, is a backlog for a friend who was awarded her AoA 27 years ago, but never received it due to reasons. I asked her if she would like me to make her a replacement and she was delighted. I was pleased that she had recently had arms passed: I told her that if she hadn't had arms submitted in the last 27 years I would have put it on the scroll. "...and raise her to the rank of Lady and command that she visit Our College of Heralds to have Arms unique to her created. No hurry on that: it's not like there is a time limit on this. Anytime in the next 30 years would be fine."

I did have trouble finding the new brush I had purchased a few months ago: I forgot what it looked like.

Also in the picture is Deckster (international cat of mystery) not helping. Not only did he not stick his face or paws into the paint or on the paper, but he snuggled next to me and wasn't bitey... for a change. He's been pretty bitey, this last week, for some reason.  But, while I painting, he was perfect kitty. 

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Giving It the Old College Try

Which Means I Will Drop Out At Some Point After Spending More Money Than I Have

Okay. I was really, really, really mad that my new light box wasn't charging. Then I read the documentation and discovered that the light box I bought doesn't have a battery. That's why it wasn't charging. And that's why it was only $21. I'm just so used to devices that use mUSB ports have batteries.

Now, I'm really, really, really embarrassed. I only hope that no one finds out about this. 

I'm not sending it back, though. It's brighter than my old light box and it can run off of the USB port on my laptop

This might be the rapier tourney scroll for Ice Dragon. I just grabbed a print out and started tracing. If it turns out well, I might use it for my assignment. 

Monday, December 24, 2018

I got my X-mas present, to myself, today.

I Was Bright Enough to Order it Early

I friend bought one of these, earlier this year and I was impressed by the brightness and portability. So, I saw this one on sale on Amazon, and picked it up, for myself. 

BTW, The Tracer is the worst Batman villain. 



It's charging, right now. I'll get a chance to try it out, tomorrow.



Saturday, December 22, 2018

Weird Things Found In Period Manuscripts.

Hey, Babe!

“Are you a beaver? Cuz dam.”

This is from J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 3, Folio 78r and it's a centaur gazing at a siren. I found this while looking for diapering patterns. I don't know what the artist's intentions were, but I can only think that the centaur is trying to get his mack on with the douchiest pickup lines imaginable, but she's not interested. 

"Baby, I put the STD is ‘stud’. All I need is ‘U.’"

"I love you five ever, because forever just isn’t enough."

"Are you wearing space pants? Because your ass is out of this world."

"You have nice child-bearing hips."

"If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

"Your daddy must have been a baker, ’cause you’ve got a nice set of buns."

"My shirt would look great on your bedroom floor. Oh, that's right I don't wear shirts, 'cause they cover up my guns."

"Wanna ride bareback?"

"If I would have known I was going to meet a beautiful lady like you, I would have gone home and taken a shower first!"

"I wish I was your derivative so I could lie tangent to your curves."

Okay, perhaps not that last one. FYI: I have used that one... And it worked. Nerdy girls rule.

Friday, December 21, 2018

Done

My Final Scroll of the Year.

Finally, it's done. And now that it's done, it doesn't look too bad. That's not me fishing for compliments: I am my own worse critic. 

This is, of course, based on the Charter to Create the colony of New Jersey, and while it's 64 years out of period, it looks really, really nice and I wanted to try my hand doing it.


Whoever made the original must have had robotic hands. And probably didn't have a annoying cat demanding attention while working on it. I took a break from scribal work and Deckster forgot that he needs to sit, quietly, next to me and not start biting my arm. Unfortunately for him, I was wearing a sweatshirt which protected me from his angry biting. As a good friend of mine posted, earlier this year, "Teeth are for food!"

I did this on a spare sheet of pergamenta using a Cross fountain pen loaded with archive-quality blank ink. It took me the better part of a week to do, even though I was just tracing on top of a light box. 

As the title states; this is my final scroll of the year. Number 421. I completed 61 scrolls over the course of the year. Well.... 60 and one in crayon. I have an assignment lined up for Ice Dragon, next April, and I promised to make a replacement scroll, for a friend, that went missing 20 years ago, but nothing else on my watch list. I've done enough scroll blanks, this past year, that I'm in no hurry to jump back into the saddle. 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Fixed

A Little Bit At A Time.

After letting the ink dry for a couple of days, I scrapped the smudges off with an Xacto knife and sanded the area clean. I used a white foam emery block. Then I used a soft, white eraser to remove any left over ink.

It's not perfect, but it's no longer an obvious mistake. I think that my best course of action is to do a little at a time, and let the ink dry before moving on to another section.

Let me just end this post with this question: How in the hell did people do this free-hand? With a dip pen, no less. I'm tracing this on a light box and I'm having trouble making it look nice. 

Also, I hate it as much as I hate knot work and will most likely never do this again. 

Monday, December 17, 2018

Smudge!

Damn shaky hands.

I'm trying something new; well, new for me. A scroll with only ink. I had a good start. Unfortunately, My left hand shook a little bit and a finger went right into the wet ink. I'm trying to reproduce the initial of the charter of New Jersey


I'm going to let it dry, overnight, and see if I can't scrape the errant ink away. I'm doing this with a cross fountain pen with archive quality ink on pergamenta. It was working well but, I hate the fact that the ink floats on top of the pergamenta. If I was using paper, I might not have smudged the ink,


Monday, November 26, 2018

A Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

A Little 12V Elbow Grease.

As steward for the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael, I have to, on occasion fix things. The Hael has a number of kitchen related items and sometimes you find something that the Barony can use but aren't up to snuff.

My predecessor, the late Joe the Just, had acquired these four fry pans. They were rusty but, potentially, usable. Fixing them has been on my list of things to do for a while and I finally got around to it, tonight. 

The pans are high carbon steel and just needed a bit of scrubby-scrubby. I attached a wire brush to my cordless drill and went to town on the rust. A good ten minutes on each pan and the rust went away. 


Once the rust had been removed, I hand washed each pan and then coated in a thin layer of canola oil. Then I heated each pan until the oil started to smoke and burn.


Once they cooled off, I applied another thin coat of oil. Now they are slightly cured and ready to be used. As long as they are not put away wet, they shouldn't rust up, again. And, as they are used, they will develop and better and stronger cure. 

Not bad for an hour's work. I feel good that they cleaned up so well. I think Joe spent $5 for all four because of the rust. A good investment.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Weird things you find in medieval manuscripts

Weird things you find in medieval manuscripts.

I was looking through the Luttrell Psalter and found this sexy lady. This is British Library Add MS 42130 f81r and it is not the most unusual grotesque from the manuscript. 
f153r

f58v
Most of the manuscript contains similar figures They look like LSD induced hallucinations. Was the illuminator just told to go hog-wild and make whatever strange creatures he thought of? Was he smoking hemp and saying, "Dude, dude dude." Only, it was probably a monk, so it would have been in Latin: "Dudus, dudus, dudus. Quid facies puella equo? Et ad aures alas."

Or, perhaps it was something more outlandish?



Friday, November 2, 2018

The birth of New Jersey

What a nice birth certificate.

I was watching a video on who owns the statue of liberty and this Grant was featured. I tracked down a good image of it and, wa-la.

THIS INDENTURE made the four and twentieth day of June, in the sixteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith, &c., Annoq. Domini, 1664. Between His Royal Highness, James Duke of York, and Albany, Earl of Ulster, Lord High Admiral of England, and Ireland, Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque ports, and Governor of Portsmouth, of the one part: John Lord Berkeley, Baron of Stratton, and one of His Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council, and Sir, George Carteret of Saltrum, in the County of Devon, Knight and one of His Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council of the other part: Whereas his said Majesty King Charles the Second, by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England, bearing date on or about the twelfth day of March, in the sixteenth year of his said Majesty’s reign, did for the consideration therein mentioned, give and grant unto his said Royal Highness James, Duke of York, his heirs and assigns, all that part of the main land of New England, beginning at a certain place called or known by the name of St. Croix next adjoining to New Scotland in America;
See here for the full text.

The text is wonderful, but I am most impressed by the pen work on the charter. Look at that 'T'. I could trace it, but my skill with holding a calligraphy pen at a consistent angle isn't very good. I'm going to try it on some scrap paper using my glass dip pen. Maybe it will turn out nice. Maybe it won't. I'll just have to try it. I am going to have to hunt through the British charters of the colonies and see what I can find. Perhaps I can find some more excellent examples of calligraphy that can be used for SCA purposes. I mean, this charter isn't that far out of period. 

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Taking a break

For a little while, not permanently


I'm going to take a little break from scribal work. I will do an assignment, if asked, but I'm not going to knock out a dozen blanks at once. Not only has my arthritis ramped up, making it painful to hold a brush, but I did 62 pieces of illumination, this year. Something like 30 of those were given to AEthelmearc and 25 were given to Deftwood for their big book of blanks, and a handful for the Hael.

While I have joked that everyone on the Kingdom should have one of my scrolls, I don't intend to take work away from my fellow illuminators. I have given away a lot of blanks; enough so that calligraphers will have plenty of paper to make my work look good. More than enough blanks to ease the demand on all illuminators. For a while, they will have more time to work on their painting and layout.

As funny as it would be for a court to be held where every scroll given out was painted by me, it would not be a service to our Kingdom. AEthelmearc has the best calligraphers and illuminators in the Known World and Kingdom and Baronial courts are where we can show off how good our scribes are. I am not so egotistical to think that I am the best illuminator in the Kingdom: I'm not even the best illuminator in my Barony. I am proud that my scrolls are awarded to deserving people and equally proud that they are awarded along side with the work of my fellow scribes. I can only hope that the recipients enjoy their scrolls and that I can inspire others to try their hands at scribal.

On an unrelated note: have you ever noticed that artificial banana flavor tastes nothing like a banana? That is because artificial banana flavor was created to taste like the Gros Michel variety of banana, which was the most popular type of banana in the early 19th century. It almost went extinct due to a fungus and was replaced by the Cavendish Dessert Banana, which was cultivated to be resistant to the aforementioned fungus. I have read that while the Cavendish isn't as sweet as the Gros Michel, it does have a more complicated flavor.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Per Pale Carrots

Per Pale Carrots



This recipe is based on the SCA feast staple: honey glazed carrots. Which I have seen on feast menus for the last thirty years. Usually this recipe:

Glazed Carrots

2 lbs. of carrots
2 Tablespoons of honey
3 to 4 Tablespoons of butter
1 Teaspoon of ground cinnamon 
Scrub carrots then cut in half lengthwise and remove the core. Cut into 1 1/2 in lengths. Put carrots in a single layer in a pan or skillet adding 3 tablespoons of butter, honey and cinnamon halfway. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to very low and cover. Simmer until tender. Remove lid and boil off the rest of the liquid. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter and shake to coat.

I have found this recipe listed in the dozens of feast menus that I have saved over the years. But is this a period dish?

Carrots were known in medieval times, although not the carrots that we take for granted, today. The orange carrot, called "the long orange", was invented in Holland in the 17th century in honor of William of Orange. Carrots, in the SCA time period, were not orange but were red, white, yellow and purple. And, not sweet like the long orange. The Ménagier de Paris describes carrots as red roots and advises to cook them like turnips. The Sent Sovi contains a recipe for white carrots in almond milk.

Carrots are often confused with parsnips in medieval European manuscripts. Recipes by Apicius are entitled carotae sev pastinacae (carrots or parsnips). The 1551 edition of the Libro de Agricultura, by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, has this to say about carrots. "Of carrots and parsnips. Platina puts these two kinds of roots in the same chapter even though they are different in their colors. Parsnips are white like turnips, except that they are thinner and longer. Carrots have the appearance of turnips, neither more nor less, except that some are the color of oranges; others are so red that they turn dark." [1]

Throughout the Medieval writings, carrots are confused with parsnips. Today (since Linneaus created scientific names), carrots are Daucus carota and parsnips Pastinaca sativa.  Fuchs in 1542 described red and yellow garden carrots and wild carrots, but names them all Pastinaca (Meyer Trueblood and Heller1999).  Gerard (1633) likewise uses the name carrot, but calls it Pastinaca in Latin: Pastinaca sativa var. tenuifolia, the yellow carrot and Pastinaca sativa atro-rubens, the red carrot.  Gerard distinguishes parsnips from carrots and calling the parsnip Pastinaca latifolia sativa and P. latifolia sylvestris.  Gerard notes the name similarity and is dissatisfied with it. He gives daucus as a name for carrot in Galen, but notes that many Roman writers called it pastinaca or other names.  I don’t think the plants were confused particularly, but since we have in many cases only the written word, if the medieval writer called his plants "pastinaca", it’s impossible to know if it was carrots or parsnips. [2]

Wild and cultivated carrots were used by medieval cooks, although wild carrots have very thin and woody roots; they were used more for medicine than for eating. Both the root and the leaves are edible. Carrot leaves taste similar to parsley and can be used in the same way. Nicholas Culpeper (1653) said of carrots that "Wild carrots belong to Mercury, and expel wind and remove stitches in the side, promote the flow of urine and women’s courses, and break and expel the stone; the seed has the same effect and is good for dropsy, and those whose bowels are swollen with wind: It cures colic, stone, and rising of the mother; being taken in wine or boiled in wine and taken, it helpeth conception. The leaves being applied with honey to running sores or ulcers cleanse them; I suppose the seeds of them perform this better than the roots: and though Galen recommended garden carrots highly to expel wind, yet they breed it first, and we may thank nature for expelling it, not they; for the seeds of them expel wind and so mend what the root marreth."

"Carret (Daucus carota) is a 16th century word; carrot appeared by 1597, in Gerard. The name comes from Greek karoton.... So it is curious that the first citation of the word by OED is in 1533, as "Parsnepes and carettes" from Elyot’s "The Castel of Helth". However, Turner in 1548 treats then familiarly, saying that "Carettes growe in al countries in plentie," carefullty distinguishing them from wild carrots, so that those who claim that the carrot was not introduced into England until the time of Elizabeth, and even later, are in error." [3]

So, carrots themselves are to be found in period, but is this recipe period? I was unable to find any period recipe for either carrots or parsnips that resemble this project. Martha Washington’s cookbook doesn’t list one. Mrs. Beeton’s cookbook doesn’t list one. [4] The Joy of Cooking doesn’t list one.

I read an interesting story from, I believe, James Fixx. [5] He recounts an exercise given by a professor of thermodynamics which asked at what temperature, and for what cook time, would one have to cook a cut of beef of certain dimensions, and of a certain mass, in order for the center of the roast to be at a certain temperature. Two students managed to provide the correct answer. The first purchased several roasts, and cooked them at different temperatures, and, using a probe thermometer, produced a graph detailing the optimum internal temperature based on the external temperature verses time, all while he was munching on rare cooked beef. The second student called his Mom.

I had a conversation, with my Mom, about my research and she said that she remembered cooking glazed carrots when I and my brother were kids. She pulled out her copy of The Joy of Cooking, the 1964 edition, and there on page 271 is this recipe:

Caramelized Carrots

Carrots:
Skin them. Cut them into halves or quarters. Dip them in:
Melted Butter
Sprinkle them with:
Salt, paprika and brown sugar.
Place them in a heavy skillet over low heat until they are well glazed. Baste them from time to time with a little melted butter.

I discovered the same issue with The New York Times Cook Book. My 1998 edition doesn’t list it, but my Mom’s 1961 edition does.

Glazed Carrots

Cook four large or eight small carrots as above. Drain, then dry. Mix one-fourth cup sugar with one-half teaspoon ginger and roll the carrots in the mixture. Melt three tablespoon butter in a skillet and add the carrots, turning slowly and often over low heat until the carrots are glazed and a deep, appetizing brown. [6]

I think that this is a dish from the 1960s. One of those things that were popular and universally enjoyed, like fondue, and then faded away. Glazed carrots became a popular frozen side dish sold by Birds Eye and Jolly Green Giant by the late 60s. And was also included in Banquet and Hungry Man TV dinners around the same time. I feel that this was a modern dish presented as "period" so that feasters would have at least one recognizable dish on the table. And while it kind of disappeared from the major, American cook books [7] it can still be found in the frozen food aisle at grocery stores. The early SCA really wasn’t the family hobby that it has become in the 21st century, but as the college age kids grew up and had kids of their own, honey-glazed carrots remained on the feast menu so that parents would know that their kids would have one dish of recognizable and tasty food.

Can we find period recipes that resemble our glazed carrots? Are there any period recipes that call for carrots (or parsnips) with honey, or sugar, and spices?

Apicius has a recipe for Carrots with Cumin and Olive Oil, which calls for onions, carrots, vinegar, cumin and salt. [8] Certainly not sweet, but spiced. He also has another recipe for "Carrots and parsnips are fried with a wine sauce" [9] which calls for parsnips and carrots to be cooked with pepper and raisin wine,  which was a very sweet wine: The closest modern wine I would use as a substitute would either be cream sherry, or Moscato wine.  [10]

Duszony Por z Pasternak i Gier (Stew of Parsnips, Leeks, and Alexanders), a medieval Polish dish, calls for parsnips, leeks, cabbage, onion, and alexanders to be cooked with honey, saffron, cinnamon, cumin, salt and vinegar. Usually served with cheese dumplings as a substitute for meat on fast days. The saffron, cinnamon and cumin would have made this an expensive dish, but the book states that this was "typical one-pot meal for a noble family living on a large rural manor". [11]

There are a number of recipes for pottage or compost that call for carrots and/or parsnips as well as honey and spices.  [12]

"The formula for Diazinziberios is given in "Le Livre des Dimples Medicines", is taken from a 13th century French translation of an earlier treatise on parmacopoeia: "take very well cook parsnips, mince them and cook them with clarified honey until all of the honey is absorbed, stirring well so that the mixture does not stick to the vessel; then put in aromatic powders, gimigibre, pepper, nutmeg, and galingall and cook together to a candy." [13] Now, granted, this is for a gingerbread-like desert, but it does show that parsnips were used with honey and spices.

Honey Glazed Root Vegetables, from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), calls for cabbage, turnips, carrots, leeks, honey and pepper.

So, while there is no actual period dish that resembles our project, there is enough evidence that carrots (and parsnips, since they were closely related) were cooked with honey and with spices. Our non-period, SCA staple is a product of the modern world but would not have been out of place on the tables of our ancestors.

My recipe:

2 pounds of purple carrots
1/4 cup clover honey
3 Tablespoons of salted butter
1 Teaspoon of fresh, ground cinnamon

Method:

I found some locally grown purple carrots and based this project on them. Not only for the pun, but because the heirloom carrots are a better match for a period dish. I scrubbed the carrots clean in the sink but did not peel them as these carrots were quite thin. I chopped the carrots into small wheels, discarding the last inch off of the leaf end, as it was quite bitter.



I used clover honey because that is what I had in the house. I will not take the time, in this paper, to explain my opinion of honey farming in the middle ages, except to say that the bee industry of today, which can move hives from one field of mono-crops to another, did not exist in the SCA time period: hives were near farm lands and gardens and a variety of crops were grown simultaneously. This means that the bees, which collected nectar from every available source, produced a blend of honey, not a singular variety. Clover or wildflower honey, I feel, is closer to period honey, than buckwheat, rosemary, apple wood, sage, lavender or other specific varieties.

I also used more honey than the standard recipe: 1/4 cup versus 2 Tablespoons. This is because orange carrots contain sugar and the heirloom varieties, such as the purple variety that I am using, do not. They are rather starchy in comparison. Hence, the added honey.

I used salted butter because that is what I have in the house.

I broke up half of a stick of good quality cinnamon (Saigon cinnamon, not cassia) and ground it into power using an electric spice grinder. I could have used a mortar and pestle, but the spice grinder did the job in five seconds.  I chose to use Saigon cinnamon because I like the sweet taste of the region and the brand, I that ordered, was USDA certified organic, which not only means that the trees were grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals, but that it is certified to be Cinnamon loureiroi, and not bark from any other tree.



I put the carrots into a frying pan over high heat. My stove is electric and I do not think that, for this dish, there would be a difference between gas, electric or an open fire. Nor do I think that my ceramic-lined cast iron frying pan adds or takes away from any period cooking vessel. I let the carrots cook for a couple minutes in order to soften them a little. Then I added the butter and the honey. Once they had melted, I reduced the temperature to low and added the cinnamon: I did not want the cinnamon to burn. After mixing the spice into the sauce, and making sure that each wheel was covered, I let the dish cook for ten or fifteen minutes before taking it off of the heat and letting it cool.



As I was making this a few days in advance, I had tested this recipe to ensure that it was still tasty at room temperature and when cold (it was necessary to refrigerate this dish prior to the event). In my opinion, this dish is actually better when it is left to chill overnight: the glaze thickens quite a bit.

In conclusion, this is a modern dish that, if using the proper variety of carrots, would not look out of place on the tables of our medieval ancestors.



[1] So, either there were orange varieties of carrots in 1551, or the oranges that Gabriel was referring to were much paler than our modern varieties.
[2] Horwarth
[3] Washington p66
[4] If she did they would most likely turn out mushy. She recommended boiling carrots for 1.75 to 2.25 hours.
[5] I think it was in Games for the Super Intelligent but I can’t find my copy to confirm this.
[6] p371
[7] And I can’t remember the last time I saw it on a menu in a restaurant.
[8] Bouchut
[9] ibid
[10] From personal experimentation and sampling..
[11] Dembinska and Dembinsk, p151
[12] Various published cookbooks and SCA feast handouts and A&S newsletters.
[13] Washington, p343



BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Beeton, Isabella. Mrs. Beeton’s Book Of Household Management... Published Originally By S. O. Beeton in 24 Monthly Parts 1859-1861. Exeter Books. New York, NY. 1986.

Bouchut, Jacques. Medieval Recipes: Gourmet dishes by Jacques Bouchut. Translator: Bruce Lee. http://www.oldcook.com/en/cooking-recipes_medieval

Clairborne, Craig. The New York Times Cook Book. Harper & Row. New York, NY. 1961.

Clairborne, Craig. The New York Times Cook Book. Harper & Row. New York, NY. 1998.

Davidson, Linda Kay; Gitlitz, David M. A Drizzle of Honey: The Life and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews. St. Martin’s Press. 2000.

Dembinska, Maria; Dembinska, Maria. Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1999.

Ein Buch von guter spise c. 50. Translated by Alia Atlas. http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/buch.html

Fant, Michaël; Lundgren, Roger; Isaksson,Thore. Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast. Danish.) Malmö: Richters Förlag. 1998.

Gerard, John.  The Herbal or General history of plants.  Complete 1633 edition as revised and enlarged by Thomas Johnson. Dover Publications, Inc. New York.

Grieve, Mrs. M. 1971. A Modern Herbal. Originally 1931. Dover Publications, New York.

Howarth, Holly. Carrots by Agnes deLanvallei. Copyright 2009. Stephen’s Flagiorm.

Hunt, T. Plant Names of Medieval England. D.S. Brewer, Publishers. Suffolk, UK. 1989.

Jovinelly, Joann; Netelkos, Jason. The Crafts and Culture of a Medieval Manor. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 2006.

Kiple, K. F.; Ornelas K. C. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge UK. 2000

Kiple, Kenneth F. The Cambridge World History Of Food, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. 2001.

Mabey, Richard editor. The Gardener’s Labyrinth by Thomas Hill. (originally 1577) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. 1987.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Simon and Schuster, 2007.

Meyer, F. G.; Trueblood, E.E.; Heller ,J. L. , editors. The Great Herbal of Leonard Fuchs. 1542 edition. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto. CA. 1999.

Platina. On Right Pleasure and Good Health. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Milham, M. E. ed, translator. Tempe, AZ. 1998

Pollington, S. Leechcraft. Early English Charms, Plant Lore, and Healing. Anglo-Saxon Books, Norfolk, England. 2000.

Riggs, T.J. Carrots (Daucus carota Umbelliferae) in The origin of Crop Plants. J. Smartt and N.

W.Simmonds eds. 2nd ed. Longman Scientific and Technical Publishers, New York. pp. 477-480. 1995.

Rombauer, Irma S.; Becker, Marion Rombauer; Becker, Ethan. The Joy of Cooking. Boobs-Merrill, Company.1964.

Rombauer, Irma S.; Becker, Marion Rombauer; Becker, Ethan. The Joy of Cooking. Bobbs-Merrill, Scribner. 2005.

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Boydell Press, 995. Digitzed by Google Books.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food. Translated from the French bu Anthea Bell. Barnes & Noble Books. 1992.

Vaughan, J. G.; Geissler, C. The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1997.

Washington, Martha. Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats. Columbia University Press, 1996.

Weiss Adamson, Melitta. Food in Medieval Times. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.

Wilson, C. A. Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Academy Chicago Publishers. 1977.

 ===============================================

This was a project for a heraldry themed, A&S competition at the 2018 Summer's End event. I had dinner with my parents, a month or so before the event, and the restaurant had heirloom carrots as the side dish. They were nice, but they did inspire me to make a nice A&S project out of a very bad pun. The dish wasn't sticky enough to hold together into a divided-shield shape (per pale, in heraldry lingo). I did get a lot of nice compliments on the flavor of the carrots and the quality of the documentation. I also received several smacks for the pun.

Mission accomplished.

In retrospect, I should have only used one pound of carrots as I had plenty left, at the end of the day, to bring home; even though I foisted carrots upon everyone I could. 

One note to anyone who wishes to cook with purple carrots. Purple carrots contain anthocyanin, like beets. And, like beets, juices from purple carrots can stain anything they touch. 

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

I Have an Idea

Not a good one, I will admit.

This is from the 14th century, Dutch manuscript Der naturen bloeme. I have no clue what is being depicted. It would make a nice scroll for Heronter, though.

I totally want to replace the birds with Big Bird.


Saturday, September 8, 2018

Weird things you find in medieval manuscripts.

Grrrr!



This is supposed to be a snail, from Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KA 16, fol. 109vb.

A vicious snail.

That looks like an aardvark had crawled into a nautilus shell.

What the hell? I need context. I can't find the text that went along with this image. Was someone describing some kind of dangerous snail, like a cone snail or a murex snail. "Dude. There are these snails that live in the water that, like, can bite you. They have, like, sharp teeth. Can you draw me one of those?"

Or, perhaps, it was something more sinister.....



Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Googly Eyes Make Everything Better

Googly Eyes Make Everything Better

I got a text from a friend from Pennsic, this morning. 

"What we woke up tom this morning at Pennsic..."
My work, here, is done.

Now, if only someone would roll it around and take a video of it....




Monday, August 6, 2018

Finally did something I've been wanting to do

It Only Took So Many Years

I've been wanting to go this for all of my site tokens for the last... at least ten years.


I couple of minutes with a hammer, a pair of nails, and a level and it's done. And it now has all... Well, most of the site tokens that were either hanging from by belt or piled in a pile on a bookcase. I will have to clean out my pouches at some point. But, going forward, I can keep my site tokens organized.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Keystone Scroll Complete

It Kept Me Out of Trouble For a Few Days.

If I am allowed to be honest about my work: I like how this turned out. I was not feeling good about it, while I was working on it. I didn't like how the background was blotchy, I used the wrong shade of gray for the base. I was quite expecting to throw this one out, and start over from scratch. But, now that it's done, the flaws don't seem so bad.

This scroll is based on Charleville-Mézières, Bibl. mun., ms. 0255, f. 248

I love how these pages look: the pale red and yellow backgrounds look nice. Since they were mostly unpainted, I can choose whichever colors I want. And they are almost tailor made for AEthelmearc. Most of the images have leaves can be painted into Sycamores. A few have elks, which can be painted into Golden Alces. This one I turned into a Keystone (see the previous post). 

I left the 'O' blank because I really like how the white stands out on top of the red and yellow.


I left the 'P' white on this one, as well, for the same reason. Looking at these two scroll from across the room, the white really stands out without overshadowing the background.


I painted the 'P' on this one green and it just looks busy. This was scroll # 198. I might do this one, again, only without the green. I have another 13 pages of this manuscript to do. 


Saturday, July 28, 2018

Pennsic Project

It'll keep me out of trouble while everyone is at War.

Since I'm not going to Pennsic, this year, I need to do something for my Kingdom. I found an online resource for some nice, high-res images of a manuscript. This is BM - ms. 0255, f. 248 and it will be a Keystone [1] scroll for {THAT PERSON YOU LIKE}.

Now, I would put the original image in my bucket of Things You Shouldn't Put On an SCA Scroll. The dude is holding up a giant... rooster. I think we should avoid holding up a giant... rooster in court. Or, sending the less than subtle message to someone that they are a giant.... rooster.

But, it will make the foundation of a nice award scroll. As I mention in my Fields Medal winning blog post How To Adapt an Illumination [2] one can take almost any image, scoop out the elements we don't want, and add in something we can use for our hobby.

I'm using this for a Keystone for two reasons. The first is the same as I mentioned in the above mentioned blog post: I like the sight of the dude is doing service by shouldering a heavy keystone. And the second is that this manuscript is loaded with images that can be be readily adapted to a Sycamore [4] or a Golden Alce [5].

I plan on doing several scrolls based on this manuscript. I did one page and I liked how it turned out and think that I can make some people happy.





[1] A Keystone is AEthelmearc's AoA level award for service.
[2] The Fields Medal is for math, not blog posts [3]
[3] How long will Caleb keep using this stupid joke?
[4] AoA level award for A&S.
[5] AoA level award for martial prowess.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

No body loues mee.

No body loues mee.

Nobody loves mee. 

To the tune of Philliday.
Translated into modern spelling by myself.

Now all my money is gone, how should I swagger?
Now may I sit alone with wooden Dagger
Robert and honest John with my host Kester,
Could drink a dozen cups out of a tester [1]
     If now I wash my throat
     Needs must I pawn my coat.
     Nobody loves me.

I florish with my friends while my coin lasted,
Now that my sudd[? ends ?]eir love's blasted, [2]
He and he with his pot [don't treat me kindly], [2]
While I could pay my shot ... loving me blindly: [2]
     Now that I have no Chink, [3]
     With the Ducks [4] may I drink,
     All my friends from me shrink,
     Nobody loves me.
   
My Hosts with a smile would entertain me,
Now like a varlet vile [5] does she disdain me
I had the Parlor before at my command,
Now in the kitchen I take up my standing: [6]
     Now all my revell ruff,
     Is turned to kitchen stuff,
     And I sing, Marry muff, [7]
     Nobody loves me.

When as I had no want, each one would lend me,
Now that my money is scant, they say, God send ye:
They leave Pearce-penniles, [8] with high disdaining,
And all are pitiless, to my complaining:
     Their words are guilded fair,
     Their deeds base copper ware,
     Now I am waxen bare,
     Nobody loves me.

Fair Maids would follow me fast for a Fayring, [9]
I was good company, Purse was not sparing:
The finest froe [10] in this town, I might have kissed her,
And perhaps laid her down, now I must miss her.
     Now that my money is lost,
     They bid me kiss the post,
     Was ever man thus crost, [11]
     Nobody loves me.

Top of my kin I thought, would not deny me,
When I do ask them ought, strait they pass by me
Nought but old proverbs on me they venter, [12]
Save nought in summer and starve in winter.
     Old Proverbs fly about,
     No money pull they out,
     Their hands have got the gout, [13]
     Nobody loves me.

Faith I'll go dig for more and if I find it,
Like rich Cobs [14] hand and foot, fast will I bind it.
And hide it in the hay untill it canker, [15]
Then farewell thriftlessness play, and good Ale Tanker:
     I'll drink plain whig [16] and whey, [17]
     Untill my dying day,
     Black pots brings all away,
     Nobody loves me.

I'll save my money I, to make a purchase
Or else before I die, for to build Churches:
Like worldlings every hower [18] will I be scraping,
Or like hell still for more will I be gaping:
     Ere I do spend my coin,
     I'll let my Carcas pine,
     And eat beans from the swine.
     Nobody loves me.

If I be once rich again, I wil be wiser,
And learne of money-men to be a Miser:
Rather then lend a groat [19] to one or other,
I'll help to cut his throat, were he my brother.
     I will shut up my door,
     Always against the poor,
     So Karls do get their store. [20]
     Nobody loves me.
   
[1] Large drinking vessel, like a fowler.
[2] Line is corrupted on the broadsheet.
[3] Coins; enough money to clink together.
[4] Literally ducks, as in drink water from a pond.
[5] Evil villain.
[6] Perhaps an allusion to being sent to the kitchen to work off an unpaid bill.
[7] Slang for nonsence
[8] Pierce Penniless, His Supplication to the Divell, (1592), a story about a man who has not met with good fortune.
[9] A gift, usally given or purchased at a fair.
[10] A cutting tool with handle and blade at right angles, possiblly being used here as a sexual innuendo.
[11] Crossed.
[12] A protuberant and often hollow anatomical structure; used here as "hollow words".
[13] A disease long atributed to rich people, or to people who eat a rich diet.
[14] A small Spanish coin, maybe? It's the most likely definition of 'cob' that fits the context. Definitely not the cob from an ear of corn (maze) and a small, docile mare doesn't make sense. Nor does a male swan, or the clay and straw used to make wattle and daub walls.
[15] Either rusts and becomes unidentifable, or grows like a canker sore.
[16] Water, an illusion to Scottish Presbyterians who were nicknamed whiggamores.
[17] Whey, the liquid seperated from curds during cheese making. Very drinkable, but not alcoholic.
[18] Hole.
[19] A silver coin worth 4 pennies.
[20] No clue. Karl can be short for Charles, which doesn't make sense in context. It also means "freeman" in Swedish. I don't know.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain

How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain

Giving the finger:

"Firstly, we must bid adieu to the two fingers formed into a V and used in an upward jerk. It just didn't exist as a recognized gesture this early. There is a popular myth that it developed around the time of the Battle of Agincourt when Welsh and English archers defiantly displayed their bow-pulling fingers to the French. But, sadly, it's only a myth. Evidence of the gesture before 1900 is severely lacking, and after that, it seems to have been confined to the working class in northern England until around 1930 and does not become an everyday expression in the rest of the Isles until the 1970s ... But do not despair: there were plenty of other rude gestures of equal potency, both homegrown and foreign."

I honestly don't know when Ruth Goodman sleeps. In addition to all of the documentaries she does, and the living history, she somehow finds time to write well written and well documented books. This book is not just a list of rude behavior, it's a history of why that behavior was rude, from contemporary sources. There is an entire chapter on how various groups of people walked and how that opened them up to ridicule on the streets and on the stage. Another chapter is on bowing and "taking the knee" and how one can be insulting while, at the same time, giving the required honorifics. How one could show contempt in the method on doffing one's hat or by using the wrong form of "you" when speaking to a superior. 

I highly recommend this book, as well as everything she has written.


Saturday, June 30, 2018

400 scrolls for King and Country

And for Queen and Barony.

I completed by 400th scroll since I started actually taking it seriously, in 2011.

I think that it's fitting that this was the milestone (I didn't plan it this way) because this is an image that I did way back in the day when I didn't know what I was doing. Here and here for the complete scrolls.


This image comes from Citeaux Moralia in Job MS 173, fol 148

I changed the threshing flail into an axe and I was so proud, 8 or 9 years ago, that my illumination was just as good as my source. They were okay, I guess. Today, all I see are how bad they are. 

I have several posts about my method of painting that you can find on this blog (Check out herehere, here, here and here). But, I would like to reiterate one point, here. practice makes perfect. Now, I know that I am not perfect, and neither is my illumination skill, but seven years and 400 scrolls later and I can clearly see that I have improved.

Coloring is a stress reliever for myself; something I can do while relaxing on the couch watching TV. I do more scrolls than I get assignments, and I never work on one scroll at a time. So, I have plenty of practice. One cannot become a better illuminator if one does not constantly practice.

Keep records of what you do, scan your scrolls or take pictures of them, even the ones you screw up, and take notes about what kind of paint you use, or any techniques you try. Take classes whenever you can. Talk to other scribes. Ask if you can try their paint to see if you like it better. 

I am a perfect example of how anyone can do illumination. I don't think that my artistic skills are very high. I can't draw free-hand. I can't do perspective. I can't do gold leaf. I look at my scribal "peers" and see the work that they crank out and think that, by comparison, I'm barley coloring between the lines. 

I stick with early period designs because, I am told, I am kinda good at it. I haven't had any complaints from the people who have received my scrolls and my work gets their share of "ooohs" and "ahhhhs" when they are held up in court. I will most likely never stop seeing my scrolls as a pile of flaws and mistakes, but that should mean that I won't stop trying to get better, and I recommend that any reader who wishes to become a scribe take the same attitude: practice and always try to get better.  

Monday, June 25, 2018

And I was doing so well.

I must have been channeling the spirit of Charlie Brown.

Yikes.

My first scroll with my new pen and I made a blot. Right at the end of the text, no less. And I was so happy that I was unable to get the ink to fall off of the pen and then a drop of ink fell off in mid word.

Poo.

I had decided not to fix the mistake. I blotted up the excess ink with a napkin and just kept writing. I figured that anything that I would do to remove the blot would make the scroll look worse. Sometimes you just have to leave the mistake alone.



Saturday, June 23, 2018

Googly eyes make everything better

Googly eyes make everything better

At the A&S Faire, today, if you wanted to fight or fence you had to make or display something A&S like. I put on the display table a cordial and a scroll, even though I wasn't planning on fencing. Ekat had put a bunch of crayons, pipe cleaners and other craft stuff. This morning, before Troll opened, I grabbed four pipe cleaners, made a little octopus, and stuck a pair of googly eyes on it (the 2nd one is on the other side of the head). At the end of the event, I went to grab my stuff and found that someone left a nice token for my A&S project.

Yeah, me!


Thursday, May 31, 2018

A New Pen

I approve!

At War Practice, this year, I managed to make it to the scribal pavilion. A lady, who also attended, showed off her new glass dip pen. I never heard of such a thing. The lady, whose name I forgot four seconds after I was introduced (no disrespect to her, I'm just bad at names), let me try out her pen. I liked it. And I bought my own.

I found one on Amazon for about $10, and it showed up today. I was a bit worried because it is a glass pen, but it came in a really nice box.



This coffin is where my new pen is going to live. Like the lady's at War Practice, this pen was comfortable to hold. And pens are rarely comfortable for me: I've been dealing with RA for most of my life and gripping pens normally cause pain within a minute. This guy, no pain while I was farting around with it.

Now, the reason why the nice lady showed me her pen was because I had said that I do "kalligrafy" because my handwriting is so bad and that the finer the pen, the neater I can write. I had said that I would use a crow quill pen more if they could hold more ink. (I hate the fact that I have to dip the pen every 3rd or 4th letter). She then handed over her glass pen for me to try and told me that it hold a lot of ink.


So, here is the tip. The grooves spiral around the tip and holds a lot of ink and, get this, it doesn't drip and it's easy to clean.


Speaking of easy to clean, here's Deckster not helping me test my new pen.

I wasn't using all of that paper.

Currently he's chasing a twist-tie around my feet while I type this.


Here is my test of a single dip. This pen hold more ink than any of my calligraphy nibs and all of my crow quill nibs, combined. And, there was still ink left on the pen. I could get it to splatter if I whipped the pen, but normal shaking and moving did not cause any messes.

The pen also came with a glass rest to hold the pen up away from the paper. $10 well spent. I can't wait until my next assignment.