Lady Melissa and Lord Nathanael are doing a combined challenge: 10 items total, but they are working together on some. This entry is one of the combined projects, and is entered into the categories Show Us Your Arms, One Metre Material Project and For Science!
They will receive the spot prize for hitting the For Science! category first – some replica medieval glassware.
Lady Melissa writes:
This pentathlon entry is an horary quadrant–a device used to tell time (in equal hours!) It is used to measure the height of the sun, and has a table (raven side) to determine the sun’s maximum height throughout the year. The quadrant is designed after one owned by King George II, made in 1396, which is pictured alongside the one we made. A historical aside: King George owned four brass quadrants, but we chose to replicate this one as it was mysteriously discovered in an old barn in Queensland, Australia in the 1970’s.
The original was made of brass, but we made ours out of marine plywood and linen, with a plumb made from kowhai. It is constructed for 45 degrees from the equator rather than 51 degrees (the original was made for London, England). Nathanael did the wood work and derived and constructed the arcs and adjusted the table. Melissa designed the decorative deer and raven images, did the pyrography, braided the plumb line, and added the linen border.
