My name is Adelina de Bretigny, of the Shire of Swampkeype in the Barony of Darkwater, Kingdom of Trimaris, and I am honored to have been chosen as a champion of Gulf Wars XXIX: The War that Wasn't!
My piece is a linen handkerchief which displays a variety of needle-lace techniques. Needle-lace is a type of lace made with a single needle and thread, which involved a lot of individual stitches. It was very popular from the 1500s through the end of our SCA period, and although it started in Italy it quickly spread throughout Europe. There are a lot of different types of needle-lace, but the techniques I used are all earlier methods requiring a groundcloth which has voids created by removing threads. The voids are then secured using buttonhole stitch. The decorative elements of this handkerchief include a variety of drawn-work techniques and reticello lace in the corners.
Needle-lace is just something that has fascinated me from the very first time I saw a picture of it. It is both very simple, and yet infinitely complex. While most of it is just buttonhole stitches of various types, and different ways of gathering and bunching threads... the amount of complexity you can create using those simple stitches is mind boggling. And the fun and the challenge for me is figuring out how to use those relatively simple techniques to create items of greater and greater complexity. Also it satisfies my need to do fiddly little things that will cause me to go blind one day. =)
My name is Anna Dokeianina Syrakousina hypatissa, of the Barony of Castlemere in the Kingdom of Trimaris, and it is my honor to have been chosen as a champion of Gulf Wars XXIX: The War That Wasn't!
My project is a spotlight of my work from my ongoing explorations into Byzantine iconography. As my persona is 11th/12th Century Constantinopolitan during the Komnenian Dynasty, a renaissance period when Byzantine art made a full comeback and expansion 200-years post-iconoclasm, I felt that learning the art of iconography was vital to the enhancement of my SCA persona.
I started iconography in 2013, this is my most latest piece, from 2019. The icon for this project was initially started as one for myself, since I have a penchant to give most of my finished work away as gifts or scrolls. St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of Constantinople, as well as fighters, fencers, and warriors of any kind. He is a good, well-rounded figure that is admired across multiple faiths, which I felt was a compassionate choice for both my first, and most recent, icons.
The piece is made from a professional grade icon board purchased from a specialized seller based here in the United States. It comes already gessoed and ready to paint, which eliminates a major, messy, and smelly step on my end that is still a bit out of my skill set. I have made my own panels before, but nothing beats the professionally made ones. The prices are steep, however, with an 11"x14" panel running me upwards of $60, without any frills whatsoever, but it is a worthwhile investment in order to produce a quality painting.
My display at Trimaris ArtSci, and timelapse below. Note the timelapse does contain modern music for your enjoyment. :)
All of my icons use egg tempera paint, hand-mixed from natural, earth-derived pigments, and the gold leaf on this particular piece is 23.5Kt loose fine gold leaf.
One of the choices I made in regards to my display at Trimaris Arts and Sciences Champions, was the inclusion of technology to make the display more approachable and engaging for a variety of learners. As such, in addition to the pieces I had on display to show progress over the years, and my folders of documentation, I also had tempera made on hand to paint with, and, a small tablet that was used to show a timelapse video of my painting of the icon over the course of seven days last June. This timelapse, I feel, allows viewers to get a better grasp of the amount of work that goes into an icon,and provides a visual learning "hook". I capped it off with a QR code that allowed interested individuals to "take home" the video from Youtube.
The photos below are care of a very kind and generous soul that offers free photos at Pennsic during the Knowne World Arts and Sciences Display. If you'd like to contact me about my work, please feel free to email me at syrakousina@gmail.com, and check out my website in its entirety at www.annasrome.com!
