Having the muse to tea

 So, Modern Life kind of kicked my ass toward the end of last year and well into this new one, which left me with precious little energy to do anything beyond shove food into my gob, wash it down with some good wine and hope to sleep through the night.

Because of this, I've taken a couple of days off to extend this weekend on both sides, which meant I could have a bit of a lie-in, this morning, which meant I could finally watch Achaxe's A Branch of Laurels interview with Dame Lyonet which - as I expected - did not disappoint.

Interestingly, Lyoneet put to words a thing that I understood about myself, but never really articulated - that, for me, the SCA is about immersive experience. It's not a particular craft or activity or event or even person - it's the coming together of all of these things that allow me to feel present in an historical place, and that's The Thing that keeps me around. 

Also, she talked a bit about her scribal work, which was lovely of course, and was enough of a nudge that I'm now sitting at my desk doing proper research and preparation for a Pelican scroll for my dear friend Manyra, in Avacal. 

Now, I said I would do her Pelican scroll probably 15 minutes after her elevation.

In 2005.

Manyra clearly has the patience of a Saint, and I'm glad she continues to love me in spite of my glaring shortcomings and issues with memory and timekeeping.

(Some future post will talk about the Jambe de Lion I said I'd do for Companion Celdae the Seeker probably five years earlier that I've not done, either, but now that I've been reminded that my name is against it in the back log, I have ideas. More on that when it's time.)

Anyway, I actually started thinking about this a few months ago, asked Manyra what she wanted and started some preliminary research wherein I identified the manuscript I want to rip off reference: Horae ad sum Fratrum Praedicatorum, dates Heures de Frédéric d'Aragon. It's dated to 1501-1502, from Naples, Italy, and is truly lovely.

It's in my current favourite hand (humanist, duh), and is FILLED with the most amazing ligatures. I just get giddy looking at them.

And the capitals are delightful - they're all purple and white, which CONVENIENTLY are the colours of Manyra's heraldry, so that works out.

I have some other directives from her that I'll be incorporating, and some surprise elements that I hope she'll appreciate. I'm really looking forward to working on this. I've not really looked forward to an art project in a while - I haven't really done anything but knit since the scrolls I did before the Plague Times, and gazing upon all of my craft supplies fills me with both comfort and shame. 

Regardless, it feels good to be energised again. Let's hope it sticks.