After almost two years I was delighted to find that the Barony south of us was hosting an Arts and Science competition. Having no interest in competing for their champion (I didn’t really feel I had produced anything worth that) I opted to display the trading cards I had been painting.
The first thing I needed to do was round them all up. I had most of them in envelopes as my plan had been to hand them out as favors, but a few of the recent ones had been scattered between my desks.
Once gathered I settled down to organize them into something worth viewing.
I chose two of the pieces to put up on acrylic signs to give my display some height and visual interest to draw people in. After that, I placed the rest in a binder that could be flipped through. I was feeling smart as each card is in a plastic sleeve and then taped to the paper with the text. That way I can still remove the cards to give to people if I choose.
My goal was to show my progress with my display. I made attempts to include the original piece I was working from and give a small bit of context for my process on each.
Given I wasn’t as good at remembering to document my early work it took several nights of looking at my Pinterest and Instagram to track down each piece.
The Event
The night before my small one made it clear he wasn’t going to be happy hanging out with daddy. Luckily he fit the first garb I had made his brother and I was able to find the tunic I made to nurse last time over the Tudor ensemble I had planned to wear. So we set off to his first event.
The event site was new to us and I must say rather lovely. Plenty of parking and the space inside felt large and I felt good about distancing.
My small one was baffled first off by there being people ( Pandemic baby problems….) but got over it quickly when he figured out everyone wanted to smile and say hi to him. As I was setting up my display, I realized that I had forgotten a tablecloth to dress up the plastic table. Luckily I keep a selection of baby blankets in the car so I was able to go grab one before court.
Once morning court was finished so started the touring of projects. I started with the display side. Two tables from mine was another scribe with lovely work, I am hopeful we will get to chat more at events. Next up was another scribe friend with their velum project. She has been making Velum and posting the progress online. So it was nice to get to see it in person.
After that was embroidery and blackwork, tablet weaving, a research project, and another project on embroidery. The final display on that side was for lampwork beads from another friend who had set up a kiln last Battlemoore to make period beads.
There were then some leather and metal workers before delving into the champions.
First up was a project on weaving using a loom. Next was goat cheese (and yes it was from the same person who had gifted my sister the goat milk! See my post here.) Next up was an equestrian entry which I believe was some tack, and then a research paper on “Transgender and gender fluidity in Period” ( I was sad I didn’t get a moment to read it at the event but it was posted afterward. an excellent read!) Then a mosaic and finally a lovely outfit.
Past that was space for a scribe table and then room for a few classes.
At this point, I needed lunch so we came back to my display and ate and chatted with people.
Evening court was also an elevation, kiddo decide after nursing that he needed to add his thoughts to the proceedings. So we spent time walking in and out in the back to keep him happy.
Once court was over we got a hand moving my things back to the car before saying farewell and heading on home.
Overall, a nice day. I had fun kiddo had fun and we enjoyed the art and feedback I received.
