Month: January 2007

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Non-minor songs?

Greet Gijsberts

Okay, I’m getting a little bored with All-Minor-All-The-Time, Ye Olde Medieval Sad Ballades, so I’ve been messing about with happier tunes. "A Lusty Young Smith" is not minor, musically speaking.  It’s certainly upbeat, and there’s only three chords to it, so I can play it up to tempo.  Trouble is, it’s not minor in a social sense either, and though it doesn’t say anything inappropriate explicitly, relying on puns and innuendo, I have NO IDEA when I might play it in a place where other people might actually hear me.  At least without giggling.  We’ll all have to accept that … Continue reading Non-minor songs?

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Wheel update

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It works!  It works! I’d overthunk the driveband, and used a leather thong, which turned out to be too much friction.  Substituting a piece of string makes the wheel functional.  I have Franklin Habit and his blog, the Panopticon, to thank for this reminder of Engineering Rule No. 1: Use the least possible object that will carry the force.  EG: If you only need tensile strength, use a skinny wire.  If you need tensile strength+friction, as in my wheel scenario, use a mid-sized piece of cotton yarn.  Don’t jump ahead to preconceived ideas of what "ought" to be used – … Continue reading Wheel update

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A Wassailing

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Medieval music mystery solved! Here we go a wassailing, among the leaves so green… Why, if wassailing is caroling from door to door in a CITY, are the leaves green?  Can’t just mean holly decorations, can it? Wikipedia is wrong!!  Wassailing is (rurally) the practice of maintaining and celebrating an apple orchard, traditionally performed on either Jan 6, Old Christmas Eve (Julian calendar) or Jan 17, Old 12th Nite Eve.  Which was yesterday.  I learned about it first from Wiggly Wiggler’s Xmas 2006 podcast that I reccommend heartily, anyway.  Heather and Phil Gorringe live in rural Herefordshire, on Lower Blakemere … Continue reading A Wassailing

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Greensleeves

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I’ve pretty well got this one down now, if the music is in front of me.  So far I can do: Auld Lang SyneGreensleevesMary HamiltonGeordieScarborough FaireThe Trees They Grow High I have quite a bit of music, thanks to Alicia and Elspeth, and my uncle lavished cd’s on me that I haven’t yet had a chance to listen to!  They are: Shakespeare in Song: Charles Bruffy and Phoenix Bach ChoirNutmeg and Ginger: Spicy Ballads from Shakespeare’s LondonElizabeth’s MusicThe Lady and the Unicorn: John Renbourn Sorry, I couldn’t find an Amazon link for the Elizabeth’s Music.  It’s by Dorian Recordings. Continue reading Greensleeves

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Bellydancing!

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Okay, okay, I’m way late on posting these, but I gave my camera to someone else to take pics, and she went a bit nuts.  I had so many to go through, it got put off, and fine, I’ll just post the pics. Of course we felt a little silly.That’s me, Liz, Elspeth, and Angel. We attracted a bit of interest.  Look beyond Edwin, there.We’ll practice this at odd moments, like in the grocery line. Hips we got. You can see Alicia, our teacher, here. And here I try to shoulder roll out of my chemise, while Deb looks on. … Continue reading Bellydancing!

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Embroidered Herbal

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(You really must click this one – it’s huge.) This is the result of a kit that my mother started before I was born.  I finished it last month. I want to make it into a gear bag – since I find myself shlepping an awful lot of gear to Fighter Practice, A&S meetings, and so forth.  But in the meantime it’s inspired a new banner here, and an ID card for me to give out to people.  The card image looks nice on the glossy perforated cards I use for Front Step Design. Continue reading Embroidered Herbal

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Beaded Bookmarks

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The A&S crowd gathered at Seneschal Gabrielle’s on Sunday night to get something together for a probable craft fair come April.  I had the idea to copy a beaded bookmark, that I received as a gift last Yuletide. So here’s the results.  We managed to get twelve done in five hours, leaving time for munching, gossiping, and laughing, of course.  I think twelve is enough if we have several other sorts of things, like: Felt helmsEmbroidered games – Nine Men’s Morris, Fox and GeeseFlower wreathsPlacemats with culinary images + recipes, suitable for framing – we discussed this idea in lieu … Continue reading Beaded Bookmarks

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Books!

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Somehow, I made it into my adult life with no books on medieval life.  All right, I have ONE – an excerpt of Bocaccio’s Decameron, which I bought fairly recently.  None of the retellings of Arthurian tales, of folktales, Maculay’s Castle and Cathedral, none of those are in my house. I have no idea how this happened.  But it’s getting Fixed, right now. I got some Amazon gelt as a Yuletide present (thanks, Mom!) and the following are on their way to my door: Renaissance Fashions (Dover Pictorial Archives)Medieval Costumes Paper Dolls (History of Costume)A Weaver’s Garden: Growing Plants for … Continue reading Books!