12th Night and The Project Recap

Whew! Took a week to recover from all the doings before and then 12th Night. 12th Night was as good as I hoped it would be. People were well floored with The Project - it shimmered in the light as I moved and yet was really quite subtle. The best compliment I had was that I looked like I had stepped out of a portrait. YES!


This is me, eyes closed as usual, wearing The Project. The Swabian dresses from the 1490's - mid 1500's were known for their beaded sleeve - yes single sleeve. The collar is on the underdress and is also beaded. I'm wearing the Poppy pendant and the cloak over the right shoulder (see more about the Poppy below). This particular dress is modeled after one commonly known as Lady and the Order of the Swan.

The sleeve and collar are beaded in pearls, various coral beads, and spangles (gold colored ones for the vines and real gold for the splattered ones). For those wondering, some areas are done on felt either in single or mutiple layers to give raised effects. The lower portion of the sleeve shows poppies, and then the main rose is my device (a portion of my "coat of arms") within our organization. I had wanted to do more spangled tendrils, but lack of time and energy.... Historically they used pearls, spangles, and coral. The multiple colors of coral may be an aberration, but I was picking up an arts/sciences award after all (grin).

For my thoughts on the design and stitching of The Project - you can see the prior entries on Thread Control and Design (12/05) I hope to do a web page showing the stages of the project, but that will be a few weeks off.


Earlier in the day, they had an Artisan's Display. As incoming Kingdom Artisan, the title you get for the year following your admittance to the Order of the Golden Poppy, I was expected to display all the items I had entered in competitions and then anything else I wanted. So from left to right - Pearl Sticken hat (approx. 1520 - for the upcoming outfit) and documentation binder for hat and my dress, 2 of my teaching pieces (voided work band bookmark and Egyptian Pattern Darning Altoids tin topper - you have to have small fun things to encourage people to play with new techniques) and binder with my class handouts for the 17 classes I taught in 2005, broaches, bonework, and tokens of the 6 "wins", binder of Poppy entry documentation, dyed wool and silk, embroidered linen hose, banner, and horse barding entries. For those in other Kingdoms it is similar to your Pentathalons, but it is 8 competitions over the course of a year in 4 different subject categories.

Recap (and yes I will be putting all the entries and their documentation up on a web page eventually -- mostly because of all the hassle of finding information on these subjects):
March Crown - Tinctures - Walnut Dye, Berry Vine Dye, and Walnut Ink
June Crown - Underpinnings - Embroidered Linen Hose
A&S - Poem on Beauty (performance) - Sestina
- Heraldic Banners - Tournament Banner (my husband's device)
- Horse Barding - Rocking Horse with barding (my husband's bear) -- (grin) my husband is 6'5"
- Preserved Foods - Elizabethan Brined Artichokes, Roman Vinegared Cheese
Purgatorio - Broaches - 4 wire broaches
October Crown - Bone - bone tools (sewing needle, naalbinding needle, seam smoother, 2 styles of needlecases)

So now on to the next project. I have several medium size projects in the works so will try to finish them. Meanwhile, need to finish the next column off.