Monday, February 24, 2014

breaking in the gear

Finally got to go out and test fire my bow and my news shafts this past weekend. Lots of fun, and  a little blood (no glove on a classic longbow means fletchings and hand meet in all the wrong ways).

Derega tried her hand at my longbow, which was the only chance I got to photograph the thing in action. You can get a good idea of the weapon's scale and shape in this photo. 

Lucky catch with this shot, you can see the arrow just before it leaves the bow.
I think this was one of the shots that crew blood

All in all, it was a good say, we each shot our personal sets a few times, then put each of the province's loaner gear through it's paces. Between us, we shot all 7 dozen arrows at least one. I got kind of lazy and dint' get enough photos of the shooting, but trust me, we punished the targets sufficiently between us.

Anyway, it was a good say all told. I'm just sorry I didn't get more photos of the targets after we peppered them with arrows.









Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Provincial Games

I showed up to Mooneschadowe's Provincial Games with, more or less, one goal in mind, and that was to sit down at the scroll painting table and paint. I didn't so much as say "Hear ye" one time, and I don't think anyone looked at me once for voice heraldry.

It was a chilly start, according to one of the autocrats, the building where the non-fighting took place started the morning off at 49 degrees, and was getting up to 70 by the time we showed up, thought it was a slow climb.

The table had a definitive normal cadre of people there, starting with my wife, and also including Lady Uallach Ui Dubhshlaine, and Lady Derega Tot. Not long after we were joined by Jon, a newer member who has drifted into my social circles, though as a welcome addition. A retired Marine, he brings a lot of the odd-ball humor and grim pragmatism that I mundanely grew up with as the son of a Marine officer.

One small item of business that I do want to call out that isn't heraldry related, but still important, was when Derega gave back the archery supplies to Vincinti. In the process, she got to show him the finished products, 7 dozen arrows, each set with a unique paint job on the shafts. Mooneschaodwe (and Derega) got some high praise for managing to pull that off. A few people commented that out loaner arrows looked better than some of the personal sets that people bring to the range on practice days.

It was good see Derega get some tangible thanks from hr archery peers after putting so much effort into bot leading and actually working the effort to build up archery in the group again.

I also ran into Lomax, friend and Namron local. who spoke with me about my certifications for Chirurgeon. I found out that there would be a First Aid Class At Gulf, and for a fraction of the cost the Red Cross was asking. So, looks like I might actually (maybe) get a jump-start on my certifications. At least one can hope.

About halfway through the day, I was joined by two more new members, one was the wife of a good friend who had recently come back into the game (work had pulled him out to the middle of nowhere for several years there), and her friend from college, down in OKC. The latter of the two nearly jumped in excitement when I told her I she could come over and actually paint an award's charter.

One outrageously fun little encounter was when Count Bear walked up and randy started giving one of our newcomer's a shoulder massage. (Note: Bear is a professional masseuse, and quite literally pays the bills with this skill). The poor woman looked a little (ok. a lot) intimidated when a set of hands the size of frying pains landed on her shoulders, but a moment later, she was practically melting in her seat as Bear worked out kinks and knots from her neck and shoulders. The whole time he was jabbering cordially with the rest of us like nothing else was happening. When he finished, he thanked us for our time and conversation, an then walked away.... and the lady he had been working on (I'm sorry, her name completely escapes me) looked about as lumber as a rubber bands, and as relaxed as a two month old. It was quite the amusing engagement.

"And yes," I said to her as the mountain of a count walked away. "That is just one of those things that do randomly happen in the SCA, not that anyone has complained yet."

I worked on my incomplete AOA, and a Flur, finishing the former, and getting a good start on the later. I'm slowly getting used to my paints, but I think I am going to just switch to a different paint try, because the one I have is just not working out.

The event ended with little fan fair, and a lot of fun conversations. A good portion of Mooneschaodwe went to sirloin Stockade, though a lot of the people from the scribal table opted to head to the New China Buffet instead. It was a pleasant enough dinner, with most of us enjoying the chance to wind down and chat some more before heading out separate ways.

All told, it was a low key, fun, 11 hour day for me.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

and yet even more archery.

So, lets do the bullet point thing, shall we?

  • Got a call from my arrow maker, the order I placed has shipped, meaning I will have my own set of professionally made arrows in time to shoot at gulf. 
  • I went and working with Derega today for close to three hours, fletching the last of the provincial arrows. Not a terribly fast process, and not what I would call "fun" but the company was good, and we were watching a Pairot marathon, compliments of her Netflix account.
These were my last three arrows, fletched and ready to fly.




Derega was working on sealing her personal set while I was watching the fletching glue dry.

I think this was the third or fourth one I did. It was something of a learning curve for me.



These are the group arrows, all seven dozen of them. Note the different paint jobs on the shafts, compliments of several different people.
 
 
When my first attempt didn't turn out so well, Derega stepped in.
 
 
And a little bit of heraldry here; while Derega's official armory is still being worked through the college of heralds, she used some of the elements of the design to personalize her own personal set.
 


Some of the detail is lost in the photo, but you can get a good idea of the work she put in. She had a full dozen of these, each one with this design.


And her arms, for reference.




And last, but certainly not least;
  • I spoke with Derega today, and she officially took me on as a deputy archery marshal for the province. The goal here is the train me so that I can apply to take over the role of marshal when she departs in the fall after graduating college.


Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"