2014 Kingdom A & S Faire

I am very pleased to report that my boots took a first place at the Middle Kingdom Arts and Science Faire! I had a great time and learned a lot from the discussions with the judges. Face to face judging is one of my favorite parts of entering A & S competitions. I was also thrilled to be able to judge two entries from a very talented women who's A & S endeavors into researching and recreating period body care products I greatly admire!

My revised documentation can be found here: Safavid Sock-boots


 

For the love of the arts...

This week I was VERY honored to have been included as a featured artisan on Genoveva Von Lubeck's SCA Artisan Love blog! Please check it out (and the articles she wrote on other, very talented Midrealm artisans) here.

Thank you for the wonderful article, Genoveva!

A Rose, by any other Name...

So, I have finally, officially changed my persona name to something more... Persianish? If I were following period Safavid naming practices I would probably have a Turkish name (but whos' Turkish? The Ottomans? The Turks? It's all a bit confusing...) I played with a few names that had meanings I liked, but in the end did not like how they sounded. The new name is (drum roll...) Asalah al-Hina. Asal means honey in Persian/Farsi, but I didn't think it sounded very feminine. Asalah, actually an Arabic name, means Nobility of descent.

I will mostly be using this name for "official" things, it's on my new SCA card, class handouts, etc., but I'm sure everyone will continue to call me Anabel, which I really like. It's just not correct for a Safavid woman, so Asalah it is!

Switching gears... new project, new documentation

So this year I decided to take a little break from henna research and focus more on my garb and garb accessories. In particular I have been trying to find correct Persian shoes. No one seems to be making them, so I decided "why not make them myself?" making leather shoes seemed very daunting to me, but fabric boot? No problem! Ok... not so simple, but very doable.

I chose these buskins to recreate, found in Women's Clothing of the Near and Middle East by Jennifer Scarce.

The first pair I made turned out great, though a little too big.

The second pair was reworked to fit better, and is fully documented (to the best of my current abilities) and the documentation can be found HERE. These boots are being entered in the Pentemere Regional A & S Faire this weekend... wish me luck!



UPDATE!!!
My boot project received a First Place at the Pentemere Regional Arts & Science faire and will be entered in the Midrealm Kingdom A & S faire May 24th!