Pennsic Recap

I should probably start with the fact Abigail was "dognapped" a week before Pennsic.  My Dad came over, checked out the tires on my trailer, confirmed I was good to go, and took the dog with him.  :-)   Abigail apparently greatly enjoyed her near month away on vacation.  She got to go to the beach with her very best friend Dusty (Mom's dog), my nephews, and my parents.  ...Although, after a week, she began to paw at the truck and even convinced Mom's dog to hop in with her as an indication they were tried of the beach....

Anyway, Pennsic!    I got there around 1 pm or so on the 29th.  I immediately saw one of my fellow N24-ers (Pennsic is laid out in a series of blocks.  Each block has a letter and a number.  Each block can have multiple encampments on it.  In my case we have 2 1/2 - two actual land agents but three households).  He said he wasn't stalking me but he wanted to see if I had arrived yet.  Given the giant blue house I was pulling, I'm pretty easy to spot.  :-)


We got all the paperwork done in about five minutes and I went up to the space, parked, put out the shepherd's hooks, lanterns, and the shower tent and then - done.  Honestly, most of peace week I slept.  I really needed to catch up on sleep after working 10 hour shifts, sewing the moment I got home until 11 at night, and then getting back up at 5:30 to start over.  So peace week was more sleep than it was anything else.

I did go out and take pictures, play Pokemon, and at least look at the shopping but that was about it.  I also wore garb every day like you are supposed to.  This is a HUGE gripe with me and Pennsic over the past couple of years - I saw way too many people just hanging out in their gym shorts, wearing a vintage 1960's dress, or a sundress that I honestly would wear to Church.  I even saw one woman wearing biker shorts and a flannel top - how on Earth is that even an outfit let alone garb?  Pennsic looked more like People of Walmart than it did an SCA event at some points.  It was horrible, it was distracting, and it was disgusting.  Sorry guys, I know I'm not the only one who has zero desire to see how far over your waistband your naked stomach can go.   Women?  Bras.  If you aren't wearing a self supporting dress, wear a bra.  Wrapping a scarf around you is not supportive and it looks painful.  Wearing your beach coverup is not garb either.

I'm thinking of starting some sort of fashion police for Pennsic next year.  If you are not in garb, cannot provide evidence that you just got to Pennsic in the past two hours (I'm okay if you are just hanging out at the food court after going through troll. I'm not okay if you are going to classes and not in garb), you will be forcibly returned to your camp until you put on something that is garb.  If you are forced to return three times, you get kicked out of Pennsic.  Sorry, but Pennsic has rules and wearing garb is one of them.  Yeah, I need to contact the mayor about this before I do anything too rash but this total and lack of respect for what the event is needs to stop - now.

/rant

Anyway, by Friday of peace week, I had gotten little done and all the rest of my camp showed up.  From there on in, it got crazy, of course.   (I probably should add that during Peace Week, the group that camp's next to me has another household that camps with them.  The other household tried, once again, to take over my space despite both my and the other land agents agreement.   The other household is one we ALL have issues with every single year.  This year, one of the individuals kept going off site and would knock into my shepherd's hooks with his car almost every single time.   There were other issues as well but, considering we never see that one household even attempt garb -the things you wore to Woodstock aren't garb-and only saw them down in the merchant area once during all of Pennsic, we aren't sure why they even bother to come.)

Okay, back to War Week.

Between the Disney Party, classes, and general frivolity of war week, it was crazy.   Here are some of the pictures:


My A&S contribution. I didn't pre-register and a lot of people showed up so I ended up with just a bench and a chair - which was fine! My dress is 100% handsewn wool that I dyed using indigo dye. The embroidery around the neckline is out of silk cord. The chemise is also 100% handsewn. It's all done in the style of the early 16th Century Venetian dress. The outfit is very comfortable as I wore it a couple of days later. The wool is extremely lightweight.




Pennsic at night.



Sartor.cz came and had a booth at Pennsic. I LOVED being able to see the fibers in person and handle them. I now know exactly what I need to order from them.



GLOW STICK WAR!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it's blurry, but it's glow sticks being thrown at night. :-)



Although this photo was taken during Peace Week, it needs to be shared as well. The weather won this Pennsic - no one denies that. The problem was the humidity. The temperature rarely got out of the 80's but the humidity made the "real feel" around 105F every day. This caused a lot of people to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, the more advanced we get technology wise, the stupider we get regarding our own environment. If you go from your air conditioned car, to your air conditioned office, back to your air conditioned home later in the day, your body will have huge issues adjusting to Pennsic. Your body needs to acclimate to the weather. This means spending time actually outdoors. Drive around without the a/c on. If you spend at least an hour each day for a couple of weeks before Pennsic outside without the a/c, you'll probably do a lot better overall.

Also, at Pennsic, wear loose, long sleeved but lightweight clothing. A hankyweight linen tunic/chemise/smock is a dream in the heat. Not only does it give a barrier between you and the sun (something a lot of people needed!), but it also helps to get the sweat away from you as well. You don't want anything fitted on your arms, just a nice, loose sleeve.

The third thing is to drink water. Not Gatorade. Not soda. Not Pennsic crack. You want a lot of water to help function in the heat.

As for the actual rain and thunderstorms - first thing, look at where you want to pitch your tent. Is there a gully nearby? Is the land sloped down? Ask people who have camped there before where the problem spots are. My group had to stop a family from camping a)in our space but more importantly b) right at the mouth of a huge gully. A couple of days later, a large amount of debris appeared after a rainstorm right where the family wanted to camp. We had to explain to them that the gully turns into a river and exits right where they wanted to pitch a tent. They ended up camping across the street on a plateau - way better idea.

Pallets make excellent raised flooring if you are using a tent. Get about four, throw down a couple of boards on top of them, and instant raised floor! This will help with a lot of flooding issues. Also, you can tent up your tarp to help prevent flooding as well but I always tripped over the tarp getting into my tent when I had one. Therefore, the pallets were an excellent upgrade.

Get a rubbermaid container to put an extra set of garb, muggle clothing, and undies in. This way, if you do get flooded, you will still have dry clothing.

Pennsic is a camping trip but it's also an SCA event - people need to be prepared for both. More pictures here.

Pennsic!

It's that time of year, again.  Where my brain goes to all Pennsic, all the time.  There is only a month left to pre-register for a space at a camp online.  The mail in date is only a week away.   If you don't pre-register, you will, most likely, be in singles camping.   The further you get to the center of things, the more likely that land is precious - every person is allocated 250sq when they pre-register.   If you don't pre-register, your encampment looses that 250sq and that means they have to make room for you if they can and are overly nice.

Another good reason to pre-register is that you do get a discount.  It is only $10 but still, it's like getting the 10¢ for bringing a reuseable bag at the grocery store.  You get money back for not being forgetful.  ;-)

What is the entire two weeks on Pennsic like?  Fun!   It really is a vacation for me.   Of course, since I have this:

I don't have to worry about tent poles and leaky tents anymore. I get to stay inside my nice comfortable tiny house when it rains and not worry about things like flooding as well. Wind really isn't an issue anymore either. Yeah, I know.

But for the first er...seven Pennsics? I went to, I did have to worry about those things. I used pallets to raise the tent floor off the ground. Throw a couple of boards down and some rugs on top of that? You have a fabulous comfortable floor that is just high enough that water isn't an issue. If your tent falling down has been an issue (it wasn't with an easy up and the cover I made for it), check your ropes daily. Tighten them as much as you can. The rain and sun can cause the ropes to lengthen a bit.

The very first night of Pennsic - appropriately called First Night- looks like this:


You might recognize the battlefield if you've ever been to Pennsic before. Everyone who is a land agent camps out on the field Friday night. For me, it's easy. I just go and sleep in the trailer. Some people put up "earth pimples", some sleep in their cars on top of their stuff, others stay up all night. If you actually have the other land agents on your land show up Friday night, you can do a quick registration, get everyone to agree on who goes where, and then drive to your space that night - but some people can't get there on Friday with very good reasons.

Being a land agent and registering your space can be easy or difficult depending on the other land agents,  If you aren't down in the Serengeti or the Bog, you'll probably have an easier time than if you are.   Because land is at a premium in those locations, some people might get a bit upset if their "traditional" lines are messed with.  What it all comes down to though is who has the most people pre-registered.  This is why pre-registration is so important.   If you have 25 people pre-registered, then you get to mark off 6250sq of space.  If the other land agent has only 7 but thinks as many as 12 people are coming, well, guess what happens?  The group that has the most pre-registered gets the most land.   If there suddenly isn't enough space for those extra people, there is little you can do.

Each land agent is given a map of their slotted land.  You draw boundary lines on the map for each group that will be camping in that location.   The finished map with all the lines and group names gets handed in as land registration.  You are then given a plastic baggy and a piece of paper that shows your group is registered to be on that land.  This piece of paper is vital.  You need to have it displayed in a conspicuous manner.    Most people have it attached to their gates some how.

Once all that is done, you get to set up camp!   Some camps are WAY more elaborate than others.  No matter what, if you are the land agent, you'll probably be in charge of setting up the basics yourself or with whomever you managed to bring with you.  Basics as in a shower tent, a kitchen tent, a fire pit, ect.  Not everyone will have a kitchen tent - there are plenty of places to eat at Pennsic- but most will have a shower tent and a fire pit.   Whatever the basics are for your camp, you'll probably have to at least lay the foundation for them.  

Once that's done, take a walk around Pennsic.  See if anyone else needs help.  If you are too tired, just sit back and relax for a couple of days until some of the rest of your camp comes in.  A lot of people come in either the Friday or Saturday of Peace week (the first full week of Pennsic).  

Although a land agent must be "in charge" of their encampment  24/7 at Pennsic that doesn't mean you can't leave the grounds.  You are free to go grocery shopping, to the laundry,  or just to Walmart.   Home Depot is also good depending on what you might have forgotten.   I also go to Church down the road on Sundays...followed by going to Aldi's because they have those cookies I love. As long as you can get back to the site in a reasonable amount of time should an emergency occur,  you're fine.  

Clean up once everyone heads home is also your responsibility.   The doesn't mean that your campmates get to trash the place and leave you to clean up - everyone should be helping - but if the Coopers have anything to say about the state you left the place in, they'll contact you.

Let me know if you have any questions about Pennsic or if you are planning on going!  I'd love to see some of you there!

The Pennsic House is Period!

This is my vardo/trailer for SCA camping events.  Specifically, Pennsic.  The door is open in the picture because I was running in and out while I was painting Spikes (the seahorses) on the side.  After all, everyone needs to know it's a proper Atlantian home, right?

But how proper is it?  Well, when I started doing research, most SCAdians seem to think that these Pennsic homes go into the creative part of the Society for Creative Anachronism.  All I could find were mentions of covered wagons going back well into period but nothing on the wooden huts.  That was, until I realized it was a terminology issue.  Vardos - those beautiful 19th and early 20th century wooden wagons weren't necessarily period- but shepherd's huts are.

Anytime I did a search on tiny homes -which my trailer most resembles in a modern context- I would come across British and Australian articles about shepherd's huts.  Having not heard the term before, I decided to dig more deeply into what those wear and came across Shepherds' Huts & Living Vans By David Morris. Inside the book is a quote by Leonard Mascal from 1596:

in some place the Shepheard hath his cabbin going upon a wheel for to move here and there at his pleasure

A cabin on wheels? That sounds like my Pennsic house. 1596 is just inside the SCA pre-17th C guidelines, but it works. In the book, I also saw a couple of illuminations from the 15th century depicting shepherd huts. Curious, I looked for more and found quite a few now that I knew what to look for. Thank goodness for shepherds being a popular subject in the Renaissance!

Look above Eve's head to the right.  There is a small house on wheels.   I found the image at this site and only know that it's of Adam & Eve from a book of hours.  Based upon the clothing in the image, I'm guessing late 15th/early 16th century.  N'rmind.  I found the original Annunciation to the Shepherds here: MS. Rawl. liturg. f. 13   Still, it's only one image.  The book above had a couple.  Was there even more?

"The Annuciation to the Shepherds" from the Trivulizo Manuscript Book of Hours, late 15th century, by Simon Marmion (1425-1489)

Above the shepherd on the left's head is a very clear example of a shepherd's hut.   There are wheels at each of the corners and it is very much house/cabin shaped.

Early 16th C, Book of Hours  The following link is to the full page which is not work safe http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8596871g/f16.item

 On the right, another example of a shepherd's hut.  There are wheels visible and, this time, we can even see the door.

3rd quarter 15th Century http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB:mimi_76f27:061v

Behind mister I have awesomely mismatched socks...er hosen, there is another Shepherd's hut.  This one has smaller wheels than we've seen previously.  So where they always house shaped?  No!

~1465 Book of Hours http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_76g14%3A049r

I'm not sure if this is a Shephard's hut or a dog's house as that pup looks to be guarding this little two wheeled model pretty closely.

Basically, a house on wheels is perfectly period for the SCA period.  It might be late for some people but as my persona is late 15thc into the 16th C, I'm really excited about these images.

EDIT:  If anyone would like some more information, I stumbled across this article in French that gives a few more examples of Shepherd's huts, called roulotte in French.  I've also started a pinterest board regarding the Shepherd's huts in the SCA time period that should be regularly updated.  So far, 19 images!

Italian Turkish Outfit

Years ago, I did research on the Turkish Coat style as seen in Italian art. You can read the original article up on my webpage that I don't think I've updated in five years or so. :-) Although it's been a while, a lot of the research is still good and I still make the coats in the same way. I made one last year as well that I completely love.

This year, I found some scrumptious stripy linen at Joanns. It's 98% linen with 2% unknown. The unknown is the metallic fibers in the linen - which is very 16th century, although I doubt they are real metal. The colors of the linen are all very well documentable - orange, yellow, red, lavender, blue, and white. The moment I saw it, the fabric told me it wanted to be a Turkish Coat.

The Italian Turkish outfits are a bit different from the actual Ottoman outfits. Italian ladies didn't wear the chirka - or the vest like fitted jacket that went over the gomlek/chemise layer. (See for details on the Ottoman terms for clothing). There could be many reasons for this but what the portrait and extant evidence shows is the chemise and the enteri or coat was worn in Italy. At the Met, there is this chemise with a v-neck and this early 17th C coat, both Italian.

First, I cut out the body of the coat.  You can probably just make out the basic shape.  I cut out the side gores next - which I had to recut because I made them too narrow.  

Slightly blurry photo of the front of the finished coat with buttons.  I also made linen pants to go with the outfit.  The pants are a lovely melon color that looks much brighter against the orange of the coat.  They aren't cut in a period manner but work well since all anyone will see is from the knees down.  I used New Look Pattern 6139 for the general cut. I added a waistband and had the pants open in the front rather than use a drawstring or elastic. I just pleated the excess to the waistband. They fit well and are pretty comfy.

The back of the coat.  I will probably wear a blue or purple scarf around the waist mostly to break up the brightness of the color a bit. 

Side view.  These coats are so fun and really look much better on me than on the dress dummy.  This is what I plan on wearing at some point during Pennsic!

A Shower Tent for Pennsic!

First, I should explain. Pennsic, for those that don't know, is a medieval and renaissance festival in which 10,000+ people descend on this one, small, Pennsylvania town for two weeks out of the year. For those two weeks, Pennsic literally becomes it's own city - complete with a post office, restaurants, plenty of shopping, and a transportation system. It's my favorite event and there is something for everyone - all you need is garb.

Because I'm going to be taking up residence, again, at Pennsic, I need to have a place to sleep, cook, and bathe. The trailer works for sleeping and cooking. However, it doesn't have a shower area. So, I have to make a shower tent.

Normally, the group I camp with has all the necessary infrastructure to include a day shade, shower tent, and kitchen tent. This year, the baron and baroness of my household aren't coming. Also, the infrastructure is a bit old. So, new stuff!

To make a shower tent, I first had to figure out what style I wanted. For those on my LJ account, you know I was hemming and hawing at this for a couple of weeks. I couldn't decided whether to buy a shower tent or make a shower tent to start with. I found two that were under $60 but one wasn't period looking and the other, it turns out, has see-thru material based on the reviews. So making my own shower tent it is!

Now, which materials to use? For a while I liked the idea of using PVC pipes to make a nice frame and just cover it. The problem would be cutting said PVC pipes correctly and having the entire thing put together in a way that it stores easily and, preferably, flat.

I also saw the hula hoop shower tents which can be nice looking but didn't seem very sturdy to me. I needed something that could hold some weight for the solar shower bag but would also give me plenty of room to wash my hair. That's when I saw this:

It's from Better Homes & Gardens and I realized that, out in the shed, I still had the old papasan I was planning on throwing away. The papasan is older than I am. I think. I know it was at least 20 years old when I inherited it in college so it's had a very long life for a papasan chair. Rather than make a hula hoop shower tent, I could reuse the old papasan - which would easily hold the solar shower's weight. Even better, this means I don't have to spend any money! The material for the shower tent was already in the stash from making a tent years ago and now I wouldn't have to make a frame either. Woohoo!

So, to start, I measured along the seat edge of the papasan and found it was 144".  That meant that the walls needed to be around 154" in order for the front to overlap.  I also wanted to add in some extra for the seam allowance as I was hiding the raw edges of the material in the seams.  I'd roll one edge, stitch it down and then roll it over again, but this time, encasing the other raw edge.  It's sort of like a flat fled but I'm not sewing it down flat.  I guess it's more like a french seam that way.  

Anyway, the walls!   There is a total of nine panels.  Each panel was cut out at 20" across the top and 40" across the bottom except for the door flap which was half that.  

The walls, lying flat, took up pretty much my entire front lawn.  I used the selvage for the bottom hem so that I wouldn't have to hem the entire thing.  I don't think I could take that. 

The roof, the first time I tried it on the papasan, needed work.  I cut out the bottom hem too narrow and the top hem was way too big.   I ended up adding a gore (See below) and pleating the top a bit.  I'm not concerned about rain because it's a shower tent.  Still, I want it to be able to withstand some weathering.

The gore!  It's just scraps but it worked.  I also wanted the shower tent to look somewhat medieval.  It is Pennsic after all.  This mean adding some sort of contrasting band around the bottom edge of the roof, similar to the tents in this plate from the mid 16th Century.  Notice that the tent on the far right side has a curved top, like this will be and the tent on the far left has only the contrasting band. 

I also added a bit of bias tape to the top of the roof to keep the pleats in place.  It's in the same green.  The green is rather translucent as I learned my first Pennsic, unfortunately.  I had made my tent out of it!  Later, that tent got turned into an interior while the outside became some lovely sunbrella fabric I picked up for $1 a yard.  

The tent finished!   I added loops to some of the panel joints to help stake it properly to the ground.  This will help when it's a bit windy from the tent flying up.  I'm going to probably use the solar powered candles you see in the picture around the tent.  This will be nice to illuminate where it is at night but also have a semi period look since they are candles!

The front entrance.  I put the tent up a bit crooked since this was the lowest reasonable branch I could tie the tent too.  The only other ones are very high up in my backyard.  

Me inside the shower tent.  The red you see is some vintage hem tape I used to encase the raw edges where the roof and the walls meet. 

Another picture of the front of the tent.  It's quite roomy inside - much more than I originally thought.  I'm sure I'll get tons of use out of it and the papasan and keep going on for at least another decade or so.  :-)

Chair Cushion Covers

I bought a pair of wooden folding chairs for $6.90 each at the local thrift store.  They are both in great condition.  I wanted something I could put outside at Pennsic and not cry if it got damaged.   Pennsic is known for many things - including sudden downpours and flooding.  I'm not leaving my super expensive, period correct, Savonarola chairs outside without extreme supervision.  However, I do want to leave something out for guests that is comfortable.  Normally, my encampment had four or five Viking chairs out.  Since it's just me for the main encampment (there is a branch of our group camping right next door), I thought a bench might be nice.  However, when I saw the folding chairs, I realized that might be a better idea.

Now, the folding chairs are comfortable but I thought some cushions might be nice.   I bought a 4 pack of very plain beige chair cushions from Wally World (ie, Walmart) for about $8 USD.  At home, I had some left over fabric from my SIL's Renaissance Fair gown I made her a couple of years ago.  It's a simple floral damask that isn't period but the color looks really nice and the pattern isn't discernible right away.  So, I doubled the cushions and made slip covers for them out of the mint green damask.

 The slip covers themselves are really simple.  It's one big rectangle, folded over, and sewn at the sides.  On the back opening, I hemmed it to prevent fraying.  I also added the small flap which is just another rectangle, folded over, but sewn shut and attached to the bigger bag at the center back.  The small flap gets tucked under the cushions to help hold the cover in place.

Oh.  And I added pink tassles.  Because, although this isn't period correct, all medieval cushions appear to have tassles.  Therefore, since this is for a medieval event, I needed to add tassles to make it look more medieval ish.

 See?  Pink tassles.  They are just some left over acrylic yarn I used to make a couple of monkey fists that got covered in more pink yarn.  I then sewed them to the corners.  It's not period looking but it's not blatantly modern either -which is good.  If a true medieval/renaissance person came up and saw the chair, they'd instantly recognize that it's a wooden chair.  There wouldn't be any questions about what the heck it's made out of.  Actually, there is a 16th C Italian chair that is similar to this style but I'd have to make a back cover too.

Here is the back of the chair.  The flap is just tucked in under the cushions.  I'm using the original ties to tie the cushions to the chair.  It's quite comfy and the covers are very washable.  Yay!

Now back to more Pennsic prep....

Trailer Painting

I tried to put the stencils on the trailer.  Spike came out okay.  The seal of Rassilon ?  Not so much.

The original idea was to make the Spikes all "silver" (also known as Milestone), and the seals either Pink (Strawberry Freeze) or Purple.  I placed the stencils on the trailer.

Left them with the paint to dry....

And got this....

 It's hard to tell in the photo but the seal looks horrible.  The Spikes at least look like seahorses.  I'm going to paint it over (I still have a lot of the blue) and then make a new stencil for the trailer. 

Stencils!

A few weeks ago, I found this:

It is, in fact, a 14th C illumination of a painted wagon.   Of course, mine looks like a small house but it gave me some great ideas.  Notice the scroll work up top and the heraldry on the bottom half.  I also found one in this illumination that is plain up top but decorated on the bottom. I like this idea.  (The second one is also blue on the top!  Woohoo!)

So, I figured I'd add some sort of heraldry to the bottom of the wagon.  However, I still want to keep it TARDIS-esque for the lulz.  Therefore, my first thought was to paint the Doctor's name in Gallifreyan:

But I'm not quite that insane.  (Also, I don't think it's his name.  Remember River told him to "read" this on the cradle and then the Doctor got all excited.  I think it's the names of everyone who has ever slept in the cradle - which means only one of the circles his name.  Anyway...)

I wanted something...less crazy.  So I went with the seal of Rassilon instead.  It's Time Lady-ie and it looks Celtic too.  It's a win-win for the trailer!

Too bad I messed it up a bit. Basically, I drew it out and then cut it out with an xacto knife...forgetting things like needing to keep big empty spaces connected to the rest of the stencil. Luckily, duct tape does solve all problems.

..and I was way better with the second stencil that I wanted to create.

Meet Spike!   Spike is the very beloved populace badge of Atlantia.  Think of him being on the trailer as a license plate stating what state I'm from.  For Spike, I drew him out and then created the cut outs in a web pattern.  I didn't like any of the existing stencils (either WAY too complicated or way too simple) so I drew up my own. This took a grand total of 15 minutes.  The Seal of Rassilon?  One hour.

I thought about doing a couple of others but I think keeping it simple might be best.  I'll test out the stencils on the trailer tomorrow.

BTW, if anyone else is doing Pennsic prep- Home Depot has packs of 6 Tiki torches for $5.  They are the bamboo ones & a bit short but they are refillable.  I bought two packs and plan on using them as the border around my "camp".  :-)  Or, at least, part of it. 

More Pennsic Thoughts

This is my new folding chair I made myself.  :-)   I have to add the seat and back, of course, but it's painted and works!   It looks like a kindergartner made it but whatever.  I actually made something out of wood that was not precut.  I had to use measurements and math! 

Now will it hold an actually person?  Even I'm not sure.  I might err on the side of safety and this will be come a lovely handwashing station, with towels on the arms and a bowl on the seat, at Pennsic. 

On to what I've been planning!   I really *really* want to make my vardo solar.   There are a lot of reasons for this (I can charge up my phone, my computer, and run the lights!) but it comes down to one simple reason- I want to be able to run my fridge, darn it!  Yes, I can easily add some ice packs and just use the fridge as an icebox the entire two weeks but...I want my fridge!  Plus, with solar power, I can turn the vardo into a wifi hotspot pretty easily....

Solar is quiet, effective, and a great power system all around when camping.   The problem is the price.  The price to full make my fridge run and turn on a light or two would be around $900.  That is not a small chuck of change.   And the reason for the price isn't the panels either - the one panel I know would be perfect is a slight bit more than the others I've been looking at.  Still, it's $229.  It's also the only panel I need. 

In reality, the entire solar power system is easily $322 - I priced out the panel, the inverter, the regulator, and even the trickle charger.  It's the batteries that make up the rest of that $900 price tag.  I would need two true deep cycles or four golf cart batteries.  The best I could find for the cheapest I could find were 4 golf cart batteries at $150 each.   That's $600 right there. 

Storing the batteries in the trailer isn't an issue - there plenty of space.  It really all comes down to price.  Do I and will I use the trailer enough to really justify throwing around $900+ on making it ready for the Zombie Apocalypse...err Pennsic?  The very impractical "I WANT MY FRIDGE" side of me says yes!  However the more practical part of me realizes that spending just under a grand on something I'll use maybe four times a year might not be the best use of my money.  I also realize, that if I do get it fully solar powered I might actually use the vardo even more - which would help a lot in off setting the costs.  Plus, the system should last a good decade (the batteries will need to be replaced after that).  Even at four times a year (3 weekends= 6 days and Pennsic= 17 days, giving a total of 23 days) over ten years, you are talking maybe $4 a day.   Still, it's a lot of upfront costs that I don't necessarily have right now, no matter how much I want to run the fridge.  :-)

Painting the Trailer!

I have a vardo and I love it. I wanted one every since I saw the "Pennsic Homes" at my first Pennsic back in 2007. I kept making plans, trying to figure out cost and materials, but nothing much came of all that (mainly because I couldn't think up a place to build it easily!). One day, however, I saw this one up for sale on ebay. I haggled with guy a bit and managed to talk him down to a price I could afford. I drove all the way up to Wisconsin and came back with this beauty.

Okay, so maybe it doesn't look beautiful in this picture.  This is the back of the house (and it is a house).  I had to replace the back bottom panel due to my own negligence (Dad helped! Fixing it, I mean).  I also had to put putty in the upper part of the middle beam due to an evil woodpecker.  Why a woodpecker would go after the thickest part of the trailer is a bit beyond me other than he must be stupid.

See?  Putty.  Because of the putty (and because I really didn't want to tape everything off), I decided to paint over the beams and the panels.  Also, it was cheaper.  I didn't want to buy a bunch of stain and have to put that on the beams.  It would have taken forever.  As is, it took me a good six hours to paint this thing myself.

I started by taping off the windows and the evil eyes.   I really like the evil eyes on the sides of the trailer and didn't want to see them get covered up.  Besides, they are high enough to be somewhat protected from the rain and sun -thanks to the roof.  I was more worried about the panels- the guy that built the trailer used interior paint.  It was starting to show a bit badly and I was worried about some serious warping.  Some of the wood already has started to warp a bit.

The front of the trailer - I decided to tape off the door and door frame but paint everything else. 

Post painting!   I really painted everything I could.  I think the trailer has a good decade before I'll need to paint again.  Thank goodness!

The front door to the vardo.  It's drastically different than before but I really like this look.  The color works well with the purple of the evil eyes. 

The vardo is slightly messy right now but I wanted to show the Moroccan lamp I hung up in the center of it.  This will be great to light the vardo at Pennsic. 

The vardo at the gated yard.   It just looked so much better with the new paint!

Tomorrow, I should post about some of the new camp furniture I'm making.  I finished a table but I'm still working on a folding chair.  The problem with Pennsic on my brain means that I will be making some crazy stuff over the next few weeks.  

Pennsic List!

Yes, it's five AM my time.  Stupid allergies!  While I'm waiting for the allergy pills to take affect so I can go back to sleep without wanting to rip my skin off (I'm really really itchy), I thought I might make a Pennsic list.

Pennsic is the most wonderful event ever.  It's when myself and 10,000+ of my closest friends descend on a small town in Western Pennsylvania for two weeks.  The entire time, you must be dressed in appropriate medieval or Renaissance garb.   When were the middle ages?  Most people - including the SCA handbook- put the start at 600 - once Rome was good and fully gone as a world power in the Ancient world.   This gives everyone a nice 1000 year spread (600-1600) to choose from for garb.

Besides being in garb the entire two weeks, you can fight, take classes, and/or shop.   You'll also be going to parties, meeting new people, and camping.  For two weeks.  A lot of people only come for the second week - I've done that in the past- but this year, I really want to stay the entire two weeks.

My Pennsic list will be different from some others and will also be different from some other camping lists.  First, you need garb - enough for every day that you are there- which you wouldn't on a normal camping list; but also, I have my vardo.

I don't need a tent, a cot, or anything else like that.  My cute little vardo has almost all the comforts of home except a working bathroom.

Pennsic List:

• Garb - this should include all my "peasant" Italian dresses, my Norse dresses, and a few nobility dresses.  I will also need a new chemise for each day.   Luckily, the vardo has a lot more room than it looks.
• Bedding - I already have a mattress, sheets, and about a dozen blankets in the vardo so that's taken care of.  Still, an extra set of sheets and a couple of comfy pillows would be nice.
• Shower tent - I plan on making my own.  I checked on using PVC earlier today to make a decent frame and it is cheap.  It would cost about $20.  However, I also like the idea of keeping to wood which would be the same price for a frame.  Either way, I have the outdoor fabric (it's tan) to make the walls out of.  I found a couple of interesting shower devices.  One creates water pressure with just 4 d cell batteries.  However, you need to provide the water source (typically a large jug painted black to warm the water).  There are also the solar showers that are cheap.  We'll see.
• Firepit & accessories.   I plan on getting a cheap one at Wally world.  I actually have the lumber, right now, to make a simple table and breakdown chairs for around the firepit.  Although I have a lovely folding table and chairs, I don't want them to get wet!   It rains, a lot, at Pennsic.  So, I need something that I don't care about and will be allowed to get wet if I leave it outside.
• A gate of some sort.  Most camps have some sort of "here's where you come into the camp" entrance.  It's not necessarily a traditional gate, but just an entrance.  I found a really cool looking one made from two cheap arbors and a bit of fabric going between them.  I think some of the poly saris I have plus craigslist will come in handy for this idea.   
• Spray paint.  I need it to mark off my encampment.  It's cheaper than buying a lot of rope and stakes.  
• Personal hygiene accessories.  This includes, but not limited too, shampoo, conditioner, soap, tissues (handkerchiefs work well too), and even a trash can.  I have a small crate I keep most of my stuff in.  This helps when carrying it to and from the shower tent.   (Well, not the tissues, of course!)  I also need to remember towels, washclothes, and clothesline.  The clothesline is very useful for drying out towels or freshly cleaned laundry.  (I have a sink in the vardo.)
• Kitchen accessories.   I already have a propane stove in the vardo and a tripod with dutch oven for over the firepit. However, I need to remember pots, pans, spatulas, and dish soap.  Pot holders would be nice too.  And my tea kettle.  And my mug.... and probably some utensils.  Maybe some paper plates although I will have my feast gear in the vardo.  Oh! And mixing bowls!  Measuring spoons...measuring cups....  Basically, everything in my real kitchen needs to go into my vardo kitchen. ...tin foil. Parchment/wax paper. Plastic baggies. Trash bags.
• Food.   Yes, if you really want to, you can easily eat out every day at Pennsic and never cook for yourself.  I'm not like that.  With food, you do need to be sensible about what you bring, however.  The fridge in the vardo - even if I don't get the solar power system for the vardo by then- will act as a good cooler for many raw meats and other items that need to be kept cool. 
  
  Flour, honey, sugar, olive oil, salt, and some packs of dry yeast are good for making fresh bread over the fire in the dutch oven. All these items also don't need refrigeration. Herbs and spices are great to bring along as well - I'll probably bring basil, oregano, pepper, and maybe some sage. I don't want a whole bunch of spices, but enough to make a good basic alfredo sauce would be nice. On that note, I will also bring almond milk - it won't need refrigeration until after I open it- and shells.
  
  Potatoes, carrots, and onions are all great for fire cooked meals. Add some beef (that can be kept in the cooler for a couple of days if you actually keep it cool) for something really yummy. The veggies don't need to be kept in the cooler and will last a while - which makes them great for camping. I also like to bring hot dogs to camp - I have a hot dog roasting stick. That with some rice and soy sauce is a "comfort food" for me.
• Wooden pallets.  Although I no longer need a floor for my tent (Vardos are awesome!), I would like a semi-even surface to put the chairs and table on.   If I throw a board across a couple of pallets, I get an instant (and cheap!) side porch for my vardo.  I've also seen where people have created wooden sidewalks out of old pallets and fire hose.  This would be awesome not only for walking on on the muddy days, but also for throwing beneath the trailer tires should they become stuck.  As pallets are normally free (many smaller hardware stores love it when I ask if I can have a few) it's a very cost effective way to get a platform tent, or, in my case, a nice porch.  
• Luggage carrier.  I need to borrow the one from my parents.  This is really just to cause a bit more of an airstream around the truck and vardo.  The vardo is a lot taller than the truck, causing air to hit right against the top of the vardo and causing a lot of tension.  It's fine when I'm driving at 55mph...but I can't go over that at all.  To help with some of the aerodynamics of it, a simple luggage carrier should work.
• A wagon.  I'm borrowing this as well.  I'm just going to use the traditional red wagon to haul stuff up from the grocery store in the middle of Pennsic (yes, there is one) to camp.  This does mean I need to make some sort of cover for the wagon (with dagging!).  I've gone without a wagon before and carrying the bags of ice back to camp without one is not fun.  

I think that's it for my list. Most of it is stuff I already have - garb, kitchen stuff- or stuff I'll need to buy anyway - shampoo, food. Going medieval camping does not need to mean $$$. I think my first year, I spent maybe $300 on everything I needed - and that was from scratch. If you stretch that out over a few months, it's not that bad. Most people can get by in most encampments with just a tent, a cot, and their garb. (You do want to have something that will lift you off the ground. This isn't just because of your back when sleeping on the ground for two weeks- this is because the flooding at Pennsic is the stuff of legends. Keeping stuff off the ground means keeping everything dry.) If you really want, some people buy everything they need at Pennsic - yes, even the tent. I would suggest though buying a tent beforehand. Many cabin tents are between $120-$200. Check military surplus stores for something more medieval looking (many military tents have shapes similar to those you see in the late 16th century).  Also, ebay always has "Civil War" canvas tents up.  Many of these do have older designs and tend to be in the $250 - $300 range ,  Remember, the tent should last you at least five years if not a lot longer.  (you can also do what I did and just make your own..)

You can get a nice, simple, wood bed frame from Ikea for about $40, I think. I can vouch for the twin mattress from Ikea - $79 on sale and very, very comfy. So, for about $120 you get a nice, reusable twin bed to sleep in rather than a normal cot. (It also looks more medieval)


I'm sure the list will get longer as Pennsic approaches.   Candles, lanterns, bug repellent, and other such items are just a few I know I missed.  :-)

Challenge Accepted!

I'm going to Pennsic in about a week (OMG!  PENNSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!) and beyond being super excited, I'm trying to get a bunch of things done for Pennsic.  I'm almost done sewing up my friends' wardrobe but I also now need to work on mine.  You see, I found out that it's going to be cool this year - not warm.   I'm used to the 95 during the day/ 45 at night Pennsics.   This is going to be 75 during the day.  ....

So....my thin linen chemise and linen dresses probably aren't the best idea then, right?   Right.   I have velvet gowns - which I'm bringing- but then I ran into another problem.

***Opening Ceremonies will take place at ~~~ 8 PM Saturday July 27~~~ Please gather in Atlantian Royal on N40 about 7:30 so we can form up and process in our usual Grande Atlantian Style. Please, if possible, wear Blue and/or White and, if you have any appropriate banners or pennants, please carry them that day. 

 Although I have a lovely blue linen dress, I have nothing in an appropriate shade of blue or white that would work for Opening Ceremonies.  Hmm...

Then I thought of my little blue box....

And Venice....

And....

My little geeky heart could not look back.  The veils are blue.  The dresses are...well, off white... but how can I say no?  I need to make a Vampires in Venice outfit because it just so needs to be done.

So, research!

After DVRing the episode and watching it about as many times as the Girl in the Fireplace one (face it, fellow costumers, if you like Doctor Who, you already know exactly which episodes these are and why I'd watch them a gazillion times over), I realized each of the dresses are different.   Only today I found a picture that confirms that:

The dresses range from white to a yellow cream color.   Most are done in some pseudo mid 16th C style with some more accurate than others.  Some have a print on them, some don't.  Luckily for me, all the "vampires" are brunettes.  :-)  I'll fit right in. 

Supplies:

I have a white lace parasol and a pair of white gloves.   I really just needed the correct color sheer material for the veil and something vaguely white to ivory - preferably with a print- for the dress.

I'm debating about getting this GORGEOUS cotton jacquard at Joanns that has a peacock feather print.  I'm going to double check my bins of fabric to see if I have anything that might work.  I recently used a lot of it up so I don't *think* so but we all know that means very little.  

As for the veil:

The color could not be more perfect.  I found it at Wally World for $1.50 a yard.  Yes, it's 100% dead dino but the color and the weight are just what I need.  Besides, this will be at 8 pm when it will already be cooling off rapidly.  I probably won't wear this through out the day.  (Okay, maybe I will.  I want to see how many people scream when they see me.)

Fun time!  Now, to make this and at least one other dress plus finish the doublets in under a week.  Challenge: Accepted!

So much to post, so little time!

I'm going to try and work backwards. I have a ton of projects I've been working on but just haven't had the time to post them.



This is my 1560's Middle Class Italian dress. It's actually a remake of an earlier dress that died a horrible death. I unpicked the trim and reused it for this dress. Like the dead dress, this one is bright pink; however, this one is also a nice tight weave wool and not a loose weave linen. I also changed up how to lace it up in the front. The pink wool is just a cover over a linen and duck cloth bodice that I made many years earlier. The pink wool is hand sewn to the bodice, creating a nice cover.



Not really the best side view, but you get a good idea of the trim placement. The trim is some deadstock from the 1970's (as you can see by the colors). However, I loved the look of it even if I wasn't thrilled with the colors. For fun, I decided to create the most hideous color combo I could for the 16th C and...it actually came out really well. The browns, mustard yellows, and oranges actually look good against the hot pink wool. Which is sad.



The back of the dress. I hand tacked the trim down so it wouldn't curl.



With the Dutch Cloak I made for the dead dress. Notice the mustard yellow woven trim on the hanging sleeves! :-)

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this dress. It fits, it feels nice on, and its mostly hand sewn. It is coming with me to Pennsic!