Het Gaat Lijk Lukken Bakken

So, if it were to be "Picture Perfect" for the A&S competition, I proffer the following very rough draft of explanation and score sheet.

"The Royal University of the Midrealm proudly presents "Picture Perfect - An Arts and Sciences Competition." Interested artisans will bring to Fall RUM 2010 an object or set of objects based on a period artwork. That artwork may be a painting, illumination, engraving, woodcut, sculpture, or other piece of visual art of the entrant's choice. The object of the competition is to recreate elements from that artwork that resemble the reference image as closely as possible. This could include a costume, foods from a still life, heraldic banners from an illuminated battle scene, or anything that can be found in a period artwork.

For your entry you will need to bring a copy of your reference image - as large and as high quality an image as you can manage. Please mount it in a frame or on a small piece of foam board with a stand so that it may be displayed with your entry. The entry may consist of one or more objects that are related to the image. Minimum documentation will be the reference image, but more points will be awarded for more documentation. It would also be helpful to include what objects you have made, the methods that were used, material choices, any substitutions you made from period practice and why, and what you might do differently if you were to do it again.

Come help create a "living gallery" at RUM 2010!"

Ideally, I would like to get an advanced sign-in form on the webpage, and possibly set up an E-mail list populated with folks who are NOT entering but are willing to offer advice and mentoring to those who are.

Rough score sheet draft (IKA note - this is a slight riff on the MK Faire sheets, removing the bits that make me tear my hair and making it more general as well as more related to THIS format. But please tell me what you find unreasonable or how you might "restate" or "reshuffle" scoring elements. Also tell me how comfortable you'd feel judging this format with this scoresheet. There will, of course, be lots of room provided for judges to comment section by section as to why the entry was scored the way it was. Judges will also be encouraged to leave the entrant a contact card if they so desire. (If you happen to have participated in a similar competition before and still HAVE the scoresheet used, and might want to share....)

"Picture Perfect Arts and Sciences Score Sheet - Fall RUM 2010

Documentation - 5 possible points:
1 - Only reference image provided
2 - Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, or other "general knowledge" publication article provided
3 - Single period text or visual reference to a similar item
4 - Multiple additional text/visual references and/or scholarly article discussing a similar objects that only refers to an extant object.
5 - Text/visual references plus image of a similar extant item

Scope - 5 possible points
1 - Single item of low complexity
2 - 2 items of low complexity or a single item of moderate complexity
3 - 3 or more items of low complexity or 2 items of moderate complexity
4 - 3 or more items of moderate complexity or one item of high complexity
5 - multiple items of high complexity

Craftsmanship - 5 possible points
1 - Beginner level work, but may have serious design issues
2 - Well conceived, but practice necessary to achieve proper execution
3 - Constructed well, but entrant may need to learn additional techniques to fully realize design concept
4 - Demonstrates mastery of techniques, with some minor flaws in workmanship
5 - Nearly flawless to flawless execution of excellent design

Resemblance to Reference Image - 5 possible points
1 - Difficult to determine how the entry relates to the image
2 - Entry is loosely based on reference image, but has major discrepancies of scale, color, design, etc.
3 - Entry is clearly related to image, though one or two significant differences may draw the eye
4 - Entry strongly resembles reference image
5 - Entry could be used as a model to recreate reference image

Judges Overall Impression - 5 possible points
Rate the entrant's overall success in recreating objects from the reference image.

So, I'm designing a class on yeast leavening in period. My intention is to discuss the similarities and differences between mild startes, sour starters, and pure cultures (from Ale), as well as why you can't make bread with lager yeast. I'm going to bring along a variety of breads. At least a desem, a wastrel, and a peasant rye/pease loaf. I also plan to bring along small starter cultures for anyone who wants to take one home.

My conundrum lies in the fact that I have trouble filtering information for people whose backgrounds are different from mine. I can do it for the hubs - he has learned over the years to either follow my mental leaps or throw me into reverse. Spoiled and overeducated - B.S. in microbiology.

So - from my perspective - metabolism, substrate, pH, culture source, and the process of attenuation are at the root of the matter.

But: just how MUCH of that information is important to somebody who wants to recreate period baking techniques.

What would you want to know?

1. Why rye breads should always be made with a sourdough starter

2. Which species of yeast come from where

3. How to obtain your own yeasts to bake with - and how to bake with them.

4. How to bake bread with ale barm - and why I think that getting barm directly from the brewer happened relatively rarely

5. How to maintain a starter, and what happens when you do.

Other thoughts?