A Spirited Tune!

August 28, 2017 by Michelle Novak

I wanted to share this lively tune of the Renaissance, captured at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in 2015. May it put a smile on your face and a hop in your step today!

Only one final weekend left of the 2017 Bristol season, but it includes three days over the Labor Day weekend to make merry! Be sure to stop by The Quill and Brush on King’s Landing!

Also, don’t forget the giveaway here on Inspired By Venice! This Friday, three of Lita’s cheery floral basket prints, regularly on display at The Quill and Brush, will be given away! To check out the giveaway and enter for your chance to win, click here!

My Cup Runneth Over!

August 15, 2017 by Michelle Novak

Good day, good day! I hope this message finds you well! As for me, life is full and lovely. In fact, my cup runneth over, and I am filled with gratitude…

More than running over, my cup is spilling! Why? Because I’ve been so blessed lately to know such good people. To start, many folks have revisited our tented shop, The Quill and Brush at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. The feedback has been so positive and supportive that I feel humbled and inspired. To you who have come by to say ‘hello’, to you who have picked out one of my books, to you who have come back to tell me what you thought, to you who have returned for another story, thank you. It means a great deal…

And more…as I was driving into the faire grounds before opening a week ago Saturday, there was this beautiful sign hanging on the sign post before our shop! I unrolled my car window and squealed with delight! Oh my gosh! Where did that come from? Mom?

But surely my artist mother Lita had no time to secretly create such a masterpiece of a shop sign. How often we remark that our summer weeks are so busy that we hardly even have time to do a load of laundry! So where did this remarkable gift come from?!

The sweet and talented artist, Cody Zibung. Her family’s shop Sow’s Ear is our neighbor at Bristol. They offer the most creative bags and pouches made by Cody’s mother, Mickey. Cody works just next door of the Sow’s Ear, at Pyewackets Face and Body Painting delighting a great many with decorative body art! Nothing says ‘festival day’ better than pretty face painting with a bit of sparkle!

This sign, with a quill on one side and a brush on the other, painted on the cutout of a scroll, is larger and thicker than it may appear in this photo. The wood had to be sawed, drilled for hooks, paint-stain-lacquer applied, oh my! This sign is an investment of time, money and ability. I was stunned by Cody’s generosity! And why did she do something so kind and generous? Because we needed one, because other shops have such signs, because Cody is an angel with a paintbrush. The moment I saw the sign, I felt like I had a real shop.

If you are a part of the Bristol Marketplace and are in need of an attractive sign, Cody is open to commissions! Thank you Cody! And thank you to the Sow’s Ear for being such exceptional neighbors!

And then there’s even more to be humbled by! Above to my right is one kind and patient lady. Mary Hough is one of the directors for the Guilde of St. George, the court of Queen Elizabeth I. at Bristol. Some years ago, for four seasons, I performed with St. George…

I am the lady at the very back with the pink sash…following Queen Elizabeth (then played by actress Mary Kababik). I don’t see Mary Hough in this particular photo, but she was certain to be nearby, for she was always known as The Queen Wrangler. Why?

Year after year, Mary playing a lady of Elizabeth’s court, has walked by the Queen’s side. To play the role of Queen Elizabeth at the Bristol Faire (now actress Jennifer Higgins), is a monumental undertaking. How many places to be at certain hours of the day! How many people to speak to (hundreds), to take the time to share a bit of history and splendor!

From a ride through Bristol upon a horse, to a rip-roaring joust, to a courtly feast, to the knighting of little children in Kid’s Kingdom, each festival day in Bristol is filled to the brim. To say nothing of the summer heat and weighty costume…

And somewhere nearby Ms. Hough has always been, checking a time-piece for the minute, offering a cool goblet of water or a handkerchief, always there to support the Queen’s person. In this video from the end of Bristol’s 2015 season, you will see Mary peak out from aside the Queen. My point illustrated…

Mary kindly took the time to stop by The Quill and Brush two weeks ago, and purchased one of each of my adventures to donate to a school. 12 books! I was speechless. And in the graceful way that she has always exhibited, after paying full price for the books, she jested that donations could be accounted for in one’s taxes. Uhm…only truly good people try to draw attention away from the fact that they’ve just done something very generous. Taxes-smaxes Ms. Mary! Thank you for supporting The Quill and Brush, for supporting my writing, and for giving a donation! And thank you for all you’ve done to support the splendid performance that is Queen Elizabeth and her court at Bristol…

I love Bristol! I love the history! I love the merrymaking! I love everything about it! If you have not already visited this season, there are yet three weekends to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. Be sure to visit The Quill and Brush on King’s Landing. I’ll be there with a heart full and a smile, for what a wonderful season it has already been!

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet Again!

A Joyful Dance

January 30, 2016 by Michelle Novak

On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined. -Lord Byron

Lady Of A Summer’s Day

January 22, 2016 by Michelle Novak

Another one of Lita’s magnificent creations, the one we call the ‘mother’s dress’. This image was taken when I was 22 years old, the role was a reenactment of a Lady Mary Hastings of Queen Elizabeth’s court. She was a married woman with children, and Lita designed the gown to appear modest and mature (a closed partlet, natural colors, no excessive flash).

Of all the costumes, this one wins the award for perfect fit! When one is reenacting history, and wearing a costume, it shouldn’t look like a costume. What the actor is wearing should look like their everyday clothing. In this gown, I actually felt like a normal woman going about my day, no tugging, adjusting, agonies (from cutting corsets or sharp and loose boning). The gown was not too heavy, no back aches or tripping over hems, the weight was perfectly balanced.

I was very fond for how the collar was delicately tacked down with little gold beads instead of plastered around my neck. I can’t stand any clothing around my neck (I would have made a fussy Elizabethan having to wear all those starched lacy collars). I also loved the fabric textures and colors; natural color combinations can look every bit as rich as bright ones. And, I loved all the muted gold cording at the sleeve ties and around the hem of the overskirt, as well as the olive velvet lining the hem and running up either side of the forepart.

It was just the kind of simple yet noble gown I could see meandering around an English manor house in, and one Lita envisioned for that lady of history, something Lady Hastings might have worn on any normal day.

Candy Canes On My Shoulders

January 7, 2016 by Michelle Novak

Just starting college, I was fortunate enough to join the Guilde of St. George, a group reenacting the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Their home is the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, WI, though they also volunteer at schools, libraries and other venues, to share Elizabethan history. Here is Lita’s (the costumer) fabulous creation!

These first three images were polaroid photos! I guess we didn’t have time to spare, we needed the photos in hand immediately. They were taken in the spring just before my first summer in the guilde. Ah, the anticipation I felt! I’d already been attending Elizabethean dance and reenacting workshops all that spring.

These were taken before the dress was completed. It is fun now to look at before and afters, as they remind you of the phases that a gown must go through to get the right fit. I was to wear this dress for about 10.5 hours each Saturday and Sunday for 9 weekends in weather that grew into the mid-nineties, and humid at that, over outdoor terrain (rocks, roots, hills). Even after dress rehearsals, I better understood how the dress and I were getting along, and Lita made some adjustments.

Here, the hem was yet to be measured. Lita already knew (with that clever-artist-sewing-brain), but I learned that the front must be higher (or you trip 50 times a day) and the back longer to cover the bum role to get the correct silhouette. Also, one must make the chemise sleeves longer than your shirt sleeves would normally be. Once you get the bodice on, it pulls the sleeves up and they’ll be too short otherwise. I also learned that before you work with fabric, you must wash the fabric (even a few times). This is because, unwashed fabric inevitably either bleeds color or shrinks dramatically once exposed to rain or a spilled goblet of water.

We also discovered that in spite of the excellent wire boning that was used within the bodice, a serious corsette (as every noblewoman reinactor in the guilde wears), is the only way to keep the bodice from folding at the tummy. The following season, Lita made one excellent corsette (which I think straightened me out and made me grow taller by 2 inches).

In the end (seen below at the faire), the cream petticoat (underskirt) was removed for this striped one. Did you know that Elizabethans wore stripes? Yes indeed! The cream would not do out of doors, as it became grimy with dust the first day. And, I had a serious thing for chocolate ice cream at the time, oops! The sleeve ties were removed in favor of hidden hooks and eyes as I get ribbons caught on everything.

Though I’ve always said I have a favorite amongst all the gowns that Lita has made, it’s actually not true. I have a place in my heart for every one. What did I love about this gown? First, the pearls. I am a sucker for pearls. Those strands around my body…if it was acceptable to wear pearls like that today, strung and swinging around my torso, I’d be the lady to do it. I love how the pearls are dotted everywhere, even the hat. Secondly, Lita’s chemise was incredible. It is painstaking work to hand-fold the cotton at the neck and at the wrists before sewing it into the body of the shirt. That with the pretty little bands of color that played off the gown, loved it. But my favorite part? The upper part of the bodice was her best bodice work in my opinion. The stiff candy cane shoulder rolls and exceptional design kept the bodice from falling down my arms or shifting (I’ve got sloping shoulders and get pretty darn grouchy when my costumes shift about).

It was so exciting to be a part of the guilde that first season, and I learned a great deal of history. But you know what made such delightful memories? The workshops, the dance classes, and all the planning with Lita. We’re like history gossip girls when we get together, we can talk costumes and history for hours!

The Guilde of St. George!

September 12, 2015 by Michelle Novak

Though I could spend days sharing all of the reasons why I think the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin is so magical, alas as the days of summer fade, so must my pen draw elsewhere…but not without a thank you to the Guilde of St. George, all of those who reenact the court of Queen Elizabeth I. of England!

29 years ago, my mother dressed me as a little fairy and brought me to Bristol. I saw the Queen and her court and I was hooked! So mesmerized in fact, that I spent many a winter looking forward to summer and the faire, daydreaming about courtly history and begging my mother to make me costume after costume. The amazingly patient and talented artist that she is, she sewed and sewed and sewed. In 1998, I auditioned to the Guilde of St. George and was so proud to be a part of this family of Elizabethan actors for four years. I still covet the gowns that my mother made and often peek in her costume closet where they are stored. Though I’m a little biased having once been a part of this guilde, wearing the gowns, dancing the dances, learning and sharing the history, I write this as the little girl in 1986. Guilde of St. George: You are magical, everything you do is worth it!

This photo is of actress Jennifer Higgins who plays Elizabeth. Here, she is accepting little trinkets from children who lined up with fairies to see the Queen. Children remember these special moments and they inspire them! It inspires them to learn about history, to read more, to imagine! I may still have my little certificate from when three Bristol Queens ago, I was made a lady-in-waiting with a tap to the shoulders with a sword, as little boys were knighted. Ah, memories!

From the Queen’s audiences where there are entertainments, matters of state and courtly disputes, to the details in every costume, to the Queen’s guard and household…there is history to be learned. Every member of the guilde plays a real person from the time of Queen Elizabeth, and if you strike up a conversation, individual stories will unfold!

I commend you gentle lords and ladies! What a wonderful moment!

And who am I kidding, I’m not a little girl anymore and I’m still mesmerized! The swoosh of a feather fan, the courtly bow, the bows and puffs of the sleeve, the twinkling adornments, the embroidered collars, the full skirts swishing, the plaits in the hair, the goblets and kerchiefs! History is beautiful!

Thank you for sharing history with everyone that visits the faire, and for all of the wonderful memories! “Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again!”

Welcome to Bristol!

September 6, 2015 by Michelle Novak

Do you know what puts a daylong, fixed smile on my face? A trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin! I’ve been attending, participating in and loving this wonderful place for almost 30 years! Yes, I skipped about in a costume as a little girl there, mesmerized by Queen Elizabeth I. and her dazzling court while pretending to be a noble courtier!

What is the Bristol Renaissance Faire? It is a magical village where it is always a summer day, and a festival day! The year is 1574 in England and the Queen is on her summer progress. Today, she is visiting the village of Bristol and all of the noble courtiers, villagers, musicians, artists and entertainers are at their ready to celebrate her arrival!

Why do I love the faire? It’s history! Actors and artists abound to bring you a little insight into the past, whether they be knights in the joust, courtly dancers, crafters, Renaissance musicians or hilarious street performing villagers! The festival grounds themselves are vast and out-of-doors. I could find a bench under a shady tree and sit all day. With all of the roaming actors, costumed patrons, delightful music and nature, it’s a truly delightful way to spend a summer day!

As it is Labor Day weekend and the summer is drawing to an end, so too is this season’s Bristol Faire. This week, I’ll be sharing some of the many reasons this place is so magical. For all you lovers of history, I hope that it will inspire you to ready yourself a costume for next season (if you have a local Renaissance Faire where you are), or to check out what kind of historical reenactments you have close to home, whether it be a ball at the Venetian Carnival, a Civil War reenactment or an old-timey Wild West Town. They are wonderful places to both get your dose of history and be entertained!