How does a Person Deal With...

[RenJunkie]

...Loving every period within the SCA time frame? Not even just one area, Lord no....I have to think that Avars are as fascinating as Saxons (both types!). I have to think that the armour the Franks wore is every bit as spiff as the stuff worn to the Holy Land, and just as spiff as a full-out Burgndian, or bloody black and white harness, or a Riever kit.

I have the same issue with the clothes, the histories, and general interest.

I decided to be 16hC Saxon (Electorate). Then I had to go and look at the 15thC Thugs tread. And I started drooling hard at all the great stuff there. WotR especially, was a great period visually. Love it.

Great.

How do you guys deal with it? I know most of you aren't locked into one narrow time frame in one corner of the Old World interest-wise, even if its beyond your means to do multiple impressions. There's all these impressions I'd love to do, and haven't the time or money to even try a tenth of them, much less properly research the world they lived in. How do you just pick a persona and go without feeling like you're shortchanging yourself?

Ok, I'm done griping. ---steps off of gripey soap box---

Christopher

[hrolf]

specialization.

You can like everything and do one thing with sufficient depth much more happily than liking everything and doing everything in a shallow fashion.

it's also substantially cheaper.

[Cian of Storvik]

Just do what most of us do; get yourself a kilt, a samurai sword, a pirate vest, and a spangenhelm, and you're good to go.
-Cian

[Wolf]

have 18 different time periods

[losthelm]

Take a lot of classes and dress in one style most of the time.
At war dress in a different style each day. paticularly useful as you can dress for the class tea with yamakaminari as well as italian Ren for your kingdome court. Norse or viking work well for the late night bardic circles on cold nights.


Focus on one suit of armour and one productive skill to master.

[MJBlazek]

Focis on one... have fun in the others.

I have a 15th C kit. That's my main focus.
But I also have a 14th century kit.
and a 11th century "scandinavian" kit as well, for my "dress down" days


I try to keep each one in the scope of looking historic, but really try to push my limits on getting the 15th century one correct.

I just have fun with the others. I don't worry to much about having the correct weave for my winnengas, or every detail of my 14th century rig perfect. (Though I try a little harder for that one than the "viking" kit, which is really my: "I'm day tripping, I'm not fighting, I'm going to be quick and comfortable)

I wore my "viking" outfit to an event for the first time a couple of weeks ago... I had people doing double takes and not recognizing me! It was fun.


I would love to do a roman kit, a landshneckt kit, a parliamentarian round head kit, a crusader kit... but I think my fiancee might kill me!

[JvR]

I originally was going to go Landsknecht. Decided some of the garb was just too damn flamboyant for my tastes. Well in their early days anyway.

also to fight with a basket hilted sword and shield just does not make sense for a Landsknecht. Hell once I am authorised I am tossing the idea of ever using a shield again. I HATE stick and shield with a passion. I have to learn it though. Sadly because I dont like it, I am in no hurry to get authorized or even play that much. I am sure once authorized and I move on the the weapon styles I want, I will be more active. OK dumb excuse, actually life is getting in the way of playing. Thats all another topic though.

I decided to say screw it to the whole persona idea. I just try to appear pre- 1600. Thats all. My fighting kit is late 16thC Schwarze Reiter. 3/4 plate black and white harness (burgonet is finished being painted right now)

I like all the periods the SCA covers so I decided to not just pick one.

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Take classes from Timothy Finkas. He's like Yoda with this shit.

-Gregory

[Karen Larsdatter]

...Loving every period within the SCA time frame? Not even just one area, Lord no....

You build webpages. Lots. About every little thing that pops up and makes you say, "Huh. That's interesting."

(Currently in progress? Ladders. Totally inspired by the examples in the Wolfegg Housebook, but there's lots more, and some interesting trends & varieties in construction.)

[brewer]

I think Blazek has the right idea, personally. Like you, I am interested in damn near everything. But after a while I found a specialization (1580-1650 England) which I really dig, and which I "do" most often. I've oriented my material culture collection, and the bulk of my wardrobe, around that period.

You can still have an interest in, and collect the material culture of, a bunch of other time periods. My next-favorite love, for example, is 1470s England. I'm constantly on the lookout for things for that.

For me it's pretty easy. My job means I have to dress in the clothing of different eras at events (see sig). As we've patterns ranging from 1000CE to WWII, sartorially I "get around", wink wink, nudge nudge.

But I still find myself most often hovering around 1600 in my gear and clothing.

Cheers,

Bob

[Mord]

There's interests, and then there's obsession(s).

My interests include Beat Poetry, the history of the Soviet Union, modern art, historical archaeology, and the European Middle Ages.

My obsession(s) are inter-related and include "The Vikings," the Early Middle Ages, early medieval archaeology, and early medieval arms and armour (interpreted as material/cultural history).

What's the difference? My obsession(s) drive(s) me to find as much knowledge as I can understand. Occasionally, my interests and my obessions combine--my knowledge of Soviet History allows a greater critical understanding of Soviet/Russian archaeology of the Rus.

Still, having read some of the posts here, the common theme of many is not history, but material culture, or at least historical material culture. I would suggest some folks read folks like Claude Levi-Strauss ("Structural Anthropology") and Lewis Binford. You might find a system of analysis there that would be useful.

Mord.

[brewer]

Mord,

Don't get me wrong - my interest is in the history, social and economic, of the periods I enjoy studying, far more than a simple collection of material-culture items. The material culture permits me to attempt to insert myself, or at least pretend I'm there, to a greater or lesser extent, when I'm dressed in funny clothes. The artifacts and replicas permit at least the flavor of what life was like in my periods of interest. For me, that brings the socio-economic history home; it brings the words off the page and into greater contrast. An attempt to insert oneself into the period of study brings greater understanding - it's one thing to opine, "Living on stockfish during Lent must have been a really, really boring diet" and quite another to actually dine exclusively from a known Lenten menu from, say, 1370 and see just how you like the historical Lenten diet. Is it boring or not? Corollary: What measures do you take to avoid modern taste-bias?

Conversely, if one lacks an understanding of how the piece of material culture existed in its historical context, it's impossible to use it properly. The artifact then becomes a bar to understanding. It's one thing to point at a reconstructed object and say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from 1473" and another to say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from ca. 1473 - you use it to remove salt from and soften your Lenten stockfish, here, like this." In the former case, the widget is mere decoration. In the latter, it's a functioning widget the use of which permits greater understanding of the period of interest.

I also like your distinction between "interest" and "obsession". Very nicely put. I agree. To re-write my earlier post, I'm interested in everything from Anglo-Saxon England to the Zulu Wars. But my obsession is the latter years of Elizabeth I's reign to the death of Cromwell.

Cheers,

Bob/Fairfax

[Aesa]

Be my husband. Decide you want to be...say... norse and buy a norse kit and have your wife make you norse clothing and then have to get the appropriate weapons to go with the clothing and the shoes and the jewelry and so on. Then in six months, after wearing the kit three or four times, decide that you really want to be fifteen century. Buy a new kit and have your wife make you more clothes and then get the appropriate weapons to go with the clothes. Repeat for late Italian, 14 century, Greek, ect ect. Then cycle back to norse, after finding that the originally sewn clothing no longer fits, the gambeson needs to be redone and there's this really cool helmet on the archive... and repeat.

However, be warned that this can really hard on the household budget, the amount of storage space in said household, and the wife, who may have just bought husband a greek linothorax a few weeks ago, only to hear the husband babbling yesterday about how cool 15 century stuff is. Here we go again.

[Mord]

Mord,

Don't get me wrong - my interest is in the history, social and economic, of the periods I enjoy studying, far more than a simple collection of material-culture items. The material culture permits me to attempt to insert myself, or at least pretend I'm there, to a greater or lesser extent, when I'm dressed in funny clothes. The artifacts and replicas permit at least the flavor of what life was like in my periods of interest. For me, that brings the socio-economic history home; it brings the words off the page and into greater contrast. An attempt to insert oneself into the period of study brings greater understanding - it's one thing to opine, "Living on stockfish during Lent must have been a really, really boring diet" and quite another to actually dine exclusively from a known Lenten menu from, say, 1370 and see just how you like the historical Lenten diet. Is it boring or not? Corollary: What measures do you take to avoid modern taste-bias?

Conversely, if one lacks an understanding of how the piece of material culture existed in its historical context, it's impossible to use it properly. The artifact then becomes a bar to understanding. It's one thing to point at a reconstructed object and say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from 1473" and another to say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from ca. 1473 - you use it to remove salt from and soften your Lenten stockfish, here, like this." In the former case, the widget is mere decoration. In the latter, it's a functioning widget the use of which permits greater understanding of the period of interest.

I also like your distinction between "interest" and "obsession". Very nicely put. I agree. To re-write my earlier post, I'm interested in everything from Anglo-Saxon England to the Zulu Wars. But my obsession is the latter years of Elizabeth I's reign to the death of Cromwell.

Cheers,

Bob/Fairfax

Brewer,

Today has been slightly strange with having to do Online reference with a server that wants to take an early Memorial Day vacation. I will answer you presently.

Mord.

[brewer]

Yikes, Mord. Take your time!

[D. Sebastian]

have 18 different time periods

+1!

http://mattyds.com/garb.php

[Jestyr]

I originally was going to go Landsknecht. Decided some of the garb was just too damn flamboyant for my tastes. Well in their early days anyway.

also to fight with a basket hilted sword and shield just does not make sense for a Landsknecht. Hell once I am authorised I am tossing the idea of ever using a shield again. I HATE stick and shield with a passion. I have to learn it though. Sadly because I dont like it, I am in no hurry to get authorized or even play that much. I am sure once authorized and I move on the the weapon styles I want, I will be more active. OK dumb excuse, actually life is getting in the way of playing. Thats all another topic though.

B.S.

If you don't want to fight sword and shield, then don't. Don't allow your dislike of it to hinder you coming out to fighter practice and putting on armour.

I would encourage you to learn sword and shield, but not at the expense of enjoying the game.

But as a new fighter, you will get hit a LOT if you fight with something else.

[MJBlazek]

I originally was going to go Landsknecht. Decided some of the garb was just too damn flamboyant for my tastes. Well in their early days anyway.

also to fight with a basket hilted sword and shield just does not make sense for a Landsknecht. Hell once I am authorised I am tossing the idea of ever using a shield again. I HATE stick and shield with a passion. I have to learn it though. Sadly because I dont like it, I am in no hurry to get authorized or even play that much. I am sure once authorized and I move on the the weapon styles I want, I will be more active. OK dumb excuse, actually life is getting in the way of playing. Thats all another topic though.

B.S.

If you don't want to fight sword and shield, then don't. Don't allow your dislike of it to hinder you coming out to fighter practice and putting on armour.

I would encourage you to learn sword and shield, but not at the expense of enjoying the game.

But as a new fighter, you will get hit a LOT if you fight with something else.

I have been fighting for 4 years now. I am still not authed in sword & shield. Only in great weapon

[James B.]

I find a good way to prevent yourself from starting another kit is to write down everything you need/want for the kit and add up the cost while you are at it so you get a clear picture of the dedication to it. I have put two new kits off for a long time that way.

You have to have something as your standard thing. You are going to base everything off that, tent, clothing, foot wear, furniture, dinning gear, armor, and so on. Any other persona gets clothing and a few accessories.

[JvR]

B.S.

If you don't want to fight sword and shield, then don't. Don't allow your dislike of it to hinder you coming out to fighter practice and putting on armour.

Thats why I mentioned it was a dumb excuse. I am trying to blame anything but real life on being more active.

I excel at talking myself out of stuff. And into stuff. While it doesn't appeal to me, I sure haven't really given it a chance. Its silly of me to hate something I never tried but I do it anyway. Besides its required for Auth so I will do it as safe as I can.

I hated sushi until I tried it, I hated oysters until I tried it, etc.

With cool folks like the shire has, I am sure I will like s&s as well. I really just need to get my ass out there and do it.

I plan on getting hit a lot no matter what weapon I use.

[Mord]

Mord,

Don't get me wrong - my interest is in the history, social and economic, of the periods I enjoy studying, far more than a simple collection of material-culture items. The material culture permits me to attempt to insert myself, or at least pretend I'm there, to a greater or lesser extent, when I'm dressed in funny clothes. The artifacts and replicas permit at least the flavor of what life was like in my periods of interest. For me, that brings the socio-economic history home; it brings the words off the page and into greater contrast. An attempt to insert oneself into the period of study brings greater understanding - it's one thing to opine, "Living on stockfish during Lent must have been a really, really boring diet" and quite another to actually dine exclusively from a known Lenten menu from, say, 1370 and see just how you like the historical Lenten diet. Is it boring or not? Corollary: What measures do you take to avoid modern taste-bias?

Conversely, if one lacks an understanding of how the piece of material culture existed in its historical context, it's impossible to use it properly. The artifact then becomes a bar to understanding. It's one thing to point at a reconstructed object and say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from 1473" and another to say, "That's a replica of a Burgundian gobstopper from ca. 1473 - you use it to remove salt from and soften your Lenten stockfish, here, like this." In the former case, the widget is mere decoration. In the latter, it's a functioning widget the use of which permits greater understanding of the period of interest.

I also like your distinction between "interest" and "obsession". Very nicely put. I agree. To re-write my earlier post, I'm interested in everything from Anglo-Saxon England to the Zulu Wars. But my obsession is the latter years of Elizabeth I's reign to the death of Cromwell.

Cheers,

Bob/Fairfax

Brewer,

I differentiate and study other disciplines for many reasons, the first being that the Middle Ages (a label invented by historians) is hardly the sole fiefdom of history. There's literature. There's philosophy. There's art. These phenomina and others like it deserve examination by the specialist disciplines that study them.

Secondly, there is a great deal of "crossover" between the disciplines. A historian may use an anthropologic method to understand and explain a specific people from a certain place at a particular time. A poem maybe examined historically. For myself, one of my major sources of information are graves. Historians don't discover, excavate, and analyize graves: archaeologists do. For me to exclude any understand of archaeology (with its standards and methods) would to be intellectually incomplete. Archaeology is now a school of cultural anthopology, so it behooves me to gain some understanding of that discipline, as well.

Thirdly, understanding other disciplines allows me to better understand an author's interpretation of a source. An doctor of philosophy may look at a 12th century romance philosophically, where a historian may look at as a reflection of history. A literary scholar looks at the same source as literature. There is nothing really wrong with these points of view, btw, but it helps to explain a scholar's insights with the source.

Fourthly, history is not monolithic; there are schools of thought and schools of method. Social history, for instance, has profitted a great deal from archival historians. Records, while they have their limits, tell us a great deal about the workings of the people from a place at a time. You have to ask yourself, "What sort of historian am I, and how do I work?" I consider myself, at best, a cultural historian; I am interested in the changes over time to a community, nation, etc. The study of material culture fits in well with this pursuit. It also requires adapting and understanding archaeological/anthropological thinking and methods.

Finally, there is the problem of context, and it's understanding. Is the context of a find/artifact/object well documented? Even by the standards of the discipline? The answer is not always, and in fact, rarely. Many a grave find has been discovered by mistake, excavated hap-hazardly, and, worst of all, only briefly documented. Such useful information as the position of the grave, the position the object(s) in the grave, and and the condition of the finds are aften missing. This lack of information leaves me skeptical about the various interpretations published. How can you understand an object, when the context of its finding is poorly described and documented?

All of my thinking finds its basis in that most monsterous of subjects, historiography. If I have interests and obsessions, then historiography is an urge--a learn response acquired through my teachers. I once described the subject as, "...a vast wasteland dotted with the wreckage of discarded ideas and inhabited with a particular species of scavenger, known as 'Vulturum Historae.' These intellectual dumpster divers are vicious to the uninitated, and only frightened by the appearance of the current b-movie monster from the toxic, Stygian heap of history. The current monster roaming the land looks a lot like Elvis..."

Mord.

PS. Sorry about the bad grammar and typing.

[brewer]

Mord,

Thanks for your thoughts. You have a very well-considered approach!

Bob

[Chris Gilman]

My original persona was 17th century, when it was thought the SCA cut off was 1650. (Before the internet kids) Then, having a 1600’s cut off confirmed; I shifted it to the 14th century. I told people that I was a 17th century historical reenactor while in my 14th c. gear. When in my Cavalier, I explained I was a 14th Century "Trekkie".
Now I wear Viking most of the time, and I’m building a 16th century Italian house to live in at Pennsic, so who knows….

[Glen K]

Here's the bottom-line: Why do you dress up?

Is it to have fun? To teach? To "live" another time? Simply to make stuff? There's no right or wrong answer, or no single answer, but AN answer can help you decide what to do.

Do you just like to get a taste for many different periods in a social setting? Then get the bare-bones basic kit for as many different periods as you want (read: can afford). Use as many common items as possible (e.g. the right basic linen undershirt can get you from c. 800 to just about c. 1600).

Are you teacing/educating? If so, you're probably only going to have a finite amount of time/space to do the educating in, which means the "specialization" referred to above in terms of kit, research, and knowledge. There are many different approaches to take, but if this is your focus depth and approaching-100% authenticity should be your goals.

Are you going out for combat? It can get expensive to have eight or nine differen types of armour for different periods... I'd guess that this is where your budget will FORCE you to pick a single period, maybe two. Unless, of course, you're not worried about correct period armour, and just get some generic SCA-type stuff to throw over undergear, and you can fight whatever.

Are you trying to "lose yourself in the moment", to have everything you should have and experience one of those time-travel moments? You'll probably have to specialize a bit more simply because of the cost and time it will take to get a specific, COMPLETE and accurate set of kit together for a particular impression, not to mention doing the research and finding the right types of events to attend.

So... what are you trying to do?

[Matthew Amt]

Why tie yourself down to the restrictions of the SCA? I've got roughly 18 to 20 different impressions from Early Bronze Age to the American Revolution. (Not counting orc, terminator, or pirate stuff!) Granted, many of those are very basic (clothing, shoes, shield, weapon, maybe helmet), but they are complete enough to wear and explain to an audience. Which is the kind of thing I do! My main interest has always been STUFF, and I like making clothes and armor from many eras. Plus I've been accumulating bits and pieces and all kinds of materials for 30 years, so I just let my mood swings run my hobby! A couple months ago, I just HAD to make that 7th century AD spangenhelm, and I had all the materials on hand, so I went for it. Pulled some wool and leather off the shelf and made a nice tunic and shoes to go with it. But grinding down the old $20 sword blade into something better has stalled since I got the urge to finish up my Villanovan impression (8th century BC Italy), so I shoved it aside and pulled out my bronze sheet. I'll wear all that at Roman Days in a couple weeks, then go back to the miniature steampunk boiler and steam engine for my lovely wife's dollhouse! Oh, I also made a Late Roman helmet, and have nothing at all to wear with it! But no rush, it's a cool helmet and cost me nothing.

These days I spend very little on hobby stuff. Made a nice coup on some wool in a thrift store, bought 2 sides of leather (which will pay for itself easily making shoes for new Romans), and sprang for a length of bronze rod for about 11 bucks (which will assist with several projects). But generally I can keep myself quite busy with all the stuff I have on hand, and a LONG list of projects that I want to do at some point. I just follow my urges. And keep diving into trash piles and dumpsters!

And the proper term is "Time Slut", thank you very much!

Have fun,

Matthew

[Malachiuri]

Become late period and dress how you want claiming that you are participating in a tournament of the style and place of your current fascination. It was common enough for them to do geeky SCA style theme events...

Or as Sir Rolf has done for years here in Calontir, be a 15th cent Swiss guy who suffered a terrible head wound and now thinks hes a Roman Centurion.

No, really.

[bjorn2bwild]

It is?

Afaik, you don't have to authorize s/b first. It's just highly recommended. Jestyr, correct me if I'm wrong about that (I'm still relatively new in this neck of the woods)

I excel at talking myself out of stuff. And into stuff. While it doesn't appeal to me, I sure haven't really given it a chance. Its silly of me to hate something I never tried but I do it anyway. Besides its required for Auth so I will do it as safe as I can.

[JvR]

It is?

Afaik, you don't have to authorize s/b first. It's just highly recommended. Jestyr, correct me if I'm wrong about that (I'm still relatively new in this neck of the woods)

I excel at talking myself out of stuff. And into stuff. While it doesn't appeal to me, I sure haven't really given it a chance. Its silly of me to hate something I never tried but I do it anyway. Besides its required for Auth so I will do it as safe as I can.

Pretty sure its a requirement in Trimaris. Or I have been told. Thats fine, I will do my best at it and move on to things I think might be more fun. That is if I don't get hooked on stick and shield. Its certainly possible I can.

Heck I changed my fighting persona to allow for shield use and a basket hilted sword and be (historically correct). I am stuck now.


As far as the topic goes-
I decided against a single persona overall. I am trying to keep the fighting kits to be as correct as possible while being useful to rattan combat.

As far as garb goes, I just meet the pre 16thc rule and just relax. Once my kids are all grown and I can do this hobby more than one or two times a year, I can focus more on a single persona.

[Baron Conal]

a big closet

a big chest

a dozen half finished projects

and above all you have to try to stay focused on
one thi...



Oh Hey! that's cool! I should try something like that!
I've already got the leather downstairs and the forms
look easy to............

[D. Sebastian]

I'm starting work on an 1810 5th Bn, 60th Rifles (Regiment of Foot) officers uniform complete with dolman and pelisse.

[Jestyr]

Pretty sure its a requirement in Trimaris. Or I have been told. Thats fine, I will do my best at it and move on to things I think might be more fun. That is if I don't get hooked on stick and shield. Its certainly possible I can.

It's not required. It's suggested (and a good idea), but it is not a rule.

No more excuses. Get into armour and fight.

[Milesent]

Well said Mord, no art exists in a vacuum. Often times we focus on a particular extant object, and don't consider it in context.

Personally, I really love it when there is a limited focus event that I can get an outfit ready for "ooo! The event this weekend has a 12th century theme! Where's my Bliaut??"

Seriously, I want one of each. It's sad. It's -hard- to do well, but some skills transcend eras; sewing is sewing, fitting is fitting

So I have a bunch of different eras, and each one is improving slowly, very slowly. But they're all moving forward. I guess it's a bit like trying to cook multiple dishes at once Difficult; easy to get distracted and let one dish spoil, but still can be a heck of a lot of fun

[Jose Cabrera de Castilla]

Make friends with people who like a variety of time periods. Then you can help your saxon friend with his garb, and help your viking friend with her weaving, and your 16th century friend with his armour kit, and your 14th century friend with her woodworking, etc.

Then you just have to figure out which period you have enough money to support and just can't stop thinking about and make that the one that you make your own persona. For now. Later, if you have enough stuff that you feel comfortable switching (and starting over, to some degree), you can develop another persona in a different time and culture.

In summation, for the tl;dr crowd: Don't do it all yourself, make friends you can help with their interests.

[Giraut]

It's a well-known disease. Called "multiperioding".
You notice that you're sufering from 'multiperioding' when you visit a 15th century event wearing your "Latene C"-outfit.

[FrankManic]

I deal with it by being in an entirely other game. I never could wrap my head around doing one character and sticking with it for years and thousands of dollars at a time. I'm not particularly interested in making historical recreations, either. It's enough for me to have some understanding of how historical bits were made, then go madly hack them together with eight other cultures and a dash of modernity to make something I like the look of.

That said, I've taken a shine to the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China lately, and I may actually button down and make an acceptable minor officer's kit from that period.