St. Eligius

So St. Eligius happened. It was a great day, but it also made me think, a lot!

I loved that fact that having to judge other entrants gave me the opportunity to spend  time with them and talk with them about their project. I was able to learn a lot more from this experience than I have in the past where I am a simply a spectator. The enthusiasm of my fellow competitors is also wonderful to see, and one of the joys of the SCA!

When talking about my work, I was able to teach a few people about how glass beads are made (both modernly and in period) using photos I've taken of me making and decorating glass beads. I'm going to continue to bring this document with me to competitions/displays, as it was useful and helped when people had questions. I was also able to talk to a few people who make beads themselves, or who know the Anglo-Saxon time period, which made this a great opportunity for me to learn as well!.

My entry for the "experienced" catagory. I won this catagory (just barely!), and also received the populace choice prize.

Finally, this was also my first time judging an A&S competition. Having had this experience, I like to think that now I will be much more understanding of those who  judge my entries in the future, because it is not an easy thing to do!! I found that I was not very comfortable judging the work of others, for a variety of reasons. I could not spend as long as I wanted to on each entrant's work, the environment we are judging in is very chaotic and not supportive of deep thinking, and not every entry fits neatly into the evaluation criteria we were given. All in all, I came away from my experience wishing that I could have done a much better job than I think I did. Perhaps having more conversations with people about judging will help. Perhaps I also just need more practice to get good at it. In the end, this is something that I will want to work on, so I can participate fully in A&S in our society.

Artisan's Progress Entry (I received the prize for this catagory as well)