Intro

Howdy everyone and welcome to my website. I decided it was time to share with everyone the wonderful world that surrounds me and along the way enlighten a few minds. I want to give a big thanks to my friend Jason who, with his mad skills at web pages, constructed this site for me.

Bio

My name is Wayne Brown mundanely, but most people will know me by my SCA name of Honorable Lordship Cai Dubhghlas (Kay Douglas). The SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, is a huge part of my life and my family's life.
 
We live in Wichita, KS, known as the Barony of Vatavia in the Kingdom of Calontir. I have been an active member of the Society for over 17 yrs, going back to my sophomore year in high school. That's right, I am 33! Lets go back a little farther than that so you can get to know me.

I grew up in rural central Kansas, some would call it western Kansas cause it is west of Kansas City. My parents are very kind, hard working people who taught me very much about life and how to temper my emotions and think clearly. I cannot say enough what they mean to me. They moved away from Wichita to take my sister and I to a quieter rural life with some guaranteed stability, for this I am eternally grateful for their wisdom. The personal attention you receive at a smaller school is great for a superb education and the freedoms that children in a small town have are a blessing if they are taught responsibility for the freedoms, more on that later.

I started playing D&D around the age of 11 with some friends, and found a fondness for the romance and chivalry of the middle ages. Most of my friends saw this easily as I would typically play a paladin or cavalier type of character. I would love to sit and draw many fantastical pictures of weapons, dragons, knights, etc. So for many years this was my primary hobby aside from rooting for my favorite sports team, the KC Chiefs with my pop on Sundays. During my sophomore year of high school I was taking my state required English II course, learning to diagram sentences and overall bore a young kid to death with grammar. This was pretty basic until the second semester rolled in and the teacher informed us that we would be learning history of language and poems and their effects on literature today. I thought this was pretty cool. Then she informs us that we must pay attention because near the end of the year that we will be needing to construct our own costumes and fight in a mock tournament with ladies cheering for us. We had a splendid feast with candlelight and all attempted to get into the feeling of the moment.

My life was changed forever...

This was where I was to be. Living in the modern middle ages. I cannot thank Sylvia and her son Troy enough for all they have given to me in inspiration, tutelage, and guideance.

My artwork took on all new meaning to me as I was inspired to create more and learn more about how art was created in the past. I also found that a lot of knowledge can be gained from looking to our past to avoid future problems, but there again, we should all know that right? I also took classes in drafting as to me it was industrial application of art. It also became my means to have a career as we know its tough for artists to find their niche. Drafting also allowed me to create on paper and eventually in the world and industry. I worked hard at my drafting skills and won many local competitions at Barton County Community College, three years in a row. During this time I also continued my art which earned me awards at a local art competition at Fort Hays State University, my future alma mater.

So having done my time earning my diploma at the High School ranks, I fled to college. While there I gamed with friends, worked a full time job, held a full 12-15hr avg classload and attended SCA events on weekends. I helped organize our local chapter of the SCA called the Shire of Westumbria and established the presence of the SCA to Western Kansas. College taught me a lot about how to structure my life and how to operated machinery used in metal production and fabrication. I like to tell people I went there to learn to draft better and learned that to design better meant to know how stuff was created. My advisor found my hobby interesting and encouraged me to continue with my independent studies, where I experimented in many techniques of metalworking. Through his understanding, patience and guidance I fell in love with working with metal as a medium to express my artistic desires. To me metal is such a difficult, yet permanent method of expression. I have found it to be truly rewarding.

Having earned my college degree it was time to quit my computer technical support job and seek employment utilizing my field of study. Ironically that took me back to Great Bend, KS to Doonan Trailer. There I learned to program a CNC Plasma cutter and developed in my spare time many patterns which I, and others, still use today. My first knives and axes were made from C1018 steel, and polished up pretty enough. However any student of metal learns quickly that 1018 is one of the softest forms of steel. I used this time to test out my patterns and donate several pieces to local friends for testing.

However, I needed to do more for a career and for my family. I then found a job in a much larger market for my skills and moved to Wichita. While working and living in Wichita I have gained so much personal growth I cannot believe that I have only been here for 9 years... but time does fly when you are having fun.

I have been able to lose some 100 lbs through hard work and dedication to exercise and proper eating. I have held many offices within the local SCA chapter the Barony of Vatavia. I have been the Fighter and Arts & Sciences Champion many times. I have earned the ranks of Torse, Leather Mallet, Fyrdman and Huscarl of Calontir. But through all this, I have kept my passion for art and creation.

A few years ago, I became friends with a young man named Paul, Takashia in the SCA. When I met him he was about 11 yrs old. He had much of the same passion for creativity that I did with art. I found an instant connection that will forever be with me. I helped his father, a good friend of mine, get back on his feet and become capable of getting to know his son. Through this process I felt that I gained a son as well. Paul was everything I could hope for in a child. He was intelligent, athletic, and charismatic, as well as humble, giving, and caring. I speak of him like this because due to tragedy he is no longer with us. Rural Kansas, while a great place to raise children, does have its demons and the biggest one is boredom. Let us just say he died of boredom trying to find something fun and exciting to challenge his young intellect.

While he was around, he was a fixture in my family’s life, spending Christmases, New Years, Independence Days, and other times with us.

He attend Lilies War 3 years in a row with me, and finally the last year, when he was 16 he received his authorization for combat and joined me on the field. Due to a scheduling mixup he was the only family present when I received my Huscarl award on the field at Lilies. I will miss him dearly.

I now spend a lot of my time playing with my daughter

and keeping her as carefree, creative, and imaginative as I can. She got her first pair of safety glasses, rose colored of course, when she was 3! She gets to help with small tasks in the shop once in a while as she loves her daddy time since mommy gets to stay home with her all day. Most of what I am teaching her right now is some fun with boffer weapons and how to cook, mostly cookies.

I also hope to spend more time in the future with my cousin who is now 16, but lives a few hours away, getting more into the SCA.

He has a wonderful passion for creativeness making his own armor out of some household items such as steel TV trays! In doing so, he has a fondness for duct tape that could rival my own. I hope that someday he will get to meet my other "Boys" as I seem to have a knack for helping other young men find their way in life as well as the SCA. Takashia didn't get to spend much time with Atsumori or Shiro Tatsu. But I hope that all of them get to know each other and continue to grow our fun little family. But enough of all that, back to my work!

Through many experiments and trials and with much guidance I have found ways to effectively etch designs into Brass, Copper, Steel, and Aluminum. I have learned to form metal through dishing, raising, breaking, shearing, drilling, riveting, you name it. I also did not give up on my search to make my products more lasting and more finished that my first works. I have finally found how to make my knives not get all bent up when thrown at a stump several hundred times. I am now able to give you a product made of proven material with a toughness like few others and at an price I can keep modest enough to help pay for my hobbies and have some fun. I hope you find what you want here. If you don't, ask me. I may know someone who can help you or have an idea or two to share. Keep in mind, the only thing that ever really stops you is yourself... everything else is just opportunities to grow and learn.

Cai Dubhghlas, CT, CLM, CIF, CIH (aka Wayne Brown, "The Bunny Man", "The Crazy Coney", and of course "The Bunisher")