Rav’s SCA Adventures

Lady Rav has too many hobbies!

[ladyshinga]

[turgidturnip]

[turgidturnip]

[turgidturnip]

I just had to collect all of these responses together in one place

Edit: And one from my friend, who doesn't have a tumblr (yet)

[ladyshinga]

#i keep waiting for someone to address the '18th century looms were huge' claim#like sure some were#but the fact that textile mills had been invented doesn't mean that all home weaving ceased#indeed people still weave for fun or profit in this the 21st century#smaller looms were still being built and used in the 18th century just as smaller looms are still being built and used today#and that's without considering the existence of inkle/tape/band looms which were/are used for making narrower woven ribbons for trimming etc#small 18th century looms absolutely exist

there are thousands of notes and a few people ABSOLUTELY addressed this xD

[twistedmaiden]

I wanna add mine! But it still has some assembling to do before I can move on to the next step

[quick-to-query]

...Okay this place *is* better than Reddit.

[stormneedle]

My wife did a lot of hand crafts while we were dating. After we got engaged, my father piped up that at least she didn't have a spinning wheel. We put it in the doorway the first time my parents came to visit.

Her loom is packed away at the moment so she can work on an uncountable number of knitting projects and metalwork at the moment.

[a-krogan-skald-and-bearsark]

Fibercrafts.

Not even once. You start with "Oh, I'd love to learn the drop spindle" And the next minute your home office is occupied by a loom, you're planting flax in the garden, and considering the logistics of owning an alpaca.

[tiffbaxter]

🧡Sweet mother, I cannot weave…🧡 My full drawing of Anglo-Saxon era lesbians for We've Always Been Here artbook along with a look at the progress. (Digital sketch & pencil drawing)

[sca-nerd]

If this were 1436 I wouldn't have to put up with this shit.

[ravcreations]

yes but also the horrors (plague)

[sca-nerd]

I JUST GOT MY AOA !!!!!!!

16-17ish years into being in the society and i finally get it

I dunno I wanted to tell you because you’re like, one of the only SCA folks on tumblr, one of like 5 dedicated blogs I think

VIVAT! VIVAT! VIVAT! Congratulations!! I am so happy that you were finally recognized as a Noble! I am sending you all of the hugs and squeals right now!!

[justgarb]

VIVAT!!

[milkywayan]

posting this outside the long post to say that my 15th century nun is finished!

I am very happy how it turned out and can't wait to wear it at the Oslo medieval festival next weekend!

[yellbug]

one really really really funny thing you realize when you are studying history is that people pretty much always desperately wanted to post online and would have been soooooo fucking crazy on here. i wish hildegard of bingen was oomf

[lhoandbehold]

The full saga of Margie and the Nuns (so far). Realised I never compiled these in one place.! Also, bonus Margies!

[topsecrettea]

One of my friends in my local barony received his Flower of the Outlands award the other week. Specifically he got this award for the making of Cheeses. Often with a great deal of research and documentation. He also brings goats and cows (because he and his wife own a ranch just out of town) to events, and will then milk them and then produce cheeses on site as classes. I've taken these classes a few times now. Now I'm not expecting to reach this level any time soon, but I am working with him for one of our upcoming events to use some of the whey that he'll have after making cheese to make bread for my own class.

[the-merry-otter]

A MERRY A.S. 61 TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!!

[the-merry-otter]

Woah, this one is proving a real smash hit, thanks for alerting me Tumblr

[asteroidtroglodyte]

Me, tears streaming down my face, sobbing, as I stare at the stars: it’s just so beautiful

The medieval peasant I went back in time to give a bag of Doritos to, concerned: what terrible and powerful sorcerers they must have in your age, to be able to veil the vault of heaven itself from view, as you say

Me, sniffling: I didn’t realize, I can’t, it’s so much, I, I… are the chips good, at least?

Medieval peasant, trying to make me feel better: they’re… magical, strange traveler

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[the-greatest-taste-around]

nice outfit LOSER. 1443 called but in a dialect of Early Modern English that hadn't experienced the Great Vowel Shift yet so i don't know what it said

[gailyinthedark]

Age 15: medieval fantasy

Age 38: primary sources for daily life in britain 407-577 ad

[maniculum]

basically, yeah.

[ravcreations]

I am supposed to be at fools war right now, but instead I am home because adding a migraine to my broken ankle just made the thought of sleeping in a tent and being outside in the pollen and having to walk around and talk to other people, even other people I absolutely adore, make me want to yeet myself into the sun.

[etnmarchand]

SCA Thirty Year Tapestry Project

(1995-1996)

The Barony of Adiantum (Eugene, OR) created a Jacobean style tapestry to gift to the Kingdom of the West depicting a "Tree of Life" showing the kingdoms and principalities of our organization as they branched out from the first kingdom, the West. It was presented at the SCA's 30 Year celebration event held in An Tir (1996).

All of the yarns used were hand spun and dyed using natural and period dyes. An army of 50-60 volunteers spend about a year carefully stitching the tapestry itself. It was an incredible project to be a part of. These photos are scans of film photos taken to document the project.

Annathea Yarnspinner spun most of the wool yarn we used.

These show a day-long session of dying the spun yarns. First picture shows Catriona of the Fields preparing an indigo dye bath. Next, as yarn came out of the bath it was hung on a line to dry. You can see yellow yarns (done with onion skins) and blue done with indigo. The green was achieved by overdying indigo on the onion skins yellow. Pictured are: Catriona, River, Baranne, and Annathea.

Here are some of the variety of colors we achieved for the embroidery of the tapestry. We had a very impressive color palette to work from.

Here is one of the MANY group embroidery sessions. This is in Madelynn's living room. Pictured from closest and clockwise: Fearga, Annathea, Marian, Alys, Raven, River, and Meagan.

All total there were probably hundreds of sessions like this with 50-60 people working on it overall. It was taken to various events and people would work on it while other things were happening (such as court). I think we all got at least a few stitches into it.

Here is the finished project as it was being prepared to be presented. Then baron and baroness Ambrose and Marian presented it with much ceremony to the king of the West. He was moved to tears (the good kind) when presented with it. It still resides in the Kingdom of the West.

(my Facebook Archive originally posted 10-18-2013)

[goeswiththeflo]

Just a short video of my card weaving in progress

[silly-jellyghoty]

What kind of sorcery is this?! I can never turn more than 10 cards in sequence because they just refuse to cooperate and you have like, what, 35? 40?! HOW?!?!

[goeswiththeflo]

40 in the tree strap above! The most I ever tried was 44 for this ramshorn strap below - that was tough, but also ok because the groups turned separately? I think my hands would murder me if I tried to go any higher on my backstrap setup though ;) I think the trick is maintaining appropriate tension!

[silly-jellyghoty]

Yeah, that one looks real nice. What did you use it for?

[silly-jellyghoty]

@diamondot speaking for myself, i just decided to learn it one day a few years ago (i had a viking phase ok) and simply started with it. It's surprisingly easy since all the info is available on the net. Honestly, i don't remember where i started since it has been so long ago and now i just browse pinterest for patterns alone. Google tablet weaving or card weaving (same thing, different names) patterns and some basic explanations and yt vids for how to turn and weave the stuff. Things like

S and Z threading are there for a reason, so mind your card orientation. Start with some easy pattern like simple wave or diamonds above, 6 - 10 cards are good for your first project. Don't lose hope in initial stage. Streching and threading all that yarn can take anything between 20 minutes and 3 hours depending on how big is the pattern and how skilled you are. Since you need some lenghts to secure ends and to turn cards, use about 40 cm more than wished lenght of your final product. Secure lose ends after threading through cards so you won't end with a bundled mess. Streching/knotting them to something is one way. Taping each card threads together or using weights (check pictures below) is another way (good only for shorter stuff though). Cards could be made out of anything as long as they have smooth edges and rounded corners. Cardboard, thicker plastic sheet, literal cards cut into squares with holes punched through them, whatever. These are mine 2 decks, minus cards i am using atm.

When you start weaving and pattern looks like a total mess, try turning cards in opposite directions. It usualy solves the problem (all that forward/backward can be a bit tricky and mirroring motions/patterns/card orientation can be confusing at first seemingly messing all your work even though you are doing everything right technicaly, just in opposite order/direction). Don't lose your hope. I still manage to mess up like first 5cm of every other work i start. It's not an issue as that start usualy gets cut off anyway (the tension is not right for at least first 4 rows, aka 1 full card rotation, until all threads go up and down at least once no matter what you do. Don't sweat it). You don't need any fancy startup either. Historicaly, people used to weave like this and this and this:

I just strech the thing between 2 chairs myself. Door knobs work as well and so does staircase railing. Wherever you have some space. Long hair clips are your friend, especialy when you are done with weaving for the day and you don't want stuff to tangle

And that's about it. Have fun 😊

[hlahlahlahlahly]

Some of my favorite tablet weaving resources are :

This website is where I learned, twenty years ago while u was intending on Sturtevant Wi.

These books are both great, Collingwood is more comprehensive, but harder to just pick up and weave from.

Buy Card Weaving 2Rev Ed by Candace Crockett (ISBN: 9780934026611) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligib

Buy The Techniques of Tablet Weaving by Collingwood, Peter (ISBN: 9781626542143) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free deli

[blondejaneblonde]

I love when people post things like this, then say, “ah ha ha, it’s not that complicated! 🤗”

It is complicated. You’re just really good at it!

[silly-jellyghoty]

Hi. I may be late to reply but i'm in a weaving mood so here we are.

The thing is that the technique looks complicated due to the fact that there is 100 something and that number alone is scary. But. Actually several buts.

But number 1 - the technique is OLD. Meaning - while being somewhat tedious just like any other textile craft, it has been used and learned for a long long time and there's plenty of resources (check out links above or any youtube video explaining the process) of varying difficulty from complicated af to easy peasy lemon squeezy with closed eyes

But number 2 - there is only one core principle/step you need to understand and that is when some threads go from up to down or from down to up (aka when they cross), you need another thread going in between so they won't simply snap back again. That's it. That's the basic principle behind every weaving ever. What card weaving does compared to standard weave is that instead of a single thread going up and down in the single row, you get 2 or 3 or 4 or 6 or whatever number of threads your pattern calls for in the same row

But number 3 - the number of rows = number of cards. Simple as that. Cards turn around to make a cord like when you are twisting 2 or 4 or whatever numbers of threads to make a rope. If some of those threads have different colours, you get a repeating pattern.

But number 4 - card orientation or S/Z orientation or whatever other fancy name for the twisting direction simply means that if you turn all your card in the same way at the same time, which one of them will make the twisted rope in this / angle and which one will do that in this \ angle. That's it. That's the whole mystery between S/Z threading.

But number 5 - you can start with as little as 4 cards to make a custom set of shoe laces or a key strap or whatever and call yourself a weaver. Because you did that. And it was nice. And it was easy. You just turn and thread and turn and thread and then you keep repeating this while watching a movie or something. There's no need for the math finals level of concentration here.

But number 5 - no one, literally NO ONE starts with a pattern like this

No. Everybody starts with something like this

Keep it simple, keep it easy, make 10cm and be done if you want to. It's perfectly fine.

But number 6 - you don't need any fancy items for starting. No hooks, no needles, no loom, no anything. If you have 2 balls of yarn in different color or some remains of your old cross stitch project or whatever and some card-like stuff you won't be sad for making holes in it, you are all set. Back side of the sketch pad is good. Poker cards cut to squares are good. A sturdy enough sheet of plastic is also good. You remember that old pexeso pairs stack you didn't touch since you were 9? Guess what!

My point is that if this looks like something you may be interested in, then you can absolutely try doing it for literally zero cost other than your time.

[ravcreations]

So I have learned the hard way I can’t drive on the broken ankle (the initial 7 hour drive home from Lousiana was definitely fueled by adrenaline and shock). This means no Gulf Wars for poor Rav. I’m hoping to be more mobile by Fools War!