[MR] A&S Judging Question Part Two

[David Chessler]

At 03:07 PM 10/17/2007, Sigrune at aol.com wrote:


>I for one have been hesitant to re-enter a A&S competitions. 
>Especially after being docked severely for using polyester fabric 
>instead of period silk. (Though color, body, and weave/pattern 
>matched extant garments)  And, before you ask, yes, it was right 
>there on my synopsis page, with the explanation of why I did not use 
>it (extremely prohibitive cost) And before you ask, it is not a 
>single contest that made me hesitant, but several. And it isn't the 
>subjective scores/commentary that bother me; it just seemed a very 
>hit or miss enterprise.

Just finished a rapier cape, half-circle. As a rapier cape, it MUST 
be rip-proof. Used blue denim from an old curtain. Making clothing 
from curtains is period, and so is blue; blue denim is not (cotton is 
problematic, since it was available, especially in southern Europe, 
but usually mixed with flax [fustian] in the north). Used 
polypropylene rope for edging. Polypro is a good substitute for silk, 
and 9 feet of half-inch silk rope and 8 feet of 3/8 inch silk rope 
would be well beyond my budget. And sewed it with nylon thread. 
Again, a good substitute for silk, but not period. But silk thread is 
expensive. Heavy polypro because I wanted to weight the hem, and 
strong rope well sewn because it has to be rip proof.

Well, it's not going to be judged, but the cat thinks it's just fine 
to sleep on. So, if my opponent has cat allergy   (which is also 
non-period), I'm using biological warfare (which is period, except 
they usually used corpses of plague victims)--so I'm using cat fur as 
a substitute for 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterobacteriaceae>enterobacteria 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersinia_pestis>Yersinia pestis.

>

--

Davitt il Bigollo da Pisa
Procurator parumper aurifex
Officina pro Moghul terra
Curalium quod Smaragdi ex India quod Serenus