St Andrew's Day Ball 1

 Greetings

Teddy and I went to our second Regency Ball in Putney on St Andrew's Day.

It was very local for us, so we went to the practice in everyday clothes and then went home to change for the ball.

It was Scottish themed, but , even through kilts were allowed, I decided not to wear mine.

My Line Regiment coat happens to have the star of the Order of the Thistle on it. I usually wear it with my nice bullion epaulettes and an aiglette, so I added the swath I usually wear with my kilt , as this was often done by Highland regiment officers.

It was a challenge keeping that much cloth under control for dancing. I passed one end under my right epaulette and threw the rest round and back over the top of the same epaulette, pinning it with a kilt pin at my left hip and with a clan broach at the shoulder. This left a long end hanging behind me.

Next time I will use a clan broach and a kilt pin at the shoulder, as one broach was not enough to stop tartan falling down my arm at times.

This was also the first time I had worn my new white britches. They were very comfortable to dance in.

I will post more pictures later.

Until next time

Adieu

 

Further work to painting

Greetings

I have done more work to the painting.

It now looks like this

This picture is now in the final stages. I will be living with it for a while and occasionally making small alterations until it tells me it's finished.

Until next time

Adieu
 

Regency Buck 12

 Greetings

Here is another version of my new computer art.

The Regency Buck sans wig...

Until next time

Adieu

Yet more work to painting

 Greetings

I have done more work to the kingfisher and the flowers and plants.

The painting now looks like this.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 11

 Greetings

Once more censorship has been applied to this version..

and it might be better to call it 'Regency Buck Naked'.

Until next time

Adieu

More work to painting

 Greetings

I have done some more work to my current oil painting.

It now looks like this.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 10

 Greetings

Here is the next version of this computer art.

I have applied some censorship for this blog...

Until next time

Adieu

Breeches 6

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With the vent complete, the breeches were nearly finished.

I added the buttons and button holes.

and the buckles. I had acquired some replica breeches buckles, which fit through button holes.

and buttons at the knee.

I have also added braces buttons on the inside of the waistband and the breeches are now complete and are very comfortable to wear. 

I will be wearing them at the Ball in Putney at the end of the month.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 9

 Greetings

Here is another version of my new computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Breeches 5

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Having finished the knee opening, I then added lacing holes at the rear vent.

I  also decided to add a vent piece, as I would sometimes wear the breeches with a dolman (which has no tails) .

Here it is with the lacing open. I added  two holes in the vent piece to stop it shifting when I'm dancing.

Here it is with the lacing closed.

Until next time 

Adieu

Regency Buck 8

 Greetings

Here is the latest version of my new computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Breeches 4

 Greetings

Having attached the waistband, I  now turned my attention to the knee openings.

Due to a confusion caused by misprints and inexact instructions on the pattern, I had not cut the leg panels with a fold-in buttonhole tab or button flaps, so I cut these as separate pieces and added them to the knee opening.

The pattern had also specified that the knee cuff should be cut as four separate pieces and seemed to indicate a standard 5 eighth seam allowance.

Due to the way I had set out the pattern pieces, I had cut one cuff  on the fold. This one worked with the standard seam allowance, giving me an inch wide finish. I had to sew the other band with the minimum seam allowance to get the same result.

Once more, this new pattern required some furkling...

This shows the internal button flap and the inside of the button-hole panel after the cuff has been sewn on. The buttonhole panel is anchored at the corners with 'as-invisible-as-I-can-make-'em' stitches. 

Here is the outer view. You will note I have allowed a long tail, as I will be adding knee buckles.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 7

 Greetings

Here is the next version of my latest computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Breeches 3

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Having lined the fall, set the pockets and sewn the out-seams and the in-seam, the next thing to do was to sew on the waistband.

I had to ensure that the edge of the pocket lining and the top corner of the pocket flaps were caught in the waistband.

The back of the breeches has to be fuller than the front and I opted  to put in box pleats instead of gathering.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 6

 Greetings

Here is another version of my latest computer art

Until next time 

Adieu

Breeches 2

 Greetings

I have cut out the pieces for my new breeches.

I started with the front panels, backing the fall front and adding the under-fall pieces.

I then sewed the front side of the pocket to form the 'Frog-mouth'.
 

Here you can see the front panels of the pockets, the under-fall and the long liner of the fall.

You will note that I have bound the long liner with bias tape. I then proceeded to zig-zag stitch all the long seams, as the breeches are unlined.

I am using a new pattern for this project  and the the instructions are not wonderfully well written. This means I have to make adaptations  as I am working. For reasons too long to explain, in our house the verb for this is ' to furkle'.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 5

 Greetings

Here is another version of my latest computer art picture

Until next time

Adieu

Breeches 1

 Greetings

I recently started learning Regency dance and have attended one Ball so far.

I had made some white breeches some years ago and had to adapt them a bit for my first ball.

They are, however, fashionably snug, so I judges it prudent to make a new pair in a larger size.

Having made a mock-up, I found I needed to adjust the front  and, with Teddy's help, adjusted the pattern.

I added a triangular piece to the front  and copied this to the mock up. 

It worked, so I hot washed and ironed my fabric and laid out my pattern pieces. You will note that I had already copied the paper pattern onto plastic, as Teddy and I have found this greatly extends the life of patterns.

I was partway through laying out, when I realised I had to create another pattern piece, as extending the front seam meant making a new fall liner pattern piece.. This is why the front panel in not in the shot above that Teddy took.

Above is the final lay out. I managed to get everything except one pocket in. Luckily, I had some more smaller pieced of this fabric that I can use for this and any other edge bindings that might be necessary.

Finally, here is aclose up showing the altered front panel and the new falls liner.

I have cut out all the pieces ( except the last pocket- still waiting for that cloth to dry!) and will post more when I have started to make it up.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 4

 Greetings

Here is the next version of my new computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 3

 Greetings

Here is the next version of m y new computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 2

 Greetings

Here is the first variant of my new computer art..

until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 1

 Greetings

Here is a new piece of computer art.

I have several versions of this one...

Until next time

Adieu

Shipwrecked 1

 Greetings

Here is a new painting that I have just completed.

This was based on a coloured pencil picture from my sketchbook (which I blogged about previously)

I think the painting came out a bit better than the drawing. His britches look wetter, I was able to get a bit of 'wet shirt clinging to flesh' effect and the face has more intensity.

Until next time

Adieu

Calligraphy 5

 Greetings

Here is another payer that I have added to my breviary.

This one extorts St Michael to cast down the devil and his minions ( The Bishop is an Ecclesiastical Knight of the order of St Michael).

As this was quite a long payer for my rather small book, I had to spread it over two pages.

Supplicesdeprecamur is currently the longest Latin word I have written out- and worked out how to actually say...

You will also note I split some words to fit more on the page. Where possible I've done this in a way that is an aid to their pronunciation.

Until next time

Adieu

Amersham

 Greetings

I have recently attended my last show for this re-enactment season.

I have done this show for many years. It is only one day and reasonably relaxing, although it is always on a Sunday, so was a little less convenient when I was working full time.

I made sure all my kit was loaded into the car by close of play on Saturday. I was giving my friend Sandy a lift, so set off bright and early once she arrived.

The journey went well and I even remembered to do the 'All round the houses' route once we reached Amersham, so we didn't drive through the middle of the old town ( as in previous years) , as they had requested.

There were only a few of us there. Mat had brought the arming tent, I had my awning and Gary had a small tent. We set these up and got the cars off site as soon as possible.

We had a guest/possible new member. Paul had decided to join us. He had resigned from the group whose member had nearly injured me at Hever. He had not been at Hever, but he had seen footage of the blow that hit me in the face.  He also told me that the footage showed the same person doing dangerous blows against another fighter.

When he realised that the group had no intention of doing anything about this, he decided he didn't want to be associated with them any more.

Gary and Deejay had come on direct from another event and, unfortunately, Deejay had a hand injury and,Paul , whilst an experienced fighter, wanted to have a chance to do a bit of sparring with us before fighting in tourney.

Consequently, the only fighters were me and Gary.( though Paul did volunteer to be one of the commanders in the Kiddies Battle- brave man. He got out alive...)

I volunteered to be the one armed in 'Arming the Knight' and then did three consecutive fights with Gary, pacing my self as much as I could ( I tend to overheat if I not careful)

We started off with arming sword and heater shield and then switched to just arming sword, As usual, Gary ( who is a few years younger than me and can fight on for longer ) looked more dominant.

I then took a water break and came back with hand-and-a-half sword. Now I am better at this than Gary is and , hence, got more blows in. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep going for very long and gave him an opening to put me down and end the fight.

I think that is the longest I've had to fight near-continuously for quite some time...

We had a reasonable crowd and they obviously enjoyed the fight .

Here is a picture of me waiting my turn in a previous tourney at Amersham, with my lord of Lancaster acting as marshal.

As we had brought less with us, it did not take long to pack down and I had a good journey back.

Until next time

Adieu

Calligraphy 4

 Greetings

Here is a new payer I have just finished.asking for the forgiveness of our enemies sins.

I have used a small amount of gold leaf in the capital.

I think this one looks rather nice.

Until next time

Adieu

Hever 2024

 Greetings

I attended the 'Hever in History' event over the August Bank Holiday.

As I knew we could not get access to the site until 2.30,I packed up all the kit into the car on the Friday morning and drove down after lunch. The traffic was reasonable, but there were seveal unexplained delays and one long roadworks and I got there around 4.00.

The only hic-up was that all  the numbers had worn off the key-pad at the gate and my guesses at the code did not seem to open the gate. Fortunately, someone tried to drive out and, in the space afforded by the very slow gate opening, I was able to drive in.

There were enough other Paladins already on site for me to get the inital help I needed to put up the tent and, being told that rain was expected, I got everything inside and battened down the hatches.

I also opted to ignore the site instructions telling me to park in the plastic camping (meaning a longish walk back and then again to collect the car at the end) and secreted it amongst those of the Vikings who parked just up hill from their camp.

That night was very wet and it then proceeded to rain heavily all day Saturday. We had all noted that the ground was very hard when putting up the tents and, unfortunately this led to the upper foot or so becoming saturated and the wet spreading out horizonally under the tent.

My plastic ground sheet never quite aligns with the tent and I usually use lighter sheets and a rubberbacked mat to fill in the holes. These became soaked and spread the wet to the other mats and sheepskins.

I was left with an island of dry , which (luckily) include the bit with my bed on it.

Fortunately, I had opted to hang most of the weapons from the cartwheel and the armour was safe in its oak chest.

Needless to say, we did not fight on Saturday, but we still had a few members of the public to talk to, which shows they are even madder than we are.

Sunday dawned clear , if slightly cloudy, and was a good day with a quite reasonable battle, though I decided to sit out the final clash.

Here is a picture of my tent and awning taken on the Sunday. You can see my great helm being displayed with the new crest I carved for the first time.

Here is a picture of me as the Bishop ( this was taken by my fellow-Paladin, Ann-Marie, at the event in Samwich earlier this year and is use with permission)

 

The Monday was also dry and overcaste and the battle went well- right up until the idiot hit me in the face ( I have covered this in my previous blog ' Hever- by the sword')

We started the pack-down about 5.30 , but it was getting on for 8.00 before I was finished ( and that was with Sandy and Frederika generously helping me) .  I

I rang Teddy telling him I was about to leave and gave an estimate of an hour and half, based on the delays I'd had coming in. 

I had no delays at all and was home  in about an hour.

I'd say it was mixed event. Rubbish on Saturday; good on Sunday; spoiled by the near-blinding on Monday.

Ho Hum

Untill next time

Adieu

Calligraphy 3

 Greetings

Here is an 'Ave Maria' that I have recently added to my Breviary.

Until next time

Adieu

Discworld, Worldcon & Chaos 3

 Greetings

So, we have arrived at Glasgow, Chaos is set up and i have hung my pictures and sculpture plaques in the Art Show.

Chaos is situated in its cage , beyond the Art Show, at the rear of the Dealers Room.

We registered as volunteers and , thus, qualified for payment in groats. These could be exchanged for food from fast-food trucks, or goods from the Dealers.

We have found that, increasingly, the trend has been to put all information and program on-line. Now , I am dyslexic and find it difficult to navigate large amounts of text on-line and Teddy also finds it difficult.

We therefore asked for a printed programme, which was provided. It did not, however, include a dayly grid, showing which items were on at the same time. However, after providing some help to Ops, a friendly person printed one up for us. We could now plan which items we might like to go to.

In the event, however, we didn't get to go to much, as we were kept pretty busy in Chaos.

I did however find that, after a certain number of hours worked, I could get a priority entry to any programme item. I was, therefore able to get a good seat for the masquarade.

This is only the second occasion that I have been in the audience, as I have previously been more likely to be a participant. Teddy could not join me, however, as he was one of the workmanship judges.

It was a good masquarade with a high number of novice and rookie entrants, who all did very well.

I was particularly impressed by their presentation. There were no over-long entries. I may post more later on this.

When it came to the day before the end of the convention, I had a text from the chap from the Discworld convention, who had said he's arrange to take all the cloth, fixing and braid from Chaos for making new kit for his LARP group. He said he was now doing something else on the last day of the convention and wanted to make arrangements to pick up the things later.

I had always said I wouldn't drive the stuff hither and yon after the con and sent back that it was a shame it hadn't worked out. We prepared, reluctantly, to put it all in a skip. We hung cloth enticingly on the cage to see if people wanted to take things

Then, out of the blue, another convention member said she was also in a LARP group and would take whatever was left. We happily passed it over and left her ringing round the members of her group to get folk to help her cart it away. 

So, a better result in the end and Chaos is officially over. The car was much emptier and easier to pack on the way home.

Despite not getting to programme items, I enjoyed the convention. The only major downside was the shere numbers of people seemed to amplify my hypoglycaemia and negated my usual warning signs, which meant I went hypo several times

On the other hand, I sold this cartoon in the Art Show.

AND

I won the "John and Robbie's choice" Award for my painting "Sword of the Angel"

So, now I am an International Award Winning Artist, as well as an International Award Winning Costumer.

We stopped off at another travelodge on the way home- somewhere just north of Birmingham, I think.

The journey went well , we gor home and began the slow process of recovering.

Until Next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 16

 Greetings

Here is our last view of Judge Declan ( any further any it'd have to be in The Garden of Dubious Delights..)

Until next time

Adieu

Discworld, Worldcon & Chaos 2

 Greetings

Having had a good time at the Discworld convention in Birmingham, we packed up Chaos Costuming and pack it, our costumes and clothes and my pictures for the Artshow and set off on part one of our journey to Worldcon in Glasgow.

Discworld was a three day conention. We stayed the Monday night and left on the Tuesday morning. Worldcon, however, did not start until the Wednesday

Teddy had arranged for a room at a Travelodge near Carlisle, which is roughly halfway between Birmingham and Glasgow. 

We had been recommended an independent Services en-route and stopped there for lunch, encountering our friends Steve and Julia in the process. We spent an little time there and then set off north again.

Soon the Sat Nav told us we were getting close to the Travelodge and -surely it had to be that services we have just driven past??? Then the Sat Nav directed us off at the next juction -and on again going south.

Teddy had failed to note that the Travelodge was only accessible on the southbound carriageway.

We stayed the night and had to drive south one junction before resuming our journey.

We crossed the boarder and passed through a lot of most excellent scenery

As lunchtime was again approaching we looked for services and found, to our surprise it was the same independent chain as the previously recommended one. There seem to be three of them in the UK.

Eventually, we reached Glasgow and headed to the SEC to unload Chaos and my paintings.WE obtained our special parking permit for the SEC carpark and got our con badges and set-up access wrist bands.

Here is a picture of SEC theatre we call The Armadillo

Once this had been  achieved, we went in search of our hotel and-couldn't find it. We stopped at an antique shop for directions and , in driving the other way, realised why we had' t found it the first time.

It's name was only prominently displayed at the top of it's tower.

We found a carpark , parked and went to check in. This is when we discovered that the check in desk was  the bar, which was also the dining room.

We dumped out stuff and went back to get the car- reluctantly paying £6 for having parked for about ten minutes- and drove back to the SEC, parked up and went to help with Chaos set up and hang my show in the Art  Show.

Here is my space in the Art Show. As you can see, I am now a master at getting as many pictures in as possible.

When all that was done, we staggered back to the hotel to collapse.

I will post more anon.

until next time

Adieu

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