I have mentioned before how I feel about the Woulda/Coulda/Shouldas in reenacting, and how I try not to rely on things like that when crafting my interpretations of period clothing or practice. (An example would be broad statements such as "well the Saxons did it, so I would have too" or "if I would have lived back then, I would have done it that way".) I have also mentioned before my dislike of the word "Creative" being thrown around as an excuse for rather impressive, but unfounded, leaps of logic in the process of making things. That is not to say that you cannot use something like denim in your Norse kit in the SCA because we, as a Society, have no rules beyond an "attempt". Using what you have in yours stash or that you personally might just find attractive needs no other rationale. It is leaps of logic along the lines of "the Romans knew about cotton and the Norse had met Romans, making cotton possibly period, and they had twill and indigo was period elsewhere....." that can be frustrating. A better, more honest, explanation is "I had five yards of denim so I decided to use it". (And also, if you have been here before, you know that I applaud the whole concept of using what you already have in your stash!)
For me that term "Creative" means something very different than that describe above. It means putting together a puzzle with whatever scant evidence that we might have access too. It is a complex process, and we start out knowing that we are, in fact, missing many pieces. The creativity comes in in the manner in which we approach reassembly. We have to put together all of the pieces that we do have first, then look at the size and shapes of the holes. We often have to go to the next closet thing, such as the next settlement or a previous timeframe, to see if the missing pieces can be found there. We take baby steps, one at a time, away from the source to explore the evidence and extrapolate what we can from it. Eventually we often have to take steps even further out from there - the next country, the next century, the network of trade - and very carefully see what those have to offer that might help us frame out some additional portion of our puzzle. It is an amazing journey and you absolutely have to invoke creativity to make it all mesh together, in a reasonable fashion, in the end.
And the best thing about my making this journey right now is the joy is that new evidence is found every day (with some of it even being fairly accessible without having to wait decades for a published paper), and that can mean shifts in thinking which can not only help fill in the holes but that can also be inspiring on a bigger level (possibly in a way that changes the picture on the surface of the puzzle all together).
I love this game.
For me that term "Creative" means something very different than that describe above. It means putting together a puzzle with whatever scant evidence that we might have access too. It is a complex process, and we start out knowing that we are, in fact, missing many pieces. The creativity comes in in the manner in which we approach reassembly. We have to put together all of the pieces that we do have first, then look at the size and shapes of the holes. We often have to go to the next closet thing, such as the next settlement or a previous timeframe, to see if the missing pieces can be found there. We take baby steps, one at a time, away from the source to explore the evidence and extrapolate what we can from it. Eventually we often have to take steps even further out from there - the next country, the next century, the network of trade - and very carefully see what those have to offer that might help us frame out some additional portion of our puzzle. It is an amazing journey and you absolutely have to invoke creativity to make it all mesh together, in a reasonable fashion, in the end.
And the best thing about my making this journey right now is the joy is that new evidence is found every day (with some of it even being fairly accessible without having to wait decades for a published paper), and that can mean shifts in thinking which can not only help fill in the holes but that can also be inspiring on a bigger level (possibly in a way that changes the picture on the surface of the puzzle all together).
I love this game.
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