I’m going to say it, to hardly anyone’s surprise: I love shenanigans.  And when my Laurel, Bess, contacted me for two big, very awesome ones, I was going to do them.

My apprentice-sister Mergriet Van Wijenhorst (or Griet, as we all call her), was granted admittance and elevated into the Order of the Laurel in the East for her mad-awesome cooking skills and research in Dutch life.  My Laurel asked me to paint her heraldry on a banner, so I did.  Serendipitously, here in Calontir, we had a St. George’s Cross in any Medium competition, and as Griet’s heraldry has a very prominent red cross.  So, I entered it.  And won (which was cool, but I couldn’t tell her until now)!  It is painted acrylic on canvas.

And then there’s the four day scroll.  My lord, Díarmaid, picked me from work while he was here visiting me, and asked if I had time to make a scroll.  I then talked to my Laurel, who let me know it was for her husband, Yesungge Altan.  She also arranged for the scroll text to be written by Yesungge’s knight, Kaidu.  I then contacted my friend Maerwynn, who had a Mongolian reign, and who created a Mongolian-type hand for her AoA-level scrolls.  I figured I was going to do a Mongolian gerege, which was also known as a paiza when certain Venetians (*coughMarcoPolocough*) got a hold of them.

Once I had these two items, I then went through my craft room, and found a brass plate.  I used a jeweller’s saw to round the corners and cut the hole in the middle, and then, with a fine-tipped permanent marker and a bit of artist’s tape to help with keeping straight lines, marked out the text of the scroll and the parts that I’d engrave with a Dremel (because I only had four days to complete it).  Had I time, I probably would have looked at casting or doing some sort of etching to get raised letters, not engraved ones.

Congrats to both of you!  I am so proud of both of you!