No backspacing! ack! It's d_salie's fault. raelly. not mine. I didn't do it. It wASN''t me. srsly.

Sarah, where the hell are you?????????????????????

Are here - some of them, anyhow.
http://pics.livejournal.com/etaine_pommier/gallery/00010pds

ETA: Pics will be taken down as things sell.

EETA: What the heck, more pics and descriptions up.

Something that makes me really happy? Being related to my little (aka portable) Laurel/apprentice sisters: Eibhlinn, Muriel, and Sarah. I love you guys bunches!

And my evil twin, of course. :)

Let me just say: I never dither like this when it's my own money I'm spending on fabric. It's only when I'm shopping for other people without a budget.

happy b-day, barone_antonio May the coming year bring you joy and lots of laughter!

Too much to tell, so, like many others, I will sum up the highlights:
1. I loooooove Ermine Company!!!!!!
2. Period food is yummy. And documentable.
3. New Antirian foodie friends.
4. Scotch.
5. Tipsy apprentice.
6. Moooo!
7. Water-bearing point staff and help - you guys are the best!
8. I got to dress up a pretty girl in my new Germans, and now she wants her own. :-)
9. J! has a new squire.
10. There was a glove. There was a story. There was a challenge. There was a war point... y'all knew *something* like that was gonna happen.

If you are on my fabric deals* list, you should have received an email from me this morning. If you're not, and you want to be, please drop me a line with your current email?

Same again for Tuesday Night Sewing (in El Cerrito, CA)- drop me a line if you aren't on the email list.

Speaking of which, is there any interest in me cleaning out my fabric closets again? There won't be wools this time, but there should be some linen, a few silks, and quite a few damasks.

(Brief war report to come later.)


*When I find a screaming deal on period fabrics, this is the list of people I send it to.

Off to war - see (read) you when I get home!

Everyone have a grand weekend and travel safe.

It's amazing what you can get done when you get up at 6 AM and never change out of your bathrobe. I have a new dress for the war. Simple, middle-class 1520, German. AND I get to cross the red-brown Germans off of the backlog list!

Notes on what I've learned about painting pavilions, just so I have them somewhere.

What paints/materials?
- Don't use Versatex. They changed the formula several years ago and a thick application will make the canvas leak. Plus, it will absorb water in a heavy rain and turn into goo. Remember the painted tent that melted at Estrella five or six years ago? That was mine. :-(
- Student-grade acrylics work fine. I like Liquitex.
- Not all paints are created equal- check the opacity and lightfastness ratings. Opaque is your friend.
- Some folks have used latex house paint with good results, but I like the consistency of acrylics better.
- Buy too much. Extra can be returned, saved for another project, or given to your friends.
- Good brushes are worth the extra $20. Synthetic sable works nicely.

Tests:
- Always do test swatches.
- Test for lightfastness. Cut your swatch in half, place one half in a dark place, and the other in a sunny window for month. If it fades too much, try another pigment.
- Test swatches will not tell you if a pigment is going to interfere with the waterproof-ness of your tent.
- Use test swatches to check how shading techniques will look.

Colors:
- Cadmuium reds are totally modern, but they do a good approximation of red lead. They are very opaque and very lightfast.
- Cut ultramarine blue with enough water so that it has the consistency of heavy cream. This will make it easier to work with and it will streak less. Un-cut ultramarine pigment coats the fibers and can make the canvas leak.
- Raw umber is your friend for mixing and dulling down too-bright colors. It's also great for doing washes to add dimensionality.
- Yellow ochre is a great base for "gilding." Gold metallics wear off quickly - be prepared to re-do or to just deal with it.

Designs:
- Strong verticals are my favorites.
- Lines don't need to be very thick.
- Stencils are you friends.
- Tents are BIG. The more complicated the design, the longer it will take to paint. Exponentially longer.
- Overdo the research if you are going to research. It's going to be significant time investment that will last for many years, so be sure you are completely happy with it. And that you think you'll still be happy with the design in 5 or 10 years.
- Tents are big. Designs should read from a distance. A scale drawing helps.

The process:
- It takes a long time. Be prepared for that.
- Wear sunscreen and clean socks.
- Trace designs/stencils in pencil. Use a white eraser on mistakes.
- It does not need to happen outside, but a large, flat surface helps. As long as J! is patient, I can take over the dining room table for a week.
- Multiple sessions are fine, but complete discrete areas/motifs before the tent goes up.
- There are pluses and minuses to painting a fresh tent. The surface looks cleaner on a new tent, but the particles on the surface can make it more difficult for the paint to stick. Especially if the canvas is flame-proofed.
- Small drops will happen. Trying to get them out just makes them bigger. Painting over them with white just makes them more obvious. On an expanse as big as a pavilion, they really won't be noticeable. Blot them and move on.
- Use new motifs/adjust the design to cover big spills.

Hot coffee, purring lap-cat, and an almost-painted pavilion.

It's going to be a lovely day.

I honestly have no idea what stint this is... but I have finally begun painting the awning. The repeats take about thirty minutes each, and there are a lot of them. Here's hoping I can get at least three-quarters of it done today...

ETA: Not quite 3/4, but at least 2/3 done.

1795 current memberships. 754 authorized fighters.

Please bear in mind that this is simply the number of current members and the number of authorized heavy fighters.

The actual ratio of non-fighters to fighters is probably higher, due to (at least) the following:
1. There are a number of people who play without memberships, but you cannot fight without one
2. You do not need to be a current member to authorize as a heavy fighter (only to fight in a Crown/Coronet list.)
3. There are some people who have current authorization cards, but who are not fighting/cannot fight at the moment.

This may have gotten lost in light of the recent kerfuffle, so I am reposting. Apologies if you already read it and I'm boring you :-)

( Acting in a peer-like manner )

130 minutes of urban hiking = good.
In flip-flops = ow.

It is incredibly beautiful today, and I am I missing my hiking buddy. Still, I plan on making it out of the house, gosh darn it. Any of my other unemployed/day off friends up for it?

I found the article on table linens this morning - woot! It took dragging out all of my un-filed articles from the cabinet in the garage (2 drawers full, thanks) and going through all of them before I went into the sewing room and just pulled it off the shelf where I'd put it. That's always how it goes. :)

The only thing I have to do today is to work up the outline for my class tonight. Etain-Go-Blah-About-Fancy-Garb will get a repeat performance at Cloondara A&S.

One of the very hardest lessons for me in acting in what I consider to be a "peerlike manner" is to speak directly with the people I have a problem with. It's fine to vent to my friends and get their advice, but if I never confront the person, I lose my right to complain about their behavior.

I am frequently tempted to ask someone else to handle the conversation for me, but luckily my friends have faith that I can act like an adult, and generally advise me to speak directly with the person in question.

I mention this because I have had several very good and productive conversations in the last few weeks by doing exactly that: either meeting with the person or giving them a phone call.

You can't change people, but you can explain your point of view and reach an understanding. It takes courage and compassion to do it well, but those are PLQ's for a reason, and ones that I, for one, don't mind working towards.

Five hours later and I have *almost* finished the laundry from this weekend. There's a lot to wash and iron after a period feast.

Somewhere I have an article on 16th century English table linens, and it's driving me nuts that I can't find it for aastg.

Found in our encampment at pack up: one oval pewter plate, one modern dishtowel with garlic and artichokes printed on it, one 16th century printed red and white towel. If any of these belongs to you, please ping me.

It seemed like a really good idea to wrap my cups and bowls in linen napkins, so that everything could get to the hall/event in one box. But I really didn't think that all the way through. The linens generally end up getting used and have to come home for laundering, whereas the dishes are usually washed up and put away clean. I either need two sets of linen in the box so I can rotate them, or to make cloth bags for the dishes.