The Baronesses birds

Baroness Jennet of Loch Salaan surprised me awhile ago with a large box of feathers she'd been collecting.  She raises alpacas (and I have a closet full of fleeces from her last shearing destined to be rugs and boots) but there are also peacocks and chickens running around the farm. 

I was busy teaching classes at Collegium when she handed the box over so I didn't get to really talk to her much about the projects, but she asked that I make her a fan in payment for the feathers.  Seemed like a more than fair trade.  Especially since I didn't actually have to start from scratch.

Jennet had a fan she had received that used to belong to Constance de la Rose.  Constance was one of the greats.  I met her only briefly once, but her legacy is extensive.  Everything anyone has to say is glowing and sweet.  There is a memorial cooking competition held at Uprising in her honor so her love of cooking and learning continue. I found this beautiful article she wrote published on Florilegium about what makes a peer that hold some of the magic the SCA Dream embodies.

The fan needed some rehabilitation.  It had come in contact with something that left big pink and black mess on some of the feathers.  They also needed to be combed and fluffed a bit.  I tried spot cleaning the feathers but whatever it was was not coming off.  And it was hot pink.  I ended up trimming the feathers a bit to remove the worst of it and then adding feathers to cover.  The inside of the fan now has a layer of  new black and white feathers.  I picked out the feathers Jennet had collected from her silver laced Wyandotte chickens.  Her Barony's heraldic colors are sable and argent. They have a populous use badge of an ermine spot so the white spots on the tops of the black feathers were absolutely perfect.  I added pearls and black pear shaped rhinestones to continue the theme.  Then I topped it with a little dragonfly button since dragonflies are one of Jennet's heraldic charges.  The silver Celtic knots also bring her persona into the composition.

Here's hoping she likes it and it's what she had in mind.