cwen-northwice

[cwen-northwice]

Knightposting this princessposting that WHO IS TILLING THE FIELDS

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Bronze sword, China, Han Dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AD

from The Hebei Museum

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TENT MOD: DAY SHADE MODE

[cwen-northwice]

More than any other skill, when I took up the blade I wanted to develop my discipline. To this point I would say my discipline has not been greatly tried. However, mundanely I have been out of work since January. Last night was my first day doing my job again, and I got home tired and sleepy and ready to lay down and just sleep. It would have been sooooo easy to simply pass on practice and not a single person would have blamed me. I went anyway.

I did some really good rights. I think I have some decent feedback to folk. This morning I am sore and sleepy and am off once more to the trenches. This is when the discipline comes into play. It's time to build that resilience. Trust that it will get easier and keep at it. I can do this.

The cool bruise I had wanted to show my students is already fading though and that's kind of a bummer. I must collect additional bruises.

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Parchment holes in manuscript repaired using embroidery circa 1417, currently in University Library Uppsala, Sweden

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Simply compelled to try and crawl into the nearest body of water at all times in full costume. This was back in May at an embroidery event I went to with a friend, absolutely gorgeous location! 🌿

Bonus: ‘this is fine’ as the wind completely takes over my veil lol

[cwen-northwice]

Great Moments in a Life of Fencing

(For a time, people in my kingdom were making these rather self-aggrandizing memes flaunting their accomplishments and ending with "I Am Ansteorra." I felt they needed a piss-take. Fortunately one of my favorite moments on the field was caught on camera.)

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Can you use a greatsword in one hand? Can a zweihänder be an einshänder? Does a claymore clayless?

This topic was suggested by one of my Patrons!

[cwen-northwice]

After much feedback, I have the general arrangement of my table for Steppes Artisan

All items will have additional info cards, the braiding jig will have a WIP skjoldehemn belt I've had on my to-do list, I have a stand for the hat but I may swap it out for the water pitcher. I still have a cyser working that may be ready in time - I have to rack and taste it. I also need to find my carved ladle.

[cwen-northwice]

There is an other side to the frustration of a skill plateau. Failing to progress at the pace you would like is, pardon my French, a big downer, but when you finally do make the breakthrough you've been looking for you will find joy also. The skill plateau is not just failure but also success. You may need to recalibrate your understanding of success though.

I lost most of my fights last night. Practicing mostly with white scarves will do that. However, my technique was still an improvement over where it has been. I stepped into shots less, I made fewer impossible lunges, and I was less provoked by obvious bait. After our fights, one taciturn Gentleman took off his helmet and he had the biggest smile I've ever seen him wearing. I got a number of compliments on my performance last night. Even if I wasn't winning, I had still improved. I have been focusing on my defense these last few weeks and all three of the white scarves I fought remarked on the progress I've made.

Could I have performed better? Theoretically yes, were I a person with a better technique or physical conditioning. But had I improved from where I had been? The scarves seemed to think so. It's a matter of reframing what success looks like so you can truly know where you are on your path. To borrow some mathematical terms, kills are discrete but improvements are continuous: winning a fight is an arbitrary metric that doesn't have gradients of success--you either did or you didn't-- but improvements have infinitely many little success to mark them by. If I only gauge my progress by the fights I win, I miss all the little steps on my path that I've taken.

And it's okay to take little steps. Life is not a movie. There is no singular moment where the ghost of my mentor speaks to me in a crisis and suddenly I have perfect technique and save the day. There's very few paradigm shifting breakthroughs in real life. But there is fighting better today than I had yesterday.

[cwen-northwice]

went to an sca event for the first time, bought a celtic-design raven pin, got to hold a sword and try out a couple swings with it, saw a fighter with the progress pride flag as a cape absolutely dominate the battle ring, and so much more. i loved it. so fucking much.

[cwen-northwice]

Photos from practice showing off all the new gear (including my swordbrother Eadmund's shield, which he made parallel to mine!)

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Some lettering I’m developing for fun, based on letterforms found on the 11th century tomb of a very important local figure here in Lewes, England.

Gundrada, Countess of Surrey, the wife of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. William de Warrene rebuilt Lewes Castle and established Lewes Priory. Gundrada’s tomb can be found in a local church here.

I think the letterforms when fully developed could be quite versatile. I’m finally seriously thinking of knuckling down and developing a deck of Heraldry-inspired playing cards and these letters could be part of the design.

[cwen-northwice]

Having so many skilled fighters around me makes it very difficult to gauge my progress. The masters are all throttling to my skill level and my peers are all progressing at the same time I am. Which means no matter how much growth I have, I am still losing the same amount as always. I'll not lie, this can be discouraging.

I have been focusing these last couple weeks on controlling the blade, making sure my line is clear when I come in to attack, and using leverage effectively. I have had mixed success. The frustration of feeling I'm not progressing compared to my community combined with the frustration of not being able to do something I feel I understand academically has been well frustrating. It doesn't feel good, and I don't like it.

So I cling to my little victories. I was sparring with a Gentleman who was throttling way down to meet my skill level. Our fights are typically I look for an opening, I try to capitalize on it, he hits me in the face and tells me I'm not controlling his blade. He makes lunges at me. I sidestep and roll my shoulder back. He catches the air where he was expecting me to be and stops. He's not sure what happened. I poke him in the head.

He takes a moment. He was a little startled at how I had simply moved around his blade. He hadn't thought I could do that, or at least he was confident that I wouldn't. When I did, he was so surprised that he had to collect himself and come up with a new plan but I was already on the attack. Once he finished explaining what had happened, we resumed fighting and he trounced me some more. But! I did, just once, perfectly execute a maneuver and win a point off a white scarf.

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took a few pictures of my 15th century nun outfit at the castle in Oslo this weekend after the festival visitors were gone

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Battered by the gales of misfortune last week and though all is well now, I could not quite find the heart to do aught at practice last night. With luck tonight shall be more productive.

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