I have soapstone!… Lots of soapstone, a it’s good quality soapstone… And they have loads! Large bits,. Small bits, rough shapes or cut block… you name it they have it… It comes from south america, and is a nice light grey in colour.

Where?

S & S Wholesalers
Unit 18/10 Pioneer Avenue,
Thornleigh NSW 2120
Ph: 02 9875 1155
Fax: 02 9980 9322
www.sswholesale.com.au

If you contact them, tell them Steve Worthington sent you. ;)

Large blocks are current priced at $3.49/Lb + GST. So it’s reasonably expensive as it’s quite heavy for its size… I actually spent more than I should have, but I found some really nice pieces. If you want to choose your own pieces though, you have to get there before 3:30pm on a work day, as the warehouse closes around then. I’m tempted to go and prepare a couple of slices tonight, however I know that if I do that before I have worked out exactly what it is I shall be carving out of it, I’ll end up wasting it.

I’m looking forward to working out my first mould. I have so many idea’s… This could be fun…

Ever wanted a nice pretty email address to go with your nice SCA Persona? Welcome to the wonderful world of the Lochac Network, where you too can have a nice neat me@lochac.net email address. :) Yes, yours truely is the new owner of the lochac.net domain name, and for a small admin fee, I am willing to share the experience. Am I money hungry and looking to make a profit? Well yeah kinda… But for 10Gold per year for your very own slice of lochac.net, can you really say that I am trying to squeeze you for all the money I can get? So what does your $10 get you? It gets you a yourname@lochac.net email address which is based on Gmail, complete with 2GB, yes, that;s right… 2 GB of storage data… That’s enough storage space to keep a search-able record of the Shambles easily accessible for 4-5 years… keep all of your SCA mailing lists in the one place with Gmail’s wonderful all in search-able technology. The email Administration fee is enough to support Lochac.net financially and help it develop, it’s a way of showing your support, and getting something in return.

So is there a future for the Lochac Network? Will it grow and thrive and expand into a wonderful community of caring and active participants? I hope so… The future holds many new and exciting things, all based on what people hope to do with it. Do you have an idea? Would you like to take advantage of our wonderful deal? Would you like to propose a project or community for our exciting domain? The Lochac Network is new… exciting… and currently still in development… Your input is valued, and your participation desired. :) Email accounts are just the first product on offer, the future will also have webspace available to merchants as well as groups and persona.

Lochac Network isn’t a replacement for sca.org.au, it’s more for individuals and households than for official groups. It’s an unofficial web environment for individuals to keep in touch with others and provide their own online presence. If you are loking for a space to host a persona profile, or create a household website, then this is the place for you.

Contact me if this interests you. I’m also looking for Web Developers who specialise in highly graphical websites to help design and build Lochac.net from the ground up.

So, today after a rather lazy morning, I decided that I would attempt to stamp the coin blanks that I made yesterday. There are a few things that have changed since I tried it with the solder blanks I made last time. I no-longer have a nice big solid workbench to try it on… I can not use the the collar I used previously as these blanks no longer fit in it. These things make a big difference to the force at which I am comfortable striking with.

So… How do I fix these things? I need a stump… a large hardwood log about 40cm in diameter and about 120cm long. This will become my solid work surface. It will be the right height for me to comfortably take a swing at the die sets. As for the collar… that helps with the top die not getting off centre, however it should be OK without it. With the Stump, I would also be willing to try stamping the Silver I have been holding off on.

The other option for coining is a home made lever press. By multiplying lever action through a series of interconnected levers, I should be able to create the force needed to press a coin. In theory this works… however not being math minded enough to be able to calculate the force required, I would just have to take a guess and hope it’s enough…

With a little help from Katje, I managed to turn out 49 pewter coin blanks this afternoon. Casting in soapstone is a wonderfully easy process, and I am currently trying to source soapstone for this purpose.

I set myself up using my camping cooker, and the casting ladle that Katje kindly gave me. This process works quite well, and with just one person, and the ladle resting on the burner it’s quite easy to get into a rhythm turning out coin blank after coin blank. The mould I made out of the piece of soapstone Katje lent me allows hanging tag so the blanks could also be used as blank medallions. This afternoon I hope to find my Drakkar Die set and try stamping a coin or two.

Anyway… Time to run… Got arrows to Fletch, and still have to get ready for Harvest feast, as well as hang washing out, find Dies set and Ummm Oh yeah… Eat lunch…

Woohoo!!!

Sir Michael of York is within reach… I just received an email back from someone who said they will forward my email onto him. :) So things are looking up. :)

I be t that has you confused? Does he mean he has a detailed device detector? What device? what’s he detecting?

Ok… The story so far… Before Festival, I discovered that my proposed device actually conflicts with someone else’s, so there were two options open to me… Change it, or find the other person and ask them nicely if they would provide a letter of permission to conflict.

A few weeks ago I finally decided that I would hunt for Sir Michael of York, who has not been an active member of the SCA in twenty something years. The task seems hard… but I persist, as I am hardened to the task, and determined to exhaust every avenue before changing my device. I will find Sir Michael of York, and I will politely ask him if he would please kindly provide me with a Letter of Permission to Conflict.

So far… Actually finding Michael has proved fruitless. However there are references to people he knew, and who knew him well amongst the ether… and I am slowly narrowing down my search.

Do you know Michael? Perhaps you know of his Mead? Open your Known World Handbook, and you will find a recipe for it. :) Apparently he’s quite famous for it.

Today I woke up all excited about being able to get out and go for a long ride, however that did not happen…

I was going to put some washing on in the morning and hang it out before I went out, however that did not happen…

I was going to upload this months Submissions while the washing was washing, however that did not happen…

What did happen was… I got up, had breakfast, checked my email… for 3 hours… I did upload the Submissions, did some website stuff… and played with the new Archers forums. I tinkered and I played… I repaired a few things and answered many many emails, Saturdays as well, as I never got to those… By the time I got through everything in my inbox, chatting, and answering posts on the forums.. it was 4pm… and there wasn’t any time to go and explore…

Very disappointing… I really need to ride to work every day this week to punish myself…

I woke to an SMS message at 9am. Yes, I was sleeping in, and the message was from a mate who wanted to catch up about 11am… so I could sleep some more, which I did.. only awaking with time for a 15 minute shower and a few minutes to get where I had to go… Ahh the life of a single guy with no responsibilities… ;)

After breakfast on the road, and meeting up with my mates, I headed north… Turning up at Glenworth Valley running 5 minutes late and worrying that I might be holding people up. However I was not the only person who was running late, and it wasn’t until close to 4pm that we got a tour of the proposed Festival Site.

The site is wonderfully isolated with the walls of valley surrounding a beautifully green valley floor. Talking to the Glenworth Valley rep. James, he explained that they had just had a huge amount of rain the week before, so the dampness in the ground, was explained away. The lush green grass that carpets the valley floor is thick and strong, providing a great base for most camp sites. Whilst the layout of the site is still something that has yet to be discussed, I’m sure everyone that was there has their own idea’s of how the site will spread out through the land allocated.

Festival AS-XLII will prove to be a wonderful, exciting and refreshing Festival. I’m certainly looking forward to it. :)

Putney Ferry Wharf, Dusk Love the single bulb out as you follow the line of lights to the bright ferry wharf. Looking towards the City.

The world is getting so much more technologically advanced…

Take this post for instance… I’m currently sitting by the side of the Parramatta River watching boats and river cats pass by, whist chatting on MSN, reading my email, and posting to my Live Journal. Sure, some of you would say, “Yeah, but you are probably paying a fortune for the privilege.” but that isn’t actually the case… For an extra $29.95 per month on top of my Mobile account, I can utilise the Three 3g Network allowing me reasonably fast Internet connection which gives me 200Mb of data. 200Mb isn’t much… but for web-browsing, checking emails, and basically keeping in touch with friends it’s all I need. If I wanted to upgrade it to 1Gb, it would cost me an additional $20…. So what? Why am I advertising for Three? I’m just constantly amazed at technology and what it allows me to do… I can sit here outdoors, with water views right in front of me, and access all of these things so easily. Brilliant! Just Brilliant!

Add to that the fact that I can use my mobile phone to take pictures and post them here for all to see, as well as find out my location through GPS, which allows you my readers to find out exactly where I am right now… Not that I’ll be here in 15 minutes. ;) So what else can I do with the technology I have available to me? So so much… With mobiles that are now mini computers, allowing software to be installed which provides each user an almost infinite array of possibilities… Oh my! the possibilities.

Putney Boat Ramp, Dusk. Looking towards the south-west as two boats are being taken out of the river. I love the way my van lights illuminate the car on the left.

I got this email yesterday from a mate in Melbourne… Was cute…

It was obviously written by a woman, and was all these reasons to buy a dog, but was nicely done to insinuate that maybe there was a little comparison with men, and the differences of opinions about life of men and women.

Of course it was a humorous look at these differences, though I can’t help but think in all of these little jokes and emails, that their original writers might have been a little annoyed when they first wrote them. Maybe they angry at an ex, or had just had an argument with their partner and felt a little bitter… Either way, there are the same types of things directed at women, written by scorned men as well. The debate, and the snipes go both ways… with equal amounts of anger and venom.

So what’s my point? My point is that it seems plainly obvious to me that in the thousands of years of social interaction between men and women, we can’t seem to accept that men and women are different, and just leave it at that. This fight for equality that has been raging does have some grounds, as no-one can deny the inequality through the ages. However I believe the ways in which we go about trying to rectify this issue are not well thought out and seem like most things, just done for political correctness and not practicality. I think society today in this country isn’t as unbalanced as some make it out to be, issues that some may find sexist are more than likely to be caused by trying to manage change in a more acceptable way.

Men and women are different, we think differently, we act differently. There is no changing that, that’s just part of life. IMHO, the best option is for us to accept that, try to understand a little bit about the opposite sex and how they think. Most of all, in accepting it, we try not to make others think and act the same way we do. I’m not saying we should just accept that there is an equality, and not change… I’m just saying that maybe we should try and take the venom out of it, and help each other to accept the change.

Change takes time, and requires acceptance… and venom, snide comments, sexist jokes, even in a light-hearted way, doesn’t help the issue. Most of us react badly when we are forced to do something. Even if if we may agree with the issue at hand… we are pushed, we push back. That’s instinct, and like it or not, that is just a part of us that we should never train out. I have a lot to say about instinct, so maybe I’ll keep that for another time when I like the taste of foot.

So… Before you comment on this little rant, let me tell you a few things about me… I believe what I believe until someone convinces me otherwise. My opinion is just that, mine… I understand yours might be very different, and my rant in no way is trying to tell you what YOU should believe. Am I right? Am I wrong? I don’t really know… It’s just an opinion gained through my perspective, my life, my view of our world. I also believe that NO-ONE else can possibly have the same perspective of life, as to have that same perspective you would have had to have been living my life, through my eye’s and my experiences. So, if you choose to share your opinion on this subject, please try and phrase it in a way that you are sharing your opinion, and not dissecting my opinion. Perspective is related to credibility… Perspective is life… Life is non-transferable, just shareable. I’m interested in what you have to share. :)