Freezing Rain

What a blah day out there...we have not seen the sun for a couple of weeks! Everything is covered by a half an inch of ice. The car's windshield wipers are frozen into crystal sculpture. Very pretty if you don't have to figure out how to free them without breaking them! Yet, I have to go out today to get my allergy shots...an annoying development which keeps me going into town every few weeks whether I will it or not! It would be nice if I could combine my shots with going in to teach my classes, but honestly, trying to fight off an allergy shot AND teach a class...I don't think I have the steam....grin! These are not benign little pollen allergy shots, but rather life threatening doses of the stuff which has killed me in the past, and it has to be strong enough to almost kill me again. (no Jennifer and Zlanth, I still reflect in a mirror...the miracles of modern paramedical technology are illustrated every time I stand up and walk around!) The stuff knocks me on my heels for a day, and often the whole next day as well. I call it a shot of 'instant stupid", and is better than a half bottle of Bacardi's to shut down the creative bump.

The picture is from last September....I went to Marmora to show off my armouring. This is a pic of the horse stall they set me up in! Very pretty! Good thing the event was outside....those felt tapestries were full of some mustiness which made everybody cough.....a white mold, probably non-toxic. A couple of days hanging in the sun probably fixed it up. S'long as they are kept out of the damp, they are okay. Those tapestries have a long history. They had been in the offices of the Ren Faire, and never made it out to the auction....understandable since they were soaking wet at the time. They had been made for a big company and had been in trade shows all over the world. I felt it was a shame to see them go into the dumpster...they look all right though don't they?

Well, its past time I got some work done.

Full house

This was the scene of mayhem as we attempted to teach a full size class of 25 people to handle swords. (Well, okay, that is an old pic....but indistinguishable from last night!) I love large classes. Trouble is, they make it difficult to give everybody their proper amount of time.

I read somewhere that there is a rule of 10%...that is to say, ten percent of the people use up 90% of the resources in any "system". I found that I spent most of the hour on only 4 or 5 people. Then I found that if I actually dis-engaged myself from that person, that another instructor would quickly latch onto them for much the same reasons that I did. A few poor students get the most attention, the better ones don't get any attention.

There is a lesson here I think...I wonder if it applies to the working world. The less input from the boss, the better you are doing. That was never really MY feelings though...normally as I plugged away through the working world, the boss would watch, and let me weave this elaborate rope with which he would eventually attempt to hang me. Maybe I just had "difficult" bosses...or maybe I was always destined to be gallows bait. Maybe the 10% rule doesn't apply in ALL cases...grin!

Ah well...I was quite pumped last night....lots and lots of people. We filled that room! And good people too! I did an informal survey; about half of them found out about us by word of mouth...a friend had taken the course, most of the rest had seen the posters Jean had plastered all over the College, and a few had actually read the literature the college had put out. The fact that 4 of them had read the literature was encouraging....that info was printed on pulp paper, and was published and distributed for last September! They had hung onto it all this time! Remarkable!

Anyway....today is a full day of armour making....my shoulders are twinging in sympathy already.

(Oh, and Jennifer, I did vote...and the Conservative party got elected. This should be interesting...the first Prime Minister NOT from Quebec in half a century! We have a 4 party system here...the body politic having fragmented over the years. It is also the second minority government...in order for the party in power to pass a Bill, they have to get more than their own party faithfulls on board. This allows elected Members to have influence even if they are not in the "ruling party". It is usually a good system....for awhile. As long as nothing too dangerous happens....)

Let it snow, let it snow let it snow!

(click on images to enlarge....)

The top pic is my back yard today at around noon. The bottom pic is Nate's armour, finally all done. The faulds don't look too bad. They are all laced on, no buckles on the front. He might change that...but this is ready for delivery right now.

Armour.

Got this finished yesterday. Not so bad...I think!

I am working on the faulds....that is the skirt part. This is just the top part. This armour is 1/16th of an inch thick (16 gauge), hammered out on the block, and shaped on the anvil entirly by hand. Then it is sanded with 80 grit, then torched all over to make it a nice "plum" colour. The clear coat lacquer will keep it that way for a few years! This one needs another coat of lacquer...some scratches from the construction exist...but a square of tee shirt cloth soaked in lacquer thinner will soften and blend the scratches in the lac ( a five minute job!).

Teaching Today!

Today is the first day of teaching the Basic Chivalrous Sword Handling course for this year. I have got several calls from people wondering what they should wear.....I wear Tee-shirts and rugby pants....and runners. The Kenjuitsu CAN be learned wearing a gei and a Hakama, but for the basic stuff like this, it is sufficient that you wear comfortable clothing, and to BE comfortable. I have this head cold which means that I won't be getting up close and personal in the takedowns, I just hope my throat will handle the "lecture". My love of talking is going to be severly tested.

Other than that, I discovered that the armour I am making for a nice fellow in Maine is actually too small! Too short in the back, actually. How annoying! Oh well, an extra piece in the back plate always looks good. I'll try and post pictures of it tomorrow.

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

Its the 12th day of Christmas, and the "real" Christmas, according to most Slavic countries who follow the old calendar. I could have made a whole big old blog about this day, and how we Ukrainians celebrate it, but the wizard over at the Wizard of Oz http://othersiderainbow.blogspot.com/ has done a fine job of doing just that! Its worth the trip over the rainbow to visit....I promise. Tell him I sent ya.

The illustration? Oh just some old book that I just can't read......my folks never saw fit to teach me Cyrillic. Pretty neat armour though huh? Very Narnia like... Interesting, the heels on the boots. Clearly horse people.....
as usual, click on the image to enlarge...if anybody wants more like that, email me, and I'll send 'em to you. I have about 4 or 5 engravings like that one.


Merry Christmas everybody.

The daily grind

(click on image to enlarge)
Went to the auction last night. Picked up a couple of items....a wrought iron piece, a poker I think, and a fire tongs. the fire tongs were pretty plain, but the under bidder wanted them. So, I got the poker for half of the 12 bucks I paid for the lot. Thats all right. I am SUCH a Ferrengi....grin! I have GOT to put up a place on my web site for all these auction "finds"...I keep buying this stuff for re-sale, and liking 'em so much that I keep them.
Today, building up a nice 2 piece back and breast plate. I am so looking forward to getting my English wheel running...it will reduce the pounding on steel dramatically! Well, thats the plan anyways! In some ways I like the pounding....makes a nice pump in the arms, strengthens the grip. However, I can only do this for about 2 hours a day, spaced out into 4 half hour sessions. Makes for a very unproductive day! It only takes about 8 or 10 hours to make a 2 piece cuirass, but if you can only work on it for a couple hours per day, well.....the orders start to stack up! Since today is Saturday, I will be getting visitors. Jean V. will be dropping in to work on his armour...2 years in the making...it is the "stick to it" attitude which I really admire.
Well, "to horse".

The Last of the Four

Here we go....the last of the four helms for Wisconsin. I emailed the fellow, and am awaiting his verdict.

Did anybody else see the history of the Sword on the History channel last night? Quite interesting....a lot of very nice sword work. Its funny....I love swords, I even teach sword handling in much the same way as the fellow on the show did, but I firmly believe that the sword was more (in his words) "iconic" than useful in the medieval battlefield. In my opininion, it was seldom used for its intended purpose. Maybe that is just as well....
They had a lot of nice armours there as well. A nice barrel helm much like the ones I made here. A couple of nice helmets which stood up to a lot of hacking. And a gorgeous sword being made in the finest Anglo-Saxon tradition...absolutely gorgeous. It took the smith 2 weeks to make it. I am a little surprised he got it done so quickly!
Well, back to work for me....a couple of hours of rolling the edges of a nice breast and backplate which will end up in Michigan. I'll try and get pics of that up here when they are done.

Here is wishing everybody who comes and visits the very best of the season.