Assume that I am a customer who has just walked into your workshop to commission a Book of Hours. In order to know what I want to order, and what prices I am going to be paying, I want to see your "model book."

Your Challenge is to create that model book. I am not looking for bookbinding, so loose pages, a period bound book you have purchased, or even a quality hardbound sketch-book is acceptable for the ground. What I want to see is examples of the various hands you can do, various styles of miniatures and borders, palate samples, sample page layouts, different styles of leafing. In other words, show me what you can do! I also expect you to provide documentation for each element in your Model Book.

Period Pigments are not required, although I do expect you to explain and justify why the modern pigments you are using are an acceptable substitution.

Create a stained glass panel that may have been commissioned for some great house in the 15th or 16th centuries. Panels may be no more than 24 inches by 24 inches in size and should be accompanied by the working cartoon (drawing). Reproductions as well as original works appropriate to the time frame are welcome. Theme and style are left up to your imagination but should be supported by your documentation.

Pick an herb used in the middle ages. Write a short (<8 pages) description of its uses based on at least 3 period texts. Manufacture at least 5 products that would have been made using this herb before 1650; document your process and the logic of using the herbs you chose.

You are the head cook for a noble household in 14th century France. Your master is very concerned about his health, and has ordered you to cook meals that utilizes current humoral theory. Your challenge is to provide recipes and redactions for three dishes that will comprise the main course of a meal. The recipes (ingredients and method) must reflect humoral theory and the combination of the three must also reflect this culinary/health philosophy. No cooking is required, but you must provide recipes, citing the theories illustrated, along with documentation for the recipes and the theories used. Extra credit will be given for anyone who includes a history of how European humoral theories evolved.

You are a poor SCAdian. You have little or no money, but lots of time, and you'd like to be as authentic as possible to go to the next event. Create an entire outfit, head to toe, any time period and any style, for under $30. Documentation is required both as to the authenticity of your creation as well as documenting your total cost. Note that you cannot declare something to be free if it is a gift - you must declare fair market value. However, if you barter your time, or win something in a contest (like the beads that many Laurels like to leave as tokens) you may count that as free. Doing proper accessories gets you bonus points.

Step out of a Western European painting or miniature from 1350-1475. Carry with you one item from the image. Recreate the attire from the skin out, using period materials and techniques. Purchasing items such as accessories is considered a period technique. Recreate one additional object, not already on your body, from the image.

Please provide a one-page overview of your documentation, with detailed evidence attached or contained in footnotes. Provide documentation for your outfit, the object, and any purchased accessories. The further you move from the English, French, or Flemish cultures, the more detailed your supporting documents should be.

Please send me a PDF of your documentation for review by midnight, the evening of Saturday, October 18th.

You are a wealthy patrician (man or woman) in the glorious city of Florence. You pride yourself on your appearance, as everyone knows your social status from looking at your clothes. There is a fabulous new fashion that is all the rage, and you simply MUST have it - but unfortunately a new sumptuary law has just been enacted against it. Your challenge is to find out all the nuances of the law and come up with some way around it. (In this challenge you will act as your own tailor to create a whole outfit, and written documentation, with bibliography/sources, is required. Only one aspect of the outfit must be related to the sumptuary law.)

Create a Sixteenth Century embroidery sampler. Include a brief history of these types of samplers, as well as the uses for these stitches in practical terms. Explain what kinds of materials and stitches you used, and how they would compare to a period example.

The sampler does not need to be a reproduction of an existing one. Originality can be achieved by doing it in the style of these samplers, with stitches that were used at the time, without being an actual copy.

It would be very much appreciated if challengers would submit their documentation in advance by Octover 18. This will allow me to read it with enough time for me to provide more thorough feedback. I will also be available to meet with you during the event to discuss the project.

The Arte of Defense flourished in Western Europe during the 14^th , 15^th , and 16^th Centuries. During that time numerous Masters of Defense wrote treatises outlining the theories and techniques they taught and many of those treatises have survived from that time. Your challenge is to select three Masters of Defense from three different Western European cultures during this time period, write an 8-10 page paper on one of the two topics listed below, and prepare a 20 minute demonstration as indicated by your chosen topic.

Topic 1: The dagger is one of the most often discussed weapons used in the Arte of Defense during the 14^th , 15^th , and 16^th Centuries. Write an 8-10 page paper comparing and contrasting three Masters of Defense from 1300-1599 and how they discuss and use the dagger in their treatises. Then prepare a 20 min demonstration of at least 4-5 techniques that you discuss in your paper. You should demonstrate at least one technique from each of the masters you discuss in you paper.

Topic 2: The Arte of Defense was dangerous business and brawling techniques were often employed. Write an 8-10 page paper comparing and contrasting three Masters of Defense from 1300-1599 and how they discuss and use brawling tactics in their treatises. Then prepare a 20 min demonstration of at least 4-5 techniques that you discuss in your paper. You should demonstrate at least one technique from each of the masters you discuss in you paper.

Papers should be 8-10 pages, single spaced, and participants should write in 12pt Times New Roman font. Please use Chicago Style formatting and footnote citations. Also, all participants will need to email me and electronic copy of their final draft by 10pm on October 15, 2009 so that I will have time to review your papers before St. Luke's Fair on the 25^th.

I will be available to mentor all participants through the challenge. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Fine clothing, strong armor, good food and beautiful art are all well and good, but often it is the little things that bring the middle ages to life. Nothing evokes the medieval life like seeing a Lady pull out a wax tablet to take notes, or a craftsman using hand-made tools, or a child playing with toys that you have seen in paintings.

Your challenge is twofold: First, to create an artifact. Something small and useful, well made but utilitarian. I'm not looking for flash: Appropriate decoration is good, but daily usefulness is the primary concern. I'm not thinking of gloves and hats, I'm thinking combs, pouches, boxes, needlecases: The small useful stuff you use without thinking about it, or the tools that you would use to make other things.

The second part of the challenge: In addition to the artifact, I require a "How-to" article with a clear, concise, step-by-step set of instructions, illustrated as needed, that will allow others to re-create what you have made. These instructions should include examples of the item in period, and documentation of materials, tools, and techniques. The instructions should focus on construction. If you are making a drop-spindle, I want to know how to make one, but you don't have to teach me to spin as well.

You run a 16th century embroidery workshop. I have come in to place an order for a lady's jacket. Show me your sample book. It should contain patterns, stitch samples, lace samples, fabric and thread samples, samples of other notions (buttons, hooks, ribbons, etc.), jacket style and color options, etc. Everything should be fully documented within the book. Make a cover for your book (or a coif if you'd rather) showing me your best work.

A chosen persona (yours or one you'd like to use for this challenge) has an item that reflects the significance of a particular Saint in that persona's life. A background story explaining the reason for the item from the persona's viewpoint is required. (Those who are using Protestant, Islamic, Pagan, Jewish personas are encouraged to submit an item and story appropriate to their persona's faith.)

Many medieval artisans created work that was dependent on material input from someone who worked in another craft; the glassblower and the enameller, the parchmenter and the limner, the plattner and the girdler, the weaver and the tailor, the apothecary and the painter, to name a just a few. Sometimes these relationships were long distance and limited to the exchange of goods and currency and sometimes they consisted of close interdependent collaborations.

Your challenge is to work with at least one other artisan to produce as accurately as possible an object that was used during our period of study. You may work as a team or you may choose to work singly as the end user of materials produced by others in exchange for appropriate credit and/or compensation.

You will also need to prepare a document that describes the object, presents evidence that the object existed, how it was used, when it was used, why you choose it, your journey creating it and the medieval interdependence of the two (or more) disciplines needed to create it. As a bonus, try to recreate something that is no longer in common use today but had a common and specific use in medieval Europe.

Please send me a copy of the documentation by Saturday, October 18, 2008.

Feel free to email me if you need more information.

You are a modern lord or lady in 1450's Flanders and found that one of the family cows has a calf that did not survive birth. You have a neighbor who is in need of colostrum - but not milk. You decide to not dry off your family cow and instead turn the extra gallons of milk into non-fluid dairy products for sale and for use to feed your family through the winter. Estimating that this cow will give you two gallons of milk each day your challenge is to use every drop of that milk and it's by-products to help feed your family. One of your goals is to make a cheese that will keep through the winter, a fresh cheese for daily consumption, butter, and whey products.

At Fair you should be able to present your hand-crafted dairy products along with written documentation stating how each was created in period, how you did it, and what your recipes are.

Assistance and resources will be happily provided upon request.

"Scrolls" in the SCA are neither scrolls nor a proper writ for an award, but rather pages from illuminated books. Your challenge is to research period legal documents and their decorative elements, compile sources for scribes to use as a visual resource, and optionally produce an example of an award writ suitable to the SCA. Extra consideration will be given if research is done on the actual text, not just the appearance. A copy of "A Guide to British Medieval Seals" goes to the winner.

Urine is an important industrial chemical in the Middle Ages. It has multiple uses in the textile industry, tanning, metallurgy, and many other applications. It's so useful that in cities, people come around and collect it.

Anyway, the challenge is to come up with at least three applications or processes in which urine plays an important role. Produce at least one artifact using this ingredient or process. Document your research, as usual.

All participants will receive a chamber pot or urinal, your choice.

Incidentally, you probably want to avoid asparagus while preparing for this challenge...

Make an object that combines the use of leather and wood. This can include household objects or military equipment. Documentation on the item as well as materials and techniques used should be presented with the object.

Please contact me for more information or questions.

Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, things in Spain were, well, different! From clothing to cuisine, from calligraphy to cottage crafts, and all points in between.

Someone just walked up to you at an event and made a broad, sweeping generalization about some Thing in period, and you *know* that Spain is an exception to that rule. Your challenge is to create an entry to enlighten everyone as to how that Thing was different in Spain. Produce both the Thing, as well thorough documentation supporting why and how this Thing was different in Spain from everywhere else in Europe.

Please provide your documentation ahead of time (emailed by October 18th is preferred).