Adhela of Ottersdam
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 Adhela, May 2025 | ||||||||
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 Quarterly sable and argent, a tree counterchanged and in chief three fountains |
MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: 242922 Member since 2018
MUNDANE NAME: Strata Chalup
SOCIETY NAME: Adhela Of Ottersdam
DEVICE: Quarterly sable and argent, a tree counterchanged and in chief three fountains (Registered Oct 2019)
In the Society
I am Adhela of Ottersdam, originally of Old Saxony. I was born to the merchant trade, and am blessed to have seen three score summers and more. I fostered with my uncle's family and learned something of the glassworking craft. I now reside in a small freehold in the kingdom of Sussex in Brittania, enjoying a quiet life. I sometimes travel to the larger villages to trade in glass beads at the midsummer and harvest festivals. I keep to the old ways, but enjoy the stories of Hælend told by the priests.
Adhela of Ottersdam is a 6th century Low Countries Saxon woman from the region around present-day Otterstraat in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Adhela - from a list of `Dutch Women's Names before 1150' by Kees Nieuwenhuijsen, Living History Studies [1]
of Ottersdam - there is an Otterdam road area in the Netherlands. And I really like otters.
Background
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, as did that relationship, and in 2018 I decided to try again and started attending some then-local West Kingdom events (12th Night, Crosston Dance Ball, etc) and getting to know some folks. Then, of course, boom-- pandemic. I knew I was moving to Oregon to retire, so 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.
Useful Mundane Skills
- Retired, so flexible schedule
- Spent multiple decades as a program and project manager (PMP Certified), very organized
- Comfortable with several online technologies (Google Docs/Sheets/Slides/Forms, Wordpress, Blogger.com, Office365)
- Comfortable with several social media platforms (Facebook, Slack, Discord, Bluesky, Mastodon, Whatsapp, Signal, Facebook Messenger)
Skills & Interests
- 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.
- I am a novice potter, and have enjoyed making cups and mini bowls for largesse for Adiantum.
Service
Arts & Sciences Officer, Barony of Adiantum March 2025 (term to March 2027)
Events
- Egils Stewards Committee for 2026 event
- Organizing A&S classes and displays for Summits Coronet (Mar 2026)
- Organizing A&S classes and displays for Adiantum Birthday Bash (Mar 2026)
- Organized A&S classes and displays for MidWinter Feast (Jan 2026)
- Organized A&S classes for Amergin's (Oct 2026)
- Volunteer point coordinator for Egils (May 2025); also did inventory of area leads volunteer needs and created documentation that will help future events
2026
Providing "Baronial Bookmobile" service to first and third Thursday fighter practices.
March
- Organized a Third Thursday A&S class: Miniature Shield Painting by Baroness Isis Sat Ne Nes Bastet
- Assisted Dame Yseult and Dame Johanna in doing tracework for large cloth banners for the Barony for Egils
February
- Organized a Third Thursday A&S class: Circular Warping for Tablet Weaving by Master Nishigori
January
- Organized a Second Sunday A&S class: Fabric Painting by Yseult of Broceliande
- Organized a Third Thursday A&S class: Youth Armored Combat boffer sword making, by Eoghan ui Clereigh
2025
December
- Gate shift, Summits Investiture
- Organized a Third Thursday A&S class: Fabric Painting by Yseult of Broceliande (moved to January due to inclement weather)
November
- Conducted a poll on the Barony’s FB page, regarding the populace’s preferences on additional A&S activity beyond the 3rd Thursday classes.
- Organized a Third Thursday A&S class: Yssobelle’s class on Hand Sewing & Finishing
October
- Hosted an A&S Cooking Lab at my home: hot water pastry
- Organized a third Thursday A&S class: Beginning Leatherworking (belt frog for mug), by Baroness Isis
September
- Hosted an A&S Cooking Lab at my home: collaboration on 3 recipes
- Organized a third Thursday A&S class: Beginning Embroidery, by Katherine of the Lakes
August
- Created Event_Photos_Pages as a repository for non-AI photos to use for event listings
- Co-hosted a combination A&S Sewing Circle and Chatelaine Thingmaking event with Aila'antha of Williams Keep
- Organized a third Thursday A&S class: Garb That Fits, by Lady Victoria deKent
July
- Gate shift, An Tir West War
- Volunteering at the Barony's demo exhibit at Lane County Fair (23 hours)
- Organized a third Thursday A&S class: Medieval Hammered English Coins, by HL Hrodnavar
June
- Egils Debriefing Session
May
- Created Adiantum Arts & Sciences Survey to discover populace needs and resources
- Volunteer point coordinator for Egils; also did inventory of area leads volunteer needs and created documentation that will help future events
April
- Hosted in my home combined Adiantum scribal/bardic night with Muirenn inghean Ui Cléirigh
- Organized and hosted in my home A&S Sewing Circle event
March
- Arranged Arts and Sciences classes and displays for Adiantum birthday bash
- Hosted in my home combined scribal/bardic night with Muirenn inghean Ui Cléirigh
February
- Organized and hosted in my home A&S Sewing Circle event
2024
January
- Gate shift at Midwinter Feast, January 2025
October
- Hosted in my home Adiantum bardic night
- Assisted with setup and cleanup for Amergins Revival October 2024
September
- Assisted with setup, execution, and teardown of Petersen Barn public demo
July
- Assisted with setup and execution of Lane County Fair public demo
2023
- Attended several Chatelaine's Thingmakers sessions (cup covers, coifs, spice bottle filling)
Largesse items made so far
- 4 cloth cup covers with beaded corners
- 3 decorative drawstring bags
- 1 light canvas coif
- 4 beaded necklaces (as part of the An Tir necklace project, materials provided)
- 12 muslin lavender sachets with homegrown lavender
- 18 glazed pottery cups, 4 glazed pottery bowls
- Painted several preprinted thank you cards and created a bookmark
Arts & Sciences
Adhela's Research Midden, a collection of research snippets
Bardic performances at Adiantum courts:
- The Coming of Spring by Lord Thomas Bordeaux, Birthday Bash March 2025
- Crossing the bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson, set to original melody, Midwinter feast January 2025
Entered Bardic Championship at Amergins Revival, October 2024
Public projects:
- Virtual university class on Forgotten Vegetables & Potherbs, Atlantia University, September 2025
- Short talk on Forgotten Vegetables for the Lane County Master Gardeners' Edible Gardening group, August 2025
- Class on They Ate What?!: Forgotten Vegetables & Potherbs at An Tir West War, July 2025
- Unleavened hearth cakes and frumenty for a Cooks Playdate dinner, An Tir West War 2025
- Geek Session on Forgotten Veggies & Potherbs at Egils , May 2025
- Display on Forgotten Potherbs at Amergins Revival, October 2024
- Saxon leavened hearth cakes for a Cooks Playdate dinner, An Tir West War 2024
- Pliny's Grape Must Leaven and Cato's mustacei rolls for Adiantum A&S night June 2024
- Tart with Plums Sabrina Welserin West Kingdom 12th Night 2020 wooden spoon competition
- Fine Cakes, Good Huswifes Jewell, West Kingdom 12th Night 2019 wooden spoon competition
Private projects:
- lampworked glass bead "bling" necklace, inspired by grave find beads (but I lacked the technical skill to reproduce them with any accuracy)
- nine men's morris set, fabric and paint markers
- garb
- 6th century Saxon / Low Countries: three tee tunics and three peplos
- Roman chiton and a "towel chiton" for ATWW
- cardboard loom pouch, wool blend yarn
Martial
- Occasional thrown weapons practice
- Entered Fast & Loose thrown weapons tournament June 2025
- Entered Fast & Loose thrown weapons tournament June 2024 ; placed 3rd (of 4 entrants)