Have I ever . . . (sca version)

GENERAL SCA
- Been an officer? (Local, Regional, Kingdom, Society?) Yes, Baronial chronicler, exchequer, webminister, fencing marshal, regional archery marshal, Kingdom TW marshal. Probably more.
- Do you have an SCA name? Caleb Reynolds
- Do you have an SCA persona? A Norman who came to sunny England with Duke William and stayed for the food.
- Changed persona because of different garb? Yes, a long time ago when I was young and stupid. I'm no longer young.
- Been adopted by a person, household or clan? Yes.
- Had a name and/or device accepted by the SCA College of Arms? Yes.
- Had a name and/or device rejected by the SCA College of Arms? Yes, my second name (first one to be registered) was Caleb Silverhand, which was too close to an actual celtic historical type person.
- Been taken or taken an apprentice, protege or squire? Yes, I was a protege to Master Conner Bowsplitter.
- Have rank higher than an Award of Arms. If so, what? A few GoA, a Baronage and a Peerage.

EVENTS
- Been an Event Steward/Autocrat? Yes. Oh, god yes. I've autocrated all of the Hael/Canton events except for Snowball Fight and Firedrake.
- Kingdom level or local level? Local only.
- Cooked an Event? Surprisingly, yes.
- Taught a class at an event? Yes. Indoors and out.
- Run an activity at an event? Yes. Fighting, fencing, archery, thrown weapons, bardic, quests. Court. Court is an event.

FIGHTING/MARTIAL ARTS
- Ever fought at an event? Yes.
- Ever fought at Pennsic or another War? Yep. With my fellow Spam brothers and our trusty battle basset hound. (Don't ask. Really. Don't ask)
- Done a different martial art at an event? Yup. Heavy, rapier, archery, combat archery, thrown weapons and scouting.
- Ever run a martial activity at an event? Yup. Fighting, fencing, archery, thrown weapons, bardic. Bardic can be a martial activity!
- Ever fought in a Crown Tourney? Ha ha ha ha. No.
- Won a tourney or contest at an event? Yes, I have won my share of tourneys.
- Made your own armor? Yep. Carpet armor, padded leather. The carbuli that stank up the stove. The "storm trooper" lorica segmentata. The same armor covered in chrome bumper repair tape. The same armor covered in nice leather.
- Made your own weapons? Yup.
- Been a squire? No.
- Have rank as an archer? Yep. Grand Master with crossbow and recurve (although you can't tell by the way I've been shooting lately) and Bowman with longbow, from when I last owned a longbow.
- Have rank as a fencer? Yes. fencer. Or, as some people call me, "a target rich person".
- Created a siege weapon? Only small ones.

ARTS & SCIENCES
- Have you ever entered an A&S contest? Yes.
- Have you ever won an A&S contest? Yes. Plenty for brewing and surprisingly for illumination
- Ever run an A&S contest? Only a couple of bardic competitions.
- Ever judge/critique items in an A&S contest? Yes, plenty of brewing competitions.
- Ever Wordsmithed a scroll? Plenty of them.
- Illuminated a scroll? Yes, 284 so far.
- Calligraphy for a scroll? If by "calligraphy" you mean write words on a scroll, then yes, I have "calligraphyed" on 103 scrolls. Hey! Not every monk had nice handwriting!
- Made your own paper? No, but I have been thinking of trying it.
- Made a book? No.
- Make someone’s order medallion? Yes, I learned how to do basic leather carving so that I could make medallions.
- Write someone in for an award? Yes. plenty of times.
- Have you ever sewn your own garb? Yes. Surprisingly yes. I can barely sew a button on, these days, but I used to make garb.
- Sewn Garb for others? Yes.
- Ever been sewing on the way to an event? No.
- Ever finished an outfit before an event? Yes. A couple of times.
- Researched and completed an outfit from said research? Not a complete outfit, but a tunic and shoes.
- Ever taught a class on sewing? Ha ha ha ha. No.
- Finished a hat? Nope.
- Do you know how to spin? I have been told to sit and spin on many occasions. Does that count?
- Ever woven your own fabric? Hahahaha. No.
- Do you know how to knit? Hahahaha. No.
- Do you know how to crochet? I did at one point.
- Have you ever dyed your own yarn or fabric? Never intentionally. Remember, never wash red towels with white garb.
- Embroidered a garment? No.
- Beaded a garment? No..
- Ever entertained at a feast? Yes. Double yes if you include making someone laugh so hard that they snort a green bean through their nose.
- Ever ran a bardic circle? I did. And ran a "bad bardic" competition at War, one year.
- Ever performed in a bardic circle? A few times.
- Had songs requested from you at such? The only song anyone has ever requested of me was "Sounds of Silence" if you get my meaning.
- Ever competed in a formal bardic? Yes. Even in the Kingdom Bardic competition.
- Know any period songs? "Greensleaves" is period. So is some lyrics to "John Barleycorn" and "Scarbourgh Faire".
- Been banned from a bardic circle for a song/performance, or have a piece you perform banned/controlled? Yes. I sing so poorly. ("How poorly do you sing?") Ah. I sing so poorly that I was banned from ever singing at the Yama Kamanari Bad Japanese Karoke Party ever again, under any circumstances.

COURT IN THE SCA
- Run a court as Royalty (King/Queen or Baron/Baroness)? Yes, four years as Baron before the throne.
- Run a court as Herald? Yes. Once, when there was no one else available.
- Heralded at Court? Yes.
- Been an Attendant, Guard or Champion at court? Yes. Plenty of times.
- Been called to court to receive an award, if so which one/s? Um. All of them.
- Been called to court to present something, if so what? Gifts as a member of a household, and as Baron. And as a brewer.
- Been called to court for punishment? Not so surprisingly, yes. It had to do with Guild Fionuuchi and the kiss of death, which involves tongues, by the way.
- Been part of a court ’shtick’? Me? take part in 'shtick?' I don't even know what this 'shtick' is. Is is a candy?
- Done something while watching court, e.g., spin, sew, embroider, if so what? Nothing that I can't list publicly.
- Had a royal comment on what you’re doing? Yes. I was enjoying some baklava a little too much during Kingdom Court, when I was a Baron.
- Have awards from more than one Kingdom? Yes, East and Ealdomere

PENNSIC
- Have you ever gone to Pennsic? Yes
- Ever done Zero Night? Yes
- How many Pennsics have you gone to? 12 or 15 or so.
- Ever Taught a class at Pennsic? Yes.
- Taken a class at Pennsic? Yes.
- Gone to Opening ceremonies? Yes. They are great.
- Been a waterbearer? Yes.
- Worked a shift at Chirurgeons Point at Pennsic? Yes.
- Worked a shift as security at Pennsic? No.
- Volunteered in any other capacity? Yes.
- Ever merchanted at Pennsic (we’ll take shopping as a given)? No.
- Gone to the swimming hole Classic or family? The family one, but not in years.
- ‘Trolled the Bog for parties?’ Yes.
- Hosted a party at Pennsic? Yes.
- Been part of a ‘Pennsic building project’? Not I.

TRAVEL IN THE SCA
- Ever traveled more than 8 hours each way for a one day event? Yes. Back when I was younger and only needed ten minutes of sleep and could absorb nutrients from the air.
- Gone to a different Kingdom for an event? 11 different Kingdoms.
- Lived in a different Kingdom? Yes. I started out in Lonestarioria. (For all of y'all William Blackfox fans).
- Have trailer hitch and trailer, mainly because of the SCA? No.

THE MUNDANE OF THE SCA
- Run out of closet space because of garb/gear? No. Most of my garb is packed away in tubs.
- Ever crammed more than 4 people into a hotel room? Isn't that the definition of a Con.
- Met your future spouse at an SCA event? Well.... I was engaged to a lady whom I had met at an SCA thing, but we broke up so I guess it doesn't count.
- Met most past significant others in an SCA setting? Not "most". I've only had 1 long term girlfriend who was interested in the SCA.
- Have better research books than your library? Better than my nearest library.
- Is your tent bigger than your first apartment? No. My current tent would have fit into the bedroom of my first apartment.
- How many sewing machines do you have? Two.
- Own an anvil? Yes. Five. No, three. Yrrraaaagggghhhh!
- Added something to the YKITSCA-When lists? A few times.

The big butterfly vs bacon buckler battle between Behrend and the Baron

Butterfly vs bacon: which would win?

War Practice 2016

That butterfly was really Mothra in disguise. It reached out and grabbed my sword and wouldn't let go until Ber had killed me.

I should have been doing something more productive

Anything more productive

Instead of packing, cleaning, yard work, laundry or anything useful, I knocked out this scroll over the last three days. It is on pergamenta and without any gum arabic. I had absolutely no purpose to make this scroll, other than that I wanted to do it. I think that it would make a nice writ for a pelican; if I ever get an assignment for one. 

Actually, for a writ, I would let someone else do the calligraphy. I am under no illusions that my handwriting is pretty, and a writ for a peerage should, should, be pretty.  I would be happy to come up with the wording. I promise that I won't hand over elebenty billion words.

While I am not so angry with pergamenta right now, the sheets I bought from John Neal are too big to fit onto my scanner. And, unfortunately, the copy of Picture Publisher that I was using on my old PC will not install on the new PC; too old for Windows 10. So, I either need to buy a more up to date version, learn to use Photoshop, or find an alternative image editor that will let me stitch together two separate images. And don't say Gimp: Gimp sucks and can't do simple things in an easy and logical way. Alternatively, I could learn to take a decent picture with my camera or phone.

Words which are their own antonym?

I had some free-thinking time, this morning, during a confrence call. I spent the time wisely, by thinking of all of the words that are their own antonyms; that is, the same word with opposite meanings.

aught = all - nothing
bill = invoice - money
bolt = run away - secure
buckle = secure - collaspe
cleave = to separate - to join together
clip = cut apart - fasten together
custom = usual - special
dollop = a little bit - a large amount
dust = to remove fine particles - to add fine particles
fast = move quickly - unmoving
fix = repair - chop off
garnish = to enhance - to take away
grade = level - incline
lease = to pay someone for property - to have someone pay you for property
let = allow - prevent
mean = average - excellent
model = archetype - copy
note = promise to pay - money
oversight = care - error
peep = look quietly - beep
peer = person of higher rank - person of equal rank
put = lay - throw
puzzle = pose problem - solve problem
quantum = very small - very large (quantum leap)
rent = to pay someone for property - to have someone pay you for property
ravel = entangle - disentangle
resign = to quit - to sign up again
sanction = to approve of - to punish
scan = to examine closely - to glance at quickly
screen = to show - to hide
seed = to add seeds to something - to remove seeds from something
skin = to put an outer cover on - to remove the outer covering
speak = express verbally - express nonverbally
stipulate = request - agree to
strike = miss - hit
table = propose - set aside
temper = calmness - rage
transparent = invisible -visible
trim = cut things off - put things on
weather = withstand - worn away

I will aVOID any puns for this post.

No Gum Arabic and it looks better

I knocked out the exact same VOID scroll as before only I left out the gum arabic. The gauche stayed put and the white ink was much easier to apply. Pergamenta is still fussy and temperamental but it is much easier to work with when the paint stays where you put it.

The scroll on the left is #281, and the one on the right is #280, with the gum arabic.

I still don't think that I like it

My continuing experiments with pergamenta and gum arabic.

I'm still on the fence on pergamenta but I think that the issues I was having with the pigment were due to the gum arabic. I say this because once there is a dry layer of gouache on the pergamenta, the next layer of paint wouldn't be affected by any residual oils from the paper. Since the problem I was having was due to the layers rehydrating and sliding around, and since this was the first time I've used gum arabic, I think that that was the cause of my problems. Not only are the green, blue and black areas blotchy, but I had a hell of a time getting the white to stick to the gouache. I think that I will try this again, same design, same pigment, only without the gum arabic and see what I end up with.

First sheet of pergamenata

I don't know if I like this stuff.

Here is my first, major, usage of pergamenata that I knocked out today instead of doing anything more productive. I'm about half way done and I don't know if I like the stuff or not. The gauche that I use is pooling on the surface of the material instead of soaking into it, like it does on cotton paper. This is giving me grief: on paper, I use thin coats of paint, building the shading layer by layer. With the pergamenata, the first coat dries, and then undries when the second coat is applied, giving me two wet coats of paint that move around like watercolors instead of gauche. 

The yellow of the dragon looks nice, but the black, green and the blue are very blotchy, even after four coats. Unfortunately, I don't know if this is entirely the fault of the pergamenta (or, rather, my technique) or the fact that put a drop of gum arabic into the gauche. I've never used gum arabic before and it was suggested to me that a drop would help on the pergamenta. 

I don't know. I'll finish this one and see how others feel about it. I have nine more sheets to experiment with: 18 if I cut them in half.