So why so long away from the glass?
So it had been some time since I had played on the torch with glass. Not really due to weather, though the cold in the studio is only partially chased away from the heat of the torch and the kiln. And while Donna's ankle surgery did hamper getting out to work on things, we have already gone through this before with her original ankle surgery last year. No, the big reason why was I had found metal....pewter to be exact.
Within the Society For Creative Anachronism, there exists a group of folk who are often found gathered around some sort of oak stump which has a round steel bolster that holds a steel die. On this die is place a penny-size pewter blank. A second die is then settled onto it and them WHAM! Someone strikes the whole set-up with a 6 pound hammer. Upon opening it back up, a coin emerges that is the result of hours of research, design, and cutting by hand the patterns that become the basis for a medieval inspired coin. Now while we don't use these coins as real currency for much of what we do in the SCA, they are fun when brought into gambling games, or as tokens to remind us of events or services that are being recognized. But they add to the fun of what we do in the SCA. With my oldest daughter's wedding coming up this last summer, I wanted to create a token to be used for her wedding that I could make by hand. So the journey into learning about moneyers in the SCA and money in the medieval world began. Under the eyes of moneyers Master Leo and Master Emmerick, I started by forming small pellets of pewter, hammering them out, creating punches (really, really small punches), learning to grave lines and create images, grinding everything down when something went wrong, were all part of the learning curve.
As an artist, it was fun and frustrating as art tends to be. But, as time went on, I found I was improving. Which lead to greater experiments and frustrations as well as eventual successes. I designed and created the coin for Selena and Dennis' wedding (see above), and have now designed several other coin dies for some of our SCA royals and baron/esses. But, glass beckons again and so it is on to the medium I have found I enjoy the best and it is time to get reacquainted with it again!
By the way, if you really want to see what can be produced after years of learning check out Master Emmerick's website. It is pretty impressive and he has a wealth of knowledge about coins in period.