![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My Dream
We all have dreams of the SCA, things that make it magic for us. Here is one part of my dream:
As you walk up the hill to the tournament field you find yourself walking on a path through the artisans’ village. On one side of you several blacksmiths strike for another smith, sending sparks flying. Amazing examples of blades and scroll work sit on a table in front of their work-space. Across the path you see glassblowers working around a furnace, spinning glass on a long pole, and fetching tools. In front of this area are all sorts of cups, jars, and other glass-ware. Next you see several wood-workers, one with a lathe, another carving details onto a chair arm. There is a circle of people sewing, knitting, carving wood blocks, and off to the side some women painting. All of them have examples of their work hanging near them, catching the light, colorful in the sun. You get to the top of the hill to watch the tournament, but as you go back to camp you walk through the area again, and this time see a group of people playing medieval games, some men striking coins, and a crowd of people watching several artisans pour molten bronze into a mold in the middle of the courtyard. You see a sign board up at the edge of the yard and notice that the next bronze pour is scheduled for noon the next day, and you decide that you should bring your friend/child/spouse with you tomorrow to watch it.
We are not that far off from this dream. We have A&S village areas, we have circles of people sitting around working nicely on projects, and there are often smiths working in merchants’ row. And of course I am scheming to get a portable glass set up put together. Now if we can get good locations (i.e. where people are going to walk through rather than hidden behind the tournament field) and plan some fun events for demonstrations (not just classes, but those are good too) I think more people would come and these arrangements could develop into something really spectacular. Yes, there are always reasons people don’t participate, but with a little more priority set on the visibility of artisans, I think we could make some serious progress.
As you walk up the hill to the tournament field you find yourself walking on a path through the artisans’ village. On one side of you several blacksmiths strike for another smith, sending sparks flying. Amazing examples of blades and scroll work sit on a table in front of their work-space. Across the path you see glassblowers working around a furnace, spinning glass on a long pole, and fetching tools. In front of this area are all sorts of cups, jars, and other glass-ware. Next you see several wood-workers, one with a lathe, another carving details onto a chair arm. There is a circle of people sewing, knitting, carving wood blocks, and off to the side some women painting. All of them have examples of their work hanging near them, catching the light, colorful in the sun. You get to the top of the hill to watch the tournament, but as you go back to camp you walk through the area again, and this time see a group of people playing medieval games, some men striking coins, and a crowd of people watching several artisans pour molten bronze into a mold in the middle of the courtyard. You see a sign board up at the edge of the yard and notice that the next bronze pour is scheduled for noon the next day, and you decide that you should bring your friend/child/spouse with you tomorrow to watch it.
We are not that far off from this dream. We have A&S village areas, we have circles of people sitting around working nicely on projects, and there are often smiths working in merchants’ row. And of course I am scheming to get a portable glass set up put together. Now if we can get good locations (i.e. where people are going to walk through rather than hidden behind the tournament field) and plan some fun events for demonstrations (not just classes, but those are good too) I think more people would come and these arrangements could develop into something really spectacular. Yes, there are always reasons people don’t participate, but with a little more priority set on the visibility of artisans, I think we could make some serious progress.
no subject
Many of our merchants work hard to have more period wares and setups. Then we get someone selling nonSCA junk and it detracts so much.
There are "brickabrack" merchants who sell SCA appropriate things in a setting that is as close to period as they probably can do. Those people are useful but even those I feel shouldn't be given prime spots.
It's amazing looking at some of the tents and the like that merchants in period used to use. In England, the merchants tents were setup semipermanent in groups called "selds." These were like giant costco pavilions with several merchants having table space. Some of that still exists in London markets, which is really cool. And in the US we sometimes have "Farmers Markets" which are set up in a similar way. It would be nice if merchants could get together and do something similar (which I've seen happen at Estrella and Pennsic.)
no subject
Hmm...
no subject