Warping and reeds
I finally got the first greave I fired back into the shape I wanted over the weekend. I put it into the forge, and plunged it into the slack tub. The angle I put it in was a little off, and the tub wasn't quite deep enough. Consequently I warped the crap out of it AGAIN! The other greave is looking pretty good though. I buffed it up with the dangerous grinding discs. It needs some more polishing, but it's pretty much ready to strap.
Last Thursday Barnet traced and cut out 4 elbow cops for our new arm harnesses. I've started playing with repousee work for the fans. It's just on scrap material for now, but I figure it's easiest to do the repousee first, then do all the dishing so the curve of the cop doesn't get in the way.
I made some progress on my goal of making reeds. I bought a bunch of tubing from Hobbytown, and some copper wire from HobbyLobby, and built a couple plastic reeds. The first one sucked so hard it wouldn't crow, so it shouldn't count. The second one I made from a red plastic cup, and wasn't too bad. It needs some tuning to play in the cornemuse, and it isn't even as loud as the reed that it came with. I'm thinking of getting some larger cups for a better shaped reed. I had to cut the reed cross wise, so the curve makes the tips of the reed want to touch, but not the sides. Anyway, I'm glad I'm making some progress.
We played at Candlemas over the weekend. It went pretty well. The candle dance was pretty, and the music sounded pretty good. The hall just sucked away sound though, so we weren't very loud. I couldn't even hear people sitting on the other end of the group. The dances went pretty well too, though we had 4 soprano recorders. I ended up playing some alto and tenor, and so did Amata from time to time to balance things better.
I'm not sure where I want to go with the music guild. I've learned a lot, and become a better musician. A lot of what we play is fun, and it's nice to play for an audience which appreciates us as much as the dancers do. I'd really love to play a really well rehearsed set with some real control over it as a concert. I want to be a rock star like Wolgemut or Corvus Corax. To get that to happen I think I need a few things. 1. Better, louder instruments. 2. To practice my ass off 3. Great percussion 4. Great song selection and arrangements 5. A group of skilled and like minded rock star wannabies. I'm even OK with being a cover band for a while. Really they're all cover bands on some level.
Last Thursday Barnet traced and cut out 4 elbow cops for our new arm harnesses. I've started playing with repousee work for the fans. It's just on scrap material for now, but I figure it's easiest to do the repousee first, then do all the dishing so the curve of the cop doesn't get in the way.
I made some progress on my goal of making reeds. I bought a bunch of tubing from Hobbytown, and some copper wire from HobbyLobby, and built a couple plastic reeds. The first one sucked so hard it wouldn't crow, so it shouldn't count. The second one I made from a red plastic cup, and wasn't too bad. It needs some tuning to play in the cornemuse, and it isn't even as loud as the reed that it came with. I'm thinking of getting some larger cups for a better shaped reed. I had to cut the reed cross wise, so the curve makes the tips of the reed want to touch, but not the sides. Anyway, I'm glad I'm making some progress.
We played at Candlemas over the weekend. It went pretty well. The candle dance was pretty, and the music sounded pretty good. The hall just sucked away sound though, so we weren't very loud. I couldn't even hear people sitting on the other end of the group. The dances went pretty well too, though we had 4 soprano recorders. I ended up playing some alto and tenor, and so did Amata from time to time to balance things better.
I'm not sure where I want to go with the music guild. I've learned a lot, and become a better musician. A lot of what we play is fun, and it's nice to play for an audience which appreciates us as much as the dancers do. I'd really love to play a really well rehearsed set with some real control over it as a concert. I want to be a rock star like Wolgemut or Corvus Corax. To get that to happen I think I need a few things. 1. Better, louder instruments. 2. To practice my ass off 3. Great percussion 4. Great song selection and arrangements 5. A group of skilled and like minded rock star wannabies. I'm even OK with being a cover band for a while. Really they're all cover bands on some level.
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