In a Hermit Kind of Mood + Playing with Vintage Clip Earrings

All of September and the first of October were really busy weeks for me. In September I attended the first Gathering of the Amazon Mounted Archers, which took place at the Flying Duchess Ranch in Arlington, Washington (more about this event and the SCA one will be posted on my horse blog site, Equine Madness. The link is given above, on my header) After initially feeling completely overwhelmed by the caliber of women I was riding with, and after getting over a meltdown of insecurity one night, I pulled up my big-girl panties and got on with it. A nice pep-talk from two of the women certainly helped, but the bottom line was, I had ridden up with friends and was basically trapped until the meet was over. I had to either pull myself together, or stand aside while everyone else had a fabulous time riding and shooting.

This issue of being overwhelmed was not caused by anything any of the other women did or said. They were all great, and very supportive, but I am more of an introvert, and tend to be a bit overwhelmed when in a room of extroverts, all laughing and joking and having a great time, especially when I didn't know over half of them. They were all much better at mounted archery than I was, since I have only been doing it seriously for one summer. Some of these women compete internationally and have been doing mounted archery for years.

But I got over my feelings of being overwhelmed and outclassed. I told myself that I could still have fun, even if I was the worst archer there, which after the scores of the competition were toted up, I was, coming in dead last. But by that time it didn't matter. I had fun. I met a lot of wonderful women, and am looking forward to next year, when they all meet again here in Oregon. It will be even better for me, as I will have another summer of practice under my belt, be riding my own horse instead of a borrowed one, and will be riding on a course I am very familiar with, as it is the home course of the Rogue Mounted Archers, to which both my husband and I belong.

So for all you who bother to read this, here is what I do when I'm not doing some kind of artwork, making jewelry, or sewing. I ride a horse at a fast gallop and shoot arrows at targets.

Me and Jebe, my borrowed mount (he is wearing war paint), do a back shot. I love that the photographer timed it so that all four of Jebe's hooves are off the ground.

After getting back from the Amazon meet, I had about a month to prepare for an SCA event due up on Oct 4-6, that also included mounted archery. I was in charge of that part of the weekend activities, which included, along with regular target archer, a mile and a half hunt, where we shot at animal targets...all of them made and painted by me. Fortunately, all the targets I used last year and had stored in the attic above our garage were still good. But for me and Robert, it is a big job putting all these targets up, marking the course, and getting everything ready for the riders coming in from out of town, then going back and taking everything down again. I also got tangled up in some politics and personal issues with people over this event, which didn't make my life any easier. I am highly allergic to drama, but got sucked into it anyway.

So I jumped from one busy, emotional event to another. By the time the SCA event was over, I wanted to do...nothing. A big, fat nothing. I didn't want to ride, I didn't want to shoot, I didn't want to work outside, I didn't want to talk to anyone other than Robert. I wanted to sit on the couch with my cat and read a book while drinking copious amounts of tea. Part of that feeling lingers on, but I am slowly pulling out of it. Slowly. It was almost like I needed to detox, which sounds terrible, but that's exactly how I felt, and to a certain extent, still feel.  So, lots of tea, lots of reading, and lots of private time to myself.

Which brings me to playing around with vintage clip earrings. I have had a stash of them for quite awhile, picked up in bags of other stuff at thrift or antique stores. Some I used by cutting off the backs and adding them to beaded necklaces or bracelets. I recently acquired a few more pretty ones from an Internet friend. Most of the nicer clip-ons sit in a little bowl on top of my antique dressing table, looking very sparkly and fun, but I hadn't really decided what to do with them.

Here they are out on my deck, so they will show up better in the photo.

Here are a few of the ideas I came up with on how to use these little gems, which you can usually find quite cheap. The two sweaters are high-end, pure cotton ones I recently found at the Goodwill for $4.99 each.

I have already worn the taupe sweater with the little clips, and will take the purple sweater out for a spin soon. The next way I wore the clips was to help hold down the front of one of my hand-stitched and beaded boleros. They tend to flip open sometimes, so I clipped the fronts to the straps of my tank top and it worked beautifully and added a bit of sparkle.

 

Oh, and, um, apologies for the cat hair. It's impossible to get all of it off, so...sorry.

Lastly, I clipped one into the hat band on my old felt fedora. I think it looks great.

 

This particular earring (also shown on the purple sweater) belonged to Robert's grandmother. There is only one of them, the other having been lost who knows how long ago. I love the color and flash of these old rhinestones. 

So, there are my ideas on how you can play around with these fun old earrings. I'm sure I'll think of more ways to use these sparkly bits of eye-candy as time goes on.

Persian Riding Coat Finished.....Maybe.

Okay, here are photos of the construction and end results of the Persian riding coat. It ended up looking pretty nice (I got many compliments), and was super comfortable to ride in, which was a real plus, as the temperatures at the SCA equestrian event I wore it to were close to 90 degrees all weekend. The fact that it was made of cotton, and had a loose fit, helped keep me cool...er, but it was still bloody hot, and both me and my horse sweated up a storm over the two days.

Here is the old viking coat muslin laid down over the new pattern sheeting. I used my tape measure, pinned in place, like a compass so that I could add the wider skirt width needed for the new coat.

Here is one side of the coat body cut out. There are no shoulder seams with this pattern. There is just a right and left side. I ended up trimming about two inches off the shoulder width where the sleeve attaches, as the original Viking coat was made for a guy, with broader shoulders than mine.

Here is the muslin mock up, minus one sleeve. I had to use two different pieces if yardage to get this, which is why one side is a slightly heavier weight of fabric than the other.  The hardest part of this fairly simple garment was figuring out the underarm gussets. I futzed and futzed with those, but finally got them to work correctly.

One half of the coat body cut out of the cotton twill fabric, and with the first of the decorative bands sewn on. The fabric I cut the bands from was a synthetic, but the design was just so perfect for the coat, I used it anyway. The real downside to it was the fact that it unraveled like crazy. I was constantly cutting away stray threads, and had to handle the stuff vary carefully.

A close up of the banding material. It was one of many pieces of yardage a friend sent me, and I still have quite a bit left over, both in strips I didn't use, and in a wider piece still intact.

The finished coat...maybe. I say maybe, because there is a part of me that wants to bead the trim bands —which would be totally crazy, but would look awesome. The pattern of the design just screams out for beads, but I'm not sure how practical they would be on something I will wear to ride my horse in. Also, I really want to add some narrow black trim to highlight the antique gold of the bands. My saddle is black, my boots are black, and the breast collar with tassel I made as part of this whole costume, is black. The original plan was to have black trim, but I just ran out of time to get that on before the event.

 The back. And I must add, apologies for the wrinkled condition of the coat. I pulled the coat from the back of the car (I still haven't unloaded everything from the weekend) and took these this morning, since I had no full length photos of the coat before the event. It kinda looks like it had a rough weekend, but you get the idea. Also, I had taken Inara out on the deck so the lighting would be better, and of course, it started to sprinkle, so I had to rush to get these. Then the batteries in my camera went dead. Grrr....

This photo shows the curve of the sleeve ends.

And this is how I wore it, with a beautiful sequined sash.

And this is how Delight and I looked, with me in my new Persian coat, riding in the Pageantry musical freestyle part of the event. My music was Marco Polo by Loreena McKennitt. In this photo I am signaling her to slow down (hence the tight rein) to prepare for our next move. She has a power walk, so needed reminding once and a while that this was not a race.

So, that's it. One Persian coat, and one happy rider. I liked it so much, I may make another one, in a lighter fabric (I had originally intended this to be made of linen, but the color I wanted was all gone, and what was left wouldn't have been right). In any case, I call this coat a success.

Equestrian Costume Project

My husband and I play within an organization called the SCA, which stands for Society for Creative Anachronism. It is a world-wide society, which holds events based on the medieval world between 600 AD and 1601AD. It also promotes research into all aspects of that time period, and members work to create a "persona" that might have lived in the time frame they choose...say 1400 Italian or 1500 Elizabethan. But it also includes Greek, Russian, Viking, Turkish, and even Japanese personas. It just depends on what you are interested in.

I joined the SCA back in the early 80s, played for ten years, then bailed out, moved to Oregon (I lived in Southern California), then rejoined about three years ago. Before I left California, I had done mostly the equestrian games, which attempt to recreate the tactics used to practice for war. I'm not going to go into detail about that, but it can include everything from whacking fake heads on poles (behead the enemy) to mounted archery, which is my favorite.

All the costumes my husband and I currently have are ones I made back in the 80s. They still fit, and still look nice, but....I'm tired of them. I want to make us both some new things, starting with equestrian garb. We do mounted archery outside the SCA, but sometimes those folks, depending on the event, also wear some kind of costume, usually of a Mongolian or Turkish origin since that is the birthplace of mounted archery. So, for about the last year I have been trolling the Internet, especially Pinterest, looking for a Turkish costume that would be rider-friendly. I ride an Arabian/saddlebred cross mare, so putting her, or me, in a heavy "warhorse" type costume wouldn't look right.

I figured I would be trolling along, looking at costumes, the right one would pop up, and I'd have a "That's it!" moment. I came close a few times, but when I saw this tunic, the "ding, ding, ding, That's it!" moment struck.

So, here it is, fresh off of Pinterest. I will make modifications to it, like change the color (green, black and gold), shorten it to mid-calf length, and split the back up to about my tail bone to make it more horse-friendly. And it won't be quite as ornate as this tunic, as it needs to be washable. I even have a pattern I made, again back in the 80s, for a very early period Viking coat (I made it for a male friend), which is surprisingly similar in shape and construction—it's not as pinched in at the waist and there are no sleeve gussets. But it won't take much to convert it to this tunic. Then I will make a matching saddle cloth and breast collar for my horse.

It's going to be weird getting back into SCA-type costuming, since the only costuming I have done in the last five years has been pirate garb for when we do pirate reenacting (yes, we do, and have a ton of fun doing it, with a great gang of friends).

So, let the hunt for fabric and trim begin!

After Event R&R, then Moving On

It has been a week since the ARC event. It has taken Robert and me that long to detox and get our place back to normal after concentrating on nothing but ARC for over three months or more.

ARC (Ancestral Remembrance Celebration) turned out to be a ton of fun, but in retrospect, a ton of work. And as usual with such things, mixed messages and human error or misunderstandings were part of the territory. In the end, it all worked out and everyone had a grand time. I kept thinking of the lines from the movie Shakespeare In Love, "It will all work out"..."How will it work out?" ... "I don't know, it's a mystery." Friday evening I was in a panic because folks hadn't shown up to get qualified to play, the lady who was supposed to bring the equipment for them to qualify with didn't get to the event until after 6 pm – too late to do anything— which was moot, since there was only two riders on site by that time, and they had already done a "going through the motions" type qualifying with borrowed weapons. Then I heard that the man who was to make the prize for the hunt didn't come to the event, and there was no prize. To say I was in a high state of anxiety is an understatement. However, by late Saturday morning, everything had smoothed out, the prize was indeed on site, and the qualifications went just fine. Truly...it was a mystery. 

Here is the group photo of the riders right before they started the hunt course. They were out for over three hours, trail riding and shooting targets. Everyone had a good time, which in the end, is the real goal of any event organizer. That's me standing next to Robert on Apollo. I didn't ride the hunt, as I was manning one of the last obstacles, and toting up the scores. Robert and I did ride the course on Friday morning, which was nice, we just didn't shoot.

The Monday after the event Robert and I went back to the site to take down all the targets. When we got to the one of the crane, we found a little surprise. This is the back of the target.

Apparently the local bear took an exception to fake cranes in his territory.  While clearing the course in the weeks previous to the event, we had spotted quite a few piles of bear poop on the trail, so this wasn't a total shocker.

So, now that ARC is over and life has gone back to normal, whatever that is, I can get back to the projects that got put on hold while I drew targets and organized a hunt. First will be finishing the riding costume, and then I need to make an SCA period winter cloak or robe for Robert, who needs one badly. After that, not sure, but lots of ideas in the works. I also want to get back to playing around with the Alabama Chanin-type T-shirt adaptations and of course, making more jewelry. It helps that winter is setting in, and outdoor chores will be nothing much other than cleaning stalls. Oh, and I also want to get back into writing, and doing some artwork.

So, that's it. Event recap and the projects lined up for when the Dark Days have socked me in for the winter. Hopefully, they will keep me from going insane until the sun comes back next May.

Still Working on Targets...Gah!

I'm still buried in the preparations for the mounted archery hunt coming up fast...Oct. 5-7. Probably won't get much posting done here again until after this event is over. But here are two of the targets painted, and ready to glue to the insulation foam. And yes, that is the rabbit you think it is.

The wolf didn't turn out looking quite as fierce as I wanted. Actually, he looks like he's falling asleep, but...oh well. The poor thing is just going to end up full of holes anyway.

So, between one thing and a zillion others, I will sign off for a bit, and be back after Oct. 8.

Making Targets

I've mentioned it briefly here a few times, but come Oct 5-7 our local SCA (Society For Creative Anachronism) group is holding an event, which this year includes a mounted archery hunt, target mounted archery, and a pumpkin shoot. Since I am the Equestrian Officer for said local group, I am in charge of the horsey stuff, and also since the hunt was my idea, I am responsible for making the targets for the hunt, which is a course of about a mile, with aprox 15-20 targets. A friend is handling the target archery part, and we will both run the pumpkin shoot. So, to get to the point of this entry, here is what I have been working on instead of jewelry or sewing projects. I've been drawing and making animal targets.

Here are about half of them, drawn on cardboard, cut out, and now positioned on insulation foam. I drew around each shape with a black marker, took the cardboard animals off, then cut the shapes out of the foam. The cardboard will then be glued to the foam shapes, and the animals painted a bit more life-like. Once in place, like theater standies, they will be taped to wooden stakes in the ground and ready for the hunters. Not all the targets will be made his way. Some drawing will be attached to large cardboard boxes painted to look like background. These will be in the forest part of the course, and will hopefully prevent arrows from becoming lost in the woods. Some will only be painted straw bales with cardboard faces (a boar) or draped with a hide (the bear). These and the standies will be for the open hay field part of the course, where the arrows will be easier to find if the target is missed.

It has been a challenge to figure out the best, and also the least expensive, way to make these targets, get them drawn, and now ready to paint. Once these are all finished, I can go back to my regular schedule...whatever that is.

BTW, the Bud Light empties belong to the husband. I never touch the stuff! LOL

Archery in the HOT Sun

I don't know that I've mentioned it here before, but my husband and I belong to the SCA, better known as the Society for Creative Anachronism. It's an international medieval reinactment organization. Last weekend a nearby branch of this organization held a three day event along the Umpqua River, at River Bend Park. We went up on Saturday to shoot archery, and hang out with friends.

First thing we had to deal with was the heat. It was predicted to hit 102 degrees that day (it did), and we were shooting archery out in a mown hay field next to the river. So, not only was it bloody hot, it was humid as well. As per usual with SCA events, we were supposed to start at 10:00, but didn't actually start shooting until after 10:30. It was already in the high 90s by then. But we battled on, shooting what is called a Royal Round = targets at 20,30, and 40 yards, then a speed round at 20 yards.

An hour in, I was standing behind Robert between shoots, as he was the only shade. We both drank gallons of water, and I never had to pee the whole day, 'cause I was sweating rivers.

That's me at the end of the line, looking like a twelve-year-old next to those bigger guys (The river is  right on the other side of those trees). Also, I was using the cheap $30 kiddie bow I bought to practice mounted archery with, so I made them all promise not to laugh at me before I started shooting. Robert decided to just spot arrows for me instead of shoot (I think he just didn't want to use that silly little bow), which was good, as the arrows were really hard to find, slipping under the grass and hiding so well that a some folks lost a few that day. I had fun, barely hit anything, and probably sweated off five pounds...which I didn't need to lose.

As a reward to myself, after the shoot, I headed to the grassy area of the park, where the big Rainbird sprinklers were going, took off my boots and socks, and went in to play. You know what, it's just as much fun as it was when I was a kid. It also saved me from passing out due to heat stroke!

We stayed to watch the fighting—heavy weapons and rapier—then headed for home at around 3:30, as it was an hour's trip and we needed to get back in time to clean stalls and put the horses up and feed them. When we arrived at our place, the temp gauge on the deck read 105 degrees, in the shade! 

Robert and I both had fun, wished we could have stayed for the festivities taking place that night, and decided it was time to get out my 30+ year old Browning recurve and see if it was safe enough to restring and shoot ground archery with (which it is, as we just had it tested, and were told it was fine and good to go). I'll keep using the kiddie bow for mounted archery until I get better at that, and won't worry about dropping a $160 bow and having my horse step on it. Actually, the Browning wouldn't work for mounted archery anyway, as it is too long.

Now we just need to get Robert a bow, and we will both be able to shoot. Hopefully, if it's as hot as it was that weekend, there will be sprinklers we can play in afterwards to cool off. 

How I Spend Some of My Weekends

Just a picture of me, in a costume again—big surprise, I know. This one taken at the Hocktide Emprise Equestrian Games on May 7-9. This is the only picture of me, other than another taken with my husband, since it's hard to take photos of yourself, especially when you're on a horse. I wrote a more detailed piece about this event in my other blog, Equine Madness (See link in sidebar).

My husband and I had a lot of fun, and it was nice to get back into the horse games again. The picture is of me in my 35 year old leather vest (it belonged to an old boyfriend)—the shirt, and boots are part of my pirate gear, but work well for this, and the pants are my black riding pants. I left the shirt un-tucked since it hid my butt. When I tried tucking it in, it looked like I had a wrinkled bubble butt—which I don't!

I was waiting to ground crew the Courser Challenge for the A list riders, who went first. Then they would ground crew for us B listers.