Monday, December 31, 2012

The Rules

This is a journey of personal enlightenment that I hope you will join in for or at least follow from time to time. I fully intend to push my skills and talents into realms I have never explored, and fully expect to fail from time to time. It is a lot about discovery, a little about scholarship, and a good deal about making neat things.
  • I intended the word "school" to mean a group of like-minded individuals working toward a common goal. If you cannot see past the modern connotation of teacher and pupil, then at least bear in mind that I am not the teacher here, I am the student, an apprentice to every master I encounter in their crafts.
  • I won't always be in costume as I'm working unless it affects the outcome in some way.
  • I will be prejudiced toward period or near-period methods and tools, which means that if I can't get the exact right thing, I'll opt for the closest approximate item.
  • However, I had to promise my wife I would not die or make myself seriously ill doing this. If the actual item is dangerous, poisonous (Elizabethans sometimes seem a bit overfond of toxic materials), or for that matter if it is unattainable within the confines of the project time and the budget, I will opt for the next closest safe alternative that affords the correct results.
  • The goal is for this to be fun or I wouldn't be doing it.
  • I intend for this project to draw attention to the masters of these crafts still up and at it in the modern era. Whenever possible, I will tap into their wisdom (many wonderful craftspeople have reached out to me already) and will link to and call attention to their efforts as they will be inevitably superior to my own amateur mucking about.
  • I will be wrong from time-to-time. The research materials are seemingly inexhaustible, but the time to prepare is not so I am bound to miss something. Being wrong is part of the process of learning. Please feel free to point it out. I ask only that you observe a certain base level of politeness. This is a learning experience and no one learns from being insulted or having a finger wagged at them.
I'm sure more things will occur to me as we go along, but this is a foundation good enough for going on with.

See you in the first week of the new year!

- Scott
31 December 2012

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