[Mid] Cheap authenticity *rant* Long

>Yes, you are essentially correct. Some folks can afford to do the TOTAL
>authentic thing, others of us aren't so financially well endowed and do the
>best we can with what limited financial resources we have. That's basically
>what I do. I'm not very well off, being a single girl with a meagre income
>of just over $20,000 a year, but with what I have, I've done the best I can
>do. If that means picking fabrics for garb that aren't totally authentic, or
>using more modern materials in the production of my scrolls, so be it. Don't
>break the bank just to go TOTALLY authentic. Do what is within your
>financial resources. Remember, REAL LIFE COMES FIRST, and whatever's left
>after paying the bills is what I play SCA on. Some months, it's more than
>others.

First, let me say that the SCA is part of my REAL LIFE. It happens to be a
game I play in my Real Life, and I happen to have fun with it. I'm not
willing to sacrifice my marriage, my family, my income or my health for it,
but it is part of my Real Life. Many of the best people I know and the
Best Friends I have are from my being in the SCA.

Secondly, to do authentic stuff doesn't have to cost a fortune. A friend of
ours has dubbed that my husband and I make a combined income of 'less than
church mice'... she's not far from wrong - he's a graduate student and I
work for the University as a personal assistant - yet, we do fairly well at
the authenticity aspect of this game, at least we try very hard to.

On the authenticity for less money possibilities: Take garb, for
instance.... "silk is so expensive" at Dharma you can get nice, 8mm (that
means mummer, it's how silk is weighed) habitoi (period type, often
referred to as 'china silk' today) silk for $5 per yard in 45 inch
widths. It comes in white and you can buy wonderful acid (as in vinegar)
silk dyes for very little from Dharma as well. They also sell a wonderful
silk gauze for $2.75 in 36 inch widths.... great veils and wonderfully
sheer chemises - fighters love the sheer chemises, though they don't wear
them...... http://www.dharmatrading.com/silk_fabrics.html

Linen? Problems finding linen at good prices? Try Phoenix textiles
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/phoenixtextiles/ they have many colors of
linen for under $7 per yard... or you could try Fabric store
http://www.fabrics-store.com/enter.php3 where you can get a 5.9 oz linen in
a 54 inch width for $3.04 per yard! Makes nice shirts and great
skirts! So what if it's white, dye it! They also have linen weaves on
sale for often as low as $3.33 per yard and they carry 3.5 oz linen for
under $6.50 per yard - fantastic undergarments! This weight is also
available in multiple colors from them if you want light weight
shirts. Fabric store.com also puts things onto ebay occasionally. Right
now they have about 20 auctions going with linen.

Extra bonus with real silk and linen - they last. Much longer than most
cottons. Linen chemises become napkins before the cloth wears out. My
father's linen shirts when he was a child were worn by his younger brothers
and finally retired after my grandparent's fourth son wore them - 12 or so
years after my father had worn them!

Don't want to hand sew? Fine, time constraints make most people use
machines, it's not a biggie. Going to enter it in an A&S
competition? You'll do better if you hand sew it, but you should explain
why you didn't and what you know of period sewing to the judges.

Feast as period? Don't groan, period food is fantastic! There are a
number of period (pre-1600) cookbooks out and in print. You can find
several of them at Poison Pen Press online, as well as the usual bookstores
online. Sometimes you have to do your own redaction (figuring out how much
of each thing to put into the dish) and sometimes you have to do your own
translation from say, German - *gasp* You'll get to learn something! And
you'll get to make yummy food as a bonus!

Like to fish but don't know how it could possibly be period? Go to the
Period angling site on the web! http://www.farreaches.org/fishing/
Fabulous stuff, including treatise on fishing and several recipes for fish
from medieval cookbooks.

Want to do more period type calligraphy and illumination? There are books
on that too - Cennini, Hillard and many others - who are also available
from Poison Pen Press as well as the usual book stores. Want to improve
your technique using more modern methods? Great, Marie Angel and others
have done some fantastic books on it. Know how the medieval scribes did it,
though, and your stuff will look more medieval rather than an attempt at
medieval. Afraid of period pigments? Use tube gouache - if it's for an A&S
tell them you know pigments are more period but you prefer to use tube
paints for their low toxicity.

Yes, my husband's helm and gauntlets for fighting cost us a bundle ($200
for fully articulated gauntlets and around $400 for the custom made German
salle from Australia) , but we saved up specifically for them and didn't
touch the money for any other use. We also didn't buy them at the same
time. Budgeting - just like for any other aspect of our life. Bargain
hunting for other things - just like for any other thing in our life that
we want to buy.

Salvation Army, St. Vincent stores, yard sales, garage sales, curb pick up
- even TJMaxx and Hobby Lobby all have wonderful, inexpensive things that
can be made to 'look' or be authentic with just a tich of work, or in some
cases, no work at all. Ceramic pitchers, wooden boxes, glasses, pewter
mugs, old tapestries, old rugs, etc.

Just don't try to tell me that being authentic *has* to drive one to
bankruptcy. It doesn't, and I'm tired of hearing that excuse - because
that is how most people use that line, as an excuse. Budgeting, bargain
hunting, and the patience to acquire things over time rather than all in
one fell swoop are necessary in the pursuit of authenticity but it can be
done for much less money than many people think.

Cu Drag,
Despina

From: "Amy L. Hornburg Heilveil" <aheilvei@uiuc.edu>
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Received on Fri Jan 11 13:14:03 2002