Better Keeps and Castles: The Cover Up
Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia (copyright Micaela Burnham 2011)
Many of us at Pennsic want to have as much of a medieval experience as we can. And it is clear that over the years more and more people are making an effort to “medievalize“ their camps with period tents and other amenities. But there are many common camping conveniences that we as SCA campers find difficult to go without: ice chests, garbage cans, and water coolers are the most common. There are two ways of hiding your mundanities—put them in something or cover them up. We’re going to talk today about various ways of covering things.
Tables and table cloths: Tablecloths are your friends. You can use them not only on tables, but to cover just about anything that needs hiding. Period tablecloths in medieval Europe were almost always white. White is good for you because you can wash it in hot water, bleach it, use dye removers, rust removers, and just about anything else without worrying about fading. Banquet tablecloths used by most hotels are perfect for SCA use. They are white and indestructible. Tablecloths can also be decorated to suit you and your camp. You can stencil a badge, device, or motto around the edge. Starting in the 15th century, we find some illustrations of tablecloths that were not white. You can have a border of a different fabric or trim around the edge of a white tablecloth, or it could be a colored fabric, even a brocade for a Royal table. Lately I have been able to find heavy plastic tablecloths with Renaissance designs on them at places like Big Lots and Walmart.
Slip covers: Slip covers can be made to fit over just about anything. One of the more common things in the SCA is to cover mundane folding chairs. Although period style chairs are becoming more available, they are not always practical, particularly for day events. The slip cover is the answer. I like to keep a couple of plastic storage bins in my tent, just in case there’s a flood or some other disaster, so I can quickly throw things into a waterproof container. But Tupperware bins are look like what they are, so I cut some ¼” plywood that covers the top of both tubsplaced side by side, then made a slip cover to go over it. I use it as a prie dieu, or portable alter, something noble women would have had in their tents. Some friends of mine made a slip cover for a child's inflatable wading pool
Coolers/ice chests: There are many options for coolers these days. I have a small one that’s built into a basket, and I’ve seen larger ones built into period style chests. But the easiest thing to do is to cover it with cloth. Either a tablecloth or a custom made cooler cover, which can be painted to look like a chest, or a basket, or anything else. I have a canvas cooler cover that I made so that the top can be opened without removing the whole cover. I basically sewed a separate lid. I keep the whole thing in place on the cooler with Velcro that is glued to the cooler and sewn to the cover. It looks like a simple canvas covered chest. You can also paint coolers to look like a chest. Spray paint the whole thing brown, then paint in the wood detail. Cover the handles and hinges in black duct tape to simulate iron fittings.
Garbage cans: Garbage cans can be a challenge. You have to have one, and it has to have a cover. Slipcovers can be used. We used burlap slip covers to make our trash receptacles look like large sacks of grain. Recently I redid the large can to look like a well—I cut off the handle, sprayed with several coats of “stone spray” spray paint, then painted black lines to make it look like stacked stone blocks. The lid is a piece of ½ inch plywood, cut and painted to look like fitted wood boards with a rope handle. A small trash can in your tent can be hidden in a basket. You could also make a fake barrel to go around your trash can, or paint it to look like one.
Water Coolers: The tall 5 or more gallon water coolers can be a necessity in most camps. There are several things you can do with them. Barrels that size are pricey, so we made a fake barrel by spray painting the whole thing black, then taking stained 1 inch wide wood slats and stringing them together with leather straps. This is wrapped around the water cooler and attached to itself in the back with a simple thong closure. A slat is trimmed away in the front for the spigot. This same technique could also be used to disguise an aluminum beer keg. If your camp is sophisticated enough to have a jockey box system, you can hide your kegs under a table and deal with the cooler used for the jockey box the same way you would a regular cooler. Some merchants sell canvas covers for water coolers, but you could easily make one. You could also paint the cooler itself to look like a barrel. For boxed wines, you can adapt an actual small keg to hold the plastic bag with the wine it.
Miscellaneous items: Just about anything can be painted, slip covered, or disguised in some other way. Wood can be painted to look like metal, plastic can be painted to look like wood or metal or stone. I painted a galvanized steel bucket to look like a copper pail, and painted a wooden box to look like a metal and enameled one.
Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia (copyright Micaela Burnham 2011)
Many of us at Pennsic want to have as much of a medieval experience as we can. And it is clear that over the years more and more people are making an effort to “medievalize“ their camps with period tents and other amenities. But there are many common camping conveniences that we as SCA campers find difficult to go without: ice chests, garbage cans, and water coolers are the most common. There are two ways of hiding your mundanities—put them in something or cover them up. We’re going to talk today about various ways of covering things.
Tables and table cloths: Tablecloths are your friends. You can use them not only on tables, but to cover just about anything that needs hiding. Period tablecloths in medieval Europe were almost always white. White is good for you because you can wash it in hot water, bleach it, use dye removers, rust removers, and just about anything else without worrying about fading. Banquet tablecloths used by most hotels are perfect for SCA use. They are white and indestructible. Tablecloths can also be decorated to suit you and your camp. You can stencil a badge, device, or motto around the edge. Starting in the 15th century, we find some illustrations of tablecloths that were not white. You can have a border of a different fabric or trim around the edge of a white tablecloth, or it could be a colored fabric, even a brocade for a Royal table. Lately I have been able to find heavy plastic tablecloths with Renaissance designs on them at places like Big Lots and Walmart.
Slip covers: Slip covers can be made to fit over just about anything. One of the more common things in the SCA is to cover mundane folding chairs. Although period style chairs are becoming more available, they are not always practical, particularly for day events. The slip cover is the answer. I like to keep a couple of plastic storage bins in my tent, just in case there’s a flood or some other disaster, so I can quickly throw things into a waterproof container. But Tupperware bins are look like what they are, so I cut some ¼” plywood that covers the top of both tubsplaced side by side, then made a slip cover to go over it. I use it as a prie dieu, or portable alter, something noble women would have had in their tents. Some friends of mine made a slip cover for a child's inflatable wading pool
Coolers/ice chests: There are many options for coolers these days. I have a small one that’s built into a basket, and I’ve seen larger ones built into period style chests. But the easiest thing to do is to cover it with cloth. Either a tablecloth or a custom made cooler cover, which can be painted to look like a chest, or a basket, or anything else. I have a canvas cooler cover that I made so that the top can be opened without removing the whole cover. I basically sewed a separate lid. I keep the whole thing in place on the cooler with Velcro that is glued to the cooler and sewn to the cover. It looks like a simple canvas covered chest. You can also paint coolers to look like a chest. Spray paint the whole thing brown, then paint in the wood detail. Cover the handles and hinges in black duct tape to simulate iron fittings.
Garbage cans: Garbage cans can be a challenge. You have to have one, and it has to have a cover. Slipcovers can be used. We used burlap slip covers to make our trash receptacles look like large sacks of grain. Recently I redid the large can to look like a well—I cut off the handle, sprayed with several coats of “stone spray” spray paint, then painted black lines to make it look like stacked stone blocks. The lid is a piece of ½ inch plywood, cut and painted to look like fitted wood boards with a rope handle. A small trash can in your tent can be hidden in a basket. You could also make a fake barrel to go around your trash can, or paint it to look like one.
Water Coolers: The tall 5 or more gallon water coolers can be a necessity in most camps. There are several things you can do with them. Barrels that size are pricey, so we made a fake barrel by spray painting the whole thing black, then taking stained 1 inch wide wood slats and stringing them together with leather straps. This is wrapped around the water cooler and attached to itself in the back with a simple thong closure. A slat is trimmed away in the front for the spigot. This same technique could also be used to disguise an aluminum beer keg. If your camp is sophisticated enough to have a jockey box system, you can hide your kegs under a table and deal with the cooler used for the jockey box the same way you would a regular cooler. Some merchants sell canvas covers for water coolers, but you could easily make one. You could also paint the cooler itself to look like a barrel. For boxed wines, you can adapt an actual small keg to hold the plastic bag with the wine it.
Miscellaneous items: Just about anything can be painted, slip covered, or disguised in some other way. Wood can be painted to look like metal, plastic can be painted to look like wood or metal or stone. I painted a galvanized steel bucket to look like a copper pail, and painted a wooden box to look like a metal and enameled one.