To encourage more period style of heraldry in my Barony, I took on the office of Baronial Herald - the Bottony Pursuivant in the Barony of St Florian de la Riviere in 1997, and held that position until January 2004. (Read: I embarked on a subtle, yet determined campaign to increase awareness for the necessity to reduce the prolific use of domestic cats, unicorns, hearts and rainbows in registered SCA devices!) During that time, I worked with many good gentles to assist them to get their devices registered with the SCA College of Heralds. The Barony of St Florian had always been reknown for their amazingly talented artisans, and now we've also become well known for our pageantry as well.

One of my main aims as group herald was to encourage people to display their devices whenever possible. Covering your SCA equipage with your badge works great as a mark of ownership, as well as adding considerably to the ambiance to our modern medieval endeavours. My gold bees proliferate most of my SCA items and projects and can been seen on all my banners, scattered throughout my campsite, adorning my clothing, crockery, cutlery, represented in my jewellery and dress accessories and even sneaked into my embroidery projects... they're positively everywhere! I think my bees have become more recognizable than myself at this point.

I stayed in the role of Buttony Pursuivant until Janurary 2004, at which time I took on the role of Crux Australis Herald - Lochac's principal herald. It's a very time consuming, labor intensive role, done largely behind the scenes... the sort of job that no one notices when it's running smoothly, but it sure causes major headaches if it isn't! I had never aspired to take on this office and was luckily only required for a caretaker period of approximately 8 months. It's a job and a half, and my hat is off to anyone who's willing to undertake it for a full term... for me - never again! I'd much prefer to spend my SCA energies in other directions.

 

Like most SCAdians, I've spent incalculable hours over the years working on various creations. Many hours have been dedicated to preparing class notes and project workshops on various Heraldic Display topics and I've decided to share these notes online on the off chance that it might be of some use to others with similar interests. I feel compelled to point out that while I have a Bachelors Degree in Visual Arts, and I have studied some areas of Art History, I am certainly not an historian, a professional scholar or an expert of any nature in these fields. The total sum of knowledge that I have acquired though my years of being in the SCA is a mere tip of the iceberg of what I would like to know should I have the time to research properly.

So please enjoy, feel free to send your thoughts to 'sabine at three gold bees dot com', and take away what you will.