Re: [lace-chat] Pennsic Wars

2014-08-20 Thread Sue
Our group was an informal lot, and met up in a piece of privately owned 
ancient woodland with a big field attached.   For a number of years it 
worked very well with a few competitions of hawk throwing and knife 
throwing.   One session where they were working with flint and steel to 
light a fire. I learned quite a bit from one of our friends about cooking on 
the camp fire and many pleasant evenings spent round log fires, chatting. 
The sight of a field half full of tents and tipis with candle lanterns 
burning and some of the fires lit is magical.
Many of the folk there took up some sort of craft, beadwork, weaving on 
finger looms and jewellery making so my lace pillow fitted in very well.
We imported a few books from America about Buckskinning and still have those 
in our shelves today all these years later.   Our costumes were generally 
made with cotton, wool or leather, most as practical as possible for working 
around the tent during the day and then dressing up in better for the 
evenings and my blanket coat is still up in the loft, which we made out of a 
whitney blanket.   Some of our day stuff was a bit tongue in cheek and we 
once organised a hobby horse race with the men starting off running the 
course between the tents guaranteed to have us all in noisy laughter all 
afternoon.   In the evening my husband sang a song he had made up mentioning 
various people and their part in the race was very well received.
For One of the arachne lace exchanges my partner sent me the humming bird 
(before I bought the disc and made one myself).   It was definitely the best 
one I could have received and is now attached to my long pocket which is 
part of my evening dressing up outfit, as well as some lace cuffs and a lace 
edged kerchief I made to wear to keep drafts off my neck and prevent pain 
but looked ideal.So I was able to bring both hobbies together for about 
7 years before we stopped going, but we still have the costumes stored.
We also went to the re enactors market when it was held in Oxford one year 
and close to there another year.  Ruth Goodman was there manning her stall 
which was all about Tudor times which is her favourite time but she also 
does other television programs from other times down the centuries for 
british television one of which featured Pat  (sorry my brains gone dead) 
the lady who got a cbe for services to lacemaking last year who showed her 
how to work a piece of bobbin lace to give to the lady of the mansion when 
they did a christmas special.

Right time to get back into the here and now, I have some work to do.
Sue T
Dorset UK


Okay, now I know it is SCA.  I didn't know anything about either when I 
lived

in Pennsylvania.  I had heard the name, probably on Arachne at some time but
never followed it up.  Sounds like fun.  I remember going to a reenactment 
in
Lichfield, England when my kids were little and it sounds a lot like that. 
I
went again on a visit and this time found a bobbin maker and bought my one 
and

only jingle bobbin.  I used to demo at another reenactment in Illinois every
September, but it was only for a weekend, which was enough sometimes as it
could be very cold.
Janice Blair
Murrieta, CA, 60 miles north of
San Diego 


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Re: [lace-chat] Pennsic Wars

2014-08-20 Thread Janice Blair
Seems odd to me that you in Britain are reenacting American history and over
here the SCA are doing reenactments loosely based on European history.  I
guess whatever appeals works.  Kind of like lace where we all have our own
favorite type of lace.
Janice
 
Janice Blair 
Murrieta, CA, 60 miles north of
San Diego 
www.jblace.com 
www.lacemakersofillinois.org


On Wednesday, August
20, 2014 6:54 AM, Sue su...@talktalk.net wrote:
 


Our group was an
informal lot, and met up in a piece of privately owned 
ancient woodland with
a big field attached.   For a number of years it 
worked very well with a few
competitions of hawk throwing and knife 
throwing.   One session where they
were working with flint and steel to 
light a fire. I learned quite a bit from
one of our friends about cooking on 
the camp fire and many pleasant evenings
spent round log fires, chatting. 
The sight of a field half full of tents and
tipis with candle lanterns 
burning and some of the fires lit is magical.
Many
of the folk there took up some sort of craft, beadwork, weaving on 
finger
looms and jewellery making so my lace pillow fitted in very well.
We imported
a few books from America about Buckskinning and still have those 
in our
shelves today all these years later.   Our costumes were generally 
made with
cotton, wool or leather, most as practical as possible for working 
around the
tent during the day and then dressing up in better for the 
evenings and my
blanket coat is still up in the loft, which we made out of a 
whitney
blanket.   Some of our day stuff was a bit tongue in cheek and we 
once
organised a hobby horse race with the men starting off running the 
course
between the tents guaranteed to have us all in noisy laughter all 
afternoon. 
In the evening my husband sang a song he had made up mentioning 
various
people and their part in the race was very well received.
For One of the
arachne lace exchanges my partner sent me the humming bird 
(before I bought
the disc and made one myself).   It was definitely the best 
one I could have
received and is now attached to my long pocket which is 
part of my evening
dressing up outfit, as well as some lace cuffs and a lace 
edged kerchief I
made to wear to keep drafts off my neck and prevent pain 
but looked ideal.   
So I was able to bring both hobbies together for about 
7 years before we
stopped going, but we still have the costumes stored.
We also went to the re
enactors market when it was held in Oxford one year 
and close to there
another year.  Ruth Goodman was there manning her stall 
which was all about
Tudor times which is her favourite time but she also 
does other television
programs from other times down the centuries for 
british television one of
which featured Pat  (sorry my brains gone dead) 
the lady who got a cbe for
services to lacemaking last year who showed her 
how to work a piece of bobbin
lace to give to the lady of the mansion when 
they did a christmas special.
Right time to get back into the here and now, I have some work to do.
Sue T
Dorset UK



Okay, now I know it is SCA.  I didn't know anything about either
when I 
lived
in Pennsylvania.  I had heard the name, probably on Arachne at
some time but
never followed it up.  Sounds like fun.  I remember going to a
reenactment 
in
Lichfield, England when my kids were little and it sounds a
lot like that. 
I
went again on a visit and this time found a bobbin maker and
bought my one 
and
only jingle bobbin.  I used to demo at another reenactment
in Illinois every
September, but it was only for a weekend, which was enough
sometimes as it
could be very cold.
Janice Blair
Murrieta, CA, 60 miles north
of
San Diego

To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line:
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Re: [lace-chat] Pennsic Wars

2014-08-20 Thread Sue
There are many re enactment groups in this country.   Many different times in
history and includes American, Roman, Tudor and any other time you can think
of.It amazes me how much time and effort goes into researching to get
things right and so many times crafts come in as well. We had someone come and
demonstrate how a forge worked and allowed people to try their hand at it.
My husbands character was of a scot who had gone out to the americas on a
vessel and been left behind, so I ended up making the red and beige jacket,
kilt, knitted white socks and then 18 months into my lacemaking learning I
made him a jabot and cuffs to wear with the jacket.   We bought a pair of
trews which were worn more than the kilt (it can be very chilly even in August
at many of these events).   Although I spent more time in colonial type
costume with the lovely tight laced wool waistcoat which kept my back nicely
warm, he made me a couple of different leather fringed dresses, hand stitched
and beaded, sewed beads onto my moccies and also some leggins up to the knee
also beaded.   My possibles bag was made by him for me with a fabulous turtle
design on the front, cut away leather with felt showing through, plaited
leather around the shell part, beads, fringes with bells on the bottom so they
could tell whether i was in a hurry or not going about my business on the
field by the jingles I made, I heard someone say ‘here comes a woman on a
mission,’ LOL.   His bag had a bear paw on the front, almost his signature
for a while, beautiful work.   I was always stunned by his ideas and the end
product and able to offer suggestions sometimes.   I tried to make a dream
catcher once with a bear paw inside the lace to go in the centre of the ring,
its ok but not as good as i would have liked, but I was still a fairly new
lacemaker at the time, so i wont beat myself up about it. Another one had the
dragonfly from one of my patterns. It hung on my wall for a long time and I
hung it outside our tent at quite a few camps in the awning part.
We got into this via the American confederate and union balls and country
music venues we went to.  In my folder on Arachne (HURWITZEND) there is a
photo of us dancing in my lace ball gown and he in mountain man gear I think.
You see I have always been a lover of lace
Sue T
Dorset

Seems odd to me that you in Britain are reenacting American history and over
here the SCA are doing reenactments loosely based on European history.  I
guess whatever appeals works.  Kind of like lace where we all have our own
favorite type of lace.
Janice

Janice Blair
Murrieta, CA, 60 miles north of San Diego
www.jblace.com
www.lacemakersofillinois.org

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