[MR] Announcements for A&S competitions

[Michelle L. McDaniel]

Hey all!

Thanks to James for posting the upcoming competitions at Coronation.

In the future, would it be possible to get more lead time between the
announcement of specific competitions and the date of the competitions? A
week is not enough time to research, plan, shop for and execute most A&S
projects. (Not to say that it's impossible but most projects take longer.)

I would have loved to have entered something in one of the embroidery
categories but there is no way I can get anything done in the time
remaining. 

The more lead time we have, the better the pieces the artisans of Atlantia
can present at these competitions. The research can be better because we
have the time to do it and get those articles through interlibrary loan. We
will have the time to hand stitch the seams rather than running them up on
the machine or spin and dye the wool to use in the project rather than using
tapestry yarn.

Some will argue that we should be doing this anyway and I agree. But
competitions are often the thing that will push us into doing something we
haven't tried before. (oooh! there's a competition for Best Collars and
Cuffs, maybe I'll make a set of cartridge pleated ruffs to finish off that
Elizabethan Garb I've been working on.) With an increased push for better
documentation and period construction methods a longer lead time to prepare
quality pieces with appropriate documentation is a necessity.

As an example, the dyeing competition at Sapphire Joust was announced well
enough in advance, that there were about a half dozen entries of various
colors using different mordants. That's more natural dyeing than I have seen
in one place, other than a class at Pennsic.

For those planning competitions, the sooner the details are available, the
better. If there isn't room in the Acorn, put them here on the Merry Rose or
on a website. It'll help the artisans know what to work on.

That said... What are the competitions for Crown Tourney? (I've already got
some things I'm working on that are Early Period, that I'm planning on
entering but if I had a better idea of the specifics, I'd know exactly what
to work on. (I'd hate to do an embroidery in the style of the Oseberg
tapestries when tablet weaving was going to be highlighted or vice versa.)

Sorry if I ranted a bit but I really hate it when an A&S competition has no
entries and with earlier announcements of the details, I think that could be
avoided more often.

YIS

**aelfwynn of whitby**