Greetings! I am Jennifer Lee, within the Society for Creative Anachronism known as Elizabeth Blackburn. I have been active in the Society since 2015, first in the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann, and since 2021, the Kingdom of An Tir, Barony of Stromgard.
My persona shifts between mid-14th century English and 1st century AD Roman. I do have an alternate name for Roman, just for fun. I don’t expect anyone to keep track of two names for me, though. That name is Claudia Helena. If you wish to call me Helena, in lieu of Elizabeth, I do not object. I may eventually switch which one I introduce myself as, as I do more and more Roman.
The purpose of this site is primarily to share my art. This takes a two pronged form of sewing and silversmithing. I work primarily in silver, almost exclusively, in fact. Aside from the prohibitive expense, I am allergic to gold. And I dislike working with bronze. I’ll be honest, I haven’t really worked with copper to see if I like it or not. However, I am passionate about soldering, and period soldering methods. All is my jewelry is constructed, rather than cast, and the only “casting” I’ve done is to make ingots of my own period solder. So expect more on that subject.
When it comes to sewing, my interest lies in seam finishing. There are easily dozens of period seam construction methods (almost none of which could be considered decorative), and they are fascinating. The similarity that some of them bear to modern hand sewing also fascinates me. I came into the SCA as a fully established seamstress, and learned about historical sewing after having a completely modern sewing education already, rather than learning how to sew because of or within the SCA. So that’s a little different than for many others.
I do not currently take commissions of any kind, but I’m always happy to chat about anything. Feel free to contact me at seamsandsilver@gmail.com.
