![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Vindolanda 24th-25th June
Jul. 1st, 2006 05:20 pmComitatus, Dateline 400 A.D.
( Cut for rambling on... )
A very relaxed show, with rain keeping the numbers down & only two displays a day. Good job too, with my brain not getting into gear until mid morning. I need more sleep in the week before shows than I've been getting - being ready for a collapsed weekend doesn't prepare you well for camp life.
Victor trimmed me a new javelin shaft in seconds with a sickle & Claire initiated us into the secret of how WWI era puttees stayed up. H then modified my wyningas in one evening - long thin tags at the top to tie them off securely - & that sorted them.
For the first display, I got to shoot my longbow for the first time :-) I'd only just got some arrows in time & I hadn't had the confidence to string it on my own, but Rufus, Tranquilis, Victor & Fortunatus all helped me sort it out at various times & I tested it in front of our valiant little crowd, braving the drizzle - & hit with the second shot. It's certainly long - 6' 4" is nearly a foot taller than me, and the sycamore shows the dark heartwood for the belly contrasting with the lighter sapwood for the back very nicely. It's by Stephen Ralphs, 35lb draw. It feels quite 'zingy', considering I wasn't wanting to pull it too far back - apparently the bracing height is a bit low.
I cocked up my ukemi a couple of times, veering into a spear left upright & forgetting to take off my cloak & bag(!) but the last one was great, with added handstand. We did a photoshoot round the reconstructed tower & marched all over the site posing like mad. I was pleased I'd had time to paint my spiculum shaft blue. H said we looked like some sort of comedy routine, as the tops of our spears kept appearing in different locations wherever she went around the site.
Standout moments: That shot, the ukemi & walking with H back into the site with an astonishing full rainbow over the sunlit valley. Unbelievable to be camped in among the archaeology of this unique site and set in such beauty, too.
( More rambling )
See the Photo gallery.
( Cut for rambling on... )
A very relaxed show, with rain keeping the numbers down & only two displays a day. Good job too, with my brain not getting into gear until mid morning. I need more sleep in the week before shows than I've been getting - being ready for a collapsed weekend doesn't prepare you well for camp life.
Victor trimmed me a new javelin shaft in seconds with a sickle & Claire initiated us into the secret of how WWI era puttees stayed up. H then modified my wyningas in one evening - long thin tags at the top to tie them off securely - & that sorted them.
For the first display, I got to shoot my longbow for the first time :-) I'd only just got some arrows in time & I hadn't had the confidence to string it on my own, but Rufus, Tranquilis, Victor & Fortunatus all helped me sort it out at various times & I tested it in front of our valiant little crowd, braving the drizzle - & hit with the second shot. It's certainly long - 6' 4" is nearly a foot taller than me, and the sycamore shows the dark heartwood for the belly contrasting with the lighter sapwood for the back very nicely. It's by Stephen Ralphs, 35lb draw. It feels quite 'zingy', considering I wasn't wanting to pull it too far back - apparently the bracing height is a bit low.
I cocked up my ukemi a couple of times, veering into a spear left upright & forgetting to take off my cloak & bag(!) but the last one was great, with added handstand. We did a photoshoot round the reconstructed tower & marched all over the site posing like mad. I was pleased I'd had time to paint my spiculum shaft blue. H said we looked like some sort of comedy routine, as the tops of our spears kept appearing in different locations wherever she went around the site.
Standout moments: That shot, the ukemi & walking with H back into the site with an astonishing full rainbow over the sunlit valley. Unbelievable to be camped in among the archaeology of this unique site and set in such beauty, too.
( More rambling )
See the Photo gallery.
