Adhela of Ottersdam
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 Adhela at Egils 2024 | ||||||||
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 Quarterly sable and argent, a tree counterchanged and in chief three fountains |
In the Society
Adhela of Ottersdam is a 7th century Low Countries woman. She is married, but her husband isn't in the SCA so that is kind of glossed over. She was raised largely by her aunt and her glassmaker uncle, and learned some basic lampworking. When he passed, she decided to travel to England to learn lampworking techniques there.
(I have no plausible explanation for how much time Adhela spends in Safavid Persian clothes.)
Adhela - from a list of `Dutch Women's Names before 1150' by Kees Nieuwenhuijsen, Living History Studies [1]
of Ottersdam - there is an Ottersdam road area in the Netherlands. And I really like otters.
In the Mundane World
- I chose my persona based on two primary factors: women had a fair amount of freedom in that culture and era, and I could make my own garb with my limited mostly-straight-seams sewing skills.
- I am a passionate gardener, volunteering as a Master Gardener in Lane County and slowly learning about period crops that we largely don't grow anymore: carlin peas, orach, good king henry, purslane, chervil, lovage, scorzonera, and more.
- I enjoy cooking, especially baking breads with sourdough, and am studying Roman bread making techniques.
- I am an amateur lampworker who can reliably make beads and stringers, but can't yet control the latter well enough to decorate the former to my liking.
- I enjoy making bead jewelry using pearl knotting and wire wrap techniques.
- I've had a fondness for pen-and-ink, and am very gingerly learning some scribal techniques. There's a lot of gravity down that rabbit-hole, so I'm being careful about getting sucked in.
How long have I been in the SCA? Both a long and a little time. I spent several years in the early 90's going to West Kingdom events in the company of an ex-boyfriend. He and his friends were more of the "show up, dress up, and party" crowd, so I didn't really meet anyone involved with the kingdom. Time passed, and in 2018 I started attending some then-local West Kingdom events (12th Night, Crosston Dance Ball, etc) and starting to get to know some folks. Then, of course, boom-- pandemic. I attended some Adiantum and An Tir virtual events during that time, and joined some of the Facebook groups. When I moved to Eugene in December of 2022, I started getting involved locally in person.