Rose Cloak 2

Thyra's rose cloak was such a hit that we were asked to make one for our current Queen, Caoilfhionn.
This one was smaller, with fewer roses, but this time they were blue!
I went with similar stitches to the last one, but the challenge here were the tiny leaves. I'm not entirely happy with how they came out - I was kind of making things up as I went - but from far away I suppose it's ok.
I forgot to take a picture before I handed it in, but luckily the Company is on the ball. Mine is on the left here.

Photo from the Worshipful Company

One thing that I screwed up is not realizing that one side of silk was significantly more silver than the other side. I was using the freezer paper on it as a stabilizer (someone else had cut it out), and by the time I peeled that paper off it was too late.

And the cloak in full!

Photo from the Worshipful Company

Photo from the Worshipful Company

KWAR!

I have been lax. I swear there are projects and fencing, but you know how it goes.
But then - KWAR!

Known World Academy of Rapier was in Chicago this weekend.

I went to the last one, 3? years ago, when I still considered myself a baby fencer. I learned a lot then, and that has no changed this time around. This is going to be a kind of general synopsis of my weekend. More detailed posts will hopefully follow, after some time spent unpacking my brain.

Fabris 101, taught by Phaedra.
I know enough about Fabris by this point that nothing truly surprised me, but I have been given some methods to my thigh killing madness. It was a huge class so I didn't get any specific one on one time, but now I know someone new to hunt down with questions.
What we did that really stuck in my brain was invitations with the dagger. There were 5 standard invitations and responses - upper and lower inside, upper and lower outside, and the middle, which is the same high and low. I hope to get these into my muscle memory. Convincing my opponent to do what I want to to do has always been difficult for me and I think having these set invitations will help.
I also learned that I do so many crossover steps when in my Fabris stance (because short!) that I am really quite bad at basic advances and retreats in that stance.

17th Century Italian Pedegogy, taught by Prospero (aka, Devon from Duello).
This class was all about how to effectively teach Italian fencing. We did some drills, but were focusing on how to do them correctly and how to make sure that your partner got the most out of it. It was not the class I was expecting, but it was definitely a class I needed.
In general the style of the class was that we would go over a basic drill and then go off with our partners. But instead of the class instructors going around correcting the mechanics of the drill, they would correct how the "teacher" partner was correcting the drill.
Primary takeaways -
   - A good combative drill will have a stimulus, response, and consequence. There will be a consequence for both success and failure (generally, but not always, one or the other person being hit).
   - Don't tell students what *not* to do. Positive statements are best. Say "Raise your sword" not "Don't keep your sword so low." It is human nature to internalize "Keep your sword so low" and leave out that important "Don't".
   - There was a glove slapping distance game that I think will be fun to bring back to practice.
   - My interest in doing a "How To Drill" class has been reinvigorated. I just need to find a place to do it.

Pickups
I didn't do as many as I might have wanted, but the ones I did get were great. I managed to hunt down some of the Midrealmers that I saw so much last year but have never crossed swords with. I felt good about the fights - they were fun, I didn't do anything stupid. I did not really put into practice any of the things I'd learned that day, but I know that will take time.

Mini Lesson with Devon
Devon had said that anyone who wanted some time with him should feel free to ask, so Donovan got him, me, and Malocchio a slot. It was great and we all learned a lot.
We focused on opposition and gaining the blade. Not all of it was new, but reinforcement never hurt anybody - and knowing something in your brain and making your body do it are two very different things.
 - When finding the blade use the forearm and not just the wrist, especially toward the inside.
 - When gaining the blade go in a straight line. Let the tip lead, but the guard should also be moving in a straight line toward your target. Natural reaction to pressure is to respond in kind, but moving laterally to pressure will work much better.
 - When you are the opponent in an opposition drill the best way to give pressure if to try to push through their sword and stab them in the opposite eye.
 - As a short person I was strongly encouraged to use cross steps . Going into a lunge will lower everything, which makes opposition more difficult. Cross steps will also cover more ground
 - When doing cross steps into opposition, step forward with left foot, but keep the toes pointed left. When opposing to the inside you will want to make yourself push your whole body towards their sword - but keep shoulders sideways and make sure you don't poke a hip out. The position is essentially the same on the outside. Turning your body toward the sword then will get your offhand in play, which is nice, but will completely lose all the lines that give you opposition.
         - I find this whole concept difficult to put into words, but I'm happy to try and clarify. Maybe with stick figures.

So that's what I remember without notes. Tonight there will be drilling and so hopefully some of this will get clearer.

There was also a lot of socializing and shenanigans and general good times. A++, will KWAR again.

King's and Queen's Rapier Tournament

This past Saturday was The Rapier Tournament in the East.
The site was determined rather late in the game, at a place none of us had been before. I don't think I was the only one a little worried about what the day would bring and how the tournament would go.

But! It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day out, and the site was beautiful. We were right on the sea shore, by an old fort, with relatively flat ground (only slightly muddy).

63 fencers entered the tournament. There were eight pools, and the top two from each pool went on to a double elimination sweet 16. The finals were best three of five, matched, rotating forms.

Fencers were out in both quantity and quality, which was wonderful to see. I've heard almost entirely good things about the fighting - clean, courteous, etc. I am hoping that the exceptions are being taken care of appropriately - but they were not enough to mar the day.

My pool was definitely clean. Our marshal and MoL were wonderful, efficient, and active when needed.

There will eight people in the pool, and I lost three fights, tying for third with several people. I'm not HAPPY about that showing, although I'm not kicking myself about it either.

One loss was to an OGR who I practice with regularly. I nearly had him a couple times, which honestly is better than  most of our fights.  He has always had my number.
One loss was to an OSR from the south who uses curved swords, which I really to practice against more (which is hard, since no on in my area uses them). We had a messy exchange where there was a question about whether he daggered my head - we were in close enough, and there was enough stuff hitting my mask at weird angles (quillions and the like) that I couldn't tell. I appreciated that the marshal stepped in to tell us that he didn't think it was good. So we refought, and this time he got in my shorts and made a cut at my belly that succeeded. I feel like it could have gone the other way, but I'm not upset at how I did.
The last loss if the one that I am saddest about. I was fighting an OGR who I haven't fought much, besides him being in my pool at my second K&Q. I am certain that I should have won that fight, but I didn't commit to my Fabris guard - and additionally, he is a short guy. The combination mean that I was really in a "stab me in the belly please" guard, which he proceeded to do. He mentioned afterwards that my buckler had floated up too far. Which is he doesn't know what I'm intending is a reasonable assumption to make. But the buckler was fine - I just wasn't bent over near far enough. In hindsight, against someone that short, I really shouldn't have gone for that particular guard at all.
Also, I didn't properly warm up that guard. I was worried about getting tired too early, and didn't have a lot of time to get my blood flowing, so I didn't concentrate on it at all. I feel like I should have, to at least remind myself what it feels like.

My pick ups later on were fantastic and fun. I fought a northern OGR that I've never managed to pin down before, and he was a blast to fight. I fought another person who is into Fabris (way more into Fabris than I am, really) and he was super excited when I fell into that stance, and we talked about Fabris for awhile. I did pickups with some of the people from my pool.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME.

People I care about did amazing things all day, and were recognized for things, and it was great.
Marguerite was inducted into the Order of the Silver Crescent for her many "bad" ideas.
Natalliia was given a writ to answer to the question of whether she would join the Order of Defense.
Jean Michele was inducted into the Order of the Golden Rapier.
The Carolingian Calivers were made the King's Calivers for the duration of the reign due to their prowess at Pennsic.
Malocchio was recognized for his great service as Rapier General this past Pennsic. I am beyond happy that someone did.
Scrooby and Marielle were given their AoAs.
Donovan won his third K&Q.
Llewellyn, who I have known for pretty much ever, had a great day in the lists and was chosen as Queen's Champion.
I heard innumerable good things about my cadet all day long - about her fighting and her attitude. I am very proud of how she came back from her injury a better fencer than she was before, and how she's finding her place in the SCA. Initially is was weird to have people come up to report to me about her, but then it was just awesome.

So yeah. It was a good day.

Practice Report

For three practices at once. Blogger is very finicky at work, so I typed most of this up in an email and then it wallowed...

What I didn't know on Monday was that over the next few hours I was going to start feeling like death.

There were no real epiphanies - I fought some people. I did ..fine. I fought in the tournament, and got out of my pool. But it's always the same people that I have problems with in the next round. 

The details of the practice are a little fuzzy. Silly being sick.

Thursday practice I was recovering, so I didn't push myself too hard. I fought Ted when he had case, because tall people with case will always be a problem. The kills I got on him were all clean and precise, but there were not as many as I might have wanted. My buckler game was not strong, and my body was not interested in being properly Fabris for very long.

I fought Donovan, and we had some very good fights. I've been working on changing my guards to better match what my opponent gives. It's still sometimes hit or miss. Donovan gave me a couple more guards to add to my repertoire, although they felt particularly awkward. We also talked about feints and invitations. Mine are not convincing enough. And we rehashed the conversation I have had many times with many about how if someone ignores a feint then you should be able to follow up on it and kill them.

It was a low key night with more braining than fighting. Which is good, because I still feel slightly worse than I did yesterday.

Then Monday happened again. I was coughing some, but mostly fully recovered (and I wasn't at Coronation...poor everyone who was.) Gabe and Lupold are my problems, and once K&Q is over I really need to pick some fights with them and try things and be willing to die. I had another Fabris session with Donovan. We talked about how when the guard is extended - with a straight arm, all up in their face - you can't let anyone get anything on your blade, because there's nothing you can do. Luckily, a very small movement at that distance will generally be all you need. This moved to remembering that when you make that small movement, your should capitalize on it. And that that small movement is different from faffing around with relatively pointless motions, which I tend to do no matter what guard I'm using.

I continued working on trying to change my guard to match what my opponent is giving me. I think it went better, but that will be an ongoing process.

Now to not hurt myself or get sick before K&Q this weekend.

Blackwork

These examples of blackwork are hardly traditional (or black).

My first attempt was a biscornu using a variagated thread. I used this biscornu to get my competency for blackwork in Athena's Thimble. Finding the right buttons to go with it turned out to be the hardest part.
Both patterns are from http://www.tamscreations.com.

Then I decided to try to recreate something I had seen online (This, specifically. Yes, tumblr.) for a friend, but only had relatively high count cloth to use.  NEVER AGAIN (but I like the result!)

Donovan's Bling Box

Today we get a medium that isn't likely to show up on this blog very often, since polymer clay is not exactly what you would call "period".

I'm sure if they had it they would have used it.

Anyway, this particular clay project gets the right to be here because it has an SCA basis, and because it's trying REALLY HARD to not look like polymer clay.

Donovan had been complaining about not having a bling box big enough for all of his bling (poor boy). So I decided to make him one! I'd wanted an excuse to make faux stones, and I've covered the tops of wooden boxes before. What could be hard about it?

Well...lots, is the answer. I made it too big (so. much. sanding.), My plan to use liquid clay as "grout" was only mildly successful. But in the end I like how it came out.

Of course now, 3 years later, it's too small for all his bling again.

Practice Report

I worked with Finn for a little while. I hope he remembers the sorts of things I told him, because I can't for the life of me think of them right now. This is why practice reports shouldn't wait several days (I blame work).

I didn't fight poorly in the tournament by any means, and I think I managed to keep my head mostly in the game. But Marguerite and I Just. Kept. Doubling. And that is never good for anyone. And I was too busy with "Must Kill" to really pick apart why that kept happening.

I do think I need to be more patient when fighting her (when I said this to Donovan he gave me That Look and told me to remove those last three words. He is, of course, not wrong.)

This also tired me out like whoa for the rest of the tournament. I ended up in the final three and then lost to Lupold, whose distance I just couldn't get. And who was purposefully getting me on the defensive before making ridiculously long lunges. So I need to work on that. He would also sneak up over my buckler and stab me in the forehead. So I need to pick that up, just a titch.

After I was out of the tournament Rodrigo asked for some fights so he could figure out more about what I've been doing with my guard. We fought a little bit. It was very obvious that I was tired. I would normally have reverted to my normal guard, but he made a specific learning based request. And I guess my thighs could use the workout.

He did manage to stab me essentially in the back of the head, from the front, once. Which was interesting. He makes a lot of very big motions, which are usually his downfall. But in that case the angle was just right.

Donovan then spent some time trying to fix up the Fabris guard. Need to keep my blade in three instead of letting it rotate outward, and keep the sword and dagger closer together. I also have reading to do and plates to look at. I need to figure out how to transition between guards while still in the Fabris stance. Just having one guard is somewhat limiting - even if it is quite effective.