Monthly Archives: August 2011

I chose my SCA name in May — Gregor followed with his in June. And we just submitted both names for registration with the SCA while we were at Pennsic.

But I’ve been giving myself plenty of time to choose my device, because I want to be sure I like it and will feel good about using it for a long time. So after much thought and research, and ruminating about it at Pennsic where I could see lots of other devices, here’s my first draft:

Genoveva's Device: First Draft

Tinctures: The colors I’ve selected are easy to explain. Green is my absolute favorite color, followed closely by red. And I prefer silver (white) to gold. The fact that these happen to be the same as the Midrealm’s colors are just icing on the cake for me.

Charge: I’ve tentatively chosen the winged heart for several reasons:

1. Symbolism. In heraldic terms, the heart can mean charity, kindness, and sincerity. wings may mean swiftness and protection. These are all important ideals I strive for in my life.
2. Personal Meaning. Wings have long held importance for me, “angel” being an old nickname of mine. The heart symbol has a special significance between my son and I, as well. These two symbols together just “feel right” to me. It has many meanings to me, which I don’t need to go into here.
   

   Winged Heart on a Woodcut

3. Historical Significance. The winged heart has been used throughout history. The one example I find most relevant is on a woodcut of a pilgrim attributed to Albrecht Dürer, a German artist of the 15th century (my time period/place of interest). The woodcut shows a pilgrim passing a castle, holding a coat-of-arms showing a winged heart, sun, stars, and moon.
4. Uncommon. While used on SCA devices and badges, it is not common. I find just seven matches in OANDA. There are, of course, many matches for hearts in general. But not the winged heart. I want a charge that identifies me when people see it, and that’s more likely to happen if I’m one of the few with it.
5. Simplicity. It’s a heart with wings and a border. Easy to draw. Easy to identify.

Bordure: I chose the bordure (border) because it feels “German” to me.

I believe the description would be: “Vert, a heart gules between wings argent within a bordure counter-compony gules and argent”

I have two concerns with this device:

• I don’t want it to appear “cute” just because I’ve chosen a heart. I think there’s a range of ways I could depict the charge, from cute to more serious, and I can just lean toward more serious.
• I’m not sure if I can have the heart red and the wings white, nor if the red heart on the green field violates the rule of tincture. If either is the case, I could change the heart to white, like this:
  

  Device with white heart

Here is an alternate drawing of the wings which look less like a crescent. These wings are styled after those which appear on the coat of arms of Germany during the Middle Ages.

As I understand it, though, I can draw the heart and wings as I like — I just need to get it passed in an acceptable form first.

We’re home from our first Pennsic War! The Midrealm didn’t win, but we certainly feel like victors! We successfully prepared, survived, and enjoyed a 10-day long SCA event/camping trip filled with both amazing and challenging events. If you want just the highlights, check out this short video I made of our “Epic Pennsic” — it even has a soundtrack and some battle footage.

As is to be expected, our Pennsic was not perfect. But I believe strongly that mistakes can be the best path to success (if you learn from them!) so it’s all okay. Here are the bumps in the road we encountered:

• Strapping stuff to our car rack was NOT easy! We’d chosen to put our futon up there and it kept flapping up when we got up to highway speeds. We had to stop three times to re-strap it, and that put us behind schedule. Solution for next Pennsic: Buy or rent a small trailer so we don’t have to put stuff on the roof!
• Arriving too late in the day to set up camp before dark! This was related to the point above, as stopped to re-strap really slowed us down. Solution for next Pennsic: Plan to leave by at least 9:00 am.
• Putting the tarp under the canvas pavilion as if it was a modern nylon tent with a floor resulted in a moat around the inside perimeter of our tent after a rainfall on the first night. It was sprinkling and getting dark fast when we arrived, and we didn’t understand that the tarp had to go OVER the edges of the pavilion so that the rain would run off the canvas into the ground, not into the tarp. Had we not been pressed for time when setting up, we could have probably figured that out. This is one of those cascading issues. But we learned fast! Solution for next Pennsic: Set the tarp up the right way to start with, and think carefully about where water will go when it lands on the canvas.
• Not enough garb! Gregor laughed when I told him I thought we needed at least one outfit for each day. He changed his tune once we got to Pennsic. We need more! Doing laundry was too time-consuming. Solution for next Pennsic: Try to have at least one outfit for each day PLUS a few extra for clothing changes due to heat, humidity, or rain.

That list isn’t so bad, really! Much worse things could have happened, such as my painter’s canvas shade fly collapsing due to all the rain. But, amazingly, it stayed up for the entire time and provided MUCH needed shade. I am glad I took a chance on that, but next year we’ll have a proper shade fly that keeps out water, too.

Some of my personal highlights of Pennsic XL are:

• Retaining for the king, His Majesty King Arch, immediately after Opening Ceremonies. I’d never retained before, so I totally winged it … and it worked out fine. I got to see the Heroic Belted Champions Battle and Belted Champions Battle up close. I got to see the broken arrow that starts the war! I got to see Her Majesty Queen Runa give out awards (tokens?) to the Belted Champions on the field. It was a terrifying but thrilling experience for me! Definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, and that’s a good thing.
• Camping with Cynnabar. Everyone was kind and welcoming, and helped us feel like part of the group. The showers were awesome, as were evenings around the fire. And my son even had another 7-year-old to play with, which I wasn’t expecting. Cynnabar was also VERY convenient to shopping, food, and the battles — a really prime spot. We are very fortunate!
• Going to a vigil for a knight-to-be with Their Excellencies, Cynnabar’s Baron and Baroness. They invited us along one evening, which we really appreciated. So not only did we get a chance to speak with them for an extended period, during which they patiently and candidly answered our questions about the SCA, but we also were able to witness a vigil. Very cool!
• Seeing all my camp furniture in action. Everything worked and stood up to the rain, wind, dew, and heavy use we gave it. That made me feel great!
• Volunteering for guard duty at the Midrealm Royal Encampment. We did it twice, and it helped us newbies feel like we were involved and useful. I highly recommend this for other newcomers.
• Walking with Gregor when he was in his full plate armor. This was an unexpected experience. I mean, yeah, I thought he looked cool, but I didn’t realize how unusual his armor was until people stopped and stared, took pictures, and gave him kudos. It was a little like walking with a celebrity. He did look really good!
• Talking a stroll at twilight around Pennsic. Gregor and I went exploring one evening and walked down around the lake. There was a mist everywhere and it was pure magic. At one point when we’d paused to stare across the lake at the encampments, a woman stopped to tell us how she and her husband stopped every year on that exact spot to take it in, and how she and her husband had met at Pennsic 20 years ago.
• The Cynnabar’s Got Talent show. Lots of fun, but let’s just say that Ermenrich is lucky Gregor didn’t challenge him in defense of my honor. Ha ha. ‘Nuff said. 🙂
• Getting my first SCA award — the Award of Elephant’s Heart! This was totally unexpected and it made me really happy!

I could go on and on, but then I’ll never get any new blog posts up. So I’ll just end it here with some of my favorite photos. And this …. I can’t wait for next Pennsic!

Gregor ready for inspection before war

The OTHER Cynnabar Shield Wall

The Pennsic Battle Horn blowing at the start of the field battle

Gregor on Midrealm Royal Encampment guard duty

We did it — we made it to Pennsic, got everything setup, and have begun to enjoy all our hard work in preparing for this event. I am currently back at home, as I am returning my son back home for his birthday party tomorrow. I’ll return sans kid tomorrow or Sunday for war week at Pennsic. Gregor is still at Pennsic, holding down the pavilion! At least I think he is — without his cell phone, we can’t keep in touch. I look forward to returning to him as soon as I can.

Setting up our encampment wasn’t really fun, to be honest. We arrived at 5:30 pm and it got dark pretty fast. Especially when we learned we had to move our pavilion after we had it set up already (there needed to be a walkway beside our tent but we hadn’t been told until after the pavilion went up). Then it began to sprinkle. So once the pavilion was set up, we moved on to putting the bed together … only to discover the bed had been packaged without its hardware. Ugh. We dragged everything in from the rain and slept on our futon and air mattress. It rained hard during the night. When we woke, we discovered water all around the inside edges of the pavilion. The carpet was wet, the futon was wet, almost everything was either damp or wet. We hadn’t realized we had to put the tent OVER the mud flaps. It seems so obvious now, but we were very tired when we arrived, and it was dark and wet!

The next day (Thursday) we went to get food at the Wal-Mart then drove to IKEA in Pittsburgh to get the hardware for the bed. Turns out they didn’t have all the hardware, so we just bought a new $50 bed. But … it was worth it. I should be able to return the bad bed later after Pennsic. For now we do have a bed and it’s very nice not to sleep on the ground!

We also set up our homemade shade fly on Thursday — it’s just two canvas dropcloths sewn together, grommetted, and held up on poles with ropes. It’s working, and keeping the sun off us. And it was a little windy yesterday and survived. But I am worry what will happen if it rains. A proper shade fly is on the list of things we need for next time!

The camp chairs, table, and benches I made are all working great. I’m very pleased I took the time to make them! They aren’t amazing works of art, but they are sturdy and functional, and that makes me a happy camper.

It seems like it took us the better part of two days to setup, but really it was probably more like a day and a half. Let’s hope we do better next time! Everyone was tired and grumpy by the end of it. But … it was worth it. The encampment is now setup and looks great. I look forward to returning to it!

There’s so much more to write, but I need to do laundry and see if I can’t sew a few things before I return tomorrow. So watch for more of our report on Pennsic when we return! In the meantime, here are some of the photos I’ve taken so far…

Finding Camp Cynnabar at Pennsic ... this is the signpost at the end of our road.

My son Alexander walks (runs?) toward the Gates of Camp Cynnabar at Pennsic!

Gregor stands in front of Camp Cynnabar's gates at Pennsic.

Our encampment within Camp Cynnabar at Pennsic. Gregor is painting his shield here.

The silk standard Gregor painted (dyed?) for me at our encampment. You can see the Cynnabar gates behind it!

Our camp chairs at Pennsic ... so happy I made these! It's great to have a nice place to sit.

Our trestle table and benches at Pennsic. Also very handy!

A look down one of the rows to tents at Camp Cynnabar!

Camp Cynnabar's common tent and firepit. You can see the kitchen tent behind them.

My little pirate at Pennsic!

Our encampment at twilight, taken from inside our pavilion looking out. I was putting Alexander to sleep when I snapped this shot. I love this photo!

Shopping at Pennsic

About to eat an epic sandwich in the food court at Pennsic

We spent most of the evening packing the van (wow, did we fit a lot of stuff in there). Now all that remains is to take showers, pack up the last few items, and get in the car. Oh, wait, I forgot … we need to call AAA because we wore down the battery last night leaving all the doors open. Heh. Smooth, I know. So after the jump, THEN we’ll be on our way! Don’t expect a lot of updates while we’re at Pennsic — I don’t expect to have a lot of time for blogging. I will do what I can, though!

Look out Pennsic -- here we come!

The last few days have been CRAZY. Very busy and exhausting. Here’s a quick recap:

1. Shield — It worked! We strapped three layers of hardwood plywood around the tree in the front yard. We left it strapped on the tree for over two days. Took it down and Gregor shaped and sanded it, put an old garden hose around the edge, and canvas over and around the shield, securing it with parachute cord. It looks good. He just needs to attach the basket and strap. He’ll paint it at Pennsic.

2. Stick — Gregor has a new weapon cut from the rattan stave I got a while back. It’s just missing its thrusting tip — maybe he can pick one up at Pennsic.

3. Shade Fly — It’s kind of working. We put it up, and it stayed and looked good. But then we tried to test it out with a little rain (water from the sprinkler) and the canvas leaked badly (of course). So we got some waterproofing spray and we’re also shortening the legs a bit to make a steeper slope on the roof. Also, the grommets in the canvas are already ripping after just being up for 12 hours, so those need to be reinforced. I’m not sure how well this is going to work — if it rains or the wind is bad, it may have to be taken down. I don’t actually want the shade fly to be water proof — I just don’t want it to fall down because it is collecting water! 🙁

4. Sewing — Gregor’s Elizabethan shirt is mostly done and my dresses are done. The only things left to do are eyelets — lots of eyelets (doublet, shirt, two dresses, and two sets of sleeves). But I can do those at Pennsic, right? -crazy laugh-

5. Camp Furniture — Got the $50 wood bed from IKEA. Love the small packaging. The chairs, benches, and tables are ready to go.

So at this point, what’s left is packing. We’re going to work on it this evening, and finish up whatever is necessary in the morning.

Oh, one other little tidbit — Gregor’s cell phone “shuffled off this mortal coil.” Yeah, it died. (Charles, if you’re reading this, please post a reply to this post with your phone number so Gregor can call you — your post won’t be made public.)