Archery Bracer #2 for Isabella

So this one I made for my friend Isabella de la Vega. I tried a few new things with this one, namely some very complicated shapes. Her device is a phoenix displayed, so that means lots of feathers and fire.

Oh yea, and a crescent on top

I traced the design she game me and used the ballpoint pen method mentioned previously to mark the design in the leather. This time, I tried using the bevel stamp as well as the swivel knife on the leather. The idea with the bevel stamp was you basicly crush the edges of the design down, leaving a raised area around the phoenix.

Brilliant!

Now, I'm not that practiced with the knife or the stamp, and all the little lines caused me no end of grief. But the end product I was quite happy with. It really seems to pop off the leather. Next step, the dying!

Oops...

I wanted to use the same technique I used on the previous bracer, which is waterproof the design and dye the rest darker. Seems I was too excited to remmeber and applied the first coat of dye all over the darn thing! But all is not lost! I painted on the waterproofing, waited for it to dry, then gave it two more coats of dye.

None too shabby!

I was quite happy with how it turned out. It was a tad darker than I intended, but the extra dye gave it enough of a contrast for the phoenix to really stand out. Just goes to show you gotta be paying attention, leather isn't that forgiving.

Hoody Hoo!

Turns out Isabella wanted a really strikingly dark bracer, so I'm glad I was able to oblidge her. I gave the thing another coat of waterproofing (so the dye wouldn't run in wet or sweaty weather), laced it up and gave it away. Hmmm I should get some pictures of her wearing it...

July Coronation in Review

The time is 1:14am, and I rolled in about an hour ago. I know that as soon as my head hits the pillow I'm gonna sleep for a week, so I thought I'd share a little bit about how my first An Tir Crown level event went.

First up, it looked like I was going to stay home that weekend. Couldn't find a ride to the event, even if I walked on the ferry and got scooped up on the other side. So I send a text to my Laurel, Mu'allama Æringunnr Yrsudóttir asking her if she can bring some of my things. She responds that yes, she can bring my things, including me! Seems she sharked a large van for the weekend from Owen (more on him at a later date) and could now transport me to the biggest event I've ever seen. After a ride on the Coho and a bit of driving, we showed up on site, pitched camp and enjoyed the ambiance.

I have a lot of mixed emotions, truth be told. I was excited to be going, and was super stoked to get there. It didn't really matter that the ground was very wet and swampy, it didn't even matter that the weather was pouring down rain the entire weekend. There were over 900 people there from all over the Kingdom, from Laurels to Pelicans and Knights as well as more Royal Peers than I've ever seen in my life. My Laurel even had us camped with the Crown Prince and Princess of An Tir, Thorin Njalsson and Dagmaer in Hvassa! This was both awesome and a little awkward, since I know next to nothing about them!

I was a real outsider this weekend, knowing five people out of the multitudes. I ran into a few lords and ladies who recognized me, but by and large I was spending the weekend with nearly a thousand strangers. This didn't really upset me though, since the previously mentioned Laurel introduced me around to some awesome people. I shook hands and bowed to more Peers than I had ever met on the first day, and relaxing around them wasn't a problem for long.

One thing I did find shocking was the merchanting. There were quite a few merchants set up in the market, but roaming around I couldn't find a single thing that I needed or wanted. Ok, that isn't true. I found a book on Islamic dress and costume from the time of the Prophet, through the Abassid dynasty and into modern times. Basicly, the perfect book for me. Trouble is it was $140 and clocking in at a meager 175 pages. Why so expensive you ask? Limited academic printing of 150 copies, to be sold off to libraries around the country. Balls.

But back to the problem at hand. I've grown a long way in the SCA and I no longer look at leatherworked pouches, pewter pendants with dragons on them, or knives and daggers that look like props from Legend. Which isn't to say there wasn't amazing stuff there. Handforged iron knives (I saw him forging them), lampwork beads, costume from all over the world. But I'm very narrow in what I need now. If it isn't Arabic, or would make a good gift, I don't really look twice.

I partied pretty hard on Friday night. Met some very cool people, drank some very cool rum (Pyrat strikes again!), and just generally had a good time. Saturday court lasted for over five hours. I'm sorry to report I was there for only a small part of it. I saw a knighting, I saw Barons and Baronesses swear fealty to the Crown, but that was it. I know, I know it's terrible. Go to a Coronation and don't even see the new King and Queen get crowned. But I was either busy exploring or napping (re: Friday night) and trying to keep warm and dry.

I stayed in my tent Saturday night (quitter, aint I?) because, frankly, I was peopled out. Talking to dozens of people whome you've never met before and trying to remember their names is not something I do easily.  I needed a break from all the hub-bub. And I got about 100 pages into Dance of the Dragons, which we all bought at Target for $24.99.

Sunday I finally got in a little bit of archery when the rain let up, hung out and talked shop with other archers for a bit (so many gorgeous period longbows!), then packed up and hit up the duty free on our way across the border (picked a little something up for the lady).

Pros for the weekend: Amazingly huge event! Was so impressed with all the period pavilions (especialy Viscountess Safiye's turkish set-up), the banners with all the devices of An Tir, and the festival atmosphere of vigils and knightings.


Cons for the weekend: I could count on one hand the number of people I knew out of 950! It was immensly intimidating to walk around, literally lost in a sea of tents you've never seen before. Next time I go to an event of this scale, I have to convince more Seagirtians to come with me. They have to see just how big this game can get (sometimes right across the border), and with other friends around me I know I can get into far more trouble next time!


Plans for next Crown event: Bring something for the A&S display, bring more Seagirtians, sacrifice something to the sun gods to give us more summer weather!

Archery Bracer #1 for Finndabhair

People say it is possible to love archery too much, but I choose not to listen to those people. For they are villians.

One of the things I've been doing around my local group is constructing archery bracers for people! Now I'm not exactly an expert leatherworker, but I bought some tools, read a few books and began my journey into, as my friend Owen put it, crafting from the flesh of beasts!

Ok first step is to get some leather...

Maybe not that fresh...

Next step was cutting it into shape. I later realized measuring your subject's arm is a great place to start, but for this project I kinda winged it. The subject in question is a newer archer and friend of mine, Finndabhair. She's got one of those Pictish personas (if you couldn't guess by the name) and wanted something Celtic/Gaelic/Led Zeppelin-esque on her bracer. No problem, says I!

I decided not to go for the Icarus

I printed off the celtic symbol for infinity from the internet, after I sized it about how I wanted using Photoshop (set canvas size to 3 inches, for example). After wetting the leather a little under the tap, I took the picture and an empty ballpoint pen to the leather. Laying the paper on top and tracing over the lines with the pen left an impression into the soft, wet leather of the design I wanted! After the tracing was done, I took a swivel knife (dead handy tool) and traced over the indentations on the leather, being very mindful of the weaving pattern.

Next step was to take a stamp and give the inside of the design some texture. Keep in mind this was my first time to the rodeo, and I think I just used the most basic of stamps and didn't even bevel the edges of the knotting pattern. Ah well, live and learn. But I did do something that I thought would really make the device pop!

Jimmy Page could not autograph it

I took a bottle of leather waterproofing, a paintbrush and started very carefully painting the lines of the celtic knot. I gave it three coats, just to be safe, before getting the leather damp with a cloth and applying a dye. I was hoping that after I applied a layer of dark brown dye, the waterproofing would leave the knot an ordinary leather colour.

Would ya look at that! My floor is a mess...

I was very impressed with the how it turned out. I did have to wipe off some of the dye from the waterproofed section, but it beaded nicely off the knot. Just needed to dab it off with some paper towel and I was left with this nice golden celtic design on a leather bracer. The last thing I wanted to do was shape it, so I got the inside a bit damp and wrapped it around a wine bottle.

Protect your wrist or hooch from bowstrings!

I was very happy with the final product. The only complaint I had with it was it didn't fit my friend Finn perfectly, it was a little wide for her arm and the laces didn't keep it on that tight. She solved it by relacing it a different way and it seems to be performing quite well!

Since this was my first attempt, I gave it to her as a gift. There are a lot of other things I would have liked to go back and do to it, such as add some lines around the edges using a grooving tool, as well as rounding off the cut edges of the bracer using an edge beveler. But I look on this as my first real piece of leatherwork and a functional gift for a fellow archer.

Inaugural Posting

Well, laying the foundation for what is to come here, eh? Well for starters, a bit of an introduction.

My SCA name is Rashid al-Qasim. I live in the Barony of Seagirt, Principality of Tir Righ, in the Kingdom of An Tir. I am a Yeoman to the Baroness of Seagirt (a Baronial rank for archers of the Sergeantry. Don't know what a Sergeant is? Link at the bottom of the page!), my persona is 12th century Egyptian Arab, and spend most of my times at events either talking about archery or looking to do some archery.

When I'm not at events, I find myself looking for primary sources for my period. I think next post I'll list my source books, and update the list as I get more. Way of keeping track of what I have.

Another thing I spend my time on is the An Tir Culture Wiki. I spend a fair bit of time editing pages, categorizing them, and adding content. Speaking of which...

Here is a link to the wiki article on Sergeantry in An Tir.
http://wiki.antir.sca.org/index.php?title=Sergeant