Last Updated: May 22, 2007
The Shire of Canale - Arts and Sciences
Class
Types and Meeting Schedule:
Contact the Arts
& Sciences Minister if you have any questions regarding the schedule for
upcoming classes or suggestions of topics you would like to see covered. We have a wide array of talented artisans in
Canale who are begging for a reason to teach.
Arts and
Sciences Nights:
This are get together and work on project
evenings on Fridays from 6 pm to 9 pm and Judith’s house in
Upcoming
Shire-sponsored activities:
June 1st (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9pm -
Judith’s House (
Theme: Mead Brewing For
La Prova Dura.
Bring camp stoves or
turkey burners, work tables, carboys and other brewing supplies. Bring your Arts and Sciences projects to work
on during down time. Contact Judith for details and directions.
June 15th (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm -
Judith’s House (
Theme: “Guido” Mini
Banners.
Supplies provided. Contact Judith for details and directions.
July 6th (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm -
Judith’s House (
Theme: Sewing 101 and 102 – Intro to Needle and
Thread and The Sewing Machine. Bring
your Arts and Sciences projects to work on.
Contact Judith for details and directions.
July 20th (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm -
Judith’s House (
Bring
your Arts and Sciences projects to work on.
Contact Judith for details and directions.
August 3rd (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm -
Judith’s House (
Bring
your Arts and Sciences projects to work on.
Contact Judith for details and directions.
August 10th (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm - Judith’s
House (
Bring your Arts and
Sciences projects to work on. Contact Judith for details and directions.
August 17th (Friday), 2007– A&S Night – 6-9 pm -
Judith’s House (
Bring your Arts and
Sciences projects to work on. Contact Judith for details and directions.
Previous
Shire-sponsored activities:
2007
May 20 th – Armoring Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Sword
and Shield construction. Armored surcoat
construction. Fitting armor using ABS
plastic.
May 18 th – A&S Night –
Judith’s House (
Persian
Clothing. Judith completed a coat. Next Step: Persian underclothes
April 22 nd – Armoring Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Breast
Plate tailoring and refurbishing leg armor.
March 18 th – Armoring Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Pre-Crown
Tune-up – Last minute armor repair and
authorizations.
February 25 th – Armoring Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Post
War Maintenance – How to re-rivet and re-strap knees. Discussion of maces including making a “Kong”
Mace.
2006
December 17th - Dance Workshop (DGMMA)
Now that you have the clothes and the mask, you need to learn the moves! Trip the light fantastic with your friends or just learn how to fake it! *hop-step-step-turn-hop-step-hop*
December 16th
- Mask Workshop Part 2 (DGMMA)
Come out to Canale and finish up your 12th Night mask! We will be stretching leather (or whatever your medium of choice happens to be) over our sculpted mask forms and creating one of a kind works of wearable art! Use them for the Masked Ball! Use them to Trick-or-Treat! Don't use them to rob a bank...
November 12th – Mask Workshop Part 1 (DGMMA)
Come out to Canale and get plastered for your 12th Night mask!
November 11th - German Class (DGMMA)
Mari taught her "New and Improved" German Clothing Class (in her home Shire no less). This class differed from the previous one by emphasizing women's clothing. Practical samples of German clothing were present for folks to handle---ranging from the silly to the sublime---allowing a more in-depth look at their construction. *Around 15 people attended as well as Mari's students*
October 22 th
– Armoring Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Sword
and Shield making day.
Shield
materials – Plywood, channeling, heater hose, carriage bolts, knee pad, tape,
wire, closed cell foam
Sword
materials - 1.5-1.75 inch rattan, turkey
baster, closed cell foam, strapping tape, duct tape, heater hose
June 3rd and 4th – Introduction to T-Tunics
– DGMMA
(
Mari
Alexander and her gang of students (Vera, Keevan?, Eleonora) spent the weekend
rotating groups of new sewers (mostly children), through the different stages
of T-tunic construction. Approximately 20 tunics were constructed---with
supervision---by the children, who now proudly wear them at every opportunity.
2005
December 8th–
Medieval/Renaissance Carols – DGMMA (
Everyone
was in fine voice and we sang many Carols.
The group even survived a little Latin.
We also limited ourselves to one round of :Gramma got run over by a
reindeer”.
December 7th
and 10th - Bodice Workshop – DGMMA (
Cause
what’s the point of having a shirt if you don’t have something to wear over or
under it.
December 4th–
Renaissance Shirt work-day – DGMMA (
Many Shirts were started. A few were even finished. Everyone should be well clothed in the coming
months.
November 19th
– Cuir-bouilli Demi-gauntlets –
DGMMA (
15
pairs of gauntlets were cut-out and punched.
Most were sewn together. Everyone
took their gauntlets home with instructions on how to harden them. For information on Cuir-bouilli, please go to
the Marc
Carlson website. For information on
tooling, other forms of hardening, or armor patterning, please visit armor archive.
October 22nd - Silk Banner Painting – DGMMA (
Many
lovely new banners were produced. No one
got quite as hooked as Else.
September 8 – Building
a Medieval Manor House – DMMA (
Everyone
had a tour of the new studio. Many of
the art projects were works in progress.
Completion date is set for September 24th.
August 11th - Kamp
Kitchen - Adam's House (
As
promised, Herrin Else led her audience through the trials and tribulations of
running a safe camping kitchen. Food
preparation--both on-site and at home--as well as period preservation
techniques were topics of much discussion.
Else also covered (much to our delight!), how to trim down your kitchen
equipment to the absolute basics, keeping a period look, and dealing with finicky
eaters. Else also answered the
immortal question... "Why did the chicken cross the road?" It didn't.
It got on a boat and sailed here from
May 8th –
Introduction to armor – Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Heinrich covered a large range of topics including armor
advancements from the Eleventh century to the Sixteenth century, armor
construction for SCA heavy fighting, armor construction for SCA rapier
fighting, sword construction for SCA heavy fighting, how to use a beverly shear
to cut ridiculously long pieces of aluminum, multiple helm styles and, because
fighting makes you thirsty, Philip shared some period mead and beer brewing
techniques. The class went well, and
Heinrich is planning on hosting some work days to help our new fighters get
their kits together this summer.
April 3rd –
Feast Prep Day –Heinrich and Else’s Ranch (Gustine)
Serving
stuff washing, trencher making, chopping, recipe perfecting, chopping, and
general sampling. Everyone did an amazing
amount of work for the feast the next weekend.
Else covered how she decides on a feast menu in terms of period recipes
vs period ingredients, prep time, and budgeting.
January 13th–
Rosaries and Cordial Tasting - Adam’s House (
Newly-minted
Lady Eleanora kept her all male audience enthralled with a brief class on
period rosaries. Admittedly many of the
students were there to taste the cordials, but reviews were strong for both
portions of the class. The mixed format
seemed to work well and encouraged the students to move beyond their normal
areas of interest.
January 8th–
Debut of the Arms of the Kings and Queens of the West – 12th Night (
The
banners were very well received.
Congratulations on jobs well done!
2004
November 11th
)– Garb Patterning and Fitting - Tuireadh’s House (
We
had 6 old members, and two new. Mari fit
two duct-tape bodices – one Italian, and one Cranach. Getting through the whole class in one night
is a challenge, but we will be able to follow up at the December Catch-up day
(see above for details).
October 31st – Banner Presentation – Evening Court Cynaguan Coronet
We
presented a sample of the completed banners to Their Highnesses Reinar and
Ellissif. We have finished the banners
with rolled seams and beveled corners.
We opted to sew in loops instead of grommeting as with previous
banners. The banners will be displayed
for the populace of the West at 12th Night.
October 2nd
– Brewing Class – Magnus’s House (Dos
Palos)
Magnus
covered mead brewing from sanitation to bottling. We were able to observe the creation of
Tira’s Birthday mead, which is actually a strawberry-kiwi melomel. Melomels are period fruit meads. Kiwis were not used in
August 7th –
Banner painting series – 10 am - Heinrich and Else’s
This
series is a year long project aimed at production of multiple painted
banners. The medium will be paint on
canvas. We completed the last of the
painting at this meeting. It is amazing
to watch the skill progression and the confidence increases in just 3
months. All that is left is hemming and
grommeting
July 3rd –
Banner painting series – 10 am - Heinrich and Else’s
This
series is a year long project aimed at production of multiple painted
banners. The medium will be paint on
canvas. The skill level of the painters
is increasing exponentially. We have 19
banners ready for detail work from this day.
June 5th –
Banner painting series – Special Date to Distribute canvasses
This series is a year long project
aimed at production of multiple painted banners. The medium will be paint on canvas. All devices were outlined. This project generated good discussions on
heraldry for our newer members.
Additionally, many members honed their painting skills.
May 14th – “Warrior Day” A and S Display
The
Shire turned out to provide a gorgeous display to augment the fighting Demo at
CSU Stanislaus. We were able to show our
arts to many of the college students.
Special thanks go to Eliska for the calligraphy demonstration. The westkingdom.org bookmarks were highly
appreciated by the recipients.
April 8th
– Banner painting series
This
series is a year long project aimed at production of multiple painted
banners. The medium will be paint on
canvas. Update on canvass availability. The canvasses were cut. New members learned how to use cutting wheels
and mats. These skills will translate
into all of their textile work. We also
discussed the make-up of the canvass and how the interaction of warp and weft
threads makes this canvas tear resistant.
March 11th –
Banner painting series
This series is a year long project aimed
at production of multiple painted banners.
The medium will be paint on canvas.
Update on canvass availability.
The plan is to have outlined squares ready for distribution at an April
Workshop.
February 5th
– Banner painting series
This
series is a year long project aimed at production of multiple painted
banners. The medium will be paint on
canvas. This first in the series
consisted of a round table discussion of banner making techniques. Pros and cons were discussed, and decisions
were made about techniques that will be employed throughout the series to
produce standardized banners. All 7
participants had some knowledge of banner making. The roundtable format worked well with this
small and intimate group.
2003
December 11th
– German Pants Patterning
Mistress Mari Alexander demonstrated
how to pattern a fitted pair of pants using well-loved jeans, pins, and a
Sharpie. Due to time constraints only
one model was fitted, but 7 shire members watched. The pattern developed in this class has been
very useful and adaptable to a variety of pants styles.
November – T-tunic Workshop
The usual gang met at Heinrich and
Else’s to sew T-tunics and create a Canale Gold Key. Everyone found his or her skill area and ten
tunics were completed that day. Rope
belts were added to the Gold Key collection later in the week. Additionally Mari created 4 German aprons to
clothe the feast staff at the upcoming Feasting and Fencing.
Completed
Projects by Canale Artisans and Households:
July 1st and 2nd, 2006 -- Sewing a Sunshade – DGMMA
Sewing, painting, running out of essential (black) fabric, and random ice cream cones marked this weekend's A&S a success. A black and white sunshade for the deGrendelus Household (and school) was nearly completed---including painting Gemini's arms and motto on the middle panels---with the painting skills of Aine (assisted by Mari -- when she wasn't fitting royalty for clothing-- Kylee?, and Eleonora) and myself, trapped under the sewing machine.
August 20th, 2006---Finishing the Sunshade &
Fitting Royalty--- Rolf & Rory's House
The
deGrendelus sunshade was completed with the aid of Her Royal Highness'
industrial sewing machine (got to get me one of those!!!), while Mari made with
the fitting and fussing. It was a lovely day of sewing. *The sunshade was up and looking fabulous at
Purgatorio!*
July 26th through the 28th, 2006---Shakespeare in the
Park---Riverbank
The deGrendelus Household and all available student fighters put on a fighting demo for the audience's entertainment at the Riverbank Shakespeare in the Park Festival. Fighting ranged from Whack-a-Knight (thank you to the heavy fighters who subjected themselves to this at the risk of their kneecaps), to Boffer/Youth Combat, and full Heavy Combat. Finished helms from a previous A&S were displayed, along with other armor bits, weapons, and multiple shield styles. Much fun was had by all.
September 10, 2006 - Byzantine Clothing (HRM Home)
Mari
Alexander traveled to Her Majesty's home to give a class on Byzantine
clothing. A large number of the
September 17, 2006 - Sewing Party (HRM Home)
Mari, her students, and many willing victims gathered to sew clothing for Rolf and Rory's upcoming reign. Lots of beads. Lots of chatter. Lots of little, little stitches.
October 15, 2006 - German Class for the Lady of the Mists
Once again, Mari braved the world outside of Canale in order to spread her costuming madness. This time our Brave Heroine ventured into the (occasionally hostile) territory of the Mists to teach a class on German Clothing. Since the class reached it's maximum capacity rather quickly, a second class was held in November. In Canale.
October 21 & 22, 2006 - Cloak and Mantle Class (DGMMA)
The deGrendelus studio hosted a cloak and mantle class for it's students. Three styles of cloaks were offered for the students to create, as well as two lengths of mantles. Many of the students showed fabulous progress since their first attempts at sewing (T-tunic class over the summer), and all of the cloaks were completed. *About 20 students*
On-going Projects by
Canale Artisans and Households:
All Available Weekends - Sewing, Sewing, Sewing (DGMMA)
Several Shire members continue to meet at the DeGrendelus Studio for sewing weekends. During this time, all unwary ladies who wander through the door get wrapped in duct tape, written on with sharpie markers, and told to go buy fabric. There is also random movie watching, lots of talking, plotting to take over the world, snacking, and much sewing to be had.
Time Not Spent Sewing - Shire Banner Project (DGMMA)
As more Shire members are getting their devices registered (or at least in progress), Eleonora is trying to keep up with her promise of silk banners for everyone. Fun, but time consuming.
Armor Things (various locations)
Sir
Gemini, Herr Heinrich von Melk, and Walterus Ignotus are striving to get the
new fighters of Canale armored and out onto the field. Hooray for
motivated boys!
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