Tatojiya of Dunromi Medievalizing Tips
I am called Tatojiya of Dunromi. The household of Dunromi has used a number of techniques to medievalize our camp.
- Strategically locate the most period tents in the most visable places of your encampment while hiding the mundane tents behind.
- Our household pitched in a bought a period community tent which we call "the gypsy cave". Most of us do not have the kind of vehicle that will accomodate the poles etc. for us all to have period tents. All efforts are made to keep "the cave" free of mundane items. This way we have a place to host guests to our encampment in a period location that is also out of the weather!
- We use this space as you would a living/dining/kitchen area of your home. All the kitchen gear is at one end and is hidden behind a cloth wall we added ourselves. This way the coleman stove, coolers, rubbermaid totes etc. have a place to go that is out of sight. Also we don't need to cover individual items with cloths since they are all collectively out of sight in the "kitchen". They are also easier to access without having to remove the cover.
- We set goals within the household to add to the encampment for every upcoming event. This year for The Grand Outlandish, we intend to add a front door made from tassles and cloth that can be drawn back to be inviting or closed to keep out the dust and wind.
- Putting down carpets adds a lot of appeal to our "cave". It keeps dust down and gives a safe place to walk barefoot or sit on the ground. You can usually get inexpensive persian-like rugs at discounts stores, but keep your eyes open at flea markets and yard sales. I picked up a really nice orange carpet that was room sized for $15 once!! The condition doesn't have to be great, after all you're laying on the ground....
- We covered our coleman lanterns with a really nifty linen-like outer structure. We used very large macrome hoops at the top and bottom and simply hand stiched a length of cloth in a tube shape between the hoops. A regular wire hanger can be rebent to create a hook to both hang from "the cave" and hang the lantern to the frame of the cave.
- One of our event goals was to cover all the camping chairs. Some of us have several, but mostly if everyone covers their own, the cost is low. Simply use a slipcover technique: cut pieces of fabric in an extra large fashion in the general shape of the chair. then place pieces on the chair, back side out and use pins to adjust the fit. (strongly suggest sitting in the chair before sewing as this may change the fit) sew around the edges using a double stich for durability. turn right side out and viola! a medievalized camp chair! if you use a broadcloth weight of fabric, it will usually fold up and still fit in the original camp bag!
- An event goal we have discussed at length, and will employ in the future is snubbery. For those who don't know, snubbery is the term for an outdoor wall made from cloth generally used to enclose an encampment. We plan to use it to hide our mundane tents too!
- I loved the previously listed tip "Act and speak forsoothly". Dunromi challenges ourselves to speak "Gypsy" everytime we gather for household meetings, events, fighter practices etc. This way we stay in practice regularly and it comes more naturally. This is also really really contagious! By the second day of the event even the new SCAers are making a decent effort to sound like the old timers! Warning: Once people begin to speak gypsy-like they often cannot stop when they go home...tee hee!
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