Hello everyone. I'm in such a hurry this week (TWO programs with kids running side-by-side this week) that I'm skipping the intro and sending you straight to the links. Enjoy and feel free to forward these wherever they find an interest.

Cheers

Aoife, harried librarian

Making a Longbow
http://www.combrogi.org/
Click the Viking Crafts link, and then the Making a Longbow link to get to this page. (Site Excerpt) In order to make your longbow, you will need to start with a stave of wood (dimensions 1.5" x 1.5" x "the height of the person using it"). For my bow, I have used Ash, but many other close even-grained woods are suitable. The stave itself should ideally be from the
middle cut of the wood, rather then the corner, and have a few knots in it as possible. This means that the wood will have optimum strength and last longer.

Drum lessons
http://www.artkidsrule.com/
A terrific site used by drum teachers world-wide to teach the basics and more advanced techniques.

Nagy Peter's Simple Gambeson Construction
http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/simple_gambeson/
(site Excerpt) This Gambeson is designed for simple construction. It consists of two pieces and can be modified or altered to personal preference. I like to enter from the side with ties used to close on my right side. This basic pattern could also be designed with a typical jacket opening slit down the front. I just like to keep one piece of continous padding underneath the breastplate so that it does not bind or pinch beneath the plate. I also uses heavy cloth ties so that I don't get any buckles or fasteners mashed into my body underneath a plate impact.

Arming Kit and Gambeson
http://www.oeac.org.au/hh_f_kit_part1.html
(Site Excerpt) Padded Arming Cap
This piece of protective equipment is made of material stuffed with a filler, or would have had wool placed in it, it does 2 things:
1. It protects the skull and cushions most blows to the head to som degree,and
2. Helps cushion the wieght of the Mail Coif (Part 2) and the Helm (Part 3).

The Making of Wisby Plate
http://www.duke.edu/~ricks/wisbylb.htm
(Site Excerpt) These instructions should enable you to construct a suit of Wisby plates, named from the archeological dig in 1928-1931 at the site of the Battle of Wisby, fought near Visby, Gotland, Sweden in 1361 against the Danes. The battle itself lasted the course of several days, during which time the dead were left in the summer sun. By the time these soldiers were buried, the armor must have no longer been in any shape to be worn again, as many were buried in full suits of armor. A large number of relatively intact suits were unearthed from several mass graves. Wisby plate is primarily
constructed from overlapping plates riveted to the inside of a coat of heavy fabric or leather.

One Ton Oven
http://members.shaw.ca/rcarbol/sca/oven/oven.html

Celtic Web Art
http://hometown.aol.com/Cyrion7/celtic/index.htm

Exemplary Local Group Web Pages:

Crown Barony of the Bridge:
http://homepage.mac.com/jon_zanger/Bridge/
In addition to sme lovely lay-outs, links, and information, this site answers the new person's first question: "Do I Live in your Group?" with a modern map of the Barony.

The Crown Province of Østgarðr
http://www.ostgardr.org/
The Østgarðr website lists local museums and near-by museums with displays of interest to SCAdians. Well worth visiting this site before your trip to NYC.

Royal Forest of Rusted Woodlands
http://rustedwoodlands.eastkingdom.org/
This group's page is easy to load, and all the information is right there---no need to click or navigate to other pages to learn what you need.

Barony of Settmore Swamp
http://www.settmourswamp.org/researchlinks.html
This site is graphically elegant, simple to navigate, and has both a modern map and a zip-list. There is a comprehensive links list for personae research.

The Barony of Blackstone Mountain
http://www.crosspump.freewebspace.com/barony/barony.html
This webpage is a portal to the Barony's site, and offers a low-speed connection option. The high-speed option gives you all the bells and whistles---good praphics, music, etc..

The Shire of Hartshorn
http://www.shireofhartstone.org/
This website is easy on the eyes, provides basic information for new and recently new SCAdians, and is easy to load.

The Shire of Heronter
http://www.heronter.org/
This group's web site is simple, easy on the eye, but has a tremendous amount of information. See espescially their links list. Apparently the shire has a "members only" section. Wonder what they do in there?

Medieval Architecture in France
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menufrance/mainfran.html
This site is a list of image links to medieval architecture of the French Variety. A great resource for those looking for inspiration in historical images.

1200 years of Italian Sculpture
http://www.thais.it/scultura/default_uk.htm
This is another low-text site which elegantly protrays photographs of historical sculpture in Italy.

Theatre History on the web
http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/history/jack.html
This site is a lightly annotated list of links to web pages regarding theatre history. Many links are for website from classes on the subject.