Category Archives: Classes

Class: Heraldic Coloring Book for Aire Faucon 2016

Classes, Heraldry

I created Heraldic Coloring Book for the Canton of Aire Faucon based on citizens residing within the Canton as of December 1, 2016 for the December Newcomer A&S meeting.  The coloring book includes basic heraldic definitions plus the Arms of the Populace. The coloring book is not meant to be all-inclusive, for example dozens of Furs are missing, but to give the Newcomer attending the class basic background for looking at heraldry at events and start considering getting their own.

I broke it apart to make it easier to print since it is so art intensive. Including the cover, there are 32 pages.

COVER PAGE – (1 page) page0-coverpage

GROUP 1 – (2 pages) Tinctures – Includes Colors, Metals, and a few Furs  – page1-tinctures

GROUP 2 – (4 pages) Locations on a sheild, Field Divisions, Ordinaries, and  Complex Lines –  page2-divisionlines

GROUP 3 – (2 pages) Charges and Postures. One of the area where I went really light. I limited the postures to ones appearing in the heraldry of the Canton’s populace. Plus the fish, since we are located in Atlantia and there are a lot of fish. –  page3-charges

GROUP 4 – (1 page) General notes about devices and creating your own. – page4-generalnotes

GROUP 4.1 – (2 pages) Blazoning in action. I took a blazon and broke down how you can go from the words to the picture it describes. page4-1-actionblazon

GROUP 5 – (2 pages) Landed group devices particular to Aire Faucon – the SCA, Atlantia, Sacred Stone and Aire Faucon page5-group-devices

GROUP 6 – (5 pages) Coat-of-Arms for those within the Canton who have a Patent of Arms. –  page6-af-poa

GROUP 7 – (8 pages) Coats-of-Arms for those within the Canton who have a Grant of Arms. – page7-af-goa

GROUP 8 – (5 pages) Coats-of-Arms for those within the Canton who have an Award of Arms. – page8-af-aoa

How to be an Event Minion

Classes

(Prepared for the July 9th 2016 Sacred Stone Baronial Unevent; taught at the 3/2/17 Newcomer meeting in Aire Faucon and 8/16/17 A&S meeting in Crois Brigte)

One) Where can I help? (Anywhere work needs to be done.)

  1. But I thought I had to volunteer in advance. (While it is nice to know we have staff to cover everything, we still need more help.)
  2. Or be a department head. (While we have department heads at events, we wouldn’t get far with minions helping the day-of.)

Two) How can I help best?

  1. Follow directions.
  2. Don’t be creative. The autocrat really isn’t up to changing things on the fly. (After Action)

Three) First things first – This is a suggested order. If the autocrat gives different orders, please follow them.

For outdoor events:

  • PARKING LOT MARKINGS if needed
  • TENTS/SHELTER FOR (1) Troll; (2) Chatelaine tent; (3) Hospitality/cooking tent; (4) MOL, chirugeon, and marshalling tents for heavy, rapier and archery; (5) A&S for classes, displays, and competitions; (6) Royals/Baronage; (7) Feast; (8) Other guests
  • WATER – Set up water stations
  • TABLES & CHAIRS – Add tables and chairs under all the tents
  • ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT – Set up hay bales for fighting for example.
  • (throughout the day, toting and helping with cooking)
  • (At end of day, reverse – but break down water last.)

For indoor events

  •             TABLES AND CHAIRS
  •             KITCHEN

Four) Last things –

  1. Take down things no longer needed, usually feast/cook are good break points.
  2. PICK UP ALL TRASH
  3. Sweep, mop, etc.

Five) Kitchen Drudge – Be ready to be dirty

  1. Follow Directions
  2. Help unload vehicles
  3. Stir to the bottom unless instructed otherwise
  4. Let the head cook know when you leave
  5. Dishes – constant throughout the day, during feast, and afterwards
  6. Clear tables and separate food as instructed
  7. Help load vehicles
  8. Bonus points – pack extra drying towels and your own set of knives & cutting board.

Six ) Royalty and Court

  1. Set up thrones and moving thrones for court
  2. Move a bunch of chairs before and after court
  3. Royal retainers – Make sure they drink; keep their hands free; protect their bathroom time.

Seven) A&S

  1. Judging
  2. Display guards
  3. Solars and Scriptoriums

Eight) Food service

  1. Lunch / Dayboard / Teas – Portion control, setting new things out, keeping food safe.
  2. Serving Feast – Drinks, soups, clearing dishes

Nine) Marshal activities –

  1. Waterbearing
  2. Line marshals
  3. MOL check-in
  4. Field herald

Class: Jeweled Book Weights

Beading, Classes, Largess

LARGESS: Jeweled Book Weights

(Taught July 16, 2015 for the Aire Faucon Largess A&S Night – This is a hands-on activity night taking about two hours.)

People in period were very protective of their books; many illuminations show people reading on top of pillows or handling books with towels to protect the outside. Likewise modern people are interested in protecting books, for example holding a book open when cooking without breaking the spine.

A common cheap bookweight is taking 28 pennies (2 rows of 14) and sealing them inside some duct tape. For Largess we are going to take some ends of trim and some scraps of cloth, decorate them with beads and make Jeweled Book Weights.

Some hints to help with decorations:

One) SEWING ON BEADS (INDIVIDUALLY)

  1. Find a needle and thread that can go through the bead more than once.
  2. Make certain the bead does not have a cutting edge on the hole that will destroy the thread in time.
  3. Go through the bead three time. Going through only once or twice makes it loose. This is whether you double the thread or not – the amount of stitches secures the bead more than the thickness of the thread. Basically you want to “backstitch” the bead on to lock it in place.

Two) SEWING A STRAIGHT LINE OR CURVE OF BEADS

  1. Do not sew on individually
  2. Do not sew by stringing the beads and sewing the string down
  3. To get a smooth continuous curve, pick up a bead at the start, then go down, come back up at the start of the bead, go through the bead and pick up two to five more (depends on the size of the bead, you will get a feel for this as you work with them), go down in the line, come back up between some of your added beads – go through them and pick up more. Basically you are backstitching the beads down. The double stitching allows curves and creates a straighter line then laying down a string of beads.
  4. To create even spaces between the beads, once done go back over line and anchor down the string between each bead without going through the bead again.
  5. You have now sewed down the beads vertically and horizontally; these will stay.

Three) TASSELS

 

Class: Guilds, Colleges and Solars, oh my!

Classes

GUILDS, COLLEGES, AND SOLARS, oh, my

(Taught June 2, 2016 for the Aire Faucon Newcomer A&S Night)
(Taught October 21, 2017 for the War of the Wings newcomer track)

One) Structure Levels of Organizations in the SCA

  1. Canton
  2. Barony
  3. Regional
  4. Kingdom
  5. Knowne World

Two) Type of Art Organizations in the SCA – Unofficial / non-legal entities

  1. Guilds – Structured, usually with a guild head, regular meetings, and an advancement structure to encourage learning.
  2. Colleges – Some offices’ structures are highly guild related and support colleges. Some have an advancement structure and others do not. Example: Heralds, Scribes
  3. Orders – Awards given at the Barony or Kingdom level sometime include membership within a group. Examples: Order of the Phoenix Eye (Baronial Arts), Order of the Golden Dolphin (Kingdom Service)
    • Polling
    • Additional activities
  4. Solars / Workshops – Activities at events where people are welcomed to participate in an art activity and/or ask questions. Often someone will have extra for teaching.
  5. Circles – At events. Usually performance in nature, usually after nightfall. May or may not require attendees to participate.
  6. Online interest groups – Examples: Sacred Stone Scribes, Heralds email list, Pennsic Chorus
  7. Knowne World Symposiums and Academies – Herald and Scribal Symposium, Dance Symposium, Middle Eastern Drum and Dance Symposium, Academy of the Rapier, Costuming Symposium
    • Knowne World Fiber Arts Symposium – November 11-12 in Calontir (Iowa)

Three) Cantons of Aire Faucon (AF) & Charlesbury Crossing (CC) Guild-Like activities

  1. Practices – Fighter practice in CC at Freedom Park
  2. Scriptorium – Sometimes a member of AF and/or CC will host a scribal day at their house
  3. Leatherworking – AF has ongoing regular meetings on a leatherworking theme

Four) Barony of The Sacred Stone Guilds and Guild-Like Activities

  1. Sacred Stone’s Cook’s Guild – help cook events, welcomes all cooking types (herb, brew, research, kitchen, serving, etc)
  2. Sacred Stone’s Scribes
  3. Order of the Phoenix Eye – November – Runestone Collegium (even years); In a Phoenix Eye (odd years)
  4. Solar Fibers
  5. Sacred Stone Guards

Five) Kingdom of Atlantia – (touch on guild size and activity levels)

  1. Related to Offices of the Kingdom
  • University of Atlantia
  • Atlantian College of Scribes
  • Atlantian College of Heralds

2. Highly Active Kingdom Guilds

  • Atlantian Herbal Guild – The Herbal Guild is open to all: Topics used by Guild Members shall include but are not limited to: gardening, drying and preservation of plant materials, apothecary, medicinal, alchemy, bathing, cosmetics, culinary herbs, herb lore, midwifery, dying of fiber, creation of paints, and housewifery.
  • The Company of the Silver Spindle – The Atlantian Spinning Guild. See information below
  • Atlantian Brewers Guild

3. Other Guilds Chartered by Kingdom

  • L’Academie Atlantienne de la Danse – Dancing
  • The Atlantian Performers’ Guild
  • Arachne’s Web of Atlantia – Lacemakers
  • Atlantian Embroiderers’ Guild
  • St. Anne’s Guild of Clothiers
  • The Corsairium – Research, development and teaching of the nautical aspects of the SCA.
  • Plus lots more – Kingdom guild information can be found through the A&S office’s website. And for those not appearing there search on “Atlantian (fill-in-the-blank) guild”.

Six) Knowne World Guilds

  1. Chirugeon Guild – Broken up into Kingdom Chapters. Often will recognize Masters from other Chapters.
  2. College of Heralds – Broken up by Kingdom, but does have Knowne World heads.
  3. Academy of Defense

 

Class: What are Demos and How can I Help

Classes

DEMOS – What are Demos and How Can I Help?

(Taught April 7, 2016 for the Aire Faucon Newcomer A&S Night)

One) Why does the SCA do Demos?

SCA is a not-for-profit because we are a free educational group

(A&S and Chatelaine are the most important offices for maintaining this government designation – demos and classes are required!)

Two) What is a demo?

An activity primarily aimed at OUTSIDE the SCA population or has a high degree of interaction with non-SCAdians.

Three) Demo types

  1. Martial Centric
  2. Art Centric for special interest club (gaming, herbs, etc),
  3. Fundraiser (example dinner for church),
  4. Participating as a club in big days (Lincolnton),
  5. Children educational function – showing up at a school/library/scouts (day function or classroom only or camp),
  6. Support for medieval things – movie came out (Robin Hood), book (Harry Potter), orchestra, school play (Camelot)
  7. Event style (free event),
  8. Practices/meetings in public locations;
  9. Size variation: one person or group etc.,
  10. Purpose: membership raising or educational only,

Four) Types of people needed

  1. Topic centric people: Fighters (rapier & heavy), A&S
  2. General A&S display
  3. Hands-on activities (important for children activities) – A&S (calligraphy, spinning), throwing beanbags at a dragon, touching/wearing the armor
  4. Talkers – heralds/MCs describing the fighting; overseeing A&S table
  5. Warm Bodies – crowd control, setup/cleanup, answering questions, bringing water, and look like we are more than just our front men

Five) Linguistics

  1. Avoid specialized SCA Language – Club president rather than Seneschal, Treasurer for Exchequer, Modern for Mundane/Muggle
  2. Put Best Foot Forward – No “I was so drunk” stories; No “avoid this person, I hate them” directions; no cool games like “Pie the Peer” – Best behavior, best language. This is a “job interview” type environment; we are trying to get people to “hire on” with us or at least respect us enough to want to learn from us.

Six) Upcoming demos (as of April 2016 for Canton of Aire Faucon and local area)

  1. Gaming store (April 9th – our canton);
  2. Imaginon Library demo by Charlesbury Crossing (April 23 )
  3. ConCarolina’s Table & Demo (June 3-5 – http://www.concarolinas.org/)
  4. Flight of the Falcon (demo-like event August 20th);
  5. Weekly Fighter Practices at Charlesbury Crossing at Freedom Park;
  6. Monthly newcomer meeting at Books-a-million