A Rose By Any Other Name

For any that know me well, I rarely take commissions... It isn't that I do not wish to help others out, it is because I am notoriously bad about placing any value on my work. However, when asked directly by a dear friend to provide vestments for their champion, it was an offer I was unable to refuse.

After receiving the recipients measurements, I did a bit of mathing and geometry to figure out a pattern to use and shortly thereafter I realized I had another partially complete project that was just a few dimensions off matching what I needed. I set to work, creating a Rus-style tunic with French seams (to tighten things up a bit) and provide the person with less points of failure. I decided to add a little running and blanket stitch as embellishment, delivered at Standard Bearers in April. (I should also mention this part of the project was given with roughly a week's notice.)

Once the test piece was created, I turned my focus on to creating a champions tunic -- outside of my area of expertise, for sure. I wanted to create something that gave a nod to their Russian reign, but was comfortable enough for the combatant to fight in.

After several days of staring at heraldry, I chose one rose pattern then sent it off to the (3D) printers to create a stamp (Crispin) who delivered the wares on short notice. I took a evening to stamp and heat set the semy of roses on hunter green linen. The first run went through the wash being heat set by an iron, but there was something about it that I just didn't care for, so I scrapped it and started again with my guides more precise and the pattern more crisp, this time heat setting it several times at high heat in the dryer. (Fingers crossed!)

I feel I need to add the caveat that, while I have stamped fabric in the past, I am no subject matter expert. This is very much trial and error and I understand that the recipient will be using the tunic for the next five months, so it wasn't necessarily stamped with the intention of longevity.

Despite initially feeling that the semy of roses in black would be sufficient for the chest placard, I decided that wasn't really pronounced enough so I spent a few hours painting each of the roses. And yes, I was chanting the mantra of "Never send a scribe to do a clothiers task!" or something equally as not-witty as I laboriously painted between each line of the stamp. I chalk this up to "Never Again" knowing full well I will do something like it again to punish myself.

After the placard was attached and tunic sewn together (what is not seen is every bias-tape reinforced seam and the +20 hours of whip stitching...) the finished tunic wasn't precisely finished. I felt I missed the mark and added a chaplet of roses around the bottom of the tunic. It's not exactly Russian, but it's SCA-Russian with a touch of 14th century mystery added.

I hope it serves the recipient well during their time as champion.

Adventures in Block Printing

I grew up in a fairly rural part of Arizona, but in spite of this we had a pretty amazing and witty art teacher. One of the areas of study covered in 7th or 8th grade was lithography, specifically linoleum carving and block printing. I remember enjoying the class and being ever so proud of my carved unicorn, a homage to my love of The Last Unicorn and (I'm sure) Legend.

Fast-forward a couple of years to the early months of 2016 when I decide that I need to remake the curtains for the canopy bed my Lord and I use at Pennsic. The most economical fabric I found was plain lawn for a ridiculously low price, so I purchased 30 yards and made plans to jazz it up with fabric printing. (I'm fairly sure the idea initially spawned after reading an article somewhere on the internet about painted fabrics or perusing the eternal productivity killer known as Pinterest.)

As usual, money talks, so my orders of linoleum blocks, Speedball inks, brayers, carving tools, and most importantly fabric arrived. What I didn't order, but arrived nevertheless, were massive amounts of work related projects and travel, the local event Northern Oaken War Maneuvers for which I am an event steward, and then Pennsic projects more important than decoration. Needless to say, I overbooked my time and couldn't get to any of this. (On the upside, I did get to take a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to look at extant examples of printed fabrics, but that's another post entirely!)

If you're going to choose
heraldry,  be sure to select
complex lines of division...

Through the rest of spring and summer, I watched a barony member named Dulcia (Wylde) post pictures of her own explorations in block printing and lived vicariously through it. After War, she was kind enough to teach a class at our local baronial meeting, allowing people to make and take any number of ink and fabric combinations. (Block printing, block carving, stamping, or stencils.)

I decided to give it a go and thankfully found out it's just like riding a bike! There was a small piece of carving material available, so I grabbed that and quickly drew out a rough cut of my heraldry on a lozenge. (Because why do anything easy?)  After a few negative-positive space fumbles, I carved this lovely little stamp. Not perfect, but not bad for 25+ years out of practice.

If you are interested in learning more about block printing, there is a fabulous Facebook group shepherded by Countess Brigit of Mercia. She is a powerhouse researcher who taught several classes at Pennsic this year and quite the trend setter and inspiration.

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrintedTextiles/