This weekend Gleann Abhann celebrated the coronation of Their Majesties Uther and Kenna. During court Saturday evening, Mistress Margot du Bois approached the thrones with a request to take a new apprentice. The Crowns gave their consent and the court herald summoned me to join Mistress Margot and give a public answer to her invitation. I accepted, and received a hand-woven green belt as a symbol of our relationship as student and teacher.
For anyone interested in the Arts and Sciences in the SCA, a formal apprenticeship is not necessarily required to become a Laurel. Nor is a peerage guaranteed to all who become apprentices. However, having a relationship with a Laurel has its advantages - access to their library and expertise; guidance and critiques on your research and works-in-progress; motivation to try new things and to produce more and better work; mentoring on the qualities of a Peer; and a voice inside the Laurels' circle to applaud your successes, or a shield to mitigate the blow if you deserve chastisement.
There are two paths to apprenticeship. Sometimes a student will approach a Laurel and requests to become an apprentice. Other times the student's work will attract attention. The latter describes my experience. As it turns out, I've been on the radar for a little while now among the costuming crowd, recognizable by sight, but, for most people, not by name. When Gulf Wars rolled around, I was camping in the same household group as Mistress Margot. She said she'd been keeping up with my sewing and knitting projects and asked if I was interested in an apprenticeship.
YES!!!
I sincerely wish to make my Laurel proud :)
