My helm and gorget freshly cleaned, reblued, and waxed.

I finished the second coat of wax this evening.  I’m very please with how everything turned out.  I almost hate to fight in them because they won’t look this good again until I clean and reblue them the next time.

Almost. 

It’s going to look great for Golden Rose.

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The current state of my new green linen Kirtle. The sleeves are attached, the hand finishing is done, and now all I need to do is hem it and sew the eyelets.

I spent most of this past weekend working on projects for various upcoming events.  My poor husband was on call all weekend which meant changing the planned projects around a bit but in the end I got quite a bit accomplished.

The first thing I worked on was pulling out all our coolers and our camp grill and scrubbing them all down in preparation for War of the Wings.  We’ve decided to run an encampment this year and I want to make sure all our stuff is ready to go ahead of time to help cut down on some of that last minute stuff that always comes up.

The next thing I worked on was cleaning, rebluing, and waxing my helm and gorget in preparation for Golden Rose this coming weekend.  They turned out really well but I think I’m going to need to add one more coat of wax to them sometime this week.  It did take longer than I expected but less time than Coty expected so that was great.  Afterward we went out for sushi with friends.

So that was my Saturday.  On Sunday I set out to clean the pavilion (more WoW prep) and hopefully get some work done on my green linen kirtle.  Coty helped me pull out the pavilion and lay it out in the sun.  It wasn’t very dirty at all but there were a few places where it had gotten damp at one point that I wanted to spot clean.  I got that taken care of pretty easily and left them to dry in the sun.  We got some lunch and then I set to work on my kirtle.

When I last blogged about this project my to do list was as follows:

1. clip curves
2. press front opening
3. make up new sleeves
4. insert sleeves
5. hand finish front opening and sleeves
6. eyelets
7. hem

After working on my kirtle Sunday afternoon it now looks like this:

1. clip curves
2. press front opening
3. make up new sleeves
4. insert sleeves
5. hand finish front opening and sleeves
6. eyelets
7. hem

I’m pretty pleased.  I got quite a bit done (pictures are up in my gallery).  I had hoped to finish the hem last weekend but by the time we packed up the pavilion, got the clean coolers and grill in the trailer, and got some dinner we were an hour out from True Blood and I decided to just enjoy a bit of a break.  A friend is hosting a sewing day after Golden Rose this Sunday and I think I will just work on finishing it up there.

Tonight I’m hoping to get some laundry going and finish the second coat of wax on my helm and gorget.  I’d like to go to fighter practice Wednesday night as well as Thursday.

This past weekend we went down to Beaufort, NC to enjoy some excellent Coastal NC wreck diving.

We arrived in Beaufort Friday afternoon and after checking in with the dive shop we enjoyed a lovely early dinner with friends at No Name Pizza.  It’s a great little hole in the wall pizza place that also makes really excellent pasta, burgers, and sandwiches.  If you are ever in Beaufort I highly recommend it.  We were staying in the dive shops dive lodge so after dinner and a quick trip to the grocery store for breakfast stuff and snacks we headed back to the lodge to wait for the rest of our dive group.  They arrived through out the evening and after talking about the plans for the next day we all headed to bed.  Morning would be coming very quickly.

We were all up by 5:30am and on the boat with our gear set up and ready by 6:30.  By 6:45 we were under way and on our way out to see the U-352.  It was about a 2 hour trip off shore and simply an amazing dive.  From the U-352 we headed to the Spar where we dove with some of the most beautiful Sand Tiger sharks I have ever seen.  Sand Tigers aren’t an aggressive shark and these guys were really very curious about who we were and what we were up to.  They spent quite a bit of time checking us out.  It was incredible.  After the Spar we headed back to the dock and after pulling our stuff off the boat and cleaning our gear we got showers and found a bit of lunch.  Our dive leaders had organized and excellent cookout for us.  Some rain chased us inside but the food was excellent.

Sunday we were up again by 5:30 and on the boat before 7.  We got underway by 7 and headed out to the Aeolus.  We enjoyed a very lovely dive on the Aeolus before heading to the Indra.  It was an excellent day on the water.  The seas were nearly flat calm and the sun and water were just gorgeous.  We got back into the dock around 1ish.  After unloading our gear and checking out with the dive shop we got showers and packed up the car to head home.  We left Beaufort around 3pm and after some lunch and an uneventful drive arrived home around 6ish.  We had a lovely dinner to celebrate our weekend and then happily crashed into bed.

Thankfully we had also taken Monday off of work and we spent the day at home relaxing, recuperating, and doing some laundry.  It was an amazing weekend.

We don’t have an underwater camera but some friends did get some pictures of us.  There are a couple pictures of me up on my gallery and I will be adding more as I get them.

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I’ve probably mentioned it here before but for the past year and a half at least I’ve had an unfinished green linen gothic fitted gown sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked back up.  It was all cut out, it just needed to be assembled.

So in the spirit of getting back to my unfinished projects I pulled it down last week to get to work on it.  All the pieces had to be re-ironed and the interlinings needed to be basted to the outer layer.  I then assembled the outer layer and the lining and stitched them together.

The next thing I did was assemble the sleeves and prep them for inserting into the gown.  But part of the problem with picking back up old projects that have been sitting on the shelf for a while is that sometimes you run into one of those “what was I doing here?” moments.  The sleeves I had cut ended up being much too large to ease into the armscyes.  This could end up being a bit of a blessing in disguise though.  The sleeves I had originally cut were short.  I had thought about making new long sleeves but in the end decided that I’d just go ahead and use what I had already cut.  Now I get to decide whether I want to alter the short sleeves a bit or just cut new long sleeves.  I think the long sleeves would be more versatile and could be layered with other gowns and surcoats but the short sleeves would be cooler.  Decisions, Decisions.

Anyway, I put up a few pictures in my gallery.  Left to do I have:

1. clip curves
2. press front opening
3. make up new sleeves
4. insert sleeves
5. hand finish front opening and sleeves
6. eyelets
7. hem

Not such a bad list.  Also, for those of you who missed it I have new pictures up of my jacket in addition to the stills I pulled out of the video from last week.  I also finally got my dueling article for the class I taught at June University up on the site.

I’ve finally started rededicating time each week to work on my embroidered jacket last month and I finally completed the outlining on the first sleeve of my embroidered jacket last week.  I also finished the first gore are started the second sleeve last night.  Progress is being made once again!

I realized Sunday night while I was starting work on the second sleeve that I hadn’t updated my gallery for this project in several months.  Unfortunately when I pulled out my camera last night to snap some quick pictures I noticed that my batteries for the camera were dead.   So I pulled out the Flip, shot some quick video of the completed sleeve and gore, and then pulled out some stills from the video so I’d have something to show you guys this morning.   The stills I was able to pull out don’t give you a good overall view but I did charge the camera batteries last night so I can snap a few more pictures this evening.

So there are new pictures up in my jacket gallery if you all want to check them out and more are on the way soon.

I am finally enjoying last weekend’s plans, just a week later. Earlier today I spent a lovely 2 hours embroidering on the patio while watching the sun shire Albemarle Sound.

I miss all my friends at Pennsic but I’m looking forward to the stories when they get back.

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So, within about 30 minutes of making my post on Friday our plans for the weekend changed dramatically and we ended up staying in Raleigh.  Our beach plans were changed to this coming weekend.

Not to worry though.  I have still been working on the items I outlined on Friday and I hope to have some more cool things up and running for you guys very soon.

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This weekend finds us at the beach.  I’m only taking three things with me (besides clothes, obviously):

1. My computer
2. My jacket embroidery
3. My kite

I have some graphic design work to do for another web project I’m working on but I plan on spending the rest of my weekend embroidering on my jacket and finishing some much needed updates to Elizabethan Mafia.  The things I still need to do are listed below.  I’ve already gotten about half of them done but I really want to have the other half finished by the end of the weekend.

1. Webpage write up for 14th Cen. hosen
2. Add write up to Silk Suit
3. Get Dueling article up
4. Write up for stockings
5. Add links to FR articles
6. Write up for red linen kirtle
7. Upgrade to Joomla 1.5.20

Don’t worry, I don’t plan on staying inside during my weekend at the beach.  But I do plan on taking advantage of the wireless connection at the club house and getting a good portion of this done while hanging out by the pool.  Afterward I plan on flying my kite at Jockey’s Ridge and maybe enjoying an ice cream with my hubby.

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The French Knot was one of those embroidery stitches that really gave me a tough time while I was trying to figure it out.  It’s used a lot in finishing thread wrapped buttons so I definitely wanted to master it.  It took me a while but in the end I got it.

For every one else trying to master this stitch, Make It Mine Magazine has a great French Knot tutorial on YouTube that I hope you will find useful.

Di Grassi believed that fencing was more firmly rooted in footwork than in anything else. It was necessary to provide balance and to help a fighter put force behind his blows.

Stance

In his treatise, Di Grassi recommends that a fighter stand with his body “stable” and turned towards the enemy. A fighter should make himself as small a target as possible and if he must bend his body, he should take care to bend away from the enemy. When a fighter strikes he should either advance or thrust forward as soon as it is to his advantage to do so. You should always carry your body so as to make yourself firm and immovable. Don’t make any unnecessary movements. Don’t skip or leap. Rather keep your feet on the ground and make firm and unwavering movements. Always strike or defend in one or half a motion and be careful to keep foot and arm movements together.

It is important that a fighter maintain his stability because without stability he is vulnerable not only to attack but also to grappling. He is especially susceptible to being thrown off balance or to the ground by his opponent and in such a position he would be extremely vulnerable to attack and mostly likely unable to defend himself. That’s part of why a fighter shouldn’t skip or leap about. Such action can seriously affect his stability.

It’s nearly impossible to have a stable, strong stance when you’re leaping through the air. A fighter should strive not to make any unnecessary movements because they waste time and energy and you may inadvertently place yourself in a disadvantageous position. Di Grassi also touches on a fact that he discusses many times in his work: striking or defending in one or half a motion. It is important to attack and defend in as few motions as possible. Doing so conserves time, motion, and energy. Also, elsewhere in his treatise Di Grassi demonstrates with an illustration how attacking in two times rather than one opens a fighter up to attack from his opponent. Thus it’s especially important to make you attacks and parries in as few movements as possible. Preferably a fighter should be able to attack and defend himself at the same time as this provides the most security against attacks from ones opponent.

Movement

When moving your feet you should always take care to “frame a reasonable pace.” If you want to strike you should advance or increase one foot. Conversely, when defending you should retreat or withdraw one foot, taking care not to put yourself off balance or fall.

Di Grassi does not specify what distance is to be considered a reasonable pace. Instead he explains that since all fighters have different body types a given distance, which might be “reasonable”, or comfortable, for one fighter would not be for another fighter. Thus, since everyone’s “reasonable pace” will be different, fighters should take care to figure out the\ distance that is comfortable for them.

The feet move straight or circularly, forwards or backwards, in a half or a whole pace. A whole pace is made when the back foot is carried forwards in front of the front foot without moving the front foot. The whole pace can be made in a straight pace or a slope (crooked) pace, however Di Grassi notes that a fighter seldom performs a straight whole pace. In a slope (crooked) pace the back foot is still brought in front of the front foot, but this time it is placed at an angle so ass to carry the body out of line of the attack. A whole pace can also be made backwards, but usually only as a straight pace. A half pace is a transitional movement and is made when the back foot is brought even with the front foot and left there or then moved forwards. When preformed backwards, the front foot is moved even with the back foot and left there or from there moved behind the back foot. A circular pace is made when the front or back foot is moved to the right or left in a compass motion. This can also be made as a half or whole circular pace. A whole circular pace is also commonly known as a volte and demi volte is also another common term for the half circular pace.

A big benefit of the movements Di Grassi outlines in his treatise is that they not only move the body through a fight but many of them also void the body out of line of attack. This is especially true for the slope and circular paces. A fighter can use these movements to not only secure a more advantageous position from which to launch his attack but he also adds an extra layer of protection to his own body at the same time. This provides a fighter more weapons for his arsenal and additional methods that he can use to both attack and defend himself at the same time, a strategy that Di Grassi advocates over and over again.

The agreement of the hands and feet

Di Grassi felt very strongly that the strength of the right hand came from the right leg. Similarly the left leg is the strength of the left hand. This theory is known as the agreement of the feet and hands. By this logic, the force of a blow should come from the legs. Because of this, the position of the arms should agree with the position of the legs. For example, if the right leg is behind the body then the fighter should stand so that the right hand is behind the left.

You can put a lot more force into your attacks by using your legs and hips than you can by using just your arms. Your leg muscles are generally larger and stronger than those of your arm and your hips can generate quite a bit of force just from torque. This additional force would be invaluable if you found yourself on an actual field of battle where life and death truly hung in the balance. In such a situation you need all the additional force and strength for you attacks that you can generate.

Closing thoughts

A fighter needs a solid foundation in order to be successful and good footwork is a big part of that foundation. Di Grassi understood that and spent several pages of his treatise discussing proper stance and movement. We can learn a great deal from his methods and much of it can benefit not only our fighting but also our own studies of the Arte of Defense. His thoughts on stance and stability are invaluable and have wide applications to both fighting and study. Similarly his thoughts on attacking and defending in time and his use of body voids are especially beneficial to fighters interested in applying their studies in real world combat.

*This article is a 2009  revision of an earlier article that I wrote in 2006.