Saturday, June 04, 2005
Playing catch up......
Oh, good golly!!! From the looks of this blog, I haven’t been doing a thing for three weeks, and nothing could be further than the truth….
The week of May16th, I concentrated mostly on woodworking projects. What does wood have to do with armoring? Well, not a whole lot, to be honest. I built my pell out behind the shop, and I hauled out the camping gear to repair/refurbish anything that needed it. Being cheap, for the pell, I used scrounged materials. Since I was working on the tent poles (I made a couple new ones, and re-painted everything else) I ended up with several 2x4s extra. I laminated them together (ok, I just screwed them together, but the screws weigh almost as much as the wood….), and sunk the whole thing into a two-foot deep hole. I just happened to have all of these bags of Quick-crete (note to self: when you start buying stuff for a project, make sure you can get all of the stuff you need to do the project. I have always wanted to do the cobblestone path thing, using concrete and a form – which is not sold any more, at least not here in Athens….). Anyway, I now have a 7-foot tall post in my yard, wrapped in a ton of insulation that was laying in the storage shed, then finished off with carpet. Not very elegant, but hey--- it works.
Well, I guess it will work. I still haven’t been able to get up with Loric to learn some basic moves. I am reluctant to start hitting the thing, because I do not want to use bad form. I think it would be bad if I practice something a lot, only to find out it is a bad habit…..
The week of the 23rd I was preparing for TMT – Trimarian Memorial Tourney. I was not too keen of the idea of going to an event in another kingdom by myself, but I am very glad that I did. I highly recommend visiting neighboring kingdoms if it is at all possible from where you live. It was very interesting comparing and contrasting the way things are done between my home and Trimaris. Sometimes it is very subtle, sometimes not at all. I also got the chance to witness their HUGE Crown List (HE Yoan was fighting--- ostensibly, this was the reason I was going in the first place). I also had volunteered to cook for Count Yoan and Countess Eorann’s household. (Her Excellency is Caitlin’s sister, whom I have enjoyed hanging out with at Gulf Wars). They weren’t expecting too many folks from their household, and I already had lamb for 20 people. So, I invited Duchess Elena and several of her guests, too. I met some really great people --- my thanks to Her Excellency and Her Grace for introducing me around --- and I plan to go back and visit again very soon (Trimarian XXth Year is Labor Day weekend). The Crown List was awesome! HRM had not required letters of intent; and I don’t know if that was a factor, but they had over 35 fighters in the List!! I have never witnessed such a large Crown List. The fighting was very clean, and there were many acts of chivalry on the field that day. I also managed to lace up two rows of lamellar backwards, which I was not going to change/fix, but did anyway….
Last week, the week of the 30th was a short week. Monday was a travel day from Trimaris (only 7 hours if you were wondering). As I said, I finished off the lamellar plates that I had in my possesion (although that wasn’t until Sunday). I did my research on the tunic I am going to use for fighting, drafted my pattern, and got it cut out and partially assembled. I am trying to decide if I want to do any embellishments on it or not. It is white linen (so that I can bleach it as needed), and I am not sure if I want to spend the time doing the decorative stuff on it in any case. Have I mentioned that I hate sewing? I also carved a Viking pommel out of wood, to use as a master for sand-casting. I am afraid the thing is going to weigh a ton (especially once I get the cross-guard done, too), but considering the dimensional requirements for being able to use it on the field….. I do think it is going to look to cool though.
If you made it through this post, I am amazed. I have been trying to keep the entries down to a paragraph or two, and kind of blew it when I went and didn’t post for so long. I will try to be better….. ;-p
The week of May16th, I concentrated mostly on woodworking projects. What does wood have to do with armoring? Well, not a whole lot, to be honest. I built my pell out behind the shop, and I hauled out the camping gear to repair/refurbish anything that needed it. Being cheap, for the pell, I used scrounged materials. Since I was working on the tent poles (I made a couple new ones, and re-painted everything else) I ended up with several 2x4s extra. I laminated them together (ok, I just screwed them together, but the screws weigh almost as much as the wood….), and sunk the whole thing into a two-foot deep hole. I just happened to have all of these bags of Quick-crete (note to self: when you start buying stuff for a project, make sure you can get all of the stuff you need to do the project. I have always wanted to do the cobblestone path thing, using concrete and a form – which is not sold any more, at least not here in Athens….). Anyway, I now have a 7-foot tall post in my yard, wrapped in a ton of insulation that was laying in the storage shed, then finished off with carpet. Not very elegant, but hey--- it works.
Well, I guess it will work. I still haven’t been able to get up with Loric to learn some basic moves. I am reluctant to start hitting the thing, because I do not want to use bad form. I think it would be bad if I practice something a lot, only to find out it is a bad habit…..
The week of the 23rd I was preparing for TMT – Trimarian Memorial Tourney. I was not too keen of the idea of going to an event in another kingdom by myself, but I am very glad that I did. I highly recommend visiting neighboring kingdoms if it is at all possible from where you live. It was very interesting comparing and contrasting the way things are done between my home and Trimaris. Sometimes it is very subtle, sometimes not at all. I also got the chance to witness their HUGE Crown List (HE Yoan was fighting--- ostensibly, this was the reason I was going in the first place). I also had volunteered to cook for Count Yoan and Countess Eorann’s household. (Her Excellency is Caitlin’s sister, whom I have enjoyed hanging out with at Gulf Wars). They weren’t expecting too many folks from their household, and I already had lamb for 20 people. So, I invited Duchess Elena and several of her guests, too. I met some really great people --- my thanks to Her Excellency and Her Grace for introducing me around --- and I plan to go back and visit again very soon (Trimarian XXth Year is Labor Day weekend). The Crown List was awesome! HRM had not required letters of intent; and I don’t know if that was a factor, but they had over 35 fighters in the List!! I have never witnessed such a large Crown List. The fighting was very clean, and there were many acts of chivalry on the field that day. I also managed to lace up two rows of lamellar backwards, which I was not going to change/fix, but did anyway….
Last week, the week of the 30th was a short week. Monday was a travel day from Trimaris (only 7 hours if you were wondering). As I said, I finished off the lamellar plates that I had in my possesion (although that wasn’t until Sunday). I did my research on the tunic I am going to use for fighting, drafted my pattern, and got it cut out and partially assembled. I am trying to decide if I want to do any embellishments on it or not. It is white linen (so that I can bleach it as needed), and I am not sure if I want to spend the time doing the decorative stuff on it in any case. Have I mentioned that I hate sewing? I also carved a Viking pommel out of wood, to use as a master for sand-casting. I am afraid the thing is going to weigh a ton (especially once I get the cross-guard done, too), but considering the dimensional requirements for being able to use it on the field….. I do think it is going to look to cool though.
If you made it through this post, I am amazed. I have been trying to keep the entries down to a paragraph or two, and kind of blew it when I went and didn’t post for so long. I will try to be better….. ;-p
