OMG Northern Lights!
This is a way long post, since I have so much to tell, my husband it already turning me out and we've been up for less than an hour!
Ardenia, Wulfhere and I set out at about 6:30 on Friday night, after my girls basically wouldn't say bye to me, since they were either a) disinterested in my leaving (D), or b) obsessing over Ardenia (R). The drive was uneventful, with much good conversation, and some snow for the last hour, before we finally found Liam's!
I had been hoping to meet his lovely and oft spoke on wife, Althea, but no luck (she was heralding in Montreal), but his two lovely cats gave me a good sniffing over in her stead. I like her taste in books, carpets, and chocolate, so I feel like I got to know her a little anyway. I brought her cookies, and Liam beer, which he seemed to be enjoying most of the evening as we chatted, ate delicious chicken alfredo, talked books and SCA, and helped Ardenia dot her i's for her documentation (she brought her own printer and everything). I slept like a very contented rock, but for far too few hours before Ardenia's typety-typing woke me up again! It felt very odd to have only my own ablutions to do when I woke up - no milk to fetch, no dipes to change, no little arms and voices clamoring up/out/fix/Hi! I got dressed and ready (I hate to hold folks up), and then ate the moist-but-not-wet (ie perfect) scrambled eggs that Liam prepared for breakfast (protein - good!), and had a glass of his local skim milk, which was just downright yummy. Thanks for having us, Liam!
Off to the site, and arrive in a flurry of activity. I immediately went and asked Rowan if she needed the tables I had brought, and she said no, then went and changed and entered the hall. Rowan: "Oh Albreda! I'm so glad you are here!" Me: "I just talked to you ten minutes ago!" Sigh - folks I have met in the last few years don't recognize me WITHOUT my headrail, and folks that only knew me before that don't recognize me WITH it! I went to say hi to Brid later on, and she had to recognize my voice to catch who I was! Lol...
Anyway, changing into some of my favorite, but least period garb, was, as expected, a very self-conscious situation (my more period stuff is either too warm-weathery, or won't fit my pregnant belly), completely unaided by the fact that the garb I WAS wearing was Pensic length to begin with (shorter so it wouldn't get all wet and abrade the heck out of my legs), so, with big belly taking up the front, turned out to be mid-shin length! Egads! I'm glad I got engrossed over the day, otherwise I would have been pulling a Picard all day, tugging down the front of my dress! As it turned out though, while period cut garb WAS in strong evidence throughout the event (providing much sewing eye candy, btw!), I didn't feel grossly out of place, so that was all good. Phew!
So - I went up to the hall to help Ardenia get her entry table sorted out. Teased and got teased in turn by Ysemay, which is always fun, and she introduced me to Mistress Eleanor le Brun, who piped up that she was 'working on her 50!' I admired Tiberius' display (quite nicely set up next to Ardenia's), and then set off to explore a bit, only to run into Rowan again, who recognized me this time, and asked me if I could please judge 3-4 categories, since a lot of their judges had gotten snowed out. LOTS of blanks on the judging forms (they want three per category), so I signed up for Spinning, Weaving, Painting/Drawing, and Woodwork (I know stuff about the last one, even though I don't do much, but - heck - that could be said for my recent activity in the other categories too, for that matter, so phooey.) I was more than a trifle overwhelmed by the sheer number of entries that meant I was looking at - I had a STACK of forms - and it was a good thing that I knew it, since it kept me from lolligagging!
Rowan called all the judges together, and gave us the run-through. I heard all of it, even though I had to quickly find a chair before the floor found *me* - my blood sugar had dropped like a stone (not enough carbs in my breakfast!), and I needed a chair. Frigga found me one, and then (as I binged on cookies) found me another to take around the hall with me as I judged, or I couldn't have done it. (The event seemed to run seemlessly, so obviously she and her crew did a great job, even short-handed, as Ketil had to go home sick. Vivant!)
The entrants were numbered 1-36(?) and wanting to limit my schlepping around the hall, I put all of my forms in descending order (since most folks started at the beginning, I started at the end and worked back), and got dug in. The only thing I really wish I had done that I didn't do was WRITE DOWN THE NAMES of the folks whose work I had the pleasure of judging. I know their work, and (for now) their faces, but names? Oy. I'll try to get them as close as I can remember here, but I'm sure I'm butchering them, so I apologize!
I started with a soon to be apprentice of Brid's, and a lovely tablet Laurel belt she had woven for Toki. It was her first major project, and it turned out *beautifully*. She and I looked at where his beltpin (for lack of a the right word) had been stuck through the cloth, and discussed how she could split the pack to make holes for this in future projects. Toki had wanted a narrow band (3/8") and none of the circulating Laurel patterns had fit. Rather than tackle more cards than she was comfortable with, she designed her own, quite lovely, pattern. She had little problem with drawing in, and her beat was nice and even. Solid work, and I told her so! (and her name completely escapes me, so if you know it, I'd love to add it here!)
Next I looked at some small decorated pieces for what amounted to a proto-Parcheesi board, created as a Court Diversion project by a lovely lady with an Indian persona (name?). She said she "wasn't wedded to the painting category" which was just as well, since her painting was decorative rather than artistic, and she was fine with my saying that, and I did really like her description of the various Moghul motifs she used on them. The game was very interesting, and I enjoyed learning about Tumeric dying in the process! Sitting next to me at her table was the very affable Master Peregrine, whom I had obviously heard of, but never had the pleasure of meeting before. He and I ran into each other often over the course of the day (he was judging the game in Toys, and didn't judge weaving, but seemed to always be talking to weavers anyway, which was grand) and plan to talk weaving (and illumination and woodcarving) again in future, which I am REALLY looking forward to!
Next to her was a very talented gentleman from Settmour Swamp, whose blown glass was stunning, and whom I judged in weaving (a lovely tartan, with perfectly consistent warp spacing and beat), and drawing/painting (glass paint on a drinking vessel, tricky to paint on a curve, and frustrating to mimit enamel with paint, since it doesn't melt in and smooth out correctly). I suggested that he might want to come up to Panteria and take an enameling class with Ruadhnait, and he liked that idea, so hopefully he'll make the trip!
Next on my list (unless I am forgetting anyone, in which case I beg your forgiveness!) was Wurm, who eventually won the Pentathalon, whom I got to discuss woodblock and metalplate printing with, in the painting and drawing category. Her imagery was lovely (and well in accord with the source imagery she based her style on, which I found in her voluminous documentation (which could use some judicious trimming and citation, honestly)), but the quality of her blocks told me that she could pull FAR better prints from them, and we discussed how she might accomplish that. She had thought that the problems with her printing were from the blocks, not the application of ink and pressing methods, but I hope I have convinced her otherwise. Her carved line quality was truly lovely and sinuous, even cross-grain; NOT easy (she worked mostly cross grain in fact, in order to prevent accidentally disturbing the delicate face and hands of her figure with a slip of the gouge). I don't know as much about metalplate printing, but still had some observations for her, which I hope she found worth sitting through. ;) I've invited her to come teach at either Panteria or Mimir's and I hope she takes me up on it! (BTW - I took a bit of a social breather at her table, before she arrived, chatting with Seamus of Concordia - he of Ninja Lips fame - and that was a lovely break!)
Next I hunted down Tiberius, King's Bardic Champion, and all-around nice guy from neighboring Panthervale, to let him know I wanted to chat about the lyre he constructed. Normally I woudn't judge categories that acquaintances are entered in, since that could be messy, but he hadn't yet signed up when I offered to judge the category, so there we go. I DO judge friends, since they know me well enough to know what they are and aren't going to get out of the process - nothing but my complete honesty and encouragment, but no messing about with numbers. That said, when TIberius lead me over to his table saying "hey great - let me tell you what I did wrong, and what I learned from it" I knew this was going to work just fine! The lyre sounds great (probably owing much to the 100 year old spruce he used for his sound board), but has some major structural problems owing to grain direction. This was his first real wordworking piece though, so how was he supposed to know? He plans to make another just like it (but 4" longer, since he read the plans incorrectly!) and fix the problems he had with this one. I love the courage to enter something you know has major problems, and relishing showing them to folks, so one can get more feedback. Vivat! (Major points to Tiberius for the lovely composition of his display table as well - vertical presentations, a coordinating color sheme, etc - and I'm sure this played heavily into his winning Populace Choice! Hurray!)
Next I spoke with a lovely Russian persona (Sofia K...?) about her silk and silk blend spinning. She had reeled silk on a Tinkertoy frame (non-period, but functional and fun, so good!), and a basket of various preps of silk fiber from her teaching demonstration in addition to her skeins, and I told her to keep them as part of her spinning entry, since they showed her what the fine stuff she spun (and OH so FINE!) came from. How she made such a ludicrously fine and loosely spun thread from notoriously fly-away tussah, I don't know, but I wish I did! Her docs on Silk Road trade in silk and silk products was great (hurray for definition of terms!), but could use some oomph in documenting wool/silk blends, since one of her skeins was just that. She swept a whole mess of categories and came in 3rd (?) in the overall Pent, causing the Herald much difficulty in pronouncing her name over and over again!)
Out of order, since someone was performing, I next went to chat with young, but familiar looking girl about her Novgorod artifact based birch bark drawings. Just for the record, there is no children's category at NL, so she was judged on the same criteria as the adults, despite her tender nine years of age. I didn't realize until AFTER I judged her that I know both she and her mother, despite the fact that the girls name currently escapes me. She obviously had experienced guidance in locating and documenting her resources, but the work was clearly all her own, and she really knew her stuff. The artifact she was reproducing was, even more interestingly, originally created by another child, which I found particularly appropriate. She WON three categories in this, her second year of competing, and I teased her that she could try all of the categories before she was 18, and I think she may have taken it as a bit of a challenge! :)
Next I backtracked to the bard cum textile artist, Aoife, soon to be apprenticed to Toki, and chatted with her about her weaving and spinning. She studies textiles with Brid, (whom I'm glad to see is cultivating such talented folk), and submitted her first ever four-harness weaving, her apprentice belt, for consideration! She had dyed the linen herself (no Brid influence there!), and had surprisingly good warp spacing, tension, and beat (but for a few spongy parts). Her only real problem (a teeny bit of drawing in on twill/tabby transitions is common, and we discussed how she could work a tabby edge so she was sure she was wrapping around the outside thread) was her selvedges, which, pardon my saying it, were a mess, even if nice and largely even. Turns out she wove this 1 and 1/4" band with a BOAT SHUTTLE. Well no wonder her selvedges were terrible; how can one keep a nice edge when trying to juggle a log??? I told her that her first piece of weaving was FAR superior to my first efforts, commended her on her courage to enter it, and said that I couldn't wait to see her entry next year, if this was her first effort. Her wet-spun linen was also a first effort, but likewise showed considerable promise (mine isn't much better). Notable was her documentation, which while not as thorough as it could have been, was very clearly organized and precisely cited. Hurray! Peregrine was at her table the same time I was, and we all kibitzed weaving together for a bit, which was fun. He mentioned that there was an interesting weaving experiment in the exhibition, and when I said I was unlikely to finish in time to get to go see it, *he went and borrowed it to bring to show us* - uber cool, and WELL worth it. The piece was a simple shawl, warped on one side in S, the other Z, and woven half S, half Z, so you could really FEEL the difference between when spin lines all align on the diagona, and when they lie perpendicular. WOW. It was so great to be able to show a new weaver this in person, since I had never seen such a clear example in person before. I was seriously dragging my feet at this time, super glad that I had needed that chair to cart around, but was loathe to miss out on the great exchanges I was having with these artisans. My wanting to keep the same level of investment going throughout was overwhelmingly rewarded at the very end of the day when this promising young artist tracked me down and thanked me for all of the time and suggestions I shared wth her about her weaving. I saw other judges breeze through, asking a question or two and being off, and that disappointed me; I would much rather have an exchange than a score, if I were an entrant, and if I hadn't taken the time to talk to Aoife, I wouldn't have uncovered her boat shuttle issue, and her selvedges would likely have taken much longer to improve. How would that have been a service to her? Plus, I just enjoy it so much - talking to folks who are excited about their work; they enjoy it, I enjoy it, and while I was among the last judges done, I was no where near the last, so I'm glad I took the time, even though I have little voice left as I type this!
Next I went over to judge a spinner/weaver whom I didn't recognize until after I had introduced myself - Morgaine of the Disputed Lands of Vermont, who was wearing an unaccostomed wimple! Now I finally recognized the youth entrant as her daughter, and got dug in on her mother's entries. Her husband is allergic to wool, so she works in alpaca exclusively. Not period, but the finest excuse I have heard yet! She knocked my socks off with a lovely piece of experimental archeology - she had been told that spinning in the grease (a very limited factor for alpace, which is so clean to begin with) would lock the dirt in, so she set out to see just what the differences were. She had a lovely vertical presentatoin of a poster showing prepared fibers and the yarn she spun up from them, comparing just in the grease straight, in the grease combed, just washed, and washed and combed. She demured to form any conclusions, asking instead for feedback, which, while valid, frustrated me, for she is an experienced fiber artist who missed a chance to share HER observations with US (I always learn things when I judge, which is another reason why I like to take the time). She also neglected to discuss how these different preps were used across cultures and purposes in wool in Europe in period, and she said that sounded like a neat idea, so hopefully she will try it, especially since this would be ABOUT wool, and not IN wool, so her husband's allergies wouldn't be an issue (if she could spin some of each prep up and compare them with the alpaca, that would be all the better, but family comes first!) Her weaving was a bit confusing to me, and here's why - I asked what I was to judge, and she handed me the VERY drawn in start of her fabric, and a fulled (and distorted, since fulling alpaca, once stretched, stay stretched) sample. She had essentially cut the best of it out to put in a hat (entred in headwear), and handed me her dregs to judge. I probably *should* have tried to assess the fabric in her hat, but didn't. I'm betting that the other two weaving judges did, since she swept the category, and I look forward to getting a better look at that hat at an event soon - I'm glad she lives nearby! I think she benefitted from my oversight anyway, since I was able to look her dregs, and give her some suggestions - mainly using scrap fabric/bias tape to space her warp so she isn't wasting yards of precious handspun trying to accomplish this, and using a sword with a thin leading edge, so she can A) beat more tightly, and ) not abrade her warp as much, causing breakage that gave her much heartache and aggravation. I was surprised to learn that few of the weavers I judged had heard of/even thought of using sizing, even when their work obviously clamored for it. I suggested to Brid that this would make an excellent Hrim Schola subject (and not one that I can really do at this point, since I just don't have the stamina to much cloth weaving at this point).
During my lovely chat with Morgaine, Ysemay came up and harrassed me for chatting so long with the entrants, only to discover that I was to judge her next! Ysemay is always a laugh, and she teases me because she knows she can. The mocking/self-deprecating humor break was much needed as I neared the finish line, so thanks, hon! Her enamel painted ceramic plate looked *quite* nice, and she said it matched the painterly look of one of her exemplars, but the picture was so small, it was hard to tell (and not really knowing the period look that well, I *needed* those exemplars!) - she showed me the pictures in a book and that helped much (she was right about the painterly effect), but those in her documentation just didn't show the details well. She said she had gotten the biggest, clearest scans she could, and was likewise frustrated by their size. I suggested taking digital photos of the pictures in the books, since modern cameras tend to have better resolutions than do scanners, so that might help; I hope it does!
One last entrant to go (again, unless I have forgotten anyone - sorry if I have!), and that was a woodworking entry of some GORGEOUS arrows, constructed of three woods in a period manner. His documentation was a photo rich study in his process, and a very nice piece in its own right. He used purple heart (a South American wood) for the front of the arrow, and talked about how it may/may not be suitable for late period, but didn't mention what woods would definately have been used in period, or cite any examples of period extant arrows. His descriptions of the physics of spine strength made me VERY glad that I'd learned much of the physics of arrows from Li Kung Lo at Alestrina's Vigil last Pensic, or I may well have been the last judge done, as I sat entranced while this gentle, Omelan, gave me the run-down. He, like Tiberius, had a strongly veritical display, showing large objects to advantage (he had a chain shirt, and leather case as well), and I am likewise sure this (along with his obviously fine craftsmanship) lead to his being voted Staff Favorite. Vivat!
At last I was done, nearly six hours after I had started, having broken for nothing but a water break in all that time (and me, with a pregnant lady's bladder!) I was BEAT, but happy, and NOT the last one done, for which I was much relieved. I grabbed Rosina for a bathroom break, and then we talked Fibonacci remainders, which I had *finally* remembered to bring my work on to an event where she might actually be in attendance. We talked numbers and string, and it was lovely! She introduced me to her fellow math geek Micheal of Carolingia (with whom I had earlier heard her discussing doing a poem in Old English on math, and I had conjectured that A) it would be very cool, and B) that tracking down the appropriate vocabulary would be a BEAR), and we all geeked out a bit, talking about how my impressions of Carolingians had been much skewed at a young age by folks at an MIT dance practice nicknaming me 'Bumpkin' in a not-nice way. I have since decided to make a concerted effort to meet NICE Carolingians and reform my opinion of the Barony in toto, starting with Hugh and Rosina this last summer (I already knew Ygraine, but had considered her unusual), and now with Peregrine and Micheal, I think I am on the right track! Hurray!
The wait for the results was semi-interminable (completely understandable, but still), and my adrenaline and sugar ebbed into non-existance. I talked A&S 50 a bit, and Pagan (who surprisingly remembered my name) kindly introduced me around those congregated where my body had decided to make its final stand. I talked to folks from Bergental about the medieva-arts minded folks I had met in Heath, and suggested that they might do a mini-demo at the Heath Fair, which they seemed moderately interested in, despite its being held just one week after Pensic War. I listened in on two 14th Cent gents discussing the difficulty parsing out what were actual garb trends from what was artistic/stylistic liscense in period illustrations of men's garb, and realized anew just how little I know about late period garb, full stop, let alone menswear.
I slumped to the ground, noting what strong folks happened to be nearby that I wouldn't be embarrassed to ask for a hand back up again, and Rowan came out to announce the results. Her herald, btw, was among the finest voice heralds I have ever witnessed - loud and clear and non-fussy, every time he spoke, everyone could hear him, without being deafened or stunned. Vivat! Tristan de Warrell had made LOVELY cloisonne brooches and necklaces for the winners, whom I will here recap as I can: Populace Choice - Tiberius of Panthervale, Staff Choice - Omelan, 3rd place - Safia K... (long and Russian), 2nd place - late period female persona whose name I regretfully forget, and 1st place, Wurm, who seemed appropriately stunned by the announcement, as she had for each category she won. The results were apparently only DECIMALS apart, which is stunning. I didn't get to see as much of all of the other entries in categories that I didn't judge as I had wished, but ah well - I felt useful and alive, and had lots of fun chatting with friends old and new.
Once we finally got on the road home (we should name her 'Ardenia the Ever-Networking'), the snow had picked up and visability was nil, but Wulfhere proved his backwoods roots, and drove us safely home, as Ardenia and I talked judging/entry shop, and Wulf chimed in on gaming stuff when Ardenia fell asleep. We got back to Burlington around 10:30, and they still had another hour home, so we sent them on their merry if sleepy way. I slept like a rock, and awoke with very little voice, and less ability to be present, since yesterday still ran so heavily though my thoughts. Now I'm suddenly realizing that I probably CAN'T enter next year, as I'll be busy autocratting! Ah well - maybe a poem or something I can submit in advance? Probably not in Old English about math though.... ;)
BTW - I have shared nothing here that I didn't share with the entrants involved, and certainly hope I haven't embarrassed anyone in a bad way by sharing my comments here - I just thought my thoughts on your entries might be useful for others to hear, both so they can see my judging process a bit, and maybe learn from your work vicariously. If I have embarrassed you in a good way (ie complimenting you), get over it - you deserve it! Every single entry I saw had more to commend it than not, and I enjoyed meeting all of the entrants. If any one crituque could be made of the majority of entries I judged, it was the lack of citations and incompleteness of documentation; the paperwork on these entries is often as much of a project as the entered pieces themselves, and folks tend to forget that, and throw things together at the end. I expect to learn things from reading one's docs, and to be able to easily find every fact they present if I could take the paper home and follow its citation trail. Organization is key as well - I had literally two hundred pages of documentation presented to me yesterday, in addition to wanting to look at actual pieces and talk to the artisans. My brain was leaking out of my ears by just over half way through; utilizing formatting in your documentation to deliniate sections, define terms, etc, is doing a great kindness not only to your documentation score, but to the tired judges trying to do their best by you. Also worth noting is that judges rarely know *everything* there is to know about a category they are judging (obviously I'm FAR from that level), so it is much easier to judge the authenticiy of an item if we are shown clear examples, in text and imagery, of period exemplars in your documentation. (If Ysemay hadn't had more painterly examples of enamel work to show me - and the big book o'photos to back up her poorly scanned images - I would have scored her lower on both workmanship and authenticity, as WELL as documentation, and that would have been a BIG chunk of her fine score GONE!)
Anyway, I think I have spilled enough of my numerous thoughts on the day onto paper here to actually be able to go be present for my husband and kids. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone (staff, friends, entrants, judges, etc) that made yesterday, my first time away from my kids for a whole day (28 hours to be exact) such an incredibly fun and worthwhile day. I thought I'd be talking and sewing the day away rather than working my butt off, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Vivant!!! :)