[Ansteorra] How to Trap a Laurel

[Doug Copley]

My apologies if I sounded like I thought that you should not do any of 
those things, I believe that you should. The Evil Elmo was one that my 
son and I made for an archery shoot because we needed another target. It 
was actually one of the easier targets we made and it turned out to be 
the most popular by far, with both the little kids and the BIG kids:-) I 
was merely trying to show that we all (or almost all) do it in one area 
or another without even thinking of it.

I think that we *NEED* to be doing more things and better presentations 
of things in our areas of expertise but ... I believe that it is also 
possible to go overboard. The problem is deciding where the line is in 
going overboard! Somethings are easy ... Flashing neon signs = bad idea, 
table cover (IMO) = good idea ... in between??? Talk with and observe 
the people in the art or area that you are working in (whether it is 
chivalric, rapier, archery, A&S, whatever) and then make your best 
judgement from there.

I will not claim to be an expert in any of the areas, but I am 
learning:-) And I believe therein lies the beauty and fun of the SCA. We 
can all learn from each other in so many areas and so many skill sets. 
Even this discussion here has been enlightening and I have learned from.

YIS,
Vincenti

On 7/28/2011 1:14 PM, Haraldr Bassi wrote:
> Hello Vincenti,
>
> Most of your examples have solid evidence for people doing the exact
> same types of things in period. Historically archery tourneys had odd
> shoots (split the wand, grid etc) and rarely used a modern concentric
> circle paper target. Fencers tended to be well dressed and the period
> they were popular lace was the standard dress. Chivalric tourney
> fighters would invest their winnings in fancy armor to impress people
> and intimidate their opponents.
>
> Unfortunately, for most of period, there were little to no places where
> multiple artisans came together to compare and contrast their creations
> to other artisans in a competition, at least not that I've seen.
>
> However, some artisans were also merchants and if they didn't have an
> attractive booth display their family would starve. But in general, most
> artisans would have a one on one relationship between themselves and
> their patron for creation of a specific item or service.
>
> My own personal approach to artisan participation displays is to use
> this as an opportunity to actually perform my art in front of people.
> This equates to the artisan working in his shop with the front raised up
> and people walking by and being caught up in the sounds and smells of
> the work. While that approach works well for non-competition, it doesn't
> stand up so well for static display competitions like Kingdom A&S and
> Gulf Wars.
>
> A very specific example, there is a world of difference between seeing a
> spring pole lathe in action with wood shavings flying all over the place
> and soft chuff of the wood and tools working together to seeing a
> picture of a lathe and the results of a week of effort culminating in a
> very basic wooden bowl. Believe me in how tough it is to express the
> thrill and grandeur of the creation of something so small and humble.
>
> Haraldr
>