One of my fall/winter projects will be developing additional classes to teach in upcoming online programs. I have a few classes that are “spin-offs” of others that I plan to start with, but I also have some research rabbitholes that I really ought to do something with.

For the immediate future:

The class below I just submitted to An Tir’s Virtual Heraldic and Scribal Symposium. My “Intro to Gilding” class at Embers and Ambrosia 2025 was really an overview of about a year of reading intensely about gilding across time and looking at many sources. Now I want to start parsing some of that out and teaching more specifically. But I like doing beginner/101 classes best, so here you have it.

Written in Gold: A Brief Introduction to Chrysography 

Writing in precious metals (gold and silver) was a practice used for several centuries to illuminate manuscripts. This class provides an overview of this practice across time. We will look at examples produced in Europe and the Middle East, as well as discuss some of the known methods used by illuminators in those periods to create these precious pages. Beginners are welcome. 

There is a 24-hour Tri-Kingdom online college that University of Atlantia is part of. For that one, I’m planning to modify my “La Moria Gradissma” class and really dive more into Venice specifically but extend the time period. I’m going to Venice in December and am planning to take photos of a few of the key sites and how they look today. Unfortunately, as nearly as I can tell, Lazzaretto Nuevo will not be open to the public when I arrive, but perhaps I can at least spot the island from afar.

Depending on how that goes, I would like to write a research paper or maybe even an article for one of the SCA publications. Who knows.

Other things that I want to teach someday:

• Develop an overview of the Scribal Arts for newcomers (this is a pretty high priority and something I need to do anyhow as baronial officer – I may try to film slides for this)
• The Game of Goose, how to play it, and Italian board game symbolism of the medieval/Renaissance periods. I have not found a lot of sources other than one really fascinating historian so this, if it happens, will largely be based on extrapolation from all this other Italian research I’m doing.
• Pick Your Fighter: How to Draw Murder Rabbits and Other Misshapen Medieval Creatures
• The Book of Beasts – medieval bestiaries, why animals are drawn as they are in medieval art, and the many things that animals represent (a snail is never just a snail)
• Color Merchants (Vendecolori) in Venice, as well as their interaction with Guild politics in the city
• I think the Venetian Bridge Wars would also be a lot of fun to teach or write about – I’m thinking of using that for a BAO Sergeantry paper, once I determine if that’s an appropriate topic. I do love me some quirky military history.
• It would be interesting to dig more into the Power of the Eye/Sight in Byzantine culture – this was something that I ran across a few times when writing my MA thesis a million years ago and just didn’t have the time to follow up on. Again, probably a post or a quick paper. Probably is too niche for anyone to want a class on.
• Ballads

I think that I’ll just keep coming back to this post and adding to it as I think of things. So be prepared for it to grow ever longer.