Starting to make progress

One of my major goals is to teach a class at Pennsic. I'm on my way!
On Monday morning I sent in my class information.

I had a hard time deciding which class to offer, because I have a bit of an inferiority complex about my classes: I think I teach them okay, but I also know that most of them are taught by others equally well or better, and at a place like Pennsic, there are experts on everything teaching everything. What could I possibly contribute (also I'm afraid of being questioned to death by Laurels :))?

I decided to teach my Butter 101 class, because I haven't seen it taught there in the past, because I'm pretty confident in my knowledge about butter and butter-making, and because it's fairly easy to do more research. Also it's fun, and shaking butter breaks the ice pretty well.

It looks like I'm on the schedule now on July 27th from 11-12 in AS10, and on July 30th from 5-6pm in AS11. Good timing, because it should avoid all martial activities, and if for some reason I don't get the time off from work that I'm hoping to get, at least I should be on site by middle Saturday morning.

I guess you can't limit class numbers anymore (which is why Lidia got a vast number of people attending her cheese class...also CHEESE!), but you can limit materials, so I have set a materials limit of 24, and a handout limit of 50. If no one shows up, I can have a butter-shaking session in camp and fresh butter for dinner.

Wish me luck, and if you're the kind of Laurel who sneaks into peoples' classes to heckle, please be nice!

Scribal Pictures

Here are the scrolls I have already done that fit into the goals stated earlier (names redacted):

Norse

Acanthus

Mongolian

 Mostly Calligraphed

Faux Late Period Printing (I apologize--the size was complicated and the scan job not good. There was text below the image)

Middle Eastern (this was based on an iron window covering)

Celtic Animal Knotwork

White work

Portraiture

Period Pigments (this is under pushing my crafting, not scribal)

The beautiful alizarin crimson in that scroll as well as many of the other pigments I used were donated by Mistress Ekaterina Volkova.

Still to go, Squashed Bugs!

Introduction

Hi!
This is my first time blogging. I almost blogged once, but my husband said I couldn't talk about him or the kids, which narrowed my subject matter so much that it didn't seem worth it.
I've been in the Society for Creative Anachronism for about 16 years.

A couple of days ago I decided to join the A&S50 Challenge, which suddenly gives me a reason to blog without mentioning my family. So here I am!

I'm hoping that having a blog will keep me on track and engaged with the challenge.




I've chosen to complete the Breadth Challenge for a few reasons.
1) I have a hard time focusing on one activity, and I find that I'm more inspired to do things if they're different.
2) I only have about a year and a half to two years left in the challenge, so I think the other two options (Persona and Depth) would be too difficult to finish in that time.

Yesterday I made a list of what I've done so far that counts towards the goal (since the challenge has been going since 2007, I can count things I've done in the last six years), and what I would like to do to finish it.
I will post pictures and documents to support what I've done so far, but here is the list:

I would like to teach 10 different classes (10/10): Accomplished!

• Butter 101
• SCA 101 (for newcomers)
• The Houppelande: A Classy Tent-Like Garment
• 14th Century Garb
• Pysanky 101 (retired, although I would teach it again if there was no competition)
• The Boqtaq: Like Wearing a Boot On Your Head
• Medieval Dairy
• Mongolian Food
• British Sworddancing
• ADEPT Demo Class (this is a class on a chatelaine tool)

I would like to make scrolls using 10 different styles (10/10): Accomplished!

• Norse
• Acanthus
• Mongolian
• Mostly Calligraphed
• Faux Printing (late period)
• Middle Eastern
• Celtic Animal-Knotwork
• Whitework
• containing a Portrait
• Black Hours

I would like to do 5 things relating to the Medieval Dairy (5/5): Accomplished!

• Make a Soft Cheese
• Make a Hard Cheese
• Make a Mozzarella-Style Cheese
• Teach a tandem class on Butter and Cheese
• Make Medieval Ravioli (with cheese filling of course)

 I would like to do 10 things relating to Fiber Arts (9/10)

• Hand stitch an entire outfit
• Hand-dye fabric with period dyes
• Card-weave edging on a 14th century Cote
• Card-weave trim 
• Drop Spinning
• Make a Houppelande
• Make a Netted Snood
• Bead a Veil
• Learn Goldwork
• Make a Birgitta Cap

I would like to do 5 things relating to Mongolian Culture/Crafts (3/5)

• Make a Boqtaq
• Make other Mongolian Beaded Headwear
• Make Mongolian Food
• Make Felt the Mongolian way
• Learn a Mongolian Folktale and Perform It

I would like to push my craft further in 5 areas (4/5)

• Make a scroll with Period Pigments
•  Bind a book
• Make Cloisonne
• Make Springerle
• Make glass beads

I would like to do 5 things that challenge me excessively (4/5)

• Teach a Class at Pennsic
• Make soap or a pair of turn shoes
• Enter an A&S Competition with full documentation
• Perform at a Bardic Circle
• Make a Boqtaq the traditional way

I think that's the full 50. So wish me luck!