Calling all period archers in Lochac.

The IKAC scores for Lochac could do with some improvement and I know that Lochac has more Period Archers out there. It would be great to see more and more people choose to shoot period and also shoot the IKAC to elevate Lochac’s rankings.

As such, I shall be providing a prize to the highest scoring period archer in IKAC this season. The prize is a hand crafted pewter drinking vessel which will comemorate the victory. To be in the running you will need to make sure your scores are entered into the Lochac IKAC online scoring system at http://scores-sca.org/.

The season ends in December and I shall forward the prize to the worthy archer once the final scores have been added.

I have been tinlkering of late with constructing pewter drinking wares, as I have been wanting to experiment in that area for a long time and just never got around to it.

My housemate has been attempting to convince me to mould a cup in a single piece, however I have been tinkering with constructing one from sheet. This meant making sheet pewter, as it’s rather dificult to get pewter in sheet form. Those of you who read my site regularly will remember the post earlier in the week where I discussed wooden moulds, and making a mould from two pieces of flat pine.

The pewter I cast from that mould has since been beaten into a truncated cone, and had the seam welded to form a nice cup shape without a bottom. If all goes well during the coming working week, I shall fit a bottom to this and then clean and polish the raw cup before attempting some decorating on it.

Still can’t forget those Radburne War tokens as well…

Yikes! It’s time I started concentrating on the Radburn war tokens, as I promised that I would once again supply the tokens this year. The general consensus is for a Tower, and being an archer I am quite keen on shooting from towers, so I think a tower it shall be. I am conflicted about how to make a tower better than the gate that I made for them last year, but I am keen to continue the fort motif from last year.

The other alternative is a Radburn shied, which I have in mind so that it matches the sword from the first year. I may keep that one for next year though, I guess we’ll see how I go with the Tower first. So I now need to contact the Steward and find out how many are booked so I know how many tokens to make.

Sick of the cold? Join us for an afternoon in the Park, followed by a warming Tavern Style winter warming feast of Stew – but watch your back!

Lucrezia Borgia is giving a feast in honor of her father, the Pope, but beware, there is poison in the air. Caution is your only hope. Come to the feast and see who will be the last noble standing in this game of trust and betrayal. For those that wish to come and just watch the spectacle, items will be provided to ensure your safety. There will be a cap of 45 tickets sold, as the Pope is in his elder years and large crowds leave him ill.

When: Saturday 15th August
Where: Downer Community Centre, Frencham Street, Downer
Time: Tourney from 12.00, Feast: 6pm
Booked Price: $12 members/ $15 non-members / Children U10 Free
At the Door: $15 members/ $18 non-members. NB. Bookings urged as limited space available.
Bookings and dietary requirements to the Steward: Honoré Corbaut (Georgia Winter) winter.georgia@gmail.com, 0414 726 262.
Bookings required by no later than 7 August.
Please take note of the Baronial Bookings Policy

I have been experimenting more with short term wooden moulds for pewter work these days and I suspect that it was used in period for pewter work more than has been documented. The pine store-bought wood I have been using holds up remarkably well to multiple castings and even when it does seem to burn, it seems to retain it’s integrity reasonably well. Using the wood allows larger filigree type works to be created reasonably quickly with a sharp carving tool and some skill. the wood seems to allow a remarkable amount if details and because of it’s insulating and porous qualities seems to be a great medium for making larger flatter pieces as the molten pewter flows to all extremities of the mould before freezing.

Earlier on in the week I used a wooden mould to create a piece of flat sheet that I could turn into a cup by rolling and then soldering the seem and the base in place. I suspect with a little more care in creating the mould I could make this sheet a lot thinner and much smoother. Though the other consideration for making flat sheet is to use sheet metal, and make a 3 piece sandwich with a sheet metal blank sandwiched between 2 pine boards.

I know I should change my chosen metal from Pewter to silver as more and more of the things that I want to make are much better when made in silver, and I could also cast the silver in the soapstone moulds I already have. However it seems that my skills are more and more being used to make event tokens which is far more rewarding, as tokens seem to get kept, and they have a larger audience rather than special silver thing’s that are only special to those they were made for. Anyway, I haven’t done much these days, so I shouldn’t worry too much until I get to a point of needing to evaluate.

I’m working the afternoon shifts this weekend, so am not available for any events. :(

The lovely folks of Radburne are having their 3rd Radburne War and Camping weekend and I’m planning on heading out there.

Ulric of Ambledune, our wonderful Captain of Archers is organising a Novelty shoot for this 5th Sunday of the month.  So come along and find out what fun and exciting things Ulric has organised for us all to shoot at.

This is a Garbed Event as far as I am aware.

Yay!  It’s a Tavern event in Polit for all to come along drink and play games.  Just realised that I won’t be able to make it though. :(