So, my local group puts on a small event every spring, some of you may have heard of it: Baron Wars : P
This year is our 16th year, and after gate crashing for 3 years+ before i actually JOINED the SCA, im now one of 3 autocrats for this year's event.
Last night we has the group project of making our site tokens. We have a very reliant assembly line system for this, and it goes fairly quickly (i believe we made appox. 800 or so tokens in the span of 2 hours.. yeah, we've got this down)
The process starts by us forgetting to order the clay and glaze, so we send Helewyse up to Ann Arbor to purchase said materials (whoops! but thanks again Weezy!)
The Design is drawn, and Sharpie'd onto wooden dowels (we use 4 stamps, this helps the process go faster)
After the design is drawn, I then go over said design with a woodburning tool to make the marks in the clay (and to make my kitchen smell like burning wood.. mmmm...) - please ignore the fact that the center front stamp design looks like it's flipping the bird.. (We giggled about this for a few moments, but i think i avoided burning the design in that way.. )
At which point, it was time to feed the wee'un, and then return her to her father's, and be on our way to meeting : )
Arriving fashonably late and with great fanfair (i want to be cheered every time i walk into the room!) we got down to work!
The process then starts at the line, where the large block of clay is kneeded and conditioned, then made into logs, which are then cut into coins. They are a bit wobbly at this point, so we gather a few minions and have them flatten/squish/round them as needed.
After they've been made in to tasty looking cookies (i was hungry, ok?) They are then Stamped with the aformentioned dowels: Soda being an important tool as well : P
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Once Stamped, they get a hole though which to thread them. We use straws for this, as it cuts a neat hole, which is big enough to survive the firing process and still be easy to thread with yarn/string/whatever we have on hand that year...
Glaze is then applied with a soft Brush (the above is between cutting holes and starting to glaze : )
AFter they've been glazed, the edges need to be wiped clean so that they do not stick to each other, or to the kiln at firing. (otherwise they get pried appart with a screwdriver later). we then stack them as close together as possible on trays to dry completely before they are fired.
TA DAHH! I'll post pics later of them after the firing process : )
oh, and also? these were on my kitchen table when i got home last night...
I beleive the shiny bits were ordered from Windrose, but i'll have to confirm.. please excuse the pile of inventory, and scribal supplies in the background ^_^
