Vizard Masks

Posted on March 3, 2012 by belfebe

Good news.  I have been meaning to update my document “Gloves and Muffs and Masks, Oh My!” for a while.  The thing is, when I wrote it back in 2005, no extant masks had been found.  Nevertheless, in 2010, a vizard mask was found walled in a building in England, and this has changed the name of the game.

Pictures and information can be found at the site of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, affiliated with the British Museum.  This means that my document desperately needs to be updated.

So why has it taken me so long?  Among other things, I could not find the original Word document of my article since my old Toshiba died, and I switched computers twice.

True, I could have recreated the PDF document back into Word, but I just didn’t have the time.  Lame excuse, I know, but I have a full time job that takes up a lot of my time and I just didn’t get around to it.

But today, lo and behold!  The document was hiding in the old Toshiba drive, which I had mounted to a slider given that the aforementioned laptop died long time ago never to be able to be booted again.  To make matters worse, it was misfiled under a folder with a name that had nothing to do with this article.  (Why do I do these things to myself?  Sigh.)

But the file that was lost has now been found, and I intend to update it as soon as I can.  Moreover, I need to a) write another document with the additional information that I have dug out in the meantime (Spanish masks anyone?); and b) make another mask given that I can no longer document the technique that I used in the old one and  that is currently part of my website.

I am so happy…

Stay tuned.

Posted in 16th Century | Comments Off

Spanish Striped Sleeves 15th C.

Posted on September 11, 2011 by belfebe

Well,  I was trying to add a page with the examples of Spanish striped sleeves from pictures I took at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona.  Alas, somehow, my program ate the page.

At any rate, I have uploaded them to my Smugmug album, so you can find them here.

Enjoy!

Posted in Spain | Comments Off

Missing Email

Posted on September 6, 2011 by belfebe

Greetings,

Not long ago, someone sent me an email requesting information on period dolls.  Before I could respond, my mailbox ate the email and I can’t find it to save my life.  So if you are reading this, and you are the person who contacted me, I am not ignoring you.  I just can’t find your message.

Please feel free to contact me again with your questions!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Bel’s Hat goes to Pennsic

Posted on August 16, 2011 by belfebe

I confess, I am addicted to hats.

Big hats, small hats, winter hats, summer hats, caps, period hats, modern hats, you name it.  If I can put it on my head, I will probably wear it. 

And you can thank your lucky stars that fascinators have not made it to our side of the world yet, or I would be sporting one right here and now.  I am indeed, fascinated by fascinators.

At any rate, last spring, my friend Greta showed up at my home sporting a nifty straw-like hat.  And of course, I fell in love with it (the hat, not Greta, whom I love dearly already), and decided that I must have one just like that one.

Greta explained to me that she had acquired this little number at our local gardening store of all places.  And as the hat fiend I am, I paid said store a visit as soon as I had a chance.

Alas, I was too late.  The cool little hat had been a best-seller and they were fresh out of it.  However, I did find another nifty hat, although it was squatter and had a much wider brim.

Ahhh, the dissapointment of trying my cool new hat with my work clothes.  It just didn’t look right.  It looked like … well … a gardening hat paired with a power suit.  Not-cool-at-all.

However, since you never know what a hat is going to be good for, I did not get rid of it and waited for the right time to wear it. 

Yes, boys and girls.  If you wait a little bit, the perfect opportunity will present itself so you can rock that hat, no matter how big, small or weird it is.  It is the way hats roll.

Enter Pennsic, where the sun shines hot, the dust blows everywhere, and a big straw hat is a necessity by definition if you are to withstand those weather conditions for an entire week or two.  And although I am the proud owner of several straw hats, there are none that will stay put on my head as I walk, run, or as the wind blows.

Hmm… I thought.  My wide brimmed hat is not a straw hat, but it looks like one, and it has a nifty little band that gently hugs my head thus preventing it from blowing away (the hat, not my head).  And since it’s designed for hours and hours of gardening, it breathes like a champ.

In that regard, I am happy to report that my hat was a success, and that I had to keep an eye on it as everyone wanted to steal it. 

Me and my hat had a lot of fun.  Here is the journey of my hat through Pennsic War XL.

I decorated it and attended a Mad Hatter Tea Party. 

Tea Party! I am the third one, bottom from left.

I took it to the list field and even Court while wearing my doublet and breeches.

 

My hat went well with my rapier clothes.

I also roamed the market place on a hot day whith a Roman banded stola.  Granted, it really didn’t go with it, but I felt smashing and it kept me cool as a cucumber.
 

Roman! Should have been wearing a palla with that, but it was too darned hot for more fabric.

And last but not least, I took it for coffee to Your Inner Vagabond, the greatest coffee house ever, while wearing a 16th Century kirtle.  Now, that really went well.  I truly, truly, love that hat.
 

Me and my girls having coffee. Cheers!

Belfebe out.
 
Posted in SCA Life | Comments Off

Test

Posted on March 4, 2011 by belfebe

Just testing the crossposting from WordPress to LJ.

Move along.  Nothing to see.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off