Witchy Woman

For those of you in Oregon's Willamette Valley, Adiantum is hosting an Arts and Sciences Social Day this Saturday at the Santa Clara Church of Christ from 10 am to 5 pm.

Brigit of Guernsey is holding one of her fabulous dye workshops, starting at 11. If you ever have an opportunity to dye with her, do it! I met her at the Underwear Party (no, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter). It was my first ever A&S Day, and I was focusing on making my underwear and playing with Idonia's spinning wheel, rather than the other classes. Towards the end of the day, she shoved a skein of wool at me and told me to go dye it. I looked at her in confusion and sheepishly admitted that I did not have any cash on me for her materials fee. She said not to worry about it because she couldn't bear seeing the rest of the dye go to waste. As a newbie, I was thrilled with her generosity and willingness to drag shy folk along to play with wool and boiling pots.

Idonia is teaching a class on veils with handrolled hems from 1-2 pm. Considering the abominable attempts I've made, I'm going to take it. She is marvelously patient and knowledgeable, which are invaluable qualities in an A&S Minister. Heck, she puts up with me when I seem to forget how to do fingerloop braiding and has to reteach me at every single event.

Then there's dancing, which is nowhere near as difficult as it may appear. Every event that I have been to that has had dancing has had at least an instruction period for newcomers and those who need a refresher. Not to mention that partners and neighbours are more than willing to help guide you along. And gentlemen, you don't have to "lead" like you do in modern dances!Period dances were essentially the equivalent of speed-dating, so if you don't like your partner all you have to do is wait one rotation and you get a new one. Or one will cut in, which is probably the most entertaining part and can get quite competitive.

And then you get to fling candy confections with mini-catapults! A friend of mine has objections to using marshmallows for ammunition, afraid that this will only contribute to the SCA's already somewhat negative reputation in modern society. Because of safety, the projectiles have to be lightweight and blunt. What could be safer than tiny, edible pillows? They are also cheap and biodegradable. The only alternative I can think of is to wrap paper balls in tape, but that's more of an investment in both time and money. Plus, I think that it's a great way of getting kids involved as well. Besides, how many of us were introduced to engineering in physics classes by devising protection for eggs flung off of a roof? (By the way, if you devise a suspension system with rubberbands, make sure that there isn't enough slack for the egg to bounce against the container). If the potential publicity surrounding this particular event focuses on flying marshmallows above all else, then we've got bigger problems.

Hope to see you there!