The Handsome Boys

When I first decided to take the leap from "Random Pennsic Goer" to "Actual Member of the SCA" it was fencing that was the catalyst. 

Malocchio, Dionisio and I decided on a whim that fencing looked fun. We went and got ourselves starter sets from Zen, talked to Osprey in Darkwood for a little bit, and suddenly we found ourselves on the field getting taught by strangers. 

We peer pressured a bunch of our friends into joining us and decided that we needed a completely ridiculous name that did not take itself seriously at all. Thus the Handsome Boys Modeling Academy was born.

That was back in 2010. Five years seems like such a short time for how far we've come.

The Handsome Boys now have about 21 active members (very few of them overlap with the first group we pressured), a registered name, and a badge all our own. We also fielded around 25 people for Pennsic this year, making us one of the largest single units out there.

We've also grown from a bunch of punk kids out to make fun of the sca (and stab people) to a collection of active, helpful, titled sca-ers (who also like to stab people).

It's all a little strange.

Our existence spurred Master Donovan to do a ton of research on English gangs, which eventually allowed us to register The Handsome Boys as a real household. It was based on such stylish 16th century gangs as Damned Crew, Roaring Boys, and Gallant Crew. It is my hope that the SCA has more gangs in its future thanks to his research.

(It is also my hope that he finishes the research paper he's going to write on this so I can link to it here.)

While we might pretend to be fine upstanding citizens, we haven't completely lost our roots. From the beginning we have had the tradition of "beating in" new members - they must win 5x for each present Handsome Boy. This has been maxed out at 25 once we realized that there were so many of us that we would never get to do anything else. 

The most ridiculous thing we do is our house tournament, though. Every year at Pennsic we get together with our non-fencing friends and have them judge us on..whatever they want, really. We fight for their amusement and they vote on us for ours. This tournament has involved wizards, puppets, and occasional tackling. 

Canvaswork Pillows

The Athena's Thimble embroidery guild often embarks on large group projects. One recent project (finished for Birka 2014) was a set of new kneeling pillows for the Eastern royals.

This was my first attempt at canvaswork.

My piece of the pillows on a really bad background

Quarter for scale

Picture courtesy the Athena's Thimble website

The next big project is a set of matching back pillows for the thrones. I had a slightly more complex piece to finish for this, but unfortunately the full project isn't done yet.  The side by side comparison makes me feel pretty great about my improvement, though.

Device Pin Project Part 4

They just keep coming! In today's batch, we learn to hate ermines, and be thankful for geometric devices.

Vair, on a chief argent three cinquefoils azure.

Paly azure and argent, a dance vert.

Per chevron gules and barry wavy argent and azure

Sable, a pale counter-ermine fimbriated between in chief two lozenges argent.

Sable, three quill pens in pile argent and a bordure rayonny gyronny Or and gules.

Device Pin Project Part 3

This batch of pins are all royal pins. I created them for the Kings and Queens whose reigns I served on. So here we have Duke Edward, Duchess Thyra, Duke Kenric, and Duchess Avelina.

Here I learned that the only thing that's worse than horses are rampant greyhounds. Especially when those greyhounds are combined with a fleur-de-lis border.

Gules, a greyhound rampant to sinister between three mullets of four points argent, a bordure fleury Or.

Gules, a dance between three lozenges argent.

Per chevron argent and gules, three increscents counterchanged.

Per pale Or and sable, in pale three keys fesswise counterchanged

Device Pin Project Part 2

More pins!

Quarterly gules and sable, on a bend sinister argent three fleurs-de-lys gules.

Azure, a hurst of pine trees eradicated Or trunked proper and in chief a decrescent argent.

Gules, on a bend sinister between two crosses fourchy, between the tines of each fork a roundel, argent three glazier’s nails palewise sable.

Per saltire vert and azure, four dragonflies argent.

Argent, a trident sable and a bordure vert semy of lotuses affronty argent.

Forays Into Silk Painting

In February 2014 I attended a local event known as a Medieval Maker's Faire. I took a class there on silk painting and came up with this ...unique... rendition of my device you see here. It's maybe 6-8 inches tall?

And it was lucky that I did so! In August my brother was to get his Order of the Golden Rapier, and he really really wanted a silk scarf for the occasion.

I think the second attempt came out quite a bit better.

Device Pin Project Part 1

When I first decided to get into embroidery I created a small rendition of my device as a quick and easy project.

Purpure, on a pale wavy argent a lizard tergiant vert.

I realized that I enjoy device heraldry, and also that I enjoy embroidery. So an ongoing project began.
There is nothing "period" about this project - I use cotton dmc floss, whatever white cotton fabric I can get my hands on, and fabric button making kits.

But it is a relatively fast gift I can make for my friends and for those who touch my sca life in some way!

Vert, a crequier within a bordure embattled argent.

Per pale sable and vert, on a chief argent a fox passant gules.

Vert, on a bend sinister argent three mushrooms palewise
azure and in canton a coronet Or

Per pale sable and vert, a horse rampant between an arrow and an arrow reversed argent

Azure, a seahorse erect and on a chief invected argent an arrow fesswise gules.

I've already amassed quite a collection of these, so I'll be posting them in vaguely chronological chunks. It's an interesting way to watch my skill progression!
This chunk, by the way, taught me that embroidering tiny horses is a giant pain in the ass.