Tag: SCA Life

Glass, SCA Life

Making Purple Frets

Oswyn Swann

At Crystal Chamfron, I started work on a project I wanted to do for a while, making award medallions.

When I received my purple fret, I got a belt favor.  It was one of my prize possessions for a while.  I am not inclined to wear a lot of regalia so I only wear my Dragon’s heart now.

But I felt that people would like a special token for their awards and the Purple Fret is both possible to do in glass and important to me.

For this project, I decided that a 2″ in diameter circle is a good size.

First, cut the glass to 2.5″ by 2.5″ squares.  As a reminder, fused glass wants to be about 1/4″ thick.  I need to cut the yellow glass for the normal background of a purple fret and another color to provide the additional thickness.  I chose white because it is cheap and I had it.

 

The next step is to make circles.  You can do this by hand but there are special tools to make it easier and more accurate.  For this, I used a lens cutter.

 

I cut all the white circles and most of the yellow circles before I ran out of yellow glass.

To do the knot part of the purple fret, I used noodles.  Glass noodles are like linguine.  They come in 16″ lengths and about 1/8″ thick.  I played around with the placement to make the knot.  I was asked, “could I make it look interweaved like the drawn image?”  The answer is “yes with a but.”  Some of those lines are pretty small and manipulating small pieces of glass is tricky.  I compromised and did the following.

The “square” of the knot is made up of 1″ lengths.  The “x” of the knot is 2″ lengths.  Here I am cutting the noodle into the smaller pieces I need.

There is specialty glass glue to temporary join the glass together.  Fusing is needed to permanently make it one piece.  But that said, plain Suave Extra Hold Hairspray actually works better than that specialty glue.  Here I am spraying the hairspray onto the yellow circles before moving the purple noodle pieces.

Since the purple pieces intersect each other, I need to build them up in layers.  I start with one of the long pieces and two short ones.  Bisect the circle with the long piece and get the short pieces half way between the long piece and the circle edge.  It will look a little like a Deadpool icon 🙂

By this point, the hairspray is going to start to get tacky.  I use my exacto blade to more precisely move the pieces around until they are where I want them.

                                       

Not shown is hitting the piece with more hairspray.  But now I am adding the cross pieces to make the square part of the knot.  Again, I use the exacto blade for precision.  Also not shown is adding the last long piece but the process is the same.  Spray more hairspray, place the long piece going perpendicular to the first long piece.  Use the exacto knife to move the piece precisely.  Then put the piece aside for the hairspray to dry.

I wrapped the pieces in paper loosely but securely.  I often have trouble going from my house to the glass store to fuse.  The “glued” pieces tend to slide around with the bumps and such on the road.  However, I was surprised by how few pieces got out of place going from basically St Louis to Champaign (~3 hour drive).

The next step hasn’t happened yet but then I will cut lengths (~1/2″) of heavy wire to be a ring for the medallion.  The wire will then be hairsprayed between the white glass back and the yellow glass front.  In the kiln, the wire will sink in the glass as it fuses and be a permanent part of the medallion.

I expect to be done in time to give these to Their Majesties by Martial RUM or Simple Day at the latest.

 

Finished product right to gift.

By and large, I am happy with them.  I could paint the lines on but I am not sure that would help.  I might try to replicate the knot better in the future.

Persona, SCA Life

Two pieces that say a lot about me.

Oswyn Swann

 

The first is my arms with a motto.  The colors of my arms are no accident nor is the symbol.  The problem?  My subconscious picked them and it took a while for my conscious to figure that out.  I will give you a hint, “My cloak is blue as sky in summer. Or green as grass. Or white as lime.”  The feathered bird is no accident either.   The motto is a paraphrase of something I say often.  What I say is, “it isn’t Art until you bleed on it.”  The motto on the arms translates as “Blood makes Art.”  It is a little vampiric but the Latin of what I actually say is awkward and lengthy.

The other piece is my Dragon’s Heart medallion with something extra.  I don’t know who made the copper hearts.  I am going to guess Coresande but I really don’t know.  The center bit is a crude fused glass piece to represent my Evergreen.  The whole thing is to symbolize that the core of my service is my art.  I give away a lot of what I make.

SCA Life

The SCA is Legion

Oswyn Swann

Two unrelated thoughts.

First thought.  I think I have some small understanding now of my friends with anxiety and depression.  I am not saying I have full understanding.  I don’t suffer from these things.  But I have found that the SCA is probably like having rabid brain weasels.  Let me explain.

Any question or thought you throw at the SCA will result in EVERY possible answer coming back to you.   It is what I imagine the guy possessed by Legion must have felt like.  Pieces of thought and advice without any internal consistency bombarding you.  Much of it contradictory and of widely different volumes.  How do you decide which advice to take?

The only answer I have to that is do your best to find a small number of voices that you trust.  Voices that support you. Voices that lead you to a path that makes a better you.  In the cacophony, block out the rest and heed these voices. These are the people who want you to be you.  And a side note: they are often the quieter ones but not necessarily.

 

Second thought.

I am going out on a limb here. I am not casting aspersions at anyone nor railing against anyone.  It is just a thought I had in the shower.  Who else ends up with deep thoughts in the shower?  Raise your hands. Good!

It seems to me that the service in the SCA operates in a scarcity environment.  And that seems weird.  What do I mean?  Service in the SCA seems to think there are limited opportunities.  And the other parts of the SCA operates in an abundance environment.  Let’s look.

Fighting, rapier, archery, thrown weapons, basically all of the martial activities want as many people as possible.  The more people doing the thing, the more people who can do the thing.    Even the service side of the martial activities is abundance; the more marshalls, the more people who can participate.  And since the majority of marshalls are also people who want to do the activity, there is no overlap or competition.  Too many marshals that day?  You get to fight or whatever.

Similarly on the arts side, it is an abundance environment.  There is no such thing as too many blacksmiths or too many people making trim.  There is no call of “what do we do if so-and-so stops smithing?”  There is no call of “I wish so-and-so would let others weave for a change.”  The SCA can support as many people doing as much or as little art as they want to do.  In part, that is because there are just SO many arts that it would be almost impossible to find someone to do each of them.  But the rest is that there just isn’t a limit.  You can make as much art as you want and the A&S community will cheer you on.  The only limit I see is that if you want to connect to a certain teacher, that person might be limited in terms of how many people they can mentor.  But for the most part, I haven’t seen this as problem.

So Service.  Why is it a scarcity and more importantly, should it be?  That is what I would like people to think about.

To an extent, I think there are some limits that we impose.  We only want one Kingdom Seneschal for instance.  Some positions require or at least work better with specific skill sets that not everyone has.  But also, some positions carry prestige and/or power.  And that is not present in the other parts of the SCA.

Service gets tied up with other things too.  There is need and desire.  Let’s imagine a quadrant graph with need and desire on the two axes.  When jobs are both desired and needed (Q1), lots of people want to do the job.  When a job is desired but not needed (Q2), there are still plenty of people who want to do the job but the job is not very fulfilling because it is not needed.  If the job is needed but not desired (Q3), there are few people who want to do it.  And lastly, if it is both not desired and not needed (Q4), there are no people for that job but really, we probably don’t have those positions because they are not needed.

In a scarcity model, let’s take these kind of jobs.  The highly desired and highly needed jobs are limited in a scarcity model.  We only need a few of them (or one of them) but lots of people want to do them.  The highly desired but not needed jobs are also limited in a scarcity model.  We don’t need those jobs (or not many of them) but we have lots of people for them.  The highly needed but less desired jobs are self-limiting.   We need people in those positions but we have few people who want them so we may have beg but they get filled.  And lastly, the less desired and not needed jobs are self-limiting.  We don’t need those positions and no one wants to do them.

In an abundance model, Q1 jobs are great.  We need them and people want them and because we work in an abundance model, we have as many open positions as we want.  The Q2 is the same as Q1.  Yes, we don’t necessarily need that many people to do the job but we can make many positions if called for.  Q3 is about the same as under scarcity.  We need people to do these jobs but they are not as desirable so we probably have enough people.  We can still make more if we need though.  Q4 is the same as well as they just aren’t needed.

Lastly, I see in service that it is viewed as a sacrifice, a burden.  The whole idea of “need” also implies burden.  “Someone HAS to do this job.” “We don’t want you to burn out.”  No one tells fighters they fight too much or artists that they make too much art.  Heck even the symbol, the pelican in piety is about sacrifice.  “This must be done (feed the chicks) so I will give of my own life for them.”  What if the symbol for service was something else?  An otter frolicking in the sea with its raftmates.  “I have fun so others can have fun.”  Would our view of service be different?

I don’t have an easy answer.  For the sake of efficiency, the number of certain jobs is limited. But is there a way to push service into an abundancy model?  That all who want to serve can serve?  That more jobs can be Q1 jobs, that are both desired and needed?  That service isn’t seen and talked about as a burden?  Something to think about when you are next in the shower.

 

SCA Life

#inspiredtobelong

Oswyn Swann

#inspiredtobelong is a movement by the Midrealm Laurels to help people reconnect with the SCA and those that inspire them.  Here is a FB post I made about it.

 

Since I started seeing it, I read up on the #inspiredtobelong movement started by the Midrealm Laurels. Here is my story and I will call out a few people but please don’t think that I don’t value each and every one of you.

I have told it before but here it is again. About 5 years ago, Gertie and I were doing Ren Faire stuff and decided to make our own garb for that. We ran into a bit of trouble and wondered to ourselves, who knows how to do this stuff? The SCA people! We had been on the fringes of the SCA for a while and even stored the local shire’s stuff in our basement because we were personal friends but we didn’t do SCA at the time.

We went to one meeting to meet people and then . . . our house burned down. We were temporarily homeless and without stuff. Several people stepped up but most surprising to me was the SCA people. Our local group barely knew us (our personal friends had mostly moved out of the area to other SCA groups). The wider SCA group didn’t know us at all. Yet, these people brought us food, held fundraisers, and supported us. Our “garb” was in the wash so it was undamaged by the fire and water. This is where we call out BA Davis-Howe, Mary-Ann Roana Isenholt, Anne McKinneyKari Little-McKinneyJen Johnson and Dena Strong . They were the core of who we first met at the time.

It took the better part of 8 to 9 months for the house to be rebuilt. We went to some events over that period of time. It was Nov 2013 I believe when RUM was in Cleveland OH and was a joint event with Aethelmearc. It is here that I learned about cordial making and met Verena Entenwirth for the first time.

As we got more and more involved, I came to know many more of you. I don’t recall when I met Jim Planting for the first time but we hit it off right away.

It was a Feast of Michaelmas that I think we knew we belonged for sure in the SCA. I had pre-registered for it. But we got sidestracked shopping in Bloomington IL that day and showed up really late. I remember Jana King Behm running troll and when we finally showed up, she gave us big hugs and said something to the effect of “we were so worried about you. We thought you may be had an accident of something.” I didn’t know Gillian well at this point yet that our names stuck in someone’s head meant that we were part of this group.

We then had our first Pennsic about 4 years ago. We stayed with House Foxrose and then asked to join. Dayle Ashley Harding and Garrick, CJ Miller, Jael Ben Ari, Kevin Westburg Kathryn Nitz Westburg have been great inspirations and close confidants. Of course, Foxrose continues to grow and add wonderful people.

Since then, we have grown in the SCA and I count so many of you as close friends. I have even become an inspiration to some of you (not sure how THAT happened  ).

#Inspiredtobelong coming out of the Laurelate was probably supposed to be more about Art. Many of you not listed are amazing at what you do. Like many SCA’dians I want to do all the stuff but really can only afford some of it, both in terms of time, sanity, and money. Keep on keepin’ on. You are someone’s inspiration, even it is only mine.

Persona, SCA Life

Who is Oswyn?

Oswyn Swann

Some of you have probably heard me say I have three personae all named Oswyn.  So who is Oswyn and how do you tell the difference?

The first Oswyn is the Oswyn I am mostly dressed as.  This Oswyn of Baðon.  He is my most developed persona but strangely I only recently figured out his occupation.  He is from 973 AD from Bath.  His family had their lands granted as part of the Bath charter.  Oswyn is a minor noble, possibly a thegn or at least Oswyn’s father might be a thegn.

Caridoc posted a list of questions about personae.  Here are the answers.

One of the issues Caridoc brings up is looking more “medieval.”  He mentions that he himself doesn’t wear his glasses and theerfore sees the world a bit fuzzy.  I am so near-sighted that I can not fathom not having my glasses.  I would be able to do nothing without them.  Oswyn would not have glasses and would be mostly useless in Medieval society if his sight is like my sight.  So the glasses must stay.  I may someday make those fancy wooden glasses but I understand that they are from a much later time period.  One of my other Oswyn’s could have had them though.

Oswyn’s history:  Oswyn’s father is a minor noble Osmund of Aquamann or Bathon.  Oswyn’s mother is Efa in Welsh but was called Aeffe by the English.

  • What kinds of money do you use? What are the relative values of the different kinds? How much does dinner at the inn cost? How much does a horse cost? How much does a skilled worker make per month?

Oswyn uses pennies and farthings regularly.  A farthing is a portion of a penny (made by cutting it).  A shilling would be ~5 pennies.  A pound would be 240 pennies.  Oswyn might sometimes deal with pounds but that is a lot of money, even for a minor noble.   A horse might cost half a pound of more. A good meal would be a few farthings.  A skilled worker would make a few shillings per month (~5 pennies to a shilling)

  • What system do you use to describe what time it is? When does one day end and another begin? How do you tell time (sundial? clock?)?

12 daylight and 12 night hours is common.  Some more philosophically minded people use equal length hours but that is not common.  The day begins at sunrise.  Sundials are common.

  • What system do you use for describing dates? What is your calendar like?

AD is the common system by this point.  There are still references to regnal dates but by and large, England follows the Church calendar.

  • Can you read? If so, what have you read? What poems, tales, etc. have you heard told?

Yes I can read.  I can read Latin and Old English.  I was taught at the court school in Bathon Abbey by the Abbess and the monks and nuns there.  I have read the Bible, Consolation of Philosophy, the Chronicle to date, and a number of works that would have been at the Library in Bath.  Oswyn has travelled and has learned stories from England, Wales, Ireland, and some from Brittany and Normandy.

  • What do you know about history? Have you heard of Alexander the Great? Julius Caesar? Charlemagne? Vergil? Saladin? What do you “know” about each?

I would know some of these things but not as much as Sean does.  Oswyn would know that Alexander was a great general from the past and conquered the known world.  He would know that several Roman generals admired him.  Oswyn would know more about Caesar but still not too much.  Oswyn would know about Charlemagne and probably read Virgil.    Oswyn wouldn’t know Saladin as Saladin is after Oswyn’s time.

  • What do you know about geography? What is the most distant country you have heard of? The most distant country you have met someone from?

Oswyn is well travelled.  He has been to Wales, Ireland, Brittany, Francia, and Rome!  He has heard of Michelgard and the lands beyond but he doesn’t know their names.  In Rome, he may have met a visitor from Michelgard but that would likely be the farthest away he has met someone.

  • Who is your immediate overlord (title and/or name)? Who is your ultimate overlord?

There would be a Thane who rules the area around Bathon, possibly that would be Oswyn’s father.  Next up would be the Earl of Wessex then the King of England.  Oswyn as a reeve would be more directly subject to the King than to the Earl of Wessex.

  • What is your religion? What duties (prayers, fasts, dietary restrictions, etc.) does it impose? What do you (your persona) know about its doctrines and history?

Oswyn would be a Christian.  Educated in an Abbey, he would know a lot.  Sean needs to work on this.

  • What do you eat for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? What do you drink? Where do your food and drink come from? How is the food cooked (style of cooking, tools, how does the oven work, etc.)?

Oswyn drinks water, ale, and wine, often.  He has tenet farmers who work his land and they also give him part of their own harvests as rent.  Food is pickled, roasted, or baked.  Hearth cooking, clay ovens, etc.

  • What sorts of wild animals live in your area? Which are dangerous? Which are good to eat? How are the latter hunted?

Deer, various birds, boars, and small mammals.  Net hunting is common.  Some of the more noble people use dogs and hawks.

  • What clothes do you wear? What are they made of? Where do they come from?

Linen and wool would be very common, especially wool.  The wool is made locally.  There is the possibility of small amounts of silk.

  • What crops are grown in your part of the world? What goods, if any, are exported, and how are they transported? What goods are imported?

Wheat, barley, peas, and a variety of vegetables.  Sheep and goats for wool and milk.  There may be the odd cow as well.  Wool is a primary export, even now. The wool is shipped to Bristol and from there to Flanders.

  • What language(s) do you speak? What language(s) do other people in your town (city, barony…) speak?

Oswyn speaks Latin, English, and a small amount of Welsh.  Most people in Bath would speak English and an amount of Latin depending on how much education they had.

  • If you or one of your friends wrote a poem, what form would you use? What about a song?

Alliterative verse

  • What “mythological” beasts do you know about? Which ones do you believe in? What do you believe about them?

Elves, dwarves, trolls, and the Fey.  Folklore will be heavily influences by “Celtic” and Norse beliefs.

Oswyn’s family make up some of the reeves of Bath.  Oswyn himself serves as port-reeve, overseeing trades to make sure they are legitimate and that the appropriate taxes, etc are paid.  He has several assistants so he doesn’t do this himself.

And this is the garb that you most see Oswyn in, the 10th century Anglo Saxon garb.  I have tried to specialize the garb I have.  Brown is a work tunic, the sage green is my teaching tunic, the blue long tunic is my court tunic.  The forest green is a more of a whatever tunic.  I don’t always follow this protocol though.   I need to make and trim out quite a bit of this garb still.

 

Oswyn Swann – he is my brewer and merchant.  He is from the Tudor Era but I haven’t nailed it down 100% yet as it somewhat depends on when and where Gertie is from.  He is a descendant of Oswyn of Baðon and also lives in Bath.  My Tudor cloths need a lot of work.

Oswyn of Londini – his is my 12th century Mediterranean persona.  A group of Anglo-Saxons fled the Conquest and established a new England on the Crimea.  This Oswyn is from there.  He mostly hangs around in Norman Sicily trading for goods.

 

Glass, SCA Life

Glass plates

Oswyn Swann

I guess one of the things I have become known for my fused glass.  Brynn gets on me because I do so many straight lines.  Straight lines are easy for mass production though.  But that said, many of my fused pieces don’t have straight lines.

But let’s back up a bit first.  I have always had glass.  The travelling glass maker at the mall was my favorite when growing up. My college education is in high tech Ceramics and we had to have a glass class as part of that.  I loved it.  I did a story for our newsletter Called Romancing the Glass.   I recounted how more than 20 years ago, I wanted to try my hand at stained glass.  But 20 years ago, it wasn’t the right time so I got rid of all of my equipment.  About 5 to 6 years ago, I finally started to learn how to do copper foil stained glass.  Then lead came.  Then fusing.  I like fusing the best.  I like the clean lines of it.  The glass is more expensive but with the other styles, you end up paying the same kind of cost somewhere else (solder, cement, foil, etc).

Some notes on fused glass.  Due to surface tension, glass wants to be ~7 mm thick or not quite 0.25″.  Sheets of glass are generally sold in 0.125″ sheets.  So to prevent shrinkage in the fuse, you generally need at least 2 layers of glass to fuse.  I will often use clear glass for this purpose but I will use whatever I have on hand if needed.

These were some of my first fused plates.  My device of course.  These are 6 inch plates and are part of my feast kit.  I use a ring saw to cut complex shapes like the swan.

I am pretty sure this was my second plate.  It is for the heads of my household, House FoxRose.  When I make plates for vigilants, etc, I tend to make a 12 x 12 curved bottom plate.  That is the mold my glass shop has and I like it.  It is big enough to be seen and displayed.  I am very pleased with the Fox on this one.

These were the next two and I think I started hitting my stride.  The left was for Mistress Roana and the right for Baroness Verena.  I used glass paint to do the quatre-foils and markings on the badger.  For the right plate, I ended up accidentally using iridescent clear glass and you can see a bit of a sheen between the orange and yellow tiles.

These two were my next two.  Mistress Petrona to the left and Mistress Kendra to the right.  Petrona’s plate was some of the more difficult cutting I had done to date.  Again glass paint to do the leaf markings.

I visited the Barony of Three Rivers for Chieftans and made these 6″ plates as a gift.  I hope they are put to good use.

 

Ok, this isn’t a plate.  It is a bowl.  I had done a fused Roman mosaic style bowl for my pentathlon and then my friend Domina Lucretia was elevated so I did a bowl in a Roman mosaic style.  The word “mosaic” might be confusing here.  We tend to use it modernly to reference to an image composed of small colored pieces, often of stone or glass.   In this case, the word mosaic is more of reference to the multi-colored nature of the piece.  Mosaic glass was composed of a variety of colors.

The Heart of the Midlands challenge involved making regalia for another group.  Shattered Crystal wanted servingwear.  I made these plates as part of that challenge.

To the left is a plate for Mistress Sofya and to the right for Master Avery.  Avery’s plate is the first I did that wasn’t the person’s device.  Why?  Avery’s device is far to complex for me to actually do.  But his badge was much easier.  The fox looks like more rat like that I would have liked.  In truth, I should have done everyone’s plate as their badge (if they had one).  The device means the person, not the person’s stuff.  But most people have a device that can be found.  Not everyone has a badge.

This one I did for Master Gunnar.  It is the perfect device for him.  It looks simple.  But in reality, it is very complex.  I mostly succeeded in lining all the pieces up to make the circle and points hit right.  The “NE, SE, SW,and NW” points if you will are just a tad bit too towards the center.  They should have been pushed out a little bit more.  Also, cutting sharp angles into glass is very tricky.  The “triangles” are actually two straight cuts abutting each other.  You can see a little gapping here and there.  That all said, I think I did really well with this piece.  It was much trickier than it seems.

The last challenge is this.  Since I don’t have my own kiln yet, I have to transport all of these pieces 3 to 4 miles in the back of my car along sometimes bumpy roads to the glass shop.  Even it I get it right in my workspace, I might have to redo all of that work when I get to the shop if pieces moved around.

This is my most recent plate for Heather Hall.  I think my cutting on the club and spade are pretty good.

SCA Life

Insult and Injury

Oswyn Swann

This is from March 2017

 

A friend started another discussion about supporting fighting in the SCA.

Following Her Highness’s post on the middle Kingdom group has me thinking.

A lot of people are making the comment that they’ll watch fighting if they know someone who is taking part. Otherwise they spend their time elsewhere.

Now I recognize the fact that we all have varied interests and things that we prefer to do at events. However I wonder how many people would be insulted if the fighters said the same thing.

I only got to court if I know someone who is getting an award.

I only check out the A&S display if I know someone who is entered.

I only eat the food if I know the cook.

I wonder what it would be like, if we all tried to support each other as much as we wish we were supported?

Just something to think about the next time you go to an event.

My response

I guess your real question is the insult. Am I insulted that a fighter who would otherwise not be interested in what I do skips what I do? No. Why should someone who doesn’t care what I do want to attend my classes? Or look at my art work? They should do what makes them happy.

The second question of the post is, “could it be better if we supported each other more?” Sure it can be better but when most events are catch-alls (a little bit of everything), it just isn’t possible. If an event is fighting, classes, craftsperson’s faire, and more, you can either do the thing that interests you or not do the thing that interests you to support someone else’s thing. Most people will naturally want to do the thing that interests them.

I prefer smaller events that are focused on specific things. Scribin and Imbidin for example. If you don’t like brewing and scribing, this is not the event for you. Find a different event that does interest you. Metal and Glass was another example. You want to do those things, don’t miss this event.

I want to add to that.

My friend’s question is in response to a query HRH made about why people either do or do not watch tournaments. I then saw a response from another person about why a significant regional event was being held opposite a major Kingdom event (which was a fighting event). This other response was definitely thinking it was inappropriate for the regional event to be so.

I am beginning to think this is not a coincidence that these topics happened at the same time. Is there a lack of attendence or interest in tournaments? Are the fighters concerned they are losing an audience (which some will say they didn’t have or need)? I am not 100% clear what is happening here.

My friend insists that they just want everyone to support each other and that the pagentry somewhat requires better participation. I see it as one sided. Would the upset commentator be upset that a regional fighting event was posted opposite the one major non-fighting Kingdom event? Based on past experience, no I don’t think so. Is HRH asking, do you teach classes, if not, why not? No she is not.

So basically two issues here. One that was very elegantly expressed is that the SCA is not a spectator hobby. You are not here to be entertained (in general) but you are part of the experience. You only get what you put in the SCA. That means that everyone will be doing the thing they brings them joy. Some of them will find joy in being a spectator and socializing. I did a class on psychographics and while the vast majority of people want to DO something, there were a reasonable number who wanted the experience or socialization instead. But most will be doing whatever it is they enjoy about the medieval time period. Some will fight. Others will educate. More will craft and demonstrate.

Two is that the SCA is a priori structured to benefit the fighters. The fighters have the political power.  You have to be a fighter to be royalty. It is generally easier and faster to gain a knighthood then other peerages. Most households are based around a fighter. Comraderie is high amongst fighters. The majority of major Kingdom events are fighting events. Most other events have some fighting in them.  The majority of inter-Kingdom events (wars) are fighting events. Fighting is every where. Given that, I am not sure what the fighters have to be concerned about. With their political power, fighting is not going away anytime soon.

The intersection of these two issues is that many fighters do ignore other parts of the SCA. I say this not to shame them; it is just true. There is no blame though. The fighters want to fight. And they have plenty of opportunity to do so. They enjoy it and they should. Go fighters! But they have little reason or even opportunity to participate in A&S, or service, or whatever. Likewise, the people who want to prove their A&S chops participate in their activities to be good at them as well.

The irony of the two issues is that SCA fighting is perhaps the least medieval thing we do. (I just lost a bunch of you). The weapons are not real (for safety reasons but they are not real weapons). Some of the armor is period construction. Most of the fighting styles are not period (we limit where you can hit someone for instance). Most of the tournament structures are not period. I will admit I haven’t research them and I made be 100% wrong but as a non-fighter, I am not sure what about SCA fighting IS actually historical. And lastly, fighting a tournament to determine a king is not period either.

Being a good general got you to be king sometimes. Getting elected by the nobles of the realm worked most times to become King. Especially if you had land or money to throw around. Being a good farmer even got someone elected King (poland). But no monarchy is going to risk its political power in a winner take all brawl to see who is the next king. Most systems eventually became primogenture to keep it all in the family. So SCA tournaments are fun but as the saying goes, no basis for a system of government.

Rapier is very true to medieval activity. The weapons are real. Many Dons practice actual fencing manuals. The best A&S is medieval. There are many short cuts and modern, but medieval looking, practices here as well. To me the truest medieval art we practice is Commedia. And to get enough people together for that, you pretty much need a major event.

All of this is pretty round about for me to say, the fighters have the political power and it is the other parts of the SCA that need their support, not vice versa. If we ever can have a “royal” rank that is achieved by right of mind or right of service or popular acclaim, then the fighters can have some claim to lower support. To give another paraphrase, like Aelfric’s blacksmith, the fighters only give us, “shining steel and the noise of clanging” metal. That clanging metal has a powerful draw; it is why many participate in the SCA. But we are historical and it is the historical arts that need the support.

Last thought, to be good at anything, you have to practice at it. To be recognized as good at anything, you have to show others you are good at it. Naturally then, you will gravitate to the activities that foster both of these. The fighers are going to fight and watch fighting. The weavers are going to weave and discuss weaving. There can be a casual interest but really this is how it is going to be and how it should be. Showing support does not need to be everyone gathered around the ring as in pro wrestling. The fact that the events have space set aside for a multitude of activities and the Society supports this is the support.

SCA Life

If You Give A Scadian A Cookie

Oswyn Swann

This is originally from March 2017.  

A friend of mine thought this was worthy of a blog so here goes.

The issue revolves around the idea of “s/he is only doing this for the cookie.”

A cookie is shorthand for an award. Normally, we are talking about the peerages, the highest awards, but it can mean any award.

Here are my thoughts on the matter.

Several related bits here. I take the phrase, “only in it for the cookie” to be somewhat downputting. So and so is only Kingdom Grand Poobah for the cookie. Well someone has to be Kingdom Grand Poobah and as long as she does a good enough job, should we really care why they want to do the job? From my experience, there is an awful lot of thanklessness in most of the jobs that might get you a cookie. Thank goodness someone has found a reason to want to do that job!

Second, everyone needs a motivation to do something. For some, the love of the art (or service, or whatever) is enough. For others, it is recognition. As a society, we have agreed that there is a system of cookies, each cookie has a name, each cookie has a criterion, and each cookie has a ceremony. If you aren’t supposed to want the cookies, why do we invest so much time in making them and awarding them?

Now I get that there is a level of humbleness that is expected and it is somewhat self-correcting. I chased one cookie. I felt I met the criteria as listed and months passed and I didn’t have my cookie yet. When I finally got that cookie, I didn’t feel proud or happy or honored; it was a stale, cold cookie that my pursuit had robbed me the joy of. The pursuit of the cookie needs to be tempered with humility. There needs to be a certain amount of “I want to do this thing for the love of the thing” but you can also want the cookie. You can want to be worthy of the cookie. In most of our mundane lives, how long are you willing to work for nothing (or no raises, vacation, whatever perk)? If you like/love your job, you will put up with some overlooking but most of us want the rewards that come from work.

I have seen some amount of “you can’t want to be a peer” Or “wanting to be a peer means you are not ready.” There are enough stories back and forth that who knows what is really true. If you want to be great painter, you can be. It takes dedication to the art but it also takes recognition from the outside. Otherwise, you are just a great painter in your own mind. And both parts need work. Same with peerage in my opinion.  (edit:  I have started to see and hear this is changing.  It is more acceptable to want to be a peer)

Lastly, we do a bad job at distributing cookies and I do not have a solution to make it better. Multiple times in my short 5 years in the SCA I have had someone tell me, “I thought you already had that award.” That is both flattering and discouraging. Flattering in that they thought I was good enough to be at that level. Discouraging because those thoughts and word of my deeds obviously didn’t go far enough.

In the SCA, one small group controls the cookie jar. There is a larger group that has the power to advise that small group that they should give someone a cookie. In theory, anyone can advise the cookie keepers to award the cookie. But in practice, it is largely who you know. If you live in an active Barony with lots of peers (and especially royal peers), the cookies tend to flow. If you live in a small shire, with few to no peers, it is a long time between cookies. If you have a relationship with a peer, it can be hit or miss. Some peers advocate for their dependents; some don’t. There are often calls for people to put in award recommendations but if you look at the delta cookies as a function of time, it is largely who you know that results in cookies. As I said, I don’t have a solution (or at least one that is workable).

As Cookie Monster reminds us, cookies are a sometimes treat. Wanting a cookie shouldn’t be bad. Wanting ONLY cookies should be bad.

I later added the sometimes any given job in the SCA is reserved for only those who have a cookie. So wanting the cookie is not allowed and you are not allowed to the do the job that could prove you deserve the cookie because you don’t have a cookie.  That is some catch that catch-22.