Whaddya mean, it can be only five pages?????

[gurdymonkey]

Documentation:
A frustrating exercise
In futility.

This, O My Readers is why I don't do competitions in the SCA. If your documentation is comprehensive, the judges bitch about it being too much to read. If you keep it concise, they pillory you for not being complete. You're screwed either way.

I just worked up documentation on my karaginu mo for the CC26 historical masquerade for the second time - because evidently last NIGHT I forgot to save it.

Double spaced.

In 12 point Courier.

Like the rules say.

IF I put all the illustrations and pattern notes as separate appendices, it comes in under the five page mark. With appendices it's quite a bit bigger. Debating whether to print out the "dress diary" from my website and include it as well. I dunno, I've never done one of these things at a con....

Five lousy pages for ten garments totalling seventy yards of fabric, not to mention the hiogi (fan). It just feels wrong, somehow. Even with a quote from the Diary of Murasaki.

Aftermath of taiko lesson #1: Left trapezius feels like it's been used, but doesn't really qualify as sore.  Of all places, I'm feeling it in my calves, and I walk two miles a day. The stance is going to take getting used to.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about the PVC practice drums they had. http://www.taiko.us/cheap.html
even proves you can make one that isn't cheesy looking. If I stick with taiko, this might be a viable way to get into trouble get something going at Estrella with the Rising Sun crew. They're lighter than wooden taiko, which would make them easier to transport. Not to mention outdoor conditions. I may have to research synthetic vs. hide drum heads at some point....

Comments

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

O-daiko - the really big drum in an ensemble - sometimes have painted heads, such as this one:
http://images.sandiego.com/articlefiles/e80d9f8e-f5f3-4ebc-9e8c-0f017312a447/odaiko-b.jpg

The smaller ones, not so much.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

I haven't taken a look at the rules for historical, but I know they're based on my master set.

Well, they didn't phrase it the way I would have, but...

...the "5-page" limit in manuscript form with specified sections is to save wear-and-tear on the judges. It's the part the judges must read.

It's mainly there because, unfortunately, a lot of people just can't organize their doc. There are the people who would try to game the system and do 5 pages in agate (4.5 point, like used in newspaper classified ads) type. There are the people who can't make their points clearly at the beginning and expand on them as allowed. There are the people who don't do bibliographies.

There's nothing wrong with appendices and supplemental sections. If the judges aren't swamped, they're more likely to go back and read the supplemental sections of a well-laid-out document than they are to go back and read the last 8 pages of a meandering mess.

I wrote an article for one of the guild chapters a few months ago on documentation. I'd send you the link, but I think it's in the members' only section until the next newsletter is published.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Don't mind me - I've hit the stage of feeling overwhelmed and what-have-I-got-myself-into-NOW? Especially after reading the pre-reg numbers announced yesterday.

[bedouinchick.livejournal.com]

For event purposes, a synthetic head is the only way to based on my experience of waiting for drummers who had to pamper and baby their drum heads on cold or damp nights. Knowing that Estrella nights tend to be both in February, your frustration level would soar should you used a skin head if the environment is not controlled -- and camping events are most certainly not.

BTW, I plan to come to your class at CC26 if there's room!