So we are in for a toasty summer!
My question is what do you do to stay cool?
I have heard some ladies that wear the court gowns have pockets under their gowns that they put cold packs in.
I fill a zip lock bag with ice and stuff it down my bodice!
http://www.medievalproductions.com/special/index.html
Bodice chillers ;D ;D
Being male, its a lot easier for me to wear less clothing... as long as the pink-bits are covered, theres not much else to worry about... but all of my garb is fairly light cloth and natural fibers that breathe like nothing else... Also, I wear a headwrap that I can take off and soak in cool water from time to time
Shade, my fan, my parasol, LOTS of liquid, Iced beverages in my chalice as it seems to conduct cold extremely well. Beyond that... That's it. I guess some have to treat it like the time of the American Civil War where southern girls feinted from the heat and corsets. being so tight and just take it easy. A corset sure doesn't help.
Toki and I did go to our car about 2 and stripped down to light clothing for about an hour. Being in court I don't see how that could be done.
As for a bag full of ice, i'd be afraid of it melting and then leaking all over making my dress look bad. Pockets with ice packs could be nice, but once again I'd be afraid of leakage.
Quote from: Lady_Delaney on June 24, 2008, 02:05:11 PM
As for a bag full of ice, i'd be afraid of it melting and then leaking all over making my dress look bad. Pockets with ice packs could be nice, but once again I'd be afraid of leakage.
actually, if you used smaller ice packs and wrapped them in a bit of cloth (dry cloth wrapped around the ice pack and then the whole thing frozen) the cloth would absorb most of the "sweat"
since my gown isn't cut low enough to show off a bodice chiller i opted for another option. i found a scarf that you put in cold water and it would stay cold for a long time. Ofcourse it's funny that i didn't need any cooling device this year.
I find a good dip in the water wheel area keeps me cool, but you know us peasant men can do things like that and get away with it.
Sir Garath
I drink a lot.
Also, every once in awhile, I duck into the privies and run cold water over the inside of my wrists. It's a bleeding miracle.
Umm...mostly drinking lots of lemonade and water.
Oh, and pretending to get really mad and shaking my skirts at people...creates a nice breeze.
Ice down the bodice on occasion.
Blessings of holy water from the Brother.
Washing the peasant generally gets me a bit damp - and the peasant soaked. And if there is no peasant to wash, I wash myself. Nice cold water and lots of soap.
Fanning myself with programs as I'm handing them out.
Fanning myself with my pompoms.
Fanning myself with my belt.
Fanning myself with someone else's belt....
All that...and lots of water.
Quote from: Tanda on June 24, 2008, 02:59:20 PM
Fanning myself with someone else's belt....
**runs to buy a bigger belt**
Now will a nice wide sash work for a fan, cause I....Francisco Paula have one that may be used for a lady in need. ;D
to stay cool, I usually strike a heroic pose. then everyone who walks by says. "ooh, cool."
ow ow ow... stop throwing things....
ok, you can't really stay cool. it's gonna be hot. let that be a mindset, and it helps.
many people use peperment oil on wrists and neck.... feels cool i'm told. never tried it.
Find a breeze, and stand there a while. standing near the water wheel or bards bed fountain does help.
"shade hop"- do not walk strieght down the lane, move from shade spot to shade spot, even if it means walking back and forth across the lane. never ever stand in the full sun for any length of time. stand in the shade under trees... in the breeze there- not in shops with no air moving. get to shows early and find a shady spot.
eat/drink alot of cold things.... more water less ale.
when you take a break, loose as many layers as possible.
wear a hat, you may sweat more but it's portable shade. same goes for open (not closed) capes and cloaks.
and.... lastly and most important... go to first aid. they have a cold air pusher, and are happy to let you stand in front of it for a while, provided no crisis is going on. and they would much rather have you come in for a break, then to become the crisis.
if all else fails, go stand by Sean Daniels, he's pretty damn cool.
ow ow ow ow... again with the throwing.....
quitit
Wait wait wait.......Sean Danials is cool....all the woman say he is hot....so what is it, is he cool or is he hot........................<dives for cover>.....................Blushing save me.
^ both! ;D
I am in love with the Coolth Spray that Kamala makes. It cools ye down and smells really good as well.
I am in luck in the sense that I am "inside" for most of the day and we have shade for the entire day. I also have a freezer in the back. If it gets really hot I put my hat in the freezer for a few minutes and it cools down my head. If the freezer gets empty when we run low on ice, I have been known to actually sit inside the freezer. Thankfully I really never get out of my booth until later on in the day when the heat is not so bad, so being outside is never something I have to think about ahead of time.
Also, hydration hydration hydration. A piece of ice down the corset is never a bad idea either. ;D
Hydration is a key with anything in the Colorado outdoors. I have learned many lessons being a native but really learned them last year, and again this past weekend.
Alcohol and food in high heat don't mix... for me and Toki that is. Last year we both drank a beer then ate some cheese bread. OMG I thought we were going to die. It wasn't until we both started downing large amounts or lemonade, ice tea and water we started to feel better.
Last weekend we had a wedding reception to go to. Even though we had tons of shade we ate our fill of food then each of us a drink. me a wine cooler, Toki a Hard Lemonade. Again we both about died from the alcohol and food and settled down after drinking iced tea.
It may not affect everyone, but my advice, drink only water, lemonade or water. Even to much pop is hard on you in the heat.
DRINK TONS OF WATER!
Well I recommend getting one of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015) these installed into your fair garb. Carried in a small pouch, concealed by clothing! ;D
I jest. Drinking lots of water is the natural cooling system of the body. Regardless of how many layers you may or may not be wearing.
Unfortunately, looking cool comes at the cost of staying cool. So shade is a good thing. For any of you who can pry yourselves away from attention, there is a misting station both in front of fair and hidden in the back. No you don't have to get your nice garb wet, take your head wear off a moment, let it gather some mist and then carry on. It helps.
Quote from: Bahlien on June 24, 2008, 06:02:34 PM
Well I recommend getting one of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015) these installed into your fair garb. Carried in a small pouch, concealed by clothing! ;D
WOW just what I was looking for... IF I were a Cylone or Borg or maybe Darth Vader LOL or even just a female Cybernetic unit ;D
To funny Bahlien that's a good one. And yes Water, Water and yet more water. If your urine is yellow, you need to drink more water.
Yes, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate... but also....
I bought the blue ice "layers" that are very small (think 1/2 single popsicle- sized). They are in a sheet that can be cut to the size you want. A line of them goes in the bodice, under the girls and though there may be condensation, there isn't actual melting - and they do re-freeze, in a small hotel room freezer.
Cut singly they fit really well in the bodice chiller and last longer than actual ice.
I do have a bodice chiller ... I love it! I also occasionally get the sleeves of my wench garb wet. One year I drenched my bloomers, too!
Hydration is very important ... I try to start of days with a vitamin water like Revive that has potassium (but Gatorades and such work too). It helps keep everything balanced, since too much water can hurt as well.
I'm just glad that most days it's a dry heat in Colorado. It's not all that bad ...
And an additional side-note to hydration: make sure you are drinking water or gatorade (equivalent), not soda. That just ups your sugar and then you crash later on. You want to stay hydrated with water or electrolytes, not pure sugar. It won't do a damn thing for you.
Quote from: Tanda on June 24, 2008, 02:59:20 PM
I drink a lot.
Also, every once in awhile, I duck into the privies and run cold water over the inside of my wrists. It's a bleeding miracle.
Umm...mostly drinking lots of lemonade and water.
Oh, and pretending to get really mad and shaking my skirts at people...creates a nice breeze.
Ice down the bodice on occasion.
Blessings of holy water from the Brother.
Washing the peasant generally gets me a bit damp - and the peasant soaked. And if there is no peasant to wash, I wash myself. Nice cold water and lots of soap.
Fanning myself with programs as I'm handing them out.
Fanning myself with my pompoms.
Fanning myself with my belt.
Fanning myself with someone else's belt....
All that...and lots of water.
I get water dumped on me frequently. Thanks Tanda. ;)
Other than inner and outer hydration, I like shade.
Quote from: Hey- Arent You? on June 24, 2008, 04:07:32 PM
to stay cool, I usually strike a heroic pose. then everyone who walks by says. "ooh, cool."
I'm so going to try that!
Quote from: Hey- Arent You? on June 24, 2008, 04:07:32 PM
ok, you can't really stay cool. it's gonna be hot. let that be a mindset, and it helps.
I keep reminding myself that I am not wearing velvet and I am not wearing a unicorn head. I feel cooler immediately. :)
Quote from: Hey- Arent You? on June 24, 2008, 04:07:32 PM
never ever stand in the full sun for any length of time.
Dang. That's the one I keep forgetting. Standing in full sun, screaming at people probably doesn't help me stay cool....but maybe by shouting, I can get the warm air out and cool air in...it sorta worked for the Gnome from Nome. (kisses to anyone that gets that :-*)
As someone who does primarily FL Faires, where it's really hot, and in armour sometimes at that, I know well the cardinal rule...
stay hydrated
I probably drink a gallon of water a day at Faire when in the armour, and not much booze.
But I know some people drink Gatorade... some water...
the best is pickle juice
now, before you scoff or laugh, look it up. it's not great tasting but it's high in electrolytes and really does a great job of keeping you on your feet. I've never 'fallen out' at Faire.
So the next time you see them selling that last pickle... don't hesitate to get the juice from them.
It may save your day!
;D
Yes, Good point! electrolytes! very important! Ice tea, lemonaid, sports drinks... you can even get electorlyte tablets (ask the professor) electrolytes help the hydration actually reach the cells of your body, and replace those that you sweat out. w/o those, all the water in the world won't help. sugars should be natural (like from fruit)... not from soda.
another vital note: because of the way the body processes fluid, it is not possible to drink enough on a festival day to replace what you loose on a festival day. start water loading on thursday. drink all you can stand untill you gotta pee when you even see water. continue this untill tuesday. you can take a break on wednesday. if you wait till saturday morning to start , it may already be too late.
~Adam
Quote from: Count Adolfo on June 25, 2008, 01:50:22 AM
now, before you scoff or laugh, look it up. it's not great tasting but it's high in electrolytes and really does a great job of keeping you on your feet. I've never 'fallen out' at Faire.
So the next time you see them selling that last pickle... don't hesitate to get the juice from them.
It may save your day!
;D
Another little known fact about pickle juice, it helps cure hiccups! I am totally serious. Try it sometime.
oh... one other thing on this topic that slipped my mind to post last night is this:
KNOW YOUR LIMITS
the moment you START feeling overheated or woozy, sit down. rest. get water, gatorade, pickle juice... whatever you have. DO NOT drink alcohol at this point.
A lot of what I've seen happen at Faire was avoidable if the party had paid attention to the warning signs... but they figured they could 'tough it out' and pushed themselves harder than they should have.
You can salvage the day if you rest, get re-hydrated and not over-exert yourself. It's too late to salvage it when you're lying flat on your back gasping "water..."
I learned something this year, you can get pickle juice whenever, so you don't have to wait till they sell the last one, just ask for some juice.
yup the pickle guys are always hppy to fork over some juice!
I figured this out this weekend, put some ice above your knees on the inner thigh and it help cool down too, there is a major artory that is right there!
I discovered it's actually quite helpful for me to put ice inside my hat, like, in the tri-corner pockets on top. It keeps the band around my head cool, and when it starts to melt it drips down into my hair and on my shoulders, so it's like a nice little refresher every once in a while.
I make Nixie run the counter and I go sit in the walk-in...
Zoe, I thought you kept your hamster in there- (no I'm not going to stop hamster discussion).
Yeah, I do. She did get a little chilly and wet this weekend, but she tells me she'll be fine. I put an extra hamster blanket in her cage so she could warm up.
Okay thanks for sending my mind into the gutter......yes yes i know it dosn't take much
Francisco Paula Portuguese Pirate for hire........I do dishes
Yep, up at my pub on Sunday we had our first Pass-er Out-er of the season... bigger man, just kind went down like a felled tree while all of the women he was with started screaming hysterically. Got him some water from the back (which we'd finally - and luckily!! - just gotten about fifteen minutes earlier), some ice cubes in a plastic sleeve my Pepsi cups go in, and we were lucky enough to have one of the trash guys up there with a radio to call the EMTs. Usually, we're kind of S.O.L. when someone passes out up at the top... we have no water usually, and no radio in any of the booths nearby. Thank goodness all the pieces were in place for that poor man!
Water is super important. So is eating food with protein in it so that you've got some energy to keep goin' all day long, especially for workers. I find that eating a sausage or piece of chicken every threeish hours (the Puke and Snot guys cook for us! We don't really get breaks since there's only two of us at the pub, and one can serve beer) really helps with the energy and keeps me from crashing.
I want one of those bodice chillers... those things are so neat!!
Did anyone see that way too drunk guy on saturday? I saw him out at the front gate around 430 or so. I kinda laughed. I think he was trying too hard to get hydrated...
ANd I really want a bodice chiller, everyone is talking about one, I might as well join in.
Quote from: Shoni the Shilent on July 02, 2008, 12:33:50 AM
Did anyone see that way too drunk guy on saturday? I saw him out at the front gate around 430 or so. I kinda laughed. I think he was trying too hard to get hydrated...
ANd I really want a bodice chiller, everyone is talking about one, I might as well join in.
Which drunk guy? I had four at second joust and there were probably 6 or so on the lesser evil side at last joust...as usual. :) You need better descriptions for drunk guys...like "The drunk guy that had a $40 mug in one hand and small child in the other"
And I really want a man with cold hands....I mean, a bodice chiller.
Quote from: Shoni the Shilent on July 02, 2008, 12:33:50 AM
Did anyone see that way too drunk guy on saturday? I saw him out at the front gate around 430 or so. I kinda laughed. I think he was trying too hard to get hydrated...
Yeah we were up on the parapet watching him out with the cops by the trash can. It was our amusement for the day, but then they moved him where we couldn't see him anymore.
I'm surprised more people don't have trouble at the top of the Puke and Snot hill ... but I'm so glad it worked out!
I read yesterday that you can actually get heatstroke when it's quite cool - the example was someone going down on 43 degree day but the humidity waas in the 90 percent range. The trick is to stay hydrated but also replenish minerals and such like with sports drinks.
of bodice chillers ...
this link was posted in another thread: http://www.medievalproductions.com/special/index.html
the one I have is heavy glass - and MUCH larger than the glass ones sold down towards the joust field
I think the general response of "which drunk guy?" pretty much sums up just about any weekend at fest, haha. We get them so often at our booth.
The very first day of the season we had a girl pass out right on our counter and start convulsing for a few seconds. Apparently some guy had just found her collapsed on the side of our booth and brought her up to ask for some water and ice, which we gladly supplied. He said it was heat stroke, but I took one look at the girl and suspected a diabetic insulin shock, as the poor thing was white as a sheet and completely unresponsive. But the guy didn't know her and nobody knew where her parents were, and it was impossible to ask her as she was pretty much in shock. The guy laid her out on our side counter and the EMTs came up with their cart and took her away after a few minutes, I have no idea what happened to her or what was wrong. It was pretty scary for a few minutes though.
The office had put the numbers to call in case of Emergancy in one of the news letters....
They said to call the office or Dave Walker... my phone is MIA at the moment other wise I would pm you those numbers A cromatic Sea..
I remember that. Toki and I were walking near there when the cart came by with her all secured on the board. We thought maybe heat stroke, but if she had been drinking, it sure doesn't help.
I for one cannot understand how and why people drink so much at faire. it's not cheap and it's not safe. It's never safe to drink large amounts and this past weekend Toki and I passed a dozen people easily that we could smell the booze on them.
Toki even thought about having a Hard Lemonade last week and I told him no, knowing how we both felt last year after 1 beer and some food with bread. Wrap that up with heat and even more heat from being in garb, and you have a bad thing waiting to happen.
People never learn I guess.
Drink Water and lots of it find shade and lucky for me I have a feather fan that helps SOOOOOOO much. It really moves a ton of air, and Imade it so it's even better :)
Quote from: Lady de Laney on July 02, 2008, 11:47:29 AM
I remember that. Toki and I were walking near there when the cart came by with her all secured on the board. We thought maybe heat stroke, but if she had been drinking, it sure doesn't help.
I'm pretty sure that particular girl wasn't drinking; she looked like she was maybe 16 years old at best. Too much of a youngin' to be boozing it up.
Quote from: Adriana Rose on July 02, 2008, 11:42:41 AM
The office had put the numbers to call in case of Emergancy in one of the news letters....
They said to call the office or Dave Walker... my phone is MIA at the moment other wise I would pm you those numbers A cromatic Sea..
I have these numbers if you need them. I'm not sure about how the PTB would feel if I posted them for the entire world to see. Especially Dave's personal contact number.... Ren mail me and I will give them to you.
Thats what I was trying to say... ( i think I am on too many forums... all have differnt lingo!)
my phone is MIA so I dont have any numbers! I really hope that I left it at the shop...
Ok, so we already know to drink plenty of H2O & gatorade. (After all, we are from TX, and have already dealt with 95 deg heat with high humidity at faire on Mem. Day weekend of Scarby. I think the heat index was about 105 every day.)
Anyway, we are planning on being at CoRF July 12-13 (Huzzah!), and we are wondering, what's the faire policy about bringing in bottled H2O? Surely they won't deny a paying customer the right to carry a few bottles so we don't pass out? We plan on buying lots of food and other stuff. We also have spray fans for the kids to carry, since they're less tolerant of the heat.
TIA
You'd think after working there so long I'd know the rules! I am not sure myself. There are signs that say you can't bring in outside food, but I see people with their own bottles all the time. The only thing is, once you're in and you've drank all your H2O, the only way to refill it is to buy more, we don't have fountains or anything.
Quote from: Al-Nimer on July 03, 2008, 11:13:00 PM
Ok, so we already know to drink plenty of H2O & gatorade. (After all, we are from TX, and have already dealt with 95 deg heat with high humidity at faire on Mem. Day weekend of Scarby. I think the heat index was about 105 every day.)
Anyway, we are planning on being at CoRF July 12-13 (Huzzah!), and we are wondering, what's the faire policy about bringing in bottled H2O? Surely they won't deny a paying customer the right to carry a few bottles so we don't pass out? We plan on buying lots of food and other stuff. We also have spray fans for the kids to carry, since they're less tolerant of the heat.
TIA
You can bring in sealed water bottles, but no gatorade or colored drinks.
Quote from: Aislynn on July 04, 2008, 01:56:59 PM
You can bring in sealed water bottles, but no gatorade or colored drinks.
Can you bring in refillable/reuseable bottles? The kids have these Funtainers from Thermos that are great at keeping water & such cold. I'd prefer they carry those & we refill them from our bottles as opposed to lots of water bottles. TIA!
Yes, you can bring what ever you like as a drinking vessel or container. It's a cost effective way to stay hydrated. $2.25 for a bottle of water is nuts. Stop by Sam's Club on the way down and grab a full case for $5.
Quote from: Aislynn on July 04, 2008, 01:56:59 PM
You can bring in sealed water bottles, but no gatorade or colored drinks.
Thanks! We'll have plenty of bottles in a cooler in the van, and we have a cold bag that holds 3, plus whatever will fit in the gypsy wings bag. We also have our own "special water coloring" to mix in.
I can't believe you don't have any fountains...Do you even have running water in the privies? ;)
Yes.... running water in the privies. But I'm not sure I would drink it. I not sure.... but I don't think the water is potable...
As far as I know, the privy water is safe to drink, but many people think it tastes funny.
Personally I would be cautious of any running water on site as far as drinking goes. We did have some contaminants in the wells a few years back and though I'm sure it's cleared up now, I'm still wary of it.