June 2022 Recap: For Once, There Are Spoons
My June goals were:
Finish the Summer Saya.
Begin my belt for the Persona Challenge.
Continue my paternoster/rosary cataloguing.
Begin recipe development for my cooked item for Persona Pentathlon. I have two fritter recipes to consider- one a sweet hazelnut and one a savory borage/chard- that I want to start practicing with.
Saint Lawrence badge turned necklace.
I don’t often say I had an unusually productive month, but oh boy did I have an unusually productive month.
June started off with some unexpected fun! Back in February, I had ordered a pendant to go with the Green Saya outfit, for the second necklace my model wears. It’s only visible as a gold plate shape on a thin black ribbon but given the scene, it is likely some sort of iconography. Since I cannot tell what, I decided to choose the patron saint of my SCA household- Saint Lawrence. Saint Lawrence was a Spanish-born priest martyred during the Valerian persecution in 258 and is said to have been killed by grilling upon a gridiron. He is notably and appropriately the patron saint of librarians and chefs. This piece was made by ArmourandCastings.com and it is absolutely lovely. I attached it to the same blue velvet ribbon that’s going on the dress and added a small brass clasp to match it. The text reads “signa maritrum laurentii ets"“ which Google tells me roughly translates to “the sign of the husband of Laurence” but I think might be a misspelling or abbreviation of “martyrium” for martyrdom, which is what’s depicted on the actual piece. I’ve put some sources regarding Saint Lawrence down at the bottom of this post.
I began the month ordering the first few items for my belt, including the blank, the buckle, and the cord. A couple of those items (the buckle and cord) were shipped internationally, and so they took a little while to actually arrive. I held off on ordering the mounts until the blank arrived so I can actually space out where I want them to go and therefore the quantity of each style I need. Because of this, and other projects, I don’t expect to start the actual construction work on the belt until August at the earliest. I did, however, sit down and make progress on its documentation.
Most of my month was spent on the what was the Stamped Saya but is now the Summer Saya. Unfortunately, this gave me a lot less joy than I thought it would to make. Gores are always a little challenging but these proved very difficult to get sat correctly. I discovered in the process that I desperately need a new body block, because while my old garb still fits, the block I used to pattern this does not somehow. I kept at it, but lack of enjoyment made my progress slower than I wanted. I did get it fully assembled and the eyelets done in the first half of the month, then I hung it up to work on the Green Saya for a little while. One aspect of this dress I do like is that it’s a bit longer. I had wanted to do that for a while, but it does mean I needed some help hemming it. It did, however, get finished and I will get pictures taken at Novice to to complete its blog post.
Speaking of the Green Saya, I finished it! I had a burst of motivation this month and got the last two sets of ribbon points done in a single week. I can honestly say, that in the almost year I have been working on this project, I love it more and more every time I look at it and work on it. The outfit is not complete, so no documentation post yet, but my only remaining elements are the camisa, the belt, and some sort of shoe. I did make the Green Saya long enough to do some chopines or other raised shoe. Stay tuned for what I finally decide to do. The camisa will be next on my list of things to tackle, starting with the blackwork embroidery design.
I had some time this month to really power through my paternoster and rosary research work and wrap it up. I have the basic analysis done and have begun on my documentation. Thankfully, getting that done means I can move on to the design decisions to make on this project. Originally, I didn’t expect to have it done in time to actually display an individual item, but I think at this point I will. With Bea’s amazing help, I was able to get two concept art pieces done which will be included in my documentation, and I ordered the supplies for the first piece as well as all the metal supplies for the second. I’ll grab the beads for the second and the final pieces or ornamentation later this month so I can have both completed in time for the Pennsic Display for the Persona Challenge.
One fun thought I had was to re-do my Ruperto de Nola class and update it to include the other recipes I’ve worked with and more background on late period Spanish cooking. As it stands, the class was only taught as a demo with a handout with my redactions, but it could likely be fleshed out into a full class with a little time and effort. I would want to grab a copy of a book or two that I’ve seen over time but it shouldn’t be too challenging to turn it into an actual lecture with recipes in the handouts. I’m up to nine recipes from Nola and am working on 10 and 11 so it seems like a good time for it. I think I can have it ready for Fall University. If I do decide to do that, I could limit the class to 10-15 people and actually make some samples.
We had a small sewing day at my home this month, to help get two newcomers and Evan set with some shirts/t-tunics and to measure Evan for some basic pants. I used that day to test out the first fritter recipe for Persona Pentathlon. I decided to go with the fried spinach and chard fritter first. The hazelnut sweet fritter would have been a huge hit, but there are still some remaining questions about the cookie that makes the actual base of the recipe that I want answered before I test it. It… did not go well. The filling was great but the pastry was a disaster. It requires further assessment for sure.
Once the Summer Saya was done, I decided to start on the Green Wool Hood I sketched out a while ago. It is lined with some extra linen from the Summer Saya and I’m adding some of the thin green and gold trim to the inside. The green wool I’m using is heavy, and I think it’s going to be an excellent rainy weather hood. I’m planning on brining it to Novice for both sun shade and potential rain that weekend. The trim is mostly attached, and I have very high hopes of it being finished for Novice.
A second unexpected project, I finally settled on a design for a gift piece of embroidery! I don’t want to spoil too much because it has not been given to its recipient yet, but I had such a lovely time doing a quick embroidery project that it’s really re-invigorated me to get into the camisa for the Green Saya outfit soon.
I did have an occasion to go through my fabric stash and make an inventory of it after acquiring some new to me fabrics. I have a few cool project ideas for those that should keep me entertained in the future. It did, however, get me thinking about next month’s goals a bit.
For July, I would like to:
Finish the calzas I’ve had in jail for a few months. These just need a waistband added to them so that should go quickly.
Finish the two pieces for my Pennsic Persona display and the documentation
Finalize the pastry recipe for my Nola pastry, and write that up for my first complete Persona Pentathlon piece.
Sources on Saint Lawrence
Petruzello, Melissa. “Saint Lawrence.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Lawrence.
“St. Lawrence Deacon - Information on the Saint of the Day - Vatican News.” St. Lawrence Deacon - Information on the Saint of the Day - Vatican News, 10 Aug. 2021, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/08/10/st--lawrence-deacon--and-martyr.html.
