Roman award scroll for Gaius

The scroll on the right is something I did for a Roman soldier persona in the SCA. The script is the kind used by Emperors on down to school kids in the late Roman empire, and nobody bothered to write neatly on paper (or papyrus, which was what was available then). The two bracelets are supposed to be armillae, a military honour which is vaguely cognate to an Award of Arms in the SCA. Apparently Gaius was extremely happy. He tracked me down online to offer me a bottle of mead, which I would never turn down! But it really isn't necessary. Knowing that he was so extremely happy is everything I needed. (And sincere thanks to Nicolaa de Bracton for fixing up my Latin boo-boos).
Green tea-dyed Arches hot press watercolour paper dry-brushed with thinned Sienna gouache to look like papyrus.

First Attempt at Mead

It takes me a long time to work myself up to trying something new. I'm always worried that I'll mess it up and end up having wasted my time and money. However, in this case, everything is either cheap or reusable.

I keep bees, and earlier this summer I was trying to do something with one of my hives (I can't remember what now), and I ended up with a frame of unfinished honey. This honey smells a little off, but it's perfectly safe to eat. I suspect there were some odd flowers or something that went into this batch. It just doesn't taste very good in my tea.

So, I saved it in the fridge until I was ready to try making mead. I have enough of that honey to probably make just about five gallons of this stuff.