[Bryn-gwlad] Feast Gear Questions

[Chris Zakes]

At 09:51 AM 9/3/2006, you wrote:
>Namaste:
>
>I am new to the SCA and am in need of some information.  What is 
>included with the feast gear?  I have been on Ebay and have seen 
>some lovely sets, but I don't want the purchase a set that is too 
>extreme or out of period.  What are the common metals, stones, or 
>woods used in feast gear?

Voice of experience here:
There's a good chance of just about any SCA feast gear getting 
dropped, forgotten or loaned out and not returned. My recommendation 
is to go for something that's durable, fairly cheap, easy to replace 
and *doesn't* have great sentimental value.
In my experience, most silver-plated feast gear is pretty for the 
first month or two, then you have problems either with tarnishing or 
(more common with the cheap stuff) the silver plating starts coming 
off. Also, silver will react to some foodstuffs (oranges for example) 
and give a funny taste to your food/drink.
The grey fake-pewter is durable, but it transmits heat *very* well. 
Don't put hot coffee or tea in one of those mugs unless you also have 
an oven mitt handy.
Whatever you choose, always pack a small plastic bag in with your 
feast gear. Most sites get grumpy if people wash dishes in the 
bathroom sink (too easy to clog the drain) and few site kitchens are 
set up to allow 100+ people to wash their dishes. This way, you can 
scrape the worst of the dinner debris into the trash and then put the 
dirty dishes in the plastic bag to isolate them from the rest of your 
stuff until you can get it home to wash properly.

         -Tivar Moondragon