Alisandre Oliphant

Photo
Portrait by Koia Karasova A Day In the Park, Eldern Hills, 2021-07-24
Information
Registered Name: Alisandre Oliphant Resides: Bjornsborg Status: Active Joined SCA: 1983
Order of Precedence
Alisandre Oliphant
Heraldry
Argent, an elephant passant purpure, armed Or, on a chief embattled purpure three annulets Or.

Mistress Alisandre Oliphant, OL

Previously Known As:
Nickname(s):
Pronouns:

Additional Registered Heraldry:

• The following badge associated with this name was registered in August of 1988 (via Ansteorra) and reblazoned in November of 2014 (via Ansteorra): (Fieldless) An elephant's head cabossed, ears displayed, purpure, the dexter ear charged with an Old English A, the sinister with an Old English O Or.
• The following badge associated with this name was registered in April of 1990 (via Ansteorra): (Fieldless) An elephant purpure, masoned argent and armed Or.

Offices:

• Local Offices Held
  • Herald, Shire of the Shadowlands, June 1985 - August 1986
  • Halberd Pursuivant, Barony of Bryn Gwlad - February 1988 - June 1989

• Kingdom Offices Held
  • Iris Herald: 1989-1990, the kingdom herald’s office briefly was trying to promote “heralds’ painting,” which supported and promoted heraldic artistry. An office was created for this, called Iris Herald.

Persona History:

I was born in 1178 in Northumbria. My father Herbert was a Norman lord; my mother Catherine was of Saxon extraction. We were not overly wealthy, and my older brothers traveled to seek fame and fortune. One of them competed in a tournament in Silesia and came to the attention of its host; this connection led to my marriage to the Polish lord Jan w Orzeldom.

Our daughter Katarzyna and son Michael are now grown, and my lord and I are pleased to be able to return to travel in the beautiful kingdom of Ansteorra.

Interests:

The arts. Historically – subtleties, calligraphy, illumination, poetry (writing and performing), and heraldry. Currently, I’m very interested in weaving (mostly plain weave and Baltic pickup on the inkle loom). I’m also learning the harp and do Tartar-style archery, but I don’t pursue them with the degree of consistency that they deserve.

Selected Written Works by Alisandre Oliphant:

Please see the link above for written works of poetry by Alisandre.

Gallery:

• Examples of Work
• 

  Done for the Kingdom Fiber Arts Event, held in Eldern Hills, June 2018. In keeping with the theme, it showed a book open to an illustration of Vegetable Sheep. The picture is taken from a period illustration; the text was written by me to explain why the sheep were escaping and running around. Materials: Book = Cake covered by fondant, with lettering and illustration applied with edible markers. (I was making this on the road, don’t judge). Plant and flowers = colored fondant. Spindle and stick = piped melting candies. Thread = fondant. Sheep = faces are piped melting candies, bodies are cotton candy. This was my first and LAST time using cotton candy; it absorbs moisture from the air and the sheep melted into little flat things within 30 minutes.

• 

  Made for the edible hedgehog contest at Coronation, April 2019. The actual subtlety entry were the baby hedgehogs inside the tree stump; the rest was presentation. Cake = carved cake and buttercream icing, with candy berries and mushrooms. The top of the tree stump = an iced cookie. Mom and Dad hedgehogs = cake with buttercream icing; spines are made of pocky sticks. Baby hedgehogs = meringues with piped icing eyes and noses.

• 

  Detail view, Hedgehog Contest.

• 

  Elephant badge pouch, June 2019 = I needed something to carry archery oddments in, and this was a Tandy’s kit (don’t judge) that seemed to be begging for my elephant badge. Straightforward leatherwork on the design; the strap was a quick Baltic pickup weave with language shamelessly lifted from the Alfred Jewel; it says “Alisandre Oliphant Mec Heht Gewyrcan” (Alisandre Oliphant had me made).

• 

  Ansteorran achievement banner. I designed and drew the achievement and painted the banner. It was presented to the kingdom in 1987 in Mistress Aureliane’s honor, and this picture was taken in 2019. I have to say, the fabric paint has really held up pretty well for being 32 years old. I don’t remember the brand, but it was the kind you iron after you paint it.

• 

  A “group shot” I did after I’d been weaving for a few months; photo is from September 2018. The one with diamonds is my second attempt at Baltic pickup; the others are all plain weave. Various thread weights.

• 

  Knife sheath and belt, June 2019. I had found a little silver knife (later learned it was a fish knife) with an interesting handle, and this again was a Tandy kit for a quick sheath. It’s a little big, but for a silver knife, I thought it deserved something nice. The leather design suggested itself; after tooling and painting, I did a plain weave belt with complementary colors to go with it. I call it the werewolf knife.

• 

  Artisan of the Shadowlands scroll = made to be the award scroll for the second Artisan of the Shadowlands competition in 1987; also my entry to the competition. I won, so I got my own scroll. My name is actually on there, as is the title, but they were done in purple ink which has almost entirely faded by this point. The rest of the ink and paint seem to be holding up pretty well.

• 

  Gift for Baroness Seraphina Maslowska of Bjornsborg, November 2018. I designed it based on her arms, which are red with a gold cross, with a white rose in the center. Thread = Nazli Gelin Garden 5 (my favorite thread!). This is the first time I tried to do tassels like this; I was really pleased how they came out.

• 

  Trim made as a gift for Briony Blaaslagen, December 2018. Again, the design was based on her arms. The design is six pumpkins long (the leaf designs vary). Thread = #10 crochet cotton.

• 

  Jan’s augmentation scroll, 1990. This scroll was designed for this frame, and the words had to fill it *and* flow around the shield in honor point – the design mimicked the augmentation itself, which was in honor point on Jan’s arms. I must have done the calligraphy on this probably four times before I had the best fall of the words on the page. Thank heavens the pen didn’t blot when Mikael and Rebekah signed it or I’d have died having to do it again.

• 

  The Lion medallion I gave Riccardo for speaking as my knight when I was Laureled, 1988

• 

  Subtlety- this was a cake. Just icing for the decor, except the tents were little folds of marzipan. This was for the first Lyonesse.

• 

  Entirely edible except for the thread the marzipan pearls are strung on.

• 

  This was a big cake for Bjornsborg - maybe Mari’s investiture? At any rate, the tree of Bjornsborg had leaves with the arms of all the peers of the barony. Took forever to ice.

• 

  This was the subtlety of Riccardo and Aislinn when they got their court barony. Marzipan painted with food color. Those are actually what their cats looked like.

• 

  Subtlety- a cameo of the Ansteorran achievement. Marzipan painted with food color, including the chain, which had individual marzipan links joined with marzipan rings. You could pick it up.

• 

  This is the lake nymph subtlety that won the competition at Inman’s Coronation (I think), that I didn’t find out I won until later. Marzipan painted with food color.

• 

  Detail View, Lake Nymph subtlety

• 

  Alisandre making the Lake Nymph subtlety

• 

  Acid-etching, scrimshaw, and leatherwork – 1991-ish. Pepin de Moronis had won this dagger from Orm Skjolbidig at his (Pepin’s) first event, and worn it ever since, and gave it to Jan at our wedding feast in honor of years of friendship.

• 

  I scrimshawed the handle with the arms of all three men, etched the blade with the Latin for “I have served the noblest of fools and most foolish of nobles,” and made a scabbard. Jan’s worn this a lot, and the scabbard and blade both show some wear.

• 

  Calligraphy and illumination – the Laurel scroll for Peter of the Golden Isles. September 1988.

• 
• 

  Achievement for Zubeydah, presented on the occasion of her Elevation to the Pelican.

Timeline of Activity:

First event - Bordermarch Melees, April 22, 1983, AS XVII. I camped with my roommate, Rosamund Cesane, and Cadfan ap Morgan.

Played actively from 1983 to 1994. Had a period of inactivity from about 1994 until about 2015, when we started to play more regularly again.

Prior Groups:

• The Shire of the Shadowlands (1983-1986)
  

The Barony of the Sacred Stone (Atlantia) (1986)
The Barony of Bryn Gwlad (1986-1990)

Receiving her Award of Arms, May 12, 1985, from the hands of Inman MacMoore and Arrowyn of Emerald Moor

Notable Contributions or Accomplishments:

• Steppes 12th Night, 1985 - I won the edible subtlety competition with a marzipan dragon, which I gave to Tessa. Apparently I introduced Cynric of Bedwyn to Sir Hrothgar of Farley, to whom he was later squired, at that event.
• Premier Artisan of the Shadowlands, Tournament of the Round Table IV, April 1986. Of note: I’m pretty sure that Cynric and I came up with the concept of a titled artisan – we were tired of all the titles going to fighters. He was MOAS of the Shadowlands at the time, and I was the herald, so I designed and registered a badge for the Artisan of the Shadowlands, and he held the first Artisan competition at the Tournament of the Round Table IV in April 1986. I entered a marzipan centaur subtlety and an illuminated, calligraphed sonnet and won the title. Shadowlands had the first titled artisan in the kingdom until Steppes created its Artisan of the Steppes title in 1988.
• Inman IV and Drusilla’s Coronation, 1986 – I won the edible subtlety competition (marzipan mermaid), but it wasn’t announced, and I didn’t know I’d won until Briony Blaaslagen told me at the Bjornsborg Baronial Court later that year.
• Artisan of the Shadowlands, Tournament of the Round Table V, April 1987. My entry was the award scroll for the Artisan, so I won it back when I defended my title. NOTE: The third Artisan of the Shadowlands competition was at the Heraldic Collegium in December 1988, and Bird (Hrothgar’s lady) won with a pair of gloves. I lost track of the title after that.
• At the Ladies’ Tournament of Chivalry in 1987, Galen told me that someone had performed a sonnet that I had written to compete in Bordermarch Bardic the week before and had won Best Poem with it. I have no idea who it was.
• Presented a banner of my design of the full Ansteorran achievement to the kingdom at Queen’s Champion, August 1987. Eldric de Charbonneau and Robin of Gilwell carried it into court, furled, and let it fall open before their Majesties. It was presented in Aureliane’s honor, and per my request, they didn’t use my name, because I wanted the attention focused on the banner. NOTE: Prior to this, the only full achievement of the kingdom had been one that Aureliane had drawn. I wanted to make one that included representations of every award in the kingdom (at that point). After the crown started using the banner, full achievements briefly became a “thing,” and I designed Bryn Gwlad’s as well, at the request of the baron and baroness.
• Steppes Twelfth Night, January 1988 – I won the edible subtlety contest with a subtlety I had made to commemorate Riccardo and Aislinn’s court baronies (marzipan figures of them sitting on a bench).
• Steppes Warlord, May 1988 – Riccardo di Pisa spoke for me as my Knight when I was made a Laurel, and I gave him a Lion medallion that I had made; it’s of Osage orange wood with an inlaid ebony star and an ivory lion. Years later, after he died, his lady Aislinn gave it to the Order (I think?) – at any rate, it was used by several Lions. I think Ivarr Runamagi has it now.
• Steppes Warlord, May 1989 – I was recognized for best story in the Bard of the Steppes competition (brief 30-year gap).
  
• Coronation, April 2019 – I won the hedgehog subtlety competition.

Affiliations:

• Jan w Orzeldom, my lord
• Mistress Aureliane Rioghail asked me to be her apprentice, and she announced our bond in court at Steppes Warlord in May 1987.
• Anne Harper of Eland has often acted as my lady in waiting when my lord and I traveled to events with a contingent.

Mundane Information:

I am a technical communicator.