In February of 2020, the Barony of Bjornsborg (San Antonio, Texas) hosted a Romeo and Juliet themed event. I entered the arts and sciences competition with a research paper investigating what poison Romeo might have taken. I won, the first time I've won a baronial championship.

Warning label on the front of the binder holding the research paper. But seriously, don't try this at home.

Me holding the championship scroll. I love the artwork so much! Photo by Kristin Hammock (Mistress Osanna van der Linden)

Juan de Oñate and the 1599 Acoma Massacre

The time period covered by the SCA is generally agreed to end at 1600, or maybe 1603 with the death of Queen Elizabeth I, but generally not much past that. Unlike the folks living in Europe, the majority of people who live in the United States do not have local history (stories, buildings, artifacts) having to do with Europe within the SCA time period.

There are, however, exceptions. A few settlements along the eastern seaboard have their origins within our timeframe, though in-period they typically were still tiny, new, and struggling. St. Augustine, Florida was founded in 1565 - well within anyone's interpretation of our time limits.

And then there are the conquistadors. A few years ago a minor conquistador - or rather, the controversy surrounding a statue of him - was in the news in New Mexico. These days, many people in New Mexico regard Juan de Oñate to be a founding father of the state. But in 1599 he oversaw the gruesome Acoma Massacre, involving the murder, enslavement, and mutilation of over a thousand people from Acoma Pueblo. 

According to Wikipedia: 

In 1606, Oñate was recalled to Mexico City for a hearing regarding his conduct. After finishing plans for the founding of the town of Santa Fé, he resigned his post and was tried and convicted of cruelty to both natives and colonists. He was banished from New Mexico for life and exiled from Mexico City for 5 years. Eventually Oñate went to Spain, where the king appointed him head of all mining inspectors in Spain. He died in Spain in 1626. He is sometimes referred to as "the Last Conquistador."

The City of El Paso, Texas erected an enormous equestrian statue of Oñate in 2007.
I was introduced to the story of Juan de Oñate, his statue, and his crimes by the podcast 99 Percent Invisible, episode 331 Oñate's Foot.

Black Widow Pockets

You know what Black Widow, member of the Avengers and super spy, needs with her outfit? Pockets. She needs pockets. Just... don't ask what she's keeping in there. You probably don't want to find out.

Norse Apron Dress

Our local group's fall event was Norse themed. I usually wear much later-period clothes, so out of an abundance of caution I tried on my Norse outfit ahead of time. The blue linen 10-gore dress I made with Ysabeau of Prague's help several years ago (perhaps my second piece of SCA garb) still fit, but the snug gray herringbone weave apron dress was no longer an option. Time to make a new apron dress!

A Little Bit of Norse

The event this weekend has a Norse theme, so I’ve spent the past week hard at work in a new apron dress. More details and photos to follow after the event.

Black Widow Doublet

Elfsea Baronial College was at the end of September. I was intrigued by the prospect of a full day of A&S classes (like a mini King's College!), but I was really hooked when I learned that they were having a "Disney your garb" costume contest. Any Disney-owned character was fair game. Some friends and I decided to go as Avengers. Chris was Dr. Strange, Franchesca was Pepper Potts, and I was Black Widow. The pockets, and the to-be-made sleeves will have their own posts, later, but here I'll show the doublet I made. It was pretty, functional, and carried the theme of the character well.

I did not win the costume contest, but I enjoyed playing with the techniques and exploring how the dress in the painting might have been made.

Landsknecht for Robert de Bray

This was my first time making Landsknecht, and Robert was my very patient guinea pig. The project started with a lot of research, since I didn't really know much about the style (other than a general impression that the aesthetic was "MORE is MORE!") He wore this outfit to Coronation in October of 2017.

Hot Little Project

If I’m camping at an event where I expect cold weather, I bring a pile of little chemical handwarmer packets. This quick little bag will now keep them organized and find-able in my luggage in the tent.

Islamic-style book with gold silk cover

A few years ago, at Gulf War I took a class in Islamic-style book binding. It was taught by Margavati Bai (who is now a Laurel), from Meridies. A few aspects of the style are particularly appealing: the completed books are lovely, with a wrap-around flap that holds the book shut. The pages were often made of cotton paper (much more economical for the reenactor on a budget). And the covers were often made leather or cloth over pasteboard, rather than leather over wood as was found in European bindings.
When I got home I excitedly mixed up a batch of wheat paste and used it to glue together multiple sheets of cotton resume paper, then dried the sheets between blotter paper and weights to keep them flat.
That was an adventure in itself, and I'll make a separate post about it in the future.

Then I set the dried sheets aside and got sucked into other projects, and forgot all about them.

Until a winter gift exchange paired me with Behiye Bint Kismet, and I realized that a book would be just the thing to give her.

Intro to Tailoring

Intro to Tailoring

taught by Lady Simona della Luna (Star.Maddox@gmail.com) at King’s College 2014

Andrew's New Doublet

At the very end of 2015, I realized that my 12-year-old son had outgrown all his nice garb. 9 February was the date for our annual Candlemas event, which serves as an excellent excuse for everyone to wear nice clothes. I had some sewing to do. Because he's in the throes of puberty, I knew I'll need to make him a new one soon. He may only get one wearing out of this before he outgrows it completely (a fitted doublet doesn't leave much in the way of "room to grow"). So I took every cheat I possibly could with this project. All the materials are stash except the buttons, which he picked out. The fabric was also his choice, for his first doublet a few years ago. It's 100% dead dinosaur upholstery fabric, but it's pretty and the price was right. Even with all the machine cheats, it took about 40 hours to make this garment (not counting the time to make the pattern).

Chronological Anarchy Warning

I have a bad habit of forgetting to make posts. I'm usually good about taking pictures while I'm working, but then the photos sit on my hard drive. I'm pulling together the info on several recent projects, but it's going to appear here in the order that I get around to them - so completely jumbled, as far as order of completion. Sorry about that. But I figured it was better to just get it up, rather than worrying about going in chronological order.

Fabric Bias and Binding

Fabric Bias and Binding

presented by Honorable Lady Simona della Luna

at King’s College 2016 in the Barony of Namron, Kingdom of Ansteorra

m.k.a. Star Maddox Star.Maddox@gmail.com  

loom illustration by Pearson Scott Foresman, from Wiki Commons

original woven fabric illustration by PKM at English Wikipedia, modified by Star Maddox

A glossary and a list of additional resources may be found at the end of this handout. The most up to date version of this handout may be found at http://lavorodellaluna.blogspot.com.

What is bias

When woven fabric is made, the loom is set up with long warp threads. Then the weft thread is passed from left to right and back agin, forming the cloth. Sometimes the warp and weft threads are the same fiber, strength, and spacing, and sometimes they are different. The far left and right edges of the cloth are woven in a slightly different style, forming the non-fraying selvage edges. If a strip of cloth or pattern piece is on the straight of grain, it is in line with the warp threads. If it is on the cross grain, it is lined up with the weft threads. If it is on the bias, it is oriented at a 45 degree angle to the warp and weft threads. The grain line marked on pattern pieces is intended to be matched to the straight of grain, though for some fabrics the cross grain will work as well, as long as the warp and weft threads are the same.

The Misleading Navigatrix - a story, and a Norse style wooden box

The Misleading Navigatrix

A Norse-style trapezoidal decorated box, and a story

Presented at Quest For Valhalla, October 2015

woodworking by Lady Madylyne Grey

story, box decoration and navigational research by Lady Simona della Luna

The completed box. Photo by Lady Madylyn Grey.

The story

There once was a great warrior, a leader of men and women, and he was called John the Beardless. For though he was a fearsome fighter and a cunning commander, he left his chin as hairless as a lad. Despite his lack of luxurious locks, his sign was known far and wide, and his foes knew to fear the sight of it. It was his custom to collect his fighters, and to travel with them to far-flung fights. He steered his ship with skill and speed, and never foundered upon rocks nor despaired in the face of a gale. However, even so talented a traveler may not know all things, and so this John relied upon the services of a slave navigatrix, who was simply know as the “beautiful woman who leads to victory.”

The Rest of the Gold Silk Outfit

This is what happens when I neglect my blog for months on end - I come back and find that an article had been left in draft form, never published. Oops.

This is another appendix from the documentation for my gold silk doublet, which competed at Kingdom A&S February 2015. I removed the picture that wasn't mine. The link to where I got it is in the text.

A Steganographic Poem (KA&S 2014)

I entered Kingdom A&S in 2014 with a cryptography project. Steganography is the art of making a code that, at first glance, appears to be ordinary writing, with no secret code.

A Steganographic Poem

A love poem, with hidden writing

Gently idle until east glows the dawn.

Thou art tart, and in thy mead given

Ruin; I save springtime in a vial drawn.

That loving nest is the haven, our glen.

Art thou a lover of these sorry men?

Envy not. Earn no leer of a wastrel.

Do countenance so faithful.

This project combines two separate sources of inspiration, both drawn from German writers who were active at the close of the 15th century: Sebastian Brant and Johannes Trithemius.

Commander's Crucible 2015

On Saturday I went to a local event for the Stronghold of Hellsgate, called "Commander's Crucible." The theme for A&S was "the heat of the crucible, or the cool of the quench." One of my long-term projects is to better understand the world view of my persona (upper middle class, 1500's Florence), so I decided that an indulgence would be appropriate, with the idea that people sought indulgences as a "Get out of Hell Free" card. As it turned out, I (and most people) completely misunderstood what an indulgence is. So it was less appropriate to the fire theme, but I learned a lot about something that would have been very important to someone living in late medieval Europe. I'm very much a beginner when it comes to calligraphy, so the finished product wasn't the most beautiful (one of the judges implied that she would have suspected the priest of having been a bit drunk), but I stepped completely out of my comfort zone, and I learned a lot about a new topic.

Surviving Tailor’s Manuals

This is another appendix from the documentation for my gold silk doublet, which competed at Kingdom A&S February 2015. After some consideration, I decided to simply pull all the pictures off. The links to where I got them are in the text.

Selected References - Paintings and Extant Garments

This is the first of 5 appendices from the documentation for my gold silk doublet, which competed at Kingdom A&S February 2015. After some consideration, I decided to simply pull all the pictures off. The links to where I got them are in the text.

Gold Silk Doublet - Documentation

Below is the text of the documentation I entered with my gold silk doublet. The photographic dress diary mentioned at the end is made up almost entirely of photos from my Flickr account. I'll post my appendices next, but I'll need to alter them. I'm comfortable that using most images in the printed documentation that sits on a table next to my entry should fall well within the boundaries of "fair use." I'm far less sure about re-distributing those images online, even as part of that same documentation, and I'll need to do some reading up on the matter to make sure I'm doing the right thing. No, I don't think anyone would send me a cease-and-desist letter or sue me if I included the images. But I know I would be frustrated if someone was using my pictures in a way I did not intend, so I'm trying to be considerate.