Tag: Pewter

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Love for my Laurel-Ican

Several months back, my Pelican reached out to me and asked if I wanted to create tokens for my Laurel as she was going to be asked to join the Order of the Pelican. At that time, I was unable to complete the project so I said no. More covid struck the world and the event was moved to a much later date. I wanted to do something more special than just tokens. I wanted to do something that meant something to Sabine. Her full SCA name is Sabine de Kerbriant and she is a 14th century french woman. What better way to capture that than to do a 14th century brooch. Her badge that she marks all of us is a heart. So, I found a heart shaped brooch. I wanted to something truly accurate to her persona. Luckily, l found this. See the below link:

Link to museum where brooch is housed

The original brooch said “Without being parted” which wasn’t what I really wanted to convey, so I did some research and found a 14th century french phrase which seemed to be more fitting. “Here I am Yours” IOSV IEI ATI VCI.

From there, I did my work. I 3D modeled this in fusion 360

This is the image after many many hours of modeling

From there, I made a mold out of high temperature silicone and cast it

After it was cast, I cut off the sprue, cleaned it up, ran it through a rock tumbler.

To make the brooches functional, I took silver plated copper, cut them to length, wrapped them and filed the edges to make them sharp. I made 75 of these for Sabine’s elevation. My hands were cranky.

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Well, well, well… What do we have here?

Vermont! Here I come. One of the smaller, but favorite events I get to teach at is Mimir’s well. This is a Viking descriptive event which is all about classes and an A and S display and contest (some years). I tend to offer up on the Bardic track because there are a lot of folks who enjoy performance but not a ton who teach. That’s ok. Not everyone teaches, but I love doing it. In addition, I was asked to teach a class on pewter casting. I have been making tokens for the last year or so as well as award medallions. The Event Stewards wanted to get more folks into doing it since it was as far spread in this part of the Northern Region. I happily agreed.
I had decided to challenge myself. I have a really big fear of putting my own work for the general public. Not only that, I never feel like my polyphonic works are good enough. I was inspired by their Royale Highnesses to compose them a processional. His Royal Highness crown winner has an early roman persona. I pulled from the texts of Augustus. I used a small portion of the texts that I felt would represent our Royalty

Bella terra et mari civilia externaque tóto in orbe terrarum suscepi3  victorque omnibus veniam petentibus4 cívibus pepercí. Externas  gentés, quibus túto ignosci potuit, conserváre quam excídere malui. Míllia civium Rómanorum adacta sacrámento meo fuerunt circiter quingen ta.
Wars, both civil and foreign, I undertook throughout the world, on sea and land, and when victorious I spared all citizens who sued for pardon. The foreign nations which could with safety be pardoned I preferred to save rather than to destroy.

Choir

Below, find  the MP3 and the recording I made during rehearsal. Sheet music to follow. I chose to teach this during the ad hoc choir that I run. It was a dream group because I had a pretty good balance on all voice parts. Everyone learned it quickly and took direction well. Again, everyone was excited to perform this during court while THR processed. TRH were banished from the room while we rehearsed because I wanted this to be a big surprise.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xSn0BGTbBZfLUvubdQLD7hwQkYXfbw8J
Pewter casting came later. I went through all the different forms of casting materials from clay, cuttlefish bone, soap stone and sand. We went over the materials I use in my anachronistic process (which you can see in my post for making the tokens for Ozurr and Fortune) and then, everyone who gave a donation could bring their own piece home. I had made two molds, one a Mjolnir and one a Viking brooch replica. I wanted to keep with the mood of the event. Also, this is the first time I’ve ever let anyone use my supplies or cast in front of me. I made sure to bring safety equipment to make sure everyone was safe and was ready to have my first vict-.. first student attempt this as HRH walks in. I of course offered him the chance to cast and he took it. A perfect pour! It wasn’t the first time I’ve ever had royalty attend my class, but it was the first time they were ever actively a part of it.

Everyone had gone home with their own, personally casted piece. There were no injuries. Only a few broken rubber bands and my mantra (NO PAPERWORK) seemed to work.Casts

If you’re curious about the site tokens I made (all 200 of them) here is a picture of the completed tokens.

Site tokens

The rest of the day I got to enjoy classes. I had my Partner with me and his son, in matching garb (which was cute as heck!). It was also his son’s first event. He got to calligraph, make an LED lantern, chainmail and even got a token from TRH. You could see the magic in his eyes as he entered our little village and made new friends. He felt right at home. This is a huge deal because he doesn’t have a lot of friends. They say he’s weird (Honestly, he’s a normal kid who really enjoys Pokémon and telling you about it. Also, wicked smart at math). If you have been part of our village, these are qualities we all share.Family
The end of the day was here. Court! My partner loves court and he’s only been to one. It’s not the gift he got (both times) but the celebration of people and the pomp and circumstance that goes with it. I got to explain the awards people were getting, the vocabulary we were using and what was what and who was who.
It was my turn in court. I am one of the officers for EKCoP (east Kingdom College of Performers). I serve as Chancellor as well as Deputy Chatelaine for the Northern Region. I had been given the Travel journal to pass on since the recipient was sick (with the world being like it is right now, we don’t want any of your flu/COVID-19 crud). I asked if I could present it in court. It’s a cheesy way to get the college some recognition and make the recipient feel more special. As I was about to sit down, their royal highnesses told me to hold on.Journal
What had I done? Did they hate my song? Wha I being Banished because I’m an obnoxious and loud Bard? No.. they were doing a thing.

I was inducted into the Order of the Silver Wheel. This is an armigerous level award for those who do community service. I never expect to get awards for what I do. Sure, I dream about them like anyone else, but I do what I do because I enjoy it and want others to enjoy. I was literally dive tackled by 2 of my peers in the order… who also happen to be in the Free Company of the Stella Maris. With teers and joy I entered the order.
Please see this BEAUTIFUL scroll done by the hand of Kenneric Aubrey. Text is based off of L’homme Arme (The Armed Man)

Here is a copy of the sheet music for the processional:

Patronus

 

Here is an MP3 of it, at a fast tempo, This should be performed at a  marching tempo and militantly timed.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hvby7YD2y9oJRj0biix5tQtXn3OoN_Fh/view?usp=sharing

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Molds- A new frontier

Ageirr and I have been really digging this mold process for making tokens. In no surprise that either of us would keep falling deeper and deeper in love with the process as is our need to craft. We’ve posted up several of our previous molds and processes, but this one, the coronation mold was a whole -giant step- for crafting kind.

I will once again reiterate that this is not a period process and so there is very little on the internet or resources we have readily available to us. However, we’ve been enjoying discovering each part as we go.

Our original process looked like this:

  1. 3-d Model the positive
  2. Make the positive
  3. Try to smooth the positive (Modgepodge, wood glue, wood filler, raw sanding)
  4. Mix the silicone and let it cure (24 hours)
  5. Pull out the positive
  6. Cast with pewter
  7. “Attempt to clean” (big air quotes on that) using a Dremmel

We then started to refine our cleaning processes. We tried out different tips with different shapes and different coarseness/grinding surfaces. We got much further and even discovered how, by hand to get these suckers super shiny.

Once finishing up another set of tokens (of course it was the second we were done) we had an epiphany. Wait a second… why don’t we try to clean the mold up itself. So, we took the dremmel with the pink tips (383g) and gently touched the mold. They looked great! We would figure out the rest of the process later, for now we had a bid to complete 500 tokens for the coronation of King Ozurr and Queen Fortune.

Ageirr and I had never done 2 part molds before, however, for the design we had in mind, we would need to do this.

Step 1) 3-d Model the positive.

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The concept for these was taken directly from Their Majestie’s Heraldry. However, since Fortune’s heraldry ( an 8 spoke wheel) is very close to the 7 spoke wheel award (The Silver wheel) to avoid confusion, we added roses to the mix.

Step 2) Make the positive. This is how they looked coming hot off the printer.

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For size reference, these were 1.5 inches in diameter.

Our original next planned step was to cast it, clean it and re-cast it. In theory this should limit our time cleaning tokens.

Step 3/4) Cast

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So, as you can see, no pre-sanding done it doesn’t look so pretty. You can see all the layer striations and the roses look like … well… not roses.  In addition, after trimming off the flash, we did a weight check on these (as I mentioned before, we needed to make 500). We were also giving a 200 dollar budget for these. We did the math and if we had left the tokens at the same thickness and size, we would have needed 44 pounds of pewter. Pewter is approximately $19.95 a bar right now, so, you do the math.

Ageirr and I started to panic as we would need to re-scale the model and figure out how to take down the thickness.

We live in a 700 sq ft condo on the second floor so we don’t have crazy tools or materials. So, we make due with what we have. So, this time, we tried using sculpey.  Ageirr being more patient with sculpting than I am and happened to have some more flexibility in his schedule, sculpted the damn thing from scratch. We printed out the images on paper and used them as layered guides so we could be as precise as possible.

From there, we created the mold again. Part one was done in the same exact way we had done our 1 part molds in the past. The second half we placed the sculpey model into the impression of the first cured mold. We placed saran wrap over it and smoothed it to the model. Finally we poured the silicone.

This resulted in a much smoother mold. We again dremmeled the edges a bit so we had a super flat mold wall that lined up. The sprue was carved and we started to pour.

We noticed that the roses were not coming out cleanly. With some research, it was suggested to use graphite as a release. With that, we not only got the tokens to release better, we got less pock marks on the pours (None to be precise) and that the mold was filling better and all parts were being cast.

Here are the tokens fresh out of the mold with general flash clipped, no cleaning:

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Time to clean. Welcome to our bathroom. Our two man team included sanding edges and clearing out the holes. (We weren’t as careful as we could have been, so the pre-made hole broke off).

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We use only the finest of safety equipment (Said sarcastically)

500 tokens cast!!!!

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We still weren’t happy. We wanted these suckers to shine. Our buffing tips were getting eaten up pretty quickly, especially since our dremmel which still had it’s speed control was out of commission. Upon chatting with a sca’dian out on Nevada, it was suggested that a rock tumbler with jewelers shot and detergent would help give us the shiny edge we were looking for.

Thank goodness for amazon prime. We had the tumbler Thursday (The tokens were getting shipped out Friday evening). Off we went to pray.

The rock tumbler certainly did the trick. By 5 pm, here is our result:

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We aren’t perfect yet in the process, however leaps and bounds have been made.

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Many Much Tokens! And classes!

Mimir’s well, year 3 was a resounding success. It was really nice to be able to teach and actually have time to take classes as well as socialize.

About 6 months ago, the Autocrat, Eleanor Grey, had asked me to come teach to make sure there was once again a bardic representation at their lovely event. I agreed. Mountain freehold is a great little shire with great people. Last year, I wrote them a song because they deserved it.

About 1.5 months ago, I was also asked if I could make the site tokens. I happily agreed. Mimir’s well is about wisdom. So, I chose to make tiny wisdom tokens. I sent Aegir the image to 3-d model as I had other work commitments I had to manage and he loves to play in fusion 360 (The 3-d modeling program we use). From there we printed and molded the tokens. She had requested that we make 100 of them.  I had also decided that I didn’t want them to look like pristine metal. So, when creating the positive before creating the mold, I covered it in modgepodge and while it was still tacky, took same sandpaper to it to make it appear more stone-like by taking some divits out of the modgepodge.

Here are the final tokens (Though this one has the hole drilled in the wrong side):

 

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From there, off to teach classes! I had a bright eyed and bush tailed class right at 10:00am. I always dread the first class of the day. I feel like no one wants to be there that early and no one is emotionally awake. It’s also the same as first performer stage fright. Always so hard to go on first, however, once the stage is set, everyone is ready to go!

My first class is how to warm up your body to perform. Yes, I taught this class the week before, however it is never the same. Here is the outline of the class so you know more (in a bullet form, what was gone over in the class)

  1. Why do we warm up our bodies?
    1. Athletes
    2. Protection from harm
    3. Emotionally warmed up
    4. Setting the stage
    5. Setting nerves aside
    6. Ready to move
  2. Anatomy of the mouth
    1. Lips, Teeth, Alvular ridge, Hard pallet, Soft pallet
    2. Discussion of how body is connected
    3. Posture- Demonstration
  3. Body stretches and massage
    1. Head/temples
    2. Neck
    3. Head rolls
    4. Arm body crosses
    5. Pliet
    6. Foot stretches
    7. Rag dolls
    8. Group massage
  4. Breathing
    1. Clavicle breathing
    2. Proper way to breath in (order of operations)
    3. Floor breathing
    4. Engaging diaphragm and low back muscles
  5. Breathing exercises
    1. In outs on “Straw”
    2. In outs on “Shhh”
    3. Bubbles
    4. Coughing/laughing
  6. Projection
    1. Talk about notes/polyps/hemorrhaging (Julie Andrews story)
    2. 5 locations to send sound in mouth
    3. Discovering the soft pallet
    4. Lollipops/York peppermint paddies
    5. Eyebrows/yawning
    6. Tongue twisters (Diction is done… Mommy made me…)
    7. Finding nasal air flow spot
    8. Tongue position
    9.  Dynamic projection (Using soft “stage whispers” to speak across the room)
  7. Body tension
    1. Finding tension in your body
    2. Finding good mouth space
    3. What you can do to loosen up your body

Questions:

 

From there, I hung out, ate, made some music with friends and enjoyed. I finally got to sing a few filks I had composed to those who had never heard them and saw the glee as disney and queen were attached to their favorite SCA activities. In addition, I got to see Aegir working in the kitchen, which he had a blast with.

My final class was just us singing period rounds. I just finished compiling a book of about 50 all period rounds (Sans “Le coq et mort”… which is a traditional, but hey, everyone likes to sing about dead chickens… plus I added the german. Morbid…dead..german… chickens). However, what makes my book different, besides it being so long, is I wrote up all the translations, IPA (Internation Phoenetic Alphabet) dictions and newspaper diction. I will be adding my written documentation on this shortly as well as the appropriate IPA charts, however, after the class, all 14 of my students were begging me to publish it now. (it was 25 pages, so I was remiss to keep printing more copies out of my pocket).  I did, however, sell the 8 copies I made for charity and donated the funds on behalf of my class.

Here is the book, documentation to come!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PvID7hHNG2gvJjWctuWdpQiK-OyhmB_GlVLQhHqEcI8/edit?usp=sharing

Finally, Aegir and I displayed our molds and casts we’ve been doing over the last few months. We had a BLAST telling everyone about the process. Again, making everything more accessible. We really want to make our arts accessible to people. I find it to be a gateway drug. If you find an easy/cheap way to do it, you most likely will want to explore how it was done. *GASP RESEARCH*

 

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Getting Medieval with Technology

Recently, there was a call for need of silver level and specialized awards in the East Kingdom. Her Majesty, Vienna, has put out a request and I felt like I could do something to help. My boyfriend, Aegir, and I love to craft and find new ways of making things. So, I put out the idea to him that we should make, or attempt to make, some of these awards.

Without hesitation, we both began to brainstorm. He asked me what were ways of making awards and what was acceptable. I mentioned that it only needed to look period or possibly resemble a period item. We then looked to our 3-d printer and our silicone mold kits and the lights in our heads went off.

Aegir asked me what the awards were and what they meant. I beamed as I got to explain to him the meaning behind the awards and the intricacies that were our tradition and lineage. I bring up lineage due to the fact that a friend of mine, David Poirier de le Loup, was going to be honored at Crown Tournament. I wanted to make him his Silver Wheel. In addition, a good friend of David’s and mine, Anne de Basillion, had mentioned to me that team “Do all the things” was going to pass down her medallion to David. If she did that, she would be without her regalia. That couldn’t be a thing.

So, we worked to get this amended.

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Aegir taught me how to 3-d model while he worked on the designs for other awards. 3-d modeling is not an extremely difficult process for awards, but it was time consuming. I also had picked a more in-depth design to complete instead of the standard silver wheel award. David is part of the Free Company of the Stella Maris, which is a group of Pi-…. Privateers. So, I chose to make it look more steering wheel like. Anne is also a friend of the company so I would make hers to match.

Here begins the process, 3-D Modeling!

2d model.jpg

3d1.jpg

This modeling was done in a program called Autodesk Fusion 360.

From there, we exported the models into a program called Simplify 3d. This is where the data from the 3d modeling was sent for sizing and printing to be completed.

Here are a few of the models we completed:

Lyre.jpg This is the “Golden Lyre”

Wheel.jpg This is the “Silver Wheel”

Silvertyger.jpg This is the “Silver Tyger”

From there, it was mold making time, baby!

We tried a couple different mold processes in the comfort of our own kitchen. Silicone is not the most beautiful fragrance in the world, so I do recommend proper ventilation. Also, marking a proper container to house the mold during it’s 24 hour cure time is key. Chinese food boxes seem to work well for those who are a bit more frugal.

Here you can see Aegir taking one for the team and handling the fumes.

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Here you can see Aegir pouring the mold into our handy dandy takeout box.

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While we wait for this mold to cure, we were trying a new gravity fed two part mold… we may or may not have used a salt lick? (It’s a Himalayan salt grilling block thing… it was cheaper than stone)

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Here is our finished product (with a little bit of sanding/polishing. Flash happens)

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