Post-Raglan thoughts
Sep. 19th, 2008 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abendgulesJust some good stuff, and stuff to improve:1. Our pavilion still rocks. We made it Christmas 05, painted spring 06 in time for the Jersey Faire. It still looks fabulous, and we still find people asking questions about it. It's like having a new toy every event. :-)
It's not completely bomb-proof. Robert had to re-stitch the point of the cone, after it burst at Autumn Crown last year - we'd staked it out too tightly, and the moisture in the air got sucked in by the canvas, which stretched to bursting, and gave way at the weakest point. It was a fiddly job, that you could only do by hand.
I spent some time at Raglan re-inforcing some tears near the stake loops - the stitching hasn't given way, the canvas right next to it has. Again, this comes of staking it out too tightly at first, and not allowing for the swelling that damp English weather will cause in the fabric.
In addition to the reinforcing with webbing, I want to patch the tears with more canvas.
2. We ate like kings thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jpgsawyer - or like Queens, as it happened, since HRM Fiona joined us for Saturday dinner. He posted his menu in his own LJ. It was very clever - a complete 'fast' day menu for Friday (no butter, eggs, milk, and fish for the main) and then a wealth of rich proteiny dishes on Saturday. He and Lady M. make a great camp cooking team, though I really really wish they'd sit to eat with their friends! Robert chopped wood and I washed dishes as our contribution to the camp.
3. The longer event gave more time to visit with friends - some from Ireland, who don't trek south often, others like Floris from Polderslot (man w/ 2 small children). Finally met Sir Liam's lady Mistress Nadezhda Toranova, who to date has just played in Harplestane (AFAIK), and her son James.
Got to chat to the very nice couple who sadly have to return to An Tir - Mattheus OL and Megan OL/OP. Just when we were getting to know them, and had a chance to squeeze the peer-like juices out of them! Dang. However, they've made some fine events - Crown, fight practice at Craigmillar, and now Raglan.
Chatted to Mistress Megan after they received their PCSs, and she commented on Robert's heralding 'making the passage at arms work' - you need heralds to issue challenges and keep people updated. 'And the herald last night (for Sat court) was excellent' she said, not realising it was me she was talking about. :-)
It's most often royal peers who notice good court heralds, and take the time to say so - they've had the most experience of good and bad both. And sure enough, turns out she and Matthias were P&P of the Summits in An Tir in the past.
I treasure these comments, because when you do court right, most folk don't notice - it's only obvious when it goes wrong! A ringing silence is great praise, but you have to know that in order to appreciate it.
4. We're both insprired to work on our camping kit for next year. I made a list of things to fix or make, writing it down before I left the event - good thing, because I'd forgotten half of them before I got home!
What I'd really love is to have our modern stuff out of sight in the pavilion, and to that end:
maredudd1066 uses, for making Nature's Black Elixir in the morning, in privacy and invisibility! and don't have to taint jpgsawyer s lovely medieval kitchen setting with my italian coffeepot.
Can anyone suggest where to find:
a) liquid paraffin?
b) some kind of waterproofing coating for fabrics, that won't turn our groundcloth into a fire hazard?
ETA: found endless supplies of paraffin fuel oil. The trick was finding more of the type of lamps we already had. They appear to be restaurant-grade disposable 'fuel cells', that you can actually refill, if you're careful.
Terafan's old supplier seems to have gone under - his old URL is now a link farm. I found several other sources, but they're all State-side. Pity.
No real joy on the lanterns - they all look vaguely 19th c. coalminer-ish to me.
Unfortunately the dirt-cheap 3-candle candelabras that Edith thoughtfully sourced for St. E's last year are no longer in the catalogue! The ones they're carrying are much pricier now.
Just means we have to finally fix our own candleabra - it's 'just needed the right size of screw' for over a year now...
It's not completely bomb-proof. Robert had to re-stitch the point of the cone, after it burst at Autumn Crown last year - we'd staked it out too tightly, and the moisture in the air got sucked in by the canvas, which stretched to bursting, and gave way at the weakest point. It was a fiddly job, that you could only do by hand.
I spent some time at Raglan re-inforcing some tears near the stake loops - the stitching hasn't given way, the canvas right next to it has. Again, this comes of staking it out too tightly at first, and not allowing for the swelling that damp English weather will cause in the fabric.
In addition to the reinforcing with webbing, I want to patch the tears with more canvas.
2. We ate like kings thanks to
jpgsawyer - or like Queens, as it happened, since HRM Fiona joined us for Saturday dinner. He posted his menu in his own LJ. It was very clever - a complete 'fast' day menu for Friday (no butter, eggs, milk, and fish for the main) and then a wealth of rich proteiny dishes on Saturday. He and Lady M. make a great camp cooking team, though I really really wish they'd sit to eat with their friends! Robert chopped wood and I washed dishes as our contribution to the camp.3. The longer event gave more time to visit with friends - some from Ireland, who don't trek south often, others like Floris from Polderslot (man w/ 2 small children). Finally met Sir Liam's lady Mistress Nadezhda Toranova, who to date has just played in Harplestane (AFAIK), and her son James.
Got to chat to the very nice couple who sadly have to return to An Tir - Mattheus OL and Megan OL/OP. Just when we were getting to know them, and had a chance to squeeze the peer-like juices out of them! Dang. However, they've made some fine events - Crown, fight practice at Craigmillar, and now Raglan.
Chatted to Mistress Megan after they received their PCSs, and she commented on Robert's heralding 'making the passage at arms work' - you need heralds to issue challenges and keep people updated. 'And the herald last night (for Sat court) was excellent' she said, not realising it was me she was talking about. :-)
It's most often royal peers who notice good court heralds, and take the time to say so - they've had the most experience of good and bad both. And sure enough, turns out she and Matthias were P&P of the Summits in An Tir in the past.
I treasure these comments, because when you do court right, most folk don't notice - it's only obvious when it goes wrong! A ringing silence is great praise, but you have to know that in order to appreciate it.
4. We're both insprired to work on our camping kit for next year. I made a list of things to fix or make, writing it down before I left the event - good thing, because I'd forgotten half of them before I got home!
What I'd really love is to have our modern stuff out of sight in the pavilion, and to that end:
- Make longer (taller?) legs for the bed, and add a 'dust ruffle' drape - a high bed can hide a multitude of modern bags under it.
- More curtains - I want to replace the curtains with wider ones that actually fill the gaps and provide more privacy. I also want a bed curtain frame, to hang from the spokes though probably just with muslin fabric rather than drapery material.
- Possibly breakdown boxes that can hide the cooler, and other food.
- Fix feast box hinges - flimsy things, not up to actually being used, because they're just cheap wood boxes from Sainsburys - to be replaced w/ leather hinges I think. And repaint them, ideally!
- Paint the headboard - it took us 2 years to get round to cutting one! now it's seasoned a bit, and needs paint and decor.
- Piece the scrap canvas (old pieces of Greydragon pavilions) we've been using into a single 'fitted' groundsheet - possibly try to waterproof it, so we no longer have to use plastic groundsheets as well.
- Make some seating. I like the benches Matthew Baker has made for pogbody and her hubby, and may try something similar. I like woodwork, I just have very few tools to try it out with! and am a bit of a scaredy cat about getting it wrong. I need some scrap lumber to practice on, really.
- More lighting - must find a source for paraffin fuel for re-filling our existing lamps, and make some wood candle lanterns, so we look less like IKEA-upon-Thames. I have a piece of parchment which would make a good lantern screen.
- Possibly some dedicated carrying bags for things like breakdown benches, to keep the pieces together.
maredudd1066 uses, for making Nature's Black Elixir in the morning, in privacy and invisibility! and don't have to taint jpgsawyer s lovely medieval kitchen setting with my italian coffeepot.Can anyone suggest where to find:
a) liquid paraffin?
b) some kind of waterproofing coating for fabrics, that won't turn our groundcloth into a fire hazard?
ETA: found endless supplies of paraffin fuel oil. The trick was finding more of the type of lamps we already had. They appear to be restaurant-grade disposable 'fuel cells', that you can actually refill, if you're careful.
Terafan's old supplier seems to have gone under - his old URL is now a link farm. I found several other sources, but they're all State-side. Pity.
No real joy on the lanterns - they all look vaguely 19th c. coalminer-ish to me.
Unfortunately the dirt-cheap 3-candle candelabras that Edith thoughtfully sourced for St. E's last year are no longer in the catalogue! The ones they're carrying are much pricier now.
Just means we have to finally fix our own candleabra - it's 'just needed the right size of screw' for over a year now...
