Sand and Silver: Sculpture and Sand Casting in the SCA.

One of the things that surprised me the most about my medallions when I started entering them into competition was the question of 'but why did you make them this size?' I mean, seriously, where did that question come from?  And, if people really want to know how I choose the size of my medallions, I'll lay out what I have for you.  For my first ever competition pieces, a made-on-site set of matching medallions for the Baronies of Bonwicke and Eldern Hills, the reason I chose the size I did was because I was a herald and I knew how to get people's attention. (Armory) heraldry = BIG , BOLD , and BUTCH .  I got the biggest blank I could pull out of my kit at the time and went to town on it. I wanted something that when I handed it to someone, their eyes went wide as saucers, and their jaws fell to the floor. No other reason. No subtlety. No deep psychological motive. My whole driving motivation behind that size of medallion was "mine is bigger", full stop.  The ...

So, a few weeks ago I was at Steppes Artisan, displaying my full medallion shop, answering questions, and even working on an upcoming piece. I had my complete shop  there, as well as all of the past medallion models I had cast from. The format of Artisan being what it is, the whole day is spent talking to people, some of whom are judges, and others are just interested bystanders.  One of the people who sat down to talk to be was Mistress Ælfwyn. We'd known each other from years before, though walked very different paths. She'd sat down at my shop and we'd spoken for just a few moments socially before she asked me a very interesting question.  Tell me, which one of these are you the most proud of? I sat there for a long moment, considering my answer. Honestly, it was probably longer than Ælfwyn has expected, too. Most artists probably have at least good idea of their best work, especially when they have all of their examples right there in front of them.  Then I ...