Dragon's Scriptorium

New book acquisition

2012-01-25T15:11:00.000+01:00

I'm still in the hunt for a good alphabet book in Dutch for Gwen, and today's outing included a trip to yet another bookstore in Tilburg: Boekhandel De Slegte. Alas, I didn't find what I was looking for there, but I did find something I wasn't looking for: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves: Devotion, Demons and Daily Life in the Fifteenth Century. It's a 425 page hardcover book with 6 articles by different authors in the first 130 pages, and then more than 100 color plates. It's the exhibit catalog from an exhibit "Catherine's World: Devotion, Demons, and Daily Life in the Fifteenth Century", shown at Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen in 2009. The best part: It's 59.99EUR, but the display copy was marked 29.99EUR. So I grabbed that one -- it was in fine condition, even the dustjacket. I took it back to the cash register, the lady said something I didn't quite catch about "this is a display copy, I can't sell it to you", went off, got one of the shrink-wrapped ones, and rang it up at the discounted price! I cannot wait until Gwen is sleeping long enough for me to start browsing through it!

Pennsylvania Dutch? and gilding query

2012-01-16T19:10:00.002+01:00

So over the weekend I was proactive and decided that, as I was in a panic for blanks, making some was the way forward. There was a revel, so I did the sketching and base painting for three puzzle blanks. This is the full-sized one.

I was intrigued by someone's comment that it looks like a Pennsylvania Dutch anti-hex thing. It sort of does, and is quite different from the puzzle initials I've done before (the other two were much more "normal"). It's in the BL, though I neglected to write down the MS number. I wondered if anyone has seen similar designs?

Secondly, wrt gilding. How do you get straight edges on your gold? I use a fine, even brush, but I never was good at staying in the lines, and inevitably, despite best efforts, I gild slightly too far out somewhere. Given that it hardens to the consistency of cement, would scraping it with a scalpel actually work--or would it take too much gold off and result in yet more re-gilding?

Lastly, a reminder that we of West Dragonshire are holding a Scriptorium/A&S revel on March 10 in Oxford, England. As an added enticement, may I point out that the Bodleian Library is having a (free, but no doubt non-handicapped-accessible) exhibition on romances: the manuscripts and the scribes who wrote them? Contact me for details.

Indenture.

2012-01-15T12:17:00.000+01:00


The indenture for Saraswati.

And this is the text ( mostly) that was used with some modifications. Many thanks to Henri for the text help.
Darkside Indenture text

and another one joins the dark side...er I mean scribal fold....

2012-01-13T09:21:00.000+01:00

Please welcome Edward deCantia to the blog! He also has a blog to document and show off his work. ( see side bar)

We have a winner!

2012-01-11T20:01:00.001+01:00

During Lief and Morrigan's reign I ran a scroll blank raffle/competition -- for every blank I received, the scribe in question got a virtual "ticket" for a drawing for a copy of Marc Drogin's book on calligraphy, donated by TRM.I received 43 blanks during their reign: by Arianrhod (6), Margaretha (8), Mærith (3), Bridget (10), Saraswati (2), Racaire (5), Hedwig (4), and Agatha (5). Many of these blanks have already been used, either by myself or by other calligraphers, and I have a large stash left to use for this upcoming reign, and, hopefully, to pass on to my successors. I had my lord husband generate me a random number between 1 and 43, and that number is: 38, which is Hedwig! I will be getting in touch with her shortly about shipping the book to her. Congratulations to Hedwig and thanks to everyone who participated!

2012-01-11T14:09:00.001+01:00

I've put a link to my Picassa web album of my calligraphy in my profile on here. I'll try to keep it up to date! And the wonderful Bridget has also put in in the Scribes Galleries list, which saves cutting and pasting the mammoth URL :)

new member

2012-01-11T13:52:00.002+01:00

Please welcome newest members Lena the Red and Saraswati.

Sir Gerhardt's Albion

2012-01-10T11:57:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite creations so far: parchment, ink and gouache.
I wanted a Romanesque image for Gerhardt's early-ish persona, and fell in love with this initial from a 13th c German gradual (sister piece to the one I posted earlier), now in the V&A.
I thought it apt, as he lives in Germany.
The initial incorporates two dragons, and of course, Albion is a dragon, one that gives selflessly.

When I see initials like this, I increasingly think that while you might draft the original with grids, compasses and sketching, the finished piece is transferred by some form of tracing... so this is my first scroll with a traced figure. I used good-quality tracing paper, and something called tracing-down paper; it's like a carbon paper for artists.
The tracing-down pigment erases like pencil, and works on fabric as well as paper/parchment. One of my instructional books says this stuff is hard to come by (and offers instructions on making your own, with lightweight paper and red bole dry pigment), but I found it in both Cornelissens and in a online shop.

Robert's text makes it work, though: a beautifully brief poem and statement.
While the original initial has pale patches in the background, looking really closely at the scan, there are traces of an ochre-ish pigment, very close to the colour that the parchment is now. While I liked the blue-and-red palette alone, I think the ochre finishes the initial.

The ink of the callig and initial now is brown - but apparently oak gall ink goes brown over time (like centuries)...and, as I discovered, is waterproof once dry, so this is where my inking > painting > finishing working order discovery happened.

For this work, I enlarged the initial quite a bit - it has so much rich detail, it stands up well to being enlarged. The next time I use it, I'll try for 'original' size of 11 x 8.5cm (V&A has excellent detailed description ) which will require the teeeenieest of pen nibs.

Firsts for me:

- fine pen and ink work

- using a callig pen to create the intials (instead of pencilling and painting them in)

- tracing

- scale of ornament - my biggest painted work yet

I enjoyed this work so much I didn't want to mail it away, but I know it was going to a good home.

Lindquistringes for Aylwin de Renham

2012-01-05T22:22:00.004+01:00

The first scroll I did after my breake... Lord Aylwin de Renhams Lindquistringes.

How would you create this colour?

2012-01-03T15:14:00.000+01:00

Ok, looking for some painterly advice here...

This lovely MS page at V&A (dated 13th c, Germany page from a Gradual) has what I'd call a peacock? cerulean? blue colour in it. It may or may not come across in your screen, but trust me that when I viewed it at the museum - it's not the conventional lapis- or azurite-sourced blue.

When I tried to reproduce this colour from my W&N gouache palette, my ultramarine (which I tend to think of as a 'cool' blue) + assorted additives did not yield anything close to it. To my eye, it looks closest to W&N's cerulean or cobalt blue (link to a vendor page for palette - your screen's pixelage may vary).

To date, I've tried to stick to colours that I know have precedent in period, even if they are now synthetic versions ie. W&N ultramarine for lapis; alizarin for cadmium; vermilion for...vermilion.

It's not perfect, but to date it's served me very well, and I've rarely found a colour I couldn't reproduce, til now.

So what pigment do you think created this colour?

What would be the best approximation in gouache?

Taking a big step+ help needed

2011-12-31T10:28:00.002+01:00

Hoi o/

I an just taking a big step. I ordered gold leaf and I an determined to at least try gilding. I just need few answers... what kind of glue/adhersive you use?

I am also going to order more pergamanata (as I now finally have money xD). Can you recommend a online shop that delivers to Finland and is in English/Swedish/Finnish? I already visited one german site, but my skills sucks (have not been using/studing for ages) and I could not understand anything xD

Best wishes
~Amal Al-Chania

InterKingdom Scribal Exchange

2011-12-30T20:33:00.000+01:00

This year, I decided it would be fun to participate in the exchanges that went around on the Known World mailing list, and so I signed up Drachenwald for the Interkingdom Exchange. Drachenwald was paired with Caid to complete our project which was 6 Callig'd scrolls and 6 Illuminated Scroll blanks that would eventually end up as finished scrolls in Trimaris. So far Drachenwald has participated in the first half of the great Exchange. I was very proud of those scribes that sent me their works to pass on! So admiration must be poared out upon Aryanhwy, Arianrhod, Ylandra, Edward de Cantia, I even did a few myself. I do apologize for the photo quality of a few of them, my camera was uncooperative.

Enjoy!
Saraswati

Ary:

Ari:

Ylandra:

Edward de Cantia:

And finally me, Saraswati:

Everything I thought I knew is wrong...(edited text for clarity)

2011-12-29T16:34:00.000+01:00

(Edits in purple text and ~~strikeout~~ + link - Bridget, I like the new Blogger editor!)
Sigh.
I'm having to readjust my brain after a concentrated scribing session over the holiday, as several familiar truths have proved wrong.

I've been re-reading The Illuminated Alphabet by Noad and Seligman (one of my favourite how-to scribing books, even if it does spend way too much time on gilding), and I learn something everytime I read it.

For instance - there may be a place in the world for waterproof ink, if you're inking a figure before painting - waterproof ink won't bleed into wet paint.

To date, I've avoided wp ink that contains shellac: partly to keep my nibs clean, partly from fear of spilling it partly believing non-waterproof ink it was more authentic than waterproof ink.

On top of that I'd thought the working sequence was always sketch > paint > outline with ink.

But in one of the book projects it's clear the inked border comes first, even before gilding.
This might explain a couple of exemplars I'd puzzled over, where it appeared that the ink would have to come ahead of the colour/gilding. I'll have to look at them again!

Oak gall ink - that I'd thought was non-waterproof, and have cheerfully recommended to others on that basis, in fact becomes waterproof when dry. (www.kalligraphie.com has a great intro on its English-lang shop area)
Further - it actually benefits from being exposed to air to help it oxidise. I've kept lids and corks on all my inks to keep them from evaporating, and apparently oak gall prefers 'en plein air'.

Tracing: I've always felt that tracing figures was akin to cheating - pretending to be better at drafting than you are. To date I've stuck firmly to designs I could draw myself.

But almost all the projects described in the book involve working out the design, then transferring it to the page by tracing, rather than freehand copying.

And as I look at some designs, I wonder - where is the evidence of grids, measuring points, tentative erased lines on finished pieces? Without a 'graphite' pencil, how much freehanding could an artist do on the real work?

I know that modelbooks existed in period - but I was never certain if these were actually for tracing, or only standard layouts and instructions for 'prentices.

Does anyone have evidence one way or another?

Still so much to learn.

Library Thing

2011-12-28T13:41:00.000+01:00

So is anyone else here using this? If so it's a cool way to look at what books we share in common and what we still need to complete our libraries.

you can find my catalogue here:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Merly

and you can join up or find out more here:
http://www.librarything.com

It's actually pretty cool. Free it allows you up to 200 books and if you pay a fee ( which appears to be a 1 time deal ) then it's unlimited.

2011-12-24T20:17:00.001+01:00

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season. Remember, if you're stuck for presents for Signets, blanks are always welcome!!

Ari

It's good to be back!

2011-12-19T12:03:00.003+01:00

It has been a while since I did some medieval calligraphy and scrolls. But I'm happy to share the latest work I could do. It still feels a bit rusty but see for yourself:

a Court Baroness for Helena Bryenissa

Court Baron scroll

2011-12-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

So now that it has been given out I can share it.

new layout

2011-12-10T09:03:00.000+01:00

I have been thinking about this for a while now. This template is old style blogger ( and I do mean old) A lot of the uniqueness comes because I messed about with the html which is old enough that my brain still knows how to code some of it. However blogger has advanced significantly and the new designs are a great deal more user friendly. I am going to try and set up a better, more user friendly layout that may solve some of the image posting issues people have been having.

This means that we'll lose a lot of the individual layout features but I don't think they are so important. What is more important is ease of use. So don't panic if the site is down over the next few days and I will be sure to back up this older layout just in case a new one doesn't work.

cheers
Bridget

OT: struggling to post images

2011-12-09T14:19:00.003+01:00

For the last post, I had real trouble entering the images - every pic I added was inserted at the top of the post rather than the cursor point, and I seemed to gain extra space around them like crazy. I can't see anything in the HTML that would add so much 'white' space.
Anyone made sense of this image upload tool before?

Scrolls recently distributed at Yule Ball in Insulae Draconis

2011-12-09T13:56:00.011+01:00

Some pieces given out at Yule Ball (as were the two works by Arianrhod): we seem to have a Romanesque theme!

This is a Ffraid (service) by Lady Lena the Red in a 12th c style - Lena included sources, but I don't have them at hand...

An AoA in medieval French - C&I by myself, text sourced by Arianrhod. Original is Harley 3107 from the British Library. It's a late 12th c text about Augustine, and a very jolly intro page it has. Other pieces from this period almost look 'hippie' - with bulbous shapes reminiscent of paisley patterns.

The time/place for this style is limited - it only seems to last a few decades, before it's overtaken by more sophisticated shaded illuminations.

A joint PCS, for a lovely couple departing Insulae Draconis - presented on behalf of their Majesties. The inconsistency of ink colour is because I was having serious trouble controlling the flow using a quill.

The inspiration is again from Harley 3107, two different pages.

teasers

2011-12-06T09:15:00.001+01:00

So just some snippets of what I was working on.

unfinished D, gold leaf - tooled and gouache

Red D, gouache, gold leaf, gold paint.

critter!

crow in the vines

little S, gold leaf bar, gouache, ink.

Bar & Ivy: gold leaf, gouache and ink.

I've had the blanks with the gold leaf done for a while just waiting for the right scrolls to come along and they did. I use schminke Calligraphy gouache and watercolour paints on Pergamenata. Gold leaf on the gum arabic / sugar gesso from the Kathleen P. Whitley book.

All images except the first one are from the same scroll and the inspiration was this piece.

Antiphoner 1350

I got it from the book: Illuminated Manuscripts and their Makers by Rowan Watson
Which can be found through Abe books or amazon ( used) as the hard cover is now out of print. ( sadly it's a great book)
or as paperback here for a decent price.
V&A shop

Scriptorium, March 10, 2012: Oxford, England

2011-12-05T22:18:00.001+01:00

Scriptorium/West Dragonshire Arts and Sciences Revel

March 10, 2012

Oxford, England

Come one, come all, to the one-day revel in ancient Oxford! Arianrhod o Gymru, Insulae Draconis Signet, and her fellows of West Dragonshire invite you to their scriptorium and arts and sciences revel, in the upstairs (sadly, no lift) of the Mitre pub, a period room in a very old hostel, now a Beefeater pub. The Mitre is located on the corner of Turl Street and the High, in the very centre of Oxford.

Arianrhod is happy to hold forth on the arts of scrivening and illuminating, and will have parchment, ink, pens and paint for those who wish to try this ancient art (and earn her undying gratitude). Other arts are also encouraged—we have an awful lot of room! Lord Duncan Forbes will be arranging fighting nearby, weather permitting.

As the Mitre is a pub, we will not be having a potluck. You can either eat there (I’ve not eaten there since it became Beefeater, so I don’t know the quality of food), or at one of the many excellent establishments in Oxford.

Oxford, ancient seat of learning, is dominated by the Dreaming Spires of the university. If there is sufficient interest, Ari can arrange walking tours of the city, which will include several colleges (there will be a fee, dependant on how many people respond). It is also possible to take tours of the Bodleian Library, an establishment much older than the British Library, or even just view the 15^th century divination schools (again, this will be a separate fee). There is also an old covered market, Norman towers, the castle (which was a prison till 1997), and many other sights! For those who like really old things, the Rollright Stones are an easy drive away. If you want a special walking tour, please RSVP BY FEB 14^TH 2012 AT THE LATEST.

Parking in Oxford is difficult. The closest parking to site is on Broad Street or St Giles, but they fill up very quickly. Oxford has excellent rail and bus links, particularly to/from London. There are also direct bus links to Heathrow and Gatwick (or rail links from the Heathrow Express into London Paddington) or, if you must drive, please consider using one of the many park & ride facilities.

Fee is £6/£3 unwaged.

Any questions? Contact Ari on +44 (0)1235 510784 (not after 9PM, please) or, better, on daylightjam(at)gmail.com. Note phone is not an option until Dec. 29^th, as currently she’s on hols.

Two new ones

2011-12-05T16:38:00.002+01:00

The one with the acanthus leaves is a very simplified BL MS Arundel 99, and I'm very pleased with it. The other is an exact-dimension copy (except for the fact that it was bicolumnar) of Bodl. MS Douce 195.

Interest Check

2011-11-16T11:33:00.000+01:00

So we are thinking about a scribal schola.

Would be a 1 day (9am - 6pm) thing with classes and stuff.
the idea would be hourly classes with a 3 hour midday free time for all and somewhere in there a formal Q&A session ( think convention style panel)

Tentative dates are feb, April, or May down in Maggie's part of the kingdom. So Frankmark south (ish)

This would be a no frills thing ( no room and board on site except for Saturday supper - very simple)

who would be interested?

what to do with scrolls once you get them home.

2011-11-09T16:26:00.001+01:00

a book on flourishing

2011-11-09T14:59:00.001+01:00

Flourishing by Bill Hildebrandt

This is just awesome if you are into flourishing.

more stuff here with the full books to look at drool.
https://picasaweb.google.com/tipstricks1

Ary's heraldic elevation scroll

2011-10-26T14:01:00.003+02:00

From a 15th c GoA from the site here. I think I got the balance just about right, though the colours are guesses based on knowledge of the time period and others on that page. Like Her Highness's elevation scroll, it's a sort of mediaeval flow chart, with the kingdom arms, her arms, and then a blank for her badge when she selects it. I didn't dare use real gold because the last time I did the scroll got lost in the German post for six weeks. The wording was done by Schwarzdrachen and lightly early-modernised by me; it was much shorter than the herald extraordinary text I used for Her Highness' elevation, so I was able to fit in the bits around the edges.

I still notice that when writing on a proper slope my letters slant to the left, which they never used to before using a slope. Not quite sure how to fix that, although it's getting better, so it may just be practice.

recent work ( see not dead....)

2011-10-25T10:42:00.001+02:00

So I know I've been fairly quiet for a while but I am doing stuff. Here are some pictures. The indentures were private commissions within the SCA. They were fun to do.

The book was made for the elevation of SvartulfR. For those interested in such things it is single sheets folded in half stitched together using ketten and long stitch method. The outer cover is pergamenata, glued using PVA ( sorry didn't have time to make paste) and then painted with gouache. The book mark is made from pergamenata, painted and calligraphy then laminated.

The blanks were done for the signet and as usual were fun because I like doodles and squiggly lines.

Indenture

indenture ( Finnish)

Vigil book for SvartulfR

one of 10 blanks

Volker's OdLind

Exciting new resource with excellent filters

2011-10-21T12:56:00.002+02:00

My lord Robert sent along this link to Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts in the library of the U of Pennsylvania.

The wonderful aspect is the filters to the collections; you can narrow a search by dozens of settings like date, source, language, illumination (Y/N), as well as the usual bumph about author, title and subject.

Once you pull up an individual item, the first item on the screen is its permanent link! you'll never have to shuffle through the search engine again to find that perfect exemplar! Genius.

When the scanned image of your book of choice is open, you can jump straight to the illuminations! using a dropdown list.

And the zoom option is huge! I can see excellent working detail, like where the gold has rubbed away in a pattern - I think it reflects the brushstrokes of the gesso under it, or possibly even the brushing-on of shell gold in flat gilding. (See pg 29v, Lauds, and use 'full' zoom to look at the initial.)

If I sound excited it's because I've paged through many many a document looking for inspiration - and I probably still will. But finding a search engine that anticipates what I really want to see (the shinies! show me the shinies!) is just a joy.

The only teeny flaw I can find is that there are so many sidebar filters that they force the results down the screen - so at first, I couldn't figure out if my searches were working. So if in doubt, scroll to the bottom of the page.

I can see this becoming my go-to page for new inspirations: quick, precise, and in beautiful detail.

AoA for Elisabet Nilsdotter

2011-10-16T21:32:00.004+02:00

I'm not very happy with how this turned out. It looks way too modern! And that's probably because it is - the border is copied from a book called "The Celtic Art Source Book, which is "celtic revival" rather than celtic period (but the author's suggestion for colouring was even more modern than mine). I like doing semi-unicals, but celtic illumination is really not my thing. Interesting experiment, but next time I try celtic, I'll use a period source...

3q11 roundup

2011-10-04T12:22:00.001+02:00

Another quarter has come to an end, and it's time for me to round up the stats, numbers, and scribes!

The following scribes assisted me in producing a total of 23 scrolls for upcoming courts: Lady Ælfwynn Leoflæde dohtor, Lady Amal binti Hamid al-Chania, Lady Arianrhod o Gymru, Lord Conrad zur Ruben, Lady Lena the Red, Mærith aff Weselax, Baroness Margaret Walsingham, Lady Margaretha von Rüdingen, Lady Racaire, Lady Saraswati man-Ikkam, and Lady Trinite Ducalon -- many of them done at short or last minute notice! Thank you all.

We also completed 9 backlog scrolls, done by Lady Arianrhod o Gymru, Lord Maredudd ap Gwilym, Lady Racaire, Lady Signe Scriffuerska, and myself.

I'd also like to remind people of the scroll blank competition going on; for every blank that you send me (either calligraphy only, illumination only, or a mix with spaces left for the name of the granting K&Q, the recipient, and the date) between now and 12th Night Coronation, you'll get a virtual ticket in the drawing to win a copy of Marc Drogin's book on calligraphy. So far, I've got three entrants and 12 entries. I'd love to see more! Your blanks have been tremendously helpful in the last few months where impending motherhood has made it more and more difficult for me to sit hunched over the table doing C&I projects of my own. :)

Thank you all again for your hard work. It is very much appreciated!

-Aryanhwy

Vivarium

2011-09-19T15:52:00.002+02:00

Has anyone else found that Vivarium's idea of what constitutes any given initial is very idiosyncratic? Searching for R at the moment, and finding B, C, O, S in addition to R. I'm sure I'll find more. I'm really not sure who they got to key these in...probably some minimum wage undergrad....

A view of a work in process

2011-09-18T22:42:00.003+02:00

Happily browsing British Library manuscripts today, and found Yates Thompson 49, a 15th c French book called 'La Legende Doree' (the golden legend).

What's striking about book 2 is that the miniatures are unfinished, giving you a view into the processes of the minaturist - this is vol 2, f 27v about St felix being pope.

In this image and several others, the sketching out is done, and the blue has been blocked in, and a dark gray shade - don't know if this was the intended finished colour, or a base for something else.

What's similarly neat to see is that the initials are done and totally finished - meaning that the miniaturist (doing illustrations) and the rubricator (doing initials) are likely two different artists - on top of the calligrapher. Not certain if the person applying the gold to the initials is different from the person who paints them in with colour and details.

Do have a flip through the other images to see more examples.

Bestiary page

2011-08-27T20:11:00.003+02:00

I like doing bestiary pages. I don't know why. On this one, as with a Lindquistringes, I tried for a slightly different Carolingian hand than I usually do, to match the original in the British Library. (I used to use Drogin's Carolingian, then switched about a year ago to a Carolingian hand as documented by one of the first places/mss to use it. (The main difference is the small A).)

This is an order of the Fox for ID. The fox was thought to roll in red earth to mimic blood, then play dead to lure birds close to him. At which he ate them. The startled expression on the blue birds face is from the original; the covetous look in the fox's eyes in the lower panel, aimed upwards at the "two in the bush," just amused me.

I used gouache for the background, as the original was shell gold, and a Laurel in the East Kingdom recommended gouache in those circumstances (although I note that Cornelissen's sell shell gold. Much, much more expensive than leaf).

Enjoy!

In service,
Ari.

All Change, please

2011-08-25T13:07:00.002+02:00

For those who may not yet have heard, Genevieve la Flechiere (sorry, Your Highness, can't figure out how to do accents on this interface) successfully inspired her lord, Robert of Canterbury, to victory in the Insulae Draconis Coronet Tourney this past week. As they are now royalty, I have stepped in as interim Insulae Draconis Signet.

If you are a scribe who does work for ID, could you please drop me a note on signet@insulaedraconis.org stating who you are, what hands and styles you prefer to do, what level of award you are comfortable working on, and other such thing? By sending it to the signet address it will be there for future Signets as a sort of roster.

And, because this isn't confusing at all (cue sarcasm): ArianHWY remains Drachenwald Signet. I am ArianRHOD and am Insulae Draconis Signet. Generally I will try to remember to sign Signet correspondence with my full name, so you know to whom you're speaking. I'm not changing my username, though, so here I'll remain Ari.

In service,
Arianrhod o Gymru
Signet, Insulae Draconis.

admin stuff: Images

2011-08-22T09:19:00.001+02:00

Okay This is the yearly reminder for everyone who posts images to PLEASE watch your image size. Sorry Margaret but I had to remove the images you uploaded because their formatting screwed up this site / page's formatting. I reformatted them and uploaded them via my system.

If you are going to upload images please make sure they are small- medium. If you are uploading from your own computer please use blogger's image feature ( it's that little picture icon on the taskbar at the top of the posting box. It will resize your images and allow a click through to the larger version and it doesn't tend to mess up the site's lay out.

http://www.fileformat.info/tip/web/imagesize.htm

This site has more information on web image sizes.

If you don't want to upload from your computer then you can use one of the many great photo aps out there, although for blogger I highly recommend Picasa as it's a blogger program and very compatible.

Thanks
Bridget

Greetings all!

2011-08-17T19:58:00.005+02:00

I'm new to the site though not so new to the art. My name is Margaret Walsingham (previously Zölderdödy Alena) so some of you might know me already. I've been the signet in Aarnimetsä for too many years to count (probably my third term now) and have done scrolls for about 20years now. I'm really lazy at posting, but I'll try and redeem myself. My introduction is here:

I composed the text myself since it was to a good friend of mine and I wanted the text to be personal.

I'n notoriously bad at taking pictures of my scrolls, and often have to ask people to send me pictures of things I've done. But I have a few scrolls up my sleeve still which I'm hoping to share with you marvellous artisans. The things I have seen on this site so far are amazing. You are truly artists, each and everyone of you.

Margaret Walsingham

Sample scroll texts on Signet website

2011-08-05T16:08:00.000+02:00

New on the signet clerk website! I've just added a page where I am hoping to collect sample scroll texts. I'd like to have example texts for all the awards and in as many different languages as possible on this page; if you have any that you would like to contribute, please send them to me! For the meantime the page is pretty sparse (and there are some problems with some of the links, sorry, still working on that) but I hope that it will begin to grow and be useful.

-Aryanhwy

2 scrolls

2011-07-28T18:41:00.003+02:00

Here are pics for 2 scrolls I've made recently.

Panache for Elzbeth MEclenburgilainen. I was experimenting and in hurry, so This might not be as good as it could have been.

Sorry, the scan is wonky, not the scroll ;) MAde for my friend Queniva. This was also made in hurry really. I suck at starting orders in time.

how to learn to start painting and writing in time xD? I Have got plenty of time to make these scrolls, but I end up actually starting and finishing them just few days before deadlines... graaaaaaah....

~Sayyida Amal the stupid wannabe-artist

Suppliers of pergamenata and buying online

2011-07-26T18:31:00.002+02:00

Dear folk,

I had been buying Pergamenata from Cornelissen's. They sell a set weight at £1.95 per 70x50 cm sheet. Now, I'd gone to Shepherd's/Falkiner's on my last trip to London, and they sell 70x100cm sheets.

So, when I ran out of stuff, I ordered online from S/F. I ordered online the midweight (160), which was £4-odd per sheet.

When it came (swiftly, and without hassle, to their credit), I was rather shocked to find it was very flimsy. It seems that Cornelissen sell the 230 pergamenata ( or some weight heavier than 160) as standard. Even accounting for the fact it's half the size, it would appear to be much cheaper to buy from Cornelissen's (£1.95 for 70x50 as opposed to over £6 for 70x100--even buying two sheets is cheaper).

Have the hive mind found anywhere that sells the larger sheets for around £4 per sheet (which would be the price of buying 2 sheets from Cornelissen's)? Also, has anyone ordered from Cornelissen's online, as their search engine doesn't yield any results for "pergamenata"? Or should I just ring them and order over the phone?

TIA.

Some crown, Lady of the Rose, and duchess inspiration

2011-07-20T17:28:00.003+02:00

Was browsing the British Library MS, as is my wont, and found a selection of images that might be lovely bases for particular scrolls.

Arundel 66 f1v red and white roses around an M, w/ gothic cursive - ideal for a lady of the Rose

Royal 12A XVI f3 Crowned arms of England with roses around Q, gothic cursive - substitute other armory for the English arms.

Harley 2443 f2 Wide pictorial border with blue flowers and strawberries - only 10x14cm!

This one is not as finely drawn or painted as some examples, but to me, that makes it more accessible - something that is perfect just sets the bar for my illumination way too high. The strawberries suggest a duchy, if you want, or you can change them to other flowers.

The real challenge though would be making it to original size - about A5, or half a normal sheet of paper.

need some advice

2011-07-04T20:24:00.005+02:00

I'm really, really bad at extrapolating. So I need some advice.

My original is BL MS Egerton 2432 f. 34v:

I'm substituting an achievement for the initial, which necessitated some change in the background of that square:

My questions are:

- The coat of arms that will be going there is black and yellow. What would be the most pleasing colors for diapering? Black on yellow and yellow on black, or red or white on both?

- Would the shield (and the coronet) look better outlined? In white, red, or black?

- Should I outline the outer edge of the blue, and, if so, in black as in the original or white to match the other inner detailing?

- Should I outline the bottom of the square in the same color as the previous?

- Should I outline the hill the shield sits on, if so, in black or white?

If it makes a difference to any of your answers to the above, I'm planning to diaper the red background with white.

2nd quarter review

2011-06-27T11:45:00.002+02:00

As the month draws to a close, it's time for me to report back on the scribal activity of the previous quarter, the second half of Vitus and Eleanora's reign (scrolls produced from April to June).

In these three months, 37 scrolls for kingdom courts were produced, by Lady Ælfwynn Leoflæde dohtor, Lady Agatha of Norwich, Sayidda Amal binti Hamid al-Chania, Lord Antonio di Rienzo, Lady Arianrhod o Gymru, Mistress Bridget Greywolf, Lady Lena the Red, Lady Lia de Thornegge, Baroness Margaret Walsingham, Lady Margaretha von Rückingen, Lady Racaire, Lady Saraswati mán ikkam, Lady Ysabella-Maria Vasquez de Granada, and myself.

Seven backlogs were completed, by Lady Agatha of Norwich, Lady Ailitha de Ainwyck, Countess Elsa Snakenborgh, Lady Racaire, and myself.

44 scrolls! I think that's a record. Thank you all for your continued hard work.

-Aryanhwy

looking for...

2011-06-26T09:41:00.001+02:00

the scribe who did this.

the person who owns this scroll would really like to know.
Eva Greilsdottir
Panache
Sven and Jovi
Coronation Jan 2008
scribes styringheim

new AoA scroll for coronation :)

2011-06-24T02:20:00.002+02:00

here my last AoA scroll (for coronation) :)

red-on-gold

2011-06-23T15:39:00.002+02:00

I think I've found a new favorite motif. It's generally quick and easy, but the results are *wow*: Redwork on gold initials. (They'd be even more wow if I knew how to do gold leafing, but even on gold paint they're cool).

The first one I tried back in November; I completed the scroll over the course of three days so that I could hand it off to someone at University to deliver at the event a few weeks later:

Scroll	Exemplar

The exemplar is MS Codex San-Florianensis III,1, fol. 43v, an 11th C manuscript. Day one I drew out the lines and the initial, painted the green and blue, and wrote the incipit. Day two I did the gold, red, and white, and wrote the text, and day three, I calligraphed it while at the Gothenburg airport. Here are some photos of combat scribing: :)

The text reads in Latin:

Incipit verbis Ulfi et Ceve regis et regine.

Magnas et multas attestationis actionum subjecti nostrorum Sophie audivimus, et placet nos. Scite quod his presentibus agnoscimus virtutem dignitatemque supradicte Sophie. Altamus et assignamus ei ordonis domine et jus tali armis prout deferet cum Collegio Armorum. Nullus prohibeat Sophiam ostendere istos armos, alioqui irascemur.

Fit manibus nostris in septetvicesimo die Novembris anno societatis xlv.

Translation:

Here begin the words of Ulf and Caoimhe king and queen.

Great and numerous attestations of the actions of our subject Sophie have we heard, and it pleases us. Know by these presents that we recognize the virtue and dignity of the abovesaid Sophie. We raise her to the rank of lady and assign to her the rights to such arms as she shall register with the College of Arms. No one prohibit Sophie from displaying those arms, or we shall be mad.

Done by our hands in the 17th day of November, a.s. xlv.

Either people in Denmark are very polite or very noncurious, since not a single person asked me what I was doing!

Then I tried this style again two weekends ago, for a last-minute assignment for Coronation:

Scroll	Exemplar

Very happy with this one! I love the bright, bold colors. This particular exemplar is from Codex S 318, fol. 239v, a 13th C homiliary. I also really like the oak gall (or maybe this was the willow gall) ink that I borrowed from Racaire.

Backlog GoA for Bridget

2011-06-11T22:25:00.003+02:00

Copied from the Würtzburg psalter, ca 1250, found in the book "Images in the margins" by Margot McIlwain Nishimura.
I have to say I'm quite proud of this. I didn't get the colours exactly right, and I could have spent some more time on shading. I also wish I could have done it on pergamenata instead of water colour paper, but I was all out.

Very happy to know it's going to be on Bridget's wall!

Double Wars--Heraldic Creation

2011-06-11T13:50:00.002+02:00

Having searched the British Library both online and in the list/illustrations of the heraldic mss I have, I contacted Lancaster Pursuivant of the English College of Arms. He was very helpful (I admit I waved the PhD about a bit) and I think was happy to have a question that was not "What is my coat of arms?"

The text (creation of Garter King of Arms--I had hoped for Norroy, but took what I got) was given to me in English and Latin--with Signet and Schwarzdrachen's help, I adapted it for the creation of Rouge Maunche. Over extended consultation with Lady Lyonet, we decided that someone of as longstanding repute and wit as the recipent was definitely worth her salt, with all the puns that entailed over the century, so that's what I used as salary (pun intended). The scroll itself is modelled after an early 16th grant of arms--the text and hand are late 15th. The escitcheons are in order of happenstance: Drachenwald commands that Gf become Rouge Maunche. Medieval flow chart!

Lastly, what's most remarkable is that roughly 90% of the words are abbreviated to fit it on a page I could work on. Yay for having studied Palaeography!

Double Wars--Knighthood

2011-06-11T13:44:00.002+02:00

I've done Isabella Breviary before, but I've never actually attempted the hand that went with it until now. Unfortunately, my nib started sputtering in the second column so I had finally to change it or risk the entire scroll. Still, I don't think it turned out that badly. The picture was taken before the oakgall ink had really blackened.

Violets stand for fidelity (witness Ophelia's flower speech), so I thought they were appropriate for a peerage scroll. They are also mentioned in the text. I forget exactly which text I amended for this scroll.

Scribal challenge!

2011-06-10T16:38:00.002+02:00

TRH Lief & Morrigan are donating to the signet office a copy of Marc Drogin's Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique, which I am planning to put up for raffle. How do you get a ticket? You'll get one ticket for ever scroll blank I receive from you (either illumination only or calligraphy only, doesn't matter) during their reign -- so any blanks I receive between Coronation next weekend and 12th Night coronation in 6 months' time. I'll keep track of how many blanks I get from whom, and then when they step down in January, I'll do a random drawing to determine the winner.

My thanks to TRH for their generosity, and Saraswati for agreeing that a donation of Drogin for such a drawing was a suitable payment to request from them for a personal scroll that they have commissioned from us.

-Aryanhwy

2 PCS scrolls from the backlog :)

2011-06-09T02:16:00.000+02:00

...and two PCS scrolls from the backlog finished :)

more pics here :)

PCS blanks :)

2011-06-09T02:13:00.000+02:00

Two new PCS blanks finished :)

Luddite field

2011-06-08T19:18:00.009+02:00

Hm. I was trying to upload a couple of scroll pix from Double Wars. I uploaded one, and then could not upload anything else. And I put it in the wrong place, so deleted it, and could not reload.

Now I note that Blogger is saying things in red error messages to me. Anyone else getting this?

Ari

LOST SCROLL ALERT!!!

2011-06-06T13:14:00.000+02:00

This scroll was done by Master Haakon on Nov 2006. It never made it to the hands of Sir Gilliam so has anyone seen this, or maybe has it tucked into their posession and forgotten about it? can people please pass this along and maybe we can find this scroll???

If so please please let the Signet Clerk know.

Sigilium Reginae for Doublewars

2011-06-05T21:32:00.001+02:00

Here my Sigilium Reginae for Doublewars - for Vrank von Attendorn :)
Many thanks to AElfwynn, Conrad zer Rüben and Ellina dicta Vintdenwürvel from the Isengau Scriptorium for translating the text from English into German! :)

...more detail pics and infos can be found here

adim stuff

2011-06-05T17:31:00.000+02:00

Sooooooo
once again it's that time of the year where I do some admin stuff.

1. We have a face book fan site, see the box at the side to like it. ( please like it so we can have cool face book discussions on all things scrolly)

2. I cleaned up some contributors who either are not active in posting or no longer live in the kingdom or do kingdom work. If you were on this clear up and wish to be re added I will do so but please be an active member of this group. As the blog is open to the public to read and comment there is no need for people to have contributor status if they do not contribute.

3. Please keep your image uploads to a reasonable size for the page size. I highly recommend using the blog page image uploader as it automatically resizes them to something manageable for webpage loading. People wanting better views of the image can click on the image and blogger automatically redirects.

4. If you know of any active scribe new, old or in between who'd like to be an ACTIVE member of this community then please tell them to email me.

5. There have been quite a lot of scrolls going out and it would be really fantastic if everyone could post pictures of their works and talk a little about it. There were quite a lot of scribally questions being asked at Double Wars and it would be fantastic to have everyone in this community get a chance to share their knowledge and expertise no matter what level they are at. Even the newest of the new have something to offer.

6. It came to my attention at Double Wars that a couple of people who it was thought had their scrolls have in fact never received them. If you yourself, or someone you know has an award but does not have a scroll please contact the signet clerk and let her know. She cannot fix this if she doesn't know about it. And sometimes the records lie.

7. It has been said over and over again. As a scribe of this kingdom you must sign your work and you should give a contact address / email. King and queen and herald cannot say who the scroll was done by in court if there is no name attached to it.

8. I will be doing another sweep and clear of inactive uses at the end of the year.

This concludes the admin stuff.

Cheers
Bridget Greywolf OL.

Some scrolls...

2011-05-25T21:55:00.002+02:00

Hey!

This is one blank scroll I painted. I started it 2 years ago, but forgot to finish it xD I like this style a lot, but I hate painting/drawing it, hehe

Two blanks I made. I kinda fell in love with the font I used on bottom one.

as you might be able to see, I DESPERATELY need new brush(es) and waterproof thin pen. I have been trying all kind of alternative methods, but they have not been that succesfull...

~Sayyida Amal

constructing texts based on letters

2011-05-08T15:39:00.002+02:00

A number of the Drachenwald awards are essentially "thank you" awards -- expressing personal gratitude from the K&Q to the recipient for particular service. These include the sigilla, the Queen's Order of Courtesy and King's Order of Albion, and Dragon's Tears. These awards lend themselves well to texts that are written like letters.

And one very good source to get information about medieval letters is the Paston letters, a collection of letters written to and from members of the English Paston family between 1422 and 1509. These letters are available in full view on googlebooks.

A lot of the letters are too long to adapt, but the greetings and closings are neat --

"Right worshipful brother, I recommend me unto you, letting you to weet that my Lord Stafford was made Earl of Devonshire upon Sunday...Written at Windsor on Monday after Whitsunday in haste, etc."

"Right reverend sir, I recommend me to you. Please it you to know this same day came to me the sheriff of Norfolk himself...By your well-willer,"

"I greet you well, and send you God's blessing and mine; letting you weet that on Thursday last was...Norwich, before Michaelmas."

"To Master Writtill. Right worshipful Sir, I recommend me to you, thanking you of your great labour which I have not as yet but I shall deserve to my power; and furthermore like you to weet that I have thought right long after you...Written at London, the 10th day of September. By your friend,"

Here are some texts that I've constructed on the basis of the Paston letters and similar:

To owre dear cousin the countess Judith de Northumbria. Right worthy and worshepefull ladye, I recomaunde me to yow and thank yow for þe good, trew, and diligent labour ye have hadde for the mattier of the quenes of Drachenwald. For yowr conseil and thee manhede yow have shewn to us and otheres, we wish and firmly command þat ye be everilkquar accompted, nombred, accepted, and receyued into our Order of Corteisie. My wille is that ye shew þe chief signes of this honour, ane whight edelweiss wyth a centre of redde.

Written at Knightes Crossing þe x day of Iuyl, a.s. xlv. Yowre frend and lege ladye, þe quene of Drachenwald,

---

To our right trusty and heartily well-beloved Guntram von Wolkenstein, Master of the Laurel, we greet you well, thanking you as heartily as we can for ourself and especially for that ye do so much for our house and court, which I trust verily ye do rather for the great love that ye deem I have thereto. And forasmuch as we purpose to thank you for your rightful favour showed to us in all matters that toucheth us, we pray that you proudly and humbly bear our sigil, and that in so doing you be long preserved in honour and prosperity. Written at Adamestor, on the 6th day of November, a.s. 45, by your queen

---

By the king ryght trusty and welbeloued. We grete yow ofte tymes wel. ffor asmuche as our right dere servant count Cadogan map Cado hath long tyme in certain matiers þat greatly concernen þe gode weele of us our Landes lordships and subgittes yeuen us gode counseil and reid, wherefor we have yeuen our assent roial that he may bere þe seal of þe kyng. Yeuen vnder our sigil at oure town of Aventiure þe iii day of January, a.s. xliii.

And this is only a taste of the possibilities! So next time you're working on a scroll for one of these awards, and need some ideas for a text, troll through the Paston letters or the like and see what you can find!

Happy New Year!

2011-05-01T21:00:00.002+02:00

It is now a.s. 46 (xlvi), so please remember to date your new scrolls accordingly.

Now I can show it.

2011-04-13T08:47:00.000+02:00

Now that it has been awarded and shown off I can show it here.

one scroll made (more to come)

2011-04-10T23:06:00.001+02:00

I made this scroll while ago for SCA Petronilla of London. I hope she likes it :) I tried new style of calligraphy and I am more pleased of it than the picture. I can do much better, but somehow this is not my best works. At least I tried my best...

~Sayyida Amal binti Hamid Al-Chania

Finished at last!

2011-04-03T16:33:00.001+02:00

OK here it is in all it's glory.... (click on pic to enlarge)

Scroll progress

2011-04-02T21:52:00.003+02:00

Hi once more,
Hope you're not tired of the progress shots. Anyway, here's the miniature scene now complete. Only thing I have left to do now is the squiggley bits in the border, which I'll tackle tomorrow. Here's a couple more photos... again click on 'em for a close up.

Scroll progress

2011-04-01T20:24:00.001+02:00

Hi again,

Here's today's progress. I hope to get more done tonight, tomorrow, and hopefully finished Sunday afternoon. Click on the photos for enlargement...

Harley 3118 redux

2011-04-01T16:11:00.002+02:00

My attempt at this page follows. I'm very pleased with the calligraphy. I wound up with too much white space in the penwork, possibly because I only have one size crow quill, and a hawk quill would have been better.

1st quarter round-up

2011-03-31T16:07:00.003+02:00

The first quarter of the year has drawn to a close and so I would like to publicly thank all the wonderful scribes who contributed to doing kingdom-level scrolls during the last three months.

28 scrolls (22 of them for coronation!) for new awards were produced, by Lady Ælfwyn Leoflæde dohtor, Agnes Odgyd, Sayyida Amal binti Hamid al-Chania, Appollonia Grünenzwig, Lady Arianrhod o Gymru, Mistress Bridget Greywolf, Lord Conrad zur Ruben, Ellina dicta Vintdenwürvel, Duchess Fiona Wiggens, Lady Genevieve la flechiere, Kimberly, Lady Lena the Red, Mærith aff Weselax, Lady Mary Cristin, Nicole d'Anjou, Lady Racaire, Lady Saraswati mán ikkam, and myself.

Twelve backlogs were completed, by Lady Arianrhod o Gymru, Mistress Bridget Greywolf, Lady Lyonet de Covenham, Lady Mary Cristin, Lady Simona di Piero Valentini, an unknown scribe (who did Lady Marina of Eplaheimr's AoA; if anyone knows whom it's by, please let me know!), and myself.

So that's another 40 scrolls in three months -- the same as the fourth quarter of last year. You guys, you continue to be amazing.

-Aryanhwy

Fun and easy late period hand

2011-03-30T20:31:00.003+02:00

I found this (Harley 3118). It's quite a quick hand, and it's second quarter 16th century, and it's not a horrid secretary hand. With the "st" styling, it makes it look fun, simple, and at the same time elegant.

The lines, from what I can see of the ruler, are 1 cm apart. I used a 2mm high letter with 8mm spacing, and it came out well (I haven't got a picture yet--I need to wait for the oakgall to get with the program.) Used a Mitchell 5 nib--a 6 probably would have worked as well (I'm kind of known for using as broad a nib as I can).

In service,
Arianrhod

Progress on backlog Laurel scroll

2011-03-27T16:02:00.003+02:00

Hi again,
Continuing on from the gilding pictures, here's the stage I'm up to now. I've done the skinny straight lines topped with white, done all the coloured bits in the border area, done the initial. What's left to do? The great big hole in the middle! ...and last of all will be the 'telephone scribble' finishing off the border. My deadline is in 1 week - fingers crossed I manage it!

Oh, and I ended up just painting straight on to the gold leaf for the heraldic shield after all - no extra step involved. I just painted over and over until the paint held it's shape. Takes a bit of perseverence but it basically works.

Here are a couple of pics: click on 'em to see an enlarged view.

Latest effort

2011-03-23T18:28:00.003+01:00

Quite pleased with how this came out. Egerton 1146 again. In pictures flowers don't really look grey, but they were light grey with whitework.

I think I'm really getting this hand now! Very pleased with how it looks.

Period Saints Days

2011-03-18T16:06:00.002+01:00

I can't remember if I ever posted this on the mailing list or not, but Master Jan Janowicz of the East pointed me at this late, late period listing of actually celebrated saints' days, as opposed to the myriad of names Catholic Online lists. Now, this will have been tempered by the little kerfuffle with Rome earlier in the century, but it's still useful if you think "Really, was St. Garethyianus all that known outside his own family?"

http://medievalist.net/hourstxt/home.htm

In service,
Ari.

Work in Progress - laurel scroll for LAJ

2011-03-13T12:32:00.003+01:00

Hi all.
I've managed to beat the procrastination and have got a bit more work done on this backlog scroll for LAJ. She's Alaric's best friend, who made that fab embroidered blue houppelande we all love to see him in.

Anyway. I've use three different bits of gilding on this scroll. First step was putting down three layers (over consecutive nights) of white-glue (wood glue) gesso as a shape/base. Next was painting over those areas and the other little bitty areas using Kolner Miniatum which already has a lovely thick body to it. I'm now wondering if I really needed to do the white-glue part. The third and final stage was the flat gold which, as you can see, shows the skin texture as it hugs the goat parchment so closely. The glue I used for this was Daler-Rowney writer's gold size.

Scrolls for Scribes

2011-03-07T10:43:00.003+01:00

I love doing scrolls for scribes. I think it's so important that our scribes are recognized for their skill and hard work, and whenever an award for a scribe comes up I always have to fight my greedy inclination to take the assignment for myself. But in November when I was in Copenhagen, about four days before an event I found out one of my scribes was in fact able to attend, so I quickly wrote their Majesties along the lines of "Please, please, please give her her AoA, she's been wonderful". They kindly acted upon my advice, but of course there was no way I could get a scroll to the event in time. So I decided to take the opportunity to do up a realy nice one. I decided to go with BL MS Arundel 41, fol. 35, a French or English MS from the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th C, because this style, to me, really says "medieval manuscript", which seems appropriate for a scroll for a scribe.

So I was going to try to do it all: the initial, the border, the calligraphy (with some abbreviations), the two-column format with paragraph/sentence markers, and a penwork initial in the second column. The biggest thing that held me up was that I needed a text starting with Q. Qs are common in Latin, but relatively uncommon in English. It took me until February before I came up with a suitable opening; the rest of the text then follows standard grants of arms texts from the 15th C. I wrote the text, drew the Q and the border, and calligraphed the incipit and the first two lines on the first day, finished the calligraphy on the second day, did all of the illumination except for the whitework and the center of the Q the third day, and then finished up with drawing and painting the inside of the Q on the final day, yesterday. I'm very happy with the result (though the scan, as usual, did wonky things with the yellow perg, so it looks much better in real life).

The text reads:

Incipit verbis Ulfi et Ceve qui sunt rex et regina drachenwaldenses.

To all present and to come who these present letters shall see or hear Ulfr and Caoimhe king and queen of this kingdom of Drachenwald greetings and love. Equity and reason ordains that virtuous men be by their merits and renown rewarded and not only their persons in this mortal life so brief and transitory but also after shall in all places have great honour perpetually before others, shining by certain signs and demonstrations of honour and courtesy, to wit by blazon helmet and crest in order that by their example others again force themselves to use their days in virtuous works and for this end we, king and queen as abovementioned, not only by common renown but also by report of other noble witnesses truly advertize and certify that Amal binti Hamid al-Chania gentlewoman is worthy that henceforth she be in all places admitted, renowned, accounted, numbered and received in the company of nobles and for this we forthwith ordain to the above-named Amal for her sole and unique use all rights to such arms as she shall register with the College of Arms. Therefore in witness of this we the king and queen abovementioned have signed these presents made and given at Aarnimetsä the xxvii day of November anno societatis xlv.

The incipit translates as "Here begin the words of Ulfr and Caoimhe who are king and queen of Drachenwald."

The GoA

2011-03-02T11:12:00.000+01:00

Since this is a backlogged scroll I don't mind sharing it here. It's about to be mailed off the get signed then handed to its rightful owner but first it gets its screen debut.

Since I struggle with acanthus leaves I wanted to push myself to get on with doing more. I tend to stick with what I know for a really long time before I step out of the box. I love the look of the florally stuff but I suck at shading so much I really tend to shy away from it completely. I am okay with how this turned out but I feel I still have a really long way to go.

The stats:
Paper is heavy pergamenata, white
Paints are gouache and water colour
Oak-gall ink scabiosa from Boesner
sugar and gum arabic gesso with transfer gold leaf
metal nib dip pen nib size 1.5

more fun with gold

2011-03-01T09:37:00.001+01:00

I don't really have the proper tools for tooling gold and it's tricky on the sugar gesso but occasionally it does work. This is a blank I've been working on that I think will become a Rose scroll, it's pretty and has lots of bling.

I hate Ks.

2011-02-26T17:20:00.004+01:00

One of the main reasons that I like writing scroll texts in Latin is because then I can spell king 'rex'. Why is this important? Because I hate Ks. I hate them with a passion, both majiscules and miniscules. I have yet to find a hand where I can see how to make the angles of the arms come out right, or how to make the upper loop (if it has one), look right, or how to orient the two arms with the leg they stand on.

This is the only letter that I have such widespread difficulties with, and it's gotten to the point where I cringe as soon as I realize I have a text which includes, somewhere, the phrase "king and queen of Drachenwald". Because...*shudder*...it has a K.

So, I'm asking for help. Here are 72 Ks that I have done over the last 6 years. They are roughly in chronological order, though I don't think this shows any progression or pattern of change over time:

They are capitals, they are miniscules, they are carolingian, gothic, secretary, etc.

What am I doing wrong? How can I make my Ks better?

The Belles Heures Since the Duc de Berry

2011-02-21T13:24:00.000+01:00

12th Century English Manuscript - Book of Natural History

2011-02-21T13:14:00.001+01:00

Dr. Christopher de Hamel of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

super coolness

2011-02-21T12:35:00.001+01:00

A model book for scribes by Gregorius Bock, ca. 1510-1517.

Not a bad day's work

2011-02-20T16:46:00.008+01:00

Morning started off with toting the husband to urgent care (verdict: tonsillitis. He's in bed with tea-with-honey, icecream, and antibiotics), which would normally have been a good indication that the rest of the day wouldn't be so hot.

Luckily, this turned out to not be the case, and I got in a pretty good day's work:

This is based on Codex Admontensis 105, f. 1r:

However calligraphy will have to come tomorrow; I've spent enough hours today hunch over drawing finicky lines.

wheeee Books!

2011-02-19T13:24:00.000+01:00

The Macclesfield Alphabet Book: A Facsimile (British Library Facsimile) by Christopher De Hamel

Permalink: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0712358048

this is gorgeous. And a must have for any scribe.

http://www.bl.uk/supportus/macclesfield.html

http://www.asdlabs.com/blog/2009/02/06/macclesfield-alphabet-book/

some current work

2011-02-19T12:09:00.000+01:00

Just some fun with gold.

Sometimes, scribing is just about book-collecting, really

2011-02-15T17:03:00.003+01:00

Lady Ysabella-Maria brought this book to the scribing class at the Mynydd Gwyn revel this weekend. It's a companion volume to David Harris' very useful Calligrapher's bible which I now recommend regularly.

Illuminated Letters: a treasury of decorative calligraphy

I've now ordered a copy (Abebooks, hurrah) because it has great illustrations of how to paint, which to a novice illuminator is very useful.

Lindisfarne Gospels online!

2011-02-09T17:47:00.001+01:00

"We are delighted to announce that full colour images of two iconic treasures, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Old English Hexateuch, have been added to our Digitised Manuscripts site."

medieval manuscript reproduction

2011-02-07T12:12:00.000+01:00

A wonderful series of videos all about this subject.

Medievalist.net medieval-manuscript-reproduction/

Work in progress

2011-02-06T21:01:00.002+01:00

Hi all,
Spent much of this weekend practising calligraphy. Although it's not 100% the look / style of calligraphy I was trying to achieve, I think it will do. Well its on the goat parchment now anyway. Here's a couple of photos...
Cheers
Nerissa

16th C squee!

2011-02-05T22:16:00.004+01:00

I normally avoid 16th C MSs, because the vast majority of them are way beyond my ability. However, I'm beginning to compose a backlog PCS that I want to write a Scots text for, and since most of the Scots that I have access to is late 15th or 16th C, I thought I should at least browse the BL and see what they have from that era, so that I can at least try to match the design with the text.

And I found these! They are too cool:

These are all from BL MS Additional 33733, which is either Italian or Dutch.

Aren't these fun? They would make great borders for prize scrolls in tourneys or competitions or something.

-Aryanhwy

Fifteenth Century English Patents of Arms

2011-02-04T10:50:00.000+01:00

grants

really fun page to look at

two links of fun and interest.

2011-02-02T07:36:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Racaire for sharing the first one.

rude marginalia is rude

And secondly the British Library now has a medieval and earlier manuscript blog...how cool is this?

here's the link, it's also on the side bar under places scribes can study.

manuscripts have a blog

If anyone else has suggestions for really great places scribes can go to check stuff out let me know I will add the link.

New in the works...

2011-02-01T16:32:00.000+01:00

So I don't often tackle this kind of theme because it's painstaking to get it right but I am really pleased with how this is turning out so far.

what it is

the actual inspiration

This is for an award scroll I'm working on right now. The lined lay out is something you can see in an earlier post. I can't show the whole thing block-painted and calligraphed yet because it hasn't been given out but what I can show is some of the illumination as I go. I am really excited about this so far and nervous too... Each step further in I take leads me further away from being able to say wth if I screw it up. Becoming invested in a piece makes it really hard to walk away from it if I mess up. I tend to work very quickly as a rule but because I am not used to this style of illumination I'm taking my time and doing other scroll stuff in between to test out techniques.

Any way..here is what has been done so far. Filling the two gold strips with the flowers has taken roughly 4 hours with a couple of 5 minute doing laundry breaks in between.

bottom left corner stripe, strawberries


the original

the other side

Here you can see the progression from start to end. Now I am curious how the rest of this scroll will turn out.

the basic colours being blocked

the detail with shading and highlighting

finishing with the surrounding decorations.

The blue shows up hellishly vibrant under the camera it's actually darker than it looks. And yes the gold leaf has issues.

Intro

2011-01-30T22:16:00.005+01:00

Vnto thasembled wrytters of wryts, al due comendaciune from Arianrhod o Gymru, Argywlddes, Compagnon of the Pannash.

Y be as bee euident a Welchwomman wt sum curieuse ressemblaunce to a Scots pyrate long agoo in the Royaulme of thEst.

Scripsi this past score yeres or more, though duryng some ten yeres Y was dormaunte.

TRANS:

To the assembled scribes of Drachenwald, greetings and all due commendation from Lady Arianrhod from Wales, companion of the Panache.

I am, as is fairly patently evident a Welshwoman (with a curious resemblance to a Scots pirate of the East in years past).

I have scribed for the past twenty years or so, though I gafiated for about a decade.

Mundanely, I have a PhD in Early Modern English, good access to the BL, and specialise in words and wordings. My profile pic is of the best instance I've done of Egerton 1146, which I want a full facsimile of. One day I'll go to the BL and ask much they charge for a scan of various pages. And then faint. I've attached a couple of other Egerton 1146 projects.

OK, I am also a Luddite. How do I get this to intersperse the pix with my text? It won't let me drag them. The cursor was where I wanted them when I uploaded them.

Cheers,
Ari

Documenting as you go

2011-01-28T14:27:00.002+01:00

After getting a new camera in fall which made it easy to take pictures at the drop of a hat, I've also started documenting the process of making some of my scrolls. The first one I did this was because I was chatting on line with a friend and he wanted updates as I went, so I took the pictures for him, but I have found that there are other benefits for having this "as it goes" process. For one, I've found that there's always a point in the creation of a scroll where I look at it and think "this will never turn out. it looks terrible." But I keep going, and usually at the end of things, I look at it and think "Wow, that looks pretty great." So what changes between those two points?

- Outlining.
- Gold.
- Whitework.

Before these three elements have been completed, when you've got just calligraphy and blocks of color, it just looks bad. Outlining sharpens all the edges, gold makes it flashy, and the whitework, the real key to it all, really makes things pop. Now that I know this, I can use it to remind myself when I reach that midway point that it's not about the actual quality of the scroll, it's just that I haven't done the finishing elements yet. Very reassuring. Anyway, here are the photos showing the progression of the court barony scroll for Rainer Wulfgar.

The layout has been penciled in, including the margins, space for the initial and border, and the lines, and the calligraphy half-way done:

Now I've completed the calligraphy:

The border has been penciled in, and the blue painted:

Putting in the base colors:

Base-colors completed (this is the stage where I always think "this looks horrible"):

And here's the final product:

The calligraphy was done the first day, the design drawn and the base colors painted the second, and the shading and whitework done the third.

The text based on the summons to parliament used by Queen Elizabeth II (though I believe it's essentially unchanged from earlier summonses); such a summons would make someone a baron if they weren't already one. It reads:

Ulfr by favor of arms of Drachenwald including all of the southern reaches King and Caoimhe by favor of beauty and inspiration of the same realm Queen to our right trusty and well beloved honorable lord Rainer Wulfgar. Whereas by the advice and assent of our peers for certain arduous and urgent and serious affairs concerning Us and the defence of our kingdom we are minded to surround ourselves with such barons as shall give us council in these affairs we strictly enjoining command you upon the allegiance by which you are bound to Us that the weightiness of the said affairs and imminent perils considered (waiving all excuses) you place personally yourself before us so that we may make you a baron of our court so that with the said prelates, great men and peers you treat and give your counsel upon the affairs aforesaid. And this as you regard Us and Our honour and the safety and defence of the said Kingdom and dispatch of the said affairs in nowise do you omit yourself from our counsel.

Witness Ourselves at Griffinstor the 30th day of October in the 45th year of the society.

The design is based on Hs. II 119 f. 238v, from the 13th century:

works in progress

2011-01-28T09:37:00.002+01:00

I thought I would share what I am currently working on while I am still working on it. I often found that, while it was wonderful to see the finished works, what was often more helpful was to see the progression from pencil to painting so I figured I would try to document this on this batch of scrolls. Unfortunately I decided this only after I'd inked the three main ones out but you can still see the pencil lines. The I started doing a bunch of what will end up being puzzle caps and flourish scrolls as fun. I bought, some time back, egg tempura paints to try them out and I have to say I am super impressed with the colours and how the paints handled, the smell...not so much. Not that they were stinky but it was definitely a pungent scent.

I hope to continue the documentation process as I progress.

the three current assignments

straight lines require a ruler.

I am a huge fan of using a ruler especially for inking out any straight lines I might need. I don't free hand any of this because even when I am at my best I don't get the lines straight enough. I use a metal ruler with a cork underlay so that the actual edge of the ruler is slightly off the page, this way I don't get ink bleed-under when I use the ruler.

lots of small detail.

All of the non straight line stuff is actually done without 1st drawing it all out in pencil. I do basic guide lines to tell where the main vine-line curves will go but the rest is all as you go along.

a mixture of both precise and freehand

This is an example of rulers and free hand together. The straight lines are all done by ruler and measured out ( especially the pesky diamond shapes which I still didn't get quiet right) The curvy stuff and the grotesques are all done free hand but I do pencil them in first to get an idea of how it will look, sometimes I need to change the placement and that's hard if you've already done the inking. I am still debating whether or not to add another creature or so looking towards the right of the page to balance it out. Luckily I can wait a while before deciding because adding stuff after the calligraphy is done is easy, removing it, though, isn't.

The puzzle cap scrolls

I always draw the letter out first including the break lines between the different colours then add the white space by painting on either side of the pencil and leaving just a tiny bit. It requires a steady hand and decent paint, the trick, at least for me, is to get the paint to the consistency of warm honey. It should be fluid but not watery, you should be able to get enough on your brush to colour a fair amount of area and be able to "push" the paint rather than stroke it. If you get a meniscus forming between your paint, the brush and the paper this should allow for a motion that is easy and fluid. If you are fighting with the paint against the paper then your consistency is off.

One of the biggest "mistakes" that I see , especially in beginners, ( personal opinion here) is paint that has been applied too thinly so that it appears uneven and you see the brush strokes and the paper through them clearly. This tends to make the work look unfinished, slightly thicker, more even applications of paint have a more complete feel to them and also make the colours and the paintings stand out better. While there are many examples of a wash style being used in medieval manuscripts for the most part the paints were more thickly and more evenly applied given the work an opaque look rather than a wash look.

To get this consternating mixture right I always put my paint in a paint tray of some sort and I add water to it with a dropper or in my case a syringe ( you can get them at your local apotheke in Germany no questions asked) I use no needles but a 10 gauge needle is nice for getting drop count exact. This way you can keep the paint at a constant consistency by adding water to the paint. A single drop of water can make a huge difference in how the paint reacts.

I also get the right amount on my brush and position it by rolling the actual brush gently on the side of the paint well. Paints will dry and this can happen quickly so I keep the brush hydrated but not soaking and control the amount of paint/ water by rolling the brush head around on a hard surface ( usually the paint tray/well) gently. This has the effect of moving the paint/ water from the top of the brush head down closer to the tip as well as helping the brush tip form a nice point. It's a very hands on and every artist has a different method, you will eventually find your own but as this is a question I get asked about quite a lot I thought I would share my particular method here.

Before

after

These capitals are now waiting for their flourishing. Flourishing is deceptive because it looks like it should be easy to do but it actually isn't as easy as it looks. There is a certain pattern to how flourishes looked and how they sit around the letters. The very best way to learn is to do, see the mistakes, go back and study more then do some more until one gets a feel for how the pen and ink is handled. It's not just random squiggly lines but I'll post more on that when I get this batch done.

Next step will be calligraphy and laying down the gold....

slightly OT: an oversized scribing job?

2011-01-25T17:26:00.004+01:00

His Majesty asked me to paint his shield with the kingdom arms.

I reviewed the current images of the kingdom arms in use, but found that the dragon is a bit too short, plump and 'cute' for my taste. Dragons are supposed to be fierce, not adorable!

So the dragon I painted is less polished than recent renditions, but is longer-bodied and (hopefully) fearsome.

The laurel wreath is technically supposed to be around the dragon-and-forest; but at the same time, in heraldry you use the charges to fill the space provided. This is not a perfect interpretation of the kingdom arms, but I think he'll still be recogniseable on the field.

The brilliant yellow is in fact an entire spray can of automotive body paint - it will probably outlast the shield itself.

Some recent work

2011-01-25T17:10:00.005+01:00

Two pieces based on the same exemplar, a 16th c printed and illuminated book of hours:

A Panache, given at 12th night by Ulfr and Caoimhe (left), and Companion of Albion, given to Baroness Margaret de May, by HRM Vitus, last weekend at Polderslot's winter feast.

I'm afraid my photos don't do either one justice, taken in limited light.

The Albion is on goatskin parchment, which Vitus and Guliette very generously gave to scribes at the end of their term as Viceroy and Vicereine a couple of years ago. Once more, it was a joy to work on, and survived my mistakes easily.

what gets planned and what takes place...

2011-01-24T15:19:00.000+01:00

I thought I would share this from a while back. Just to show a little of how what often gets planned and what actually happens can differ. At the time I was VERY proud of this work but now I see mistakes all over the shop. This is what happens when we look back and review the works we did in the past and this is why I always council scribes to keep copies of ALL of their work.

Every piece we do teaches us about the craft and as we progress we can also look back and see just how far we have come.

A scribe wannabe

2011-01-17T16:32:00.003+01:00

As Mistress Bridget has requested I will try to present myself a bit since I am new here. My name is Nicole d'Anjou and I live in the shire Juneborg in the principality of Nordmark. I had tried my hand a bit at both illumination and calligraphy with Countess Elsa, but at the university of Drachenwald I met Lady Aryanhwy, and that is where I really got caught by illumination. I have started to learn to paint with gouache colours and if you want to see what I have managed so far you are welcome to have a look at http://nicoleillumination.wordpress.com/ where I keep images of my work.
I would appreciate all comments on how I can improve myself and things I should try out. I want to learn and the rest of you have so much experience.

Whoo hoo congratulations

2011-01-16T21:24:00.002+01:00

go to Genevieve and Nerissa for becoming members of the Order of the Panache! Well done and yahooooooo! *does happy dance*

Pergamenata

2011-01-16T09:42:00.000+01:00

It seems it's a difficult paper to obtain in some places even though it's made in Italy. Anyway here is a nice link
http://www.paperideas.it . It is the Fedrigoni site for their paper. It's customer friendly and you can request samples. It comes in multiple languages (it, ger, eng, fr, spanish) and is a good over view of what this particular paper company offers.

I have always had good experiences when dealing with them and we all love he paper. So if you are having issues obtaining Pergamenata through conventional means I suggest trying out this site, seeing if you can get some samples or contact the local contact given ( on the side bar) You will probably have to create an account with them but they don't spam you and the benefits are great.

Bridget- who still has some pergamenata for sale.

Admin stuff

2011-01-12T00:51:00.000+01:00

Greetings wonderful scribes, dedicated readers and honoured guests,

For the new members just joining us please post an introduction of yourself to the group. While lurking can be fun we're a small group and we would very much like to get to know who you are. If you have your own gallery you'd like linked on the side bar email me I'll link it. While I understand people can be shy this here is a friendly place we won't bite and we really LOVE pictures.

I do cull inactive members from time to time usually after a year or so because this group is about participation and if you don't post or don't want to post you can still read and comment without being a member.

This is not an official Drachenwald website and while I don't mind announcements being posted on a variety of scribal related themes please don't abuse it. This is not a bulletin board it's a virtual scriptorium.

People come here for advice, help, and opinions or just to have their work admired so if you do comment please be polite but by the same token if the poster has asked for opinions on his or her works positive critiques are welcome and often sought out so don't be afraid to offer critique as long as it's done in a civil manner I am sure we can all agree it's a good thing. We are here to learn and to teach.

The blog was started in Nov 2006 so I think we've done quite well to still be a fairly active group. If anyone has questions or find broken links etc... feel free to email me. If you are after scribal work for the kingdom then please email the Signet Clerk, her email is also on the side bar. And if you are browsing be sure to check out all the really amazing galleries.

other than that happy scribing
Mistress Bridget

two firsts

2011-01-10T10:04:00.002+01:00

I combined two firsts into one scroll for Ulfr and Caoimhe's final court. (1) I'd always wanted to do a music-score based scroll since the HMM Library has so many music MSs, and (2) I finally, after nearly 15 years in the SCA, got around to entering something into an A&S competition. Here's the scroll and below it is my documentation:

The recipient was being recognized for his skill in music, so I went with a music-score theme. Here's my documentation:

Documentation for scroll based on 13th C music manuscript

Exemplar:
The scroll is modeled after two pages from Cod. S 384 (Universitätsbibliothek Bonn), f. 14r and f. 13v. This is a Latin manuscript dating to the 13th C. It is a gradual (a hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist), by Johannes von Valkenburg. My access to these two pages was via the Vivarium website, specifically http://cdm.csbsju.edu/u?/HMMLClrMicr,20446 and http://cdm.csbsju.edu/u?/HMMLClrMicr,20447. The two pages are reproduced above. [[Ed.: In the actual documentation. Here I just put the hyperlinks.]] These are the full sized images from the website. Because I could not zoom in to see sufficient detail, I thus had to extrapolate the penwork details.

Materials:
The scroll was done on 230g pergamenata; I used yellow rather than white because that was all that I had available. The score, the initials, and the left-hand border were painted using talens gouache vermillion and ultramarine light, and a 310-000 red sable paint brush. The calligraphy was done with a dip pen with a 3 1/2 metal nib (for the calligraphy) and C4 metal nib (for the musical notes), and Winsor & Newton calligraphy ink. The entire piece took two days; on the first day I drew out the margins, border, and score; calligraphed the text; painted and decorated the initials; and painted the score. The second day I added the musical notes and did the side border.

Calligraphy:
The calligraphy is my best attempt at copying the Gothic hand in the manuscript.

Capitals:
As can be seen, many of the capitals in my text do not appear in either of these pages (nor elsewhere in the MS), and thus I had to extrapolate. I focused on having straight, perpendicular lines on the insides of curves, and narrow centers of rounded letters (e.g., P, O, D). There was no way of telling what type of penwork filler was used in the original MS, given the lack of ability to zoom in, so I decided to fill large central areas with curliques, small central areas with dots, and then outline the entire initial in a solid line decorated with invections, with squiggles to fill in the spaces to the corners, so that each initial was roughly rectangular when finished.

Music:
The music is copied directly from f. 14v, with the exception that the music above "er of the Panache..." is taken from f. 13r. This is because when copying the music from f. 14v, I accidentally skipped over that line, and thus had to fill it in after the fact. I do not read music, medievally or modernly, so I have no idea if it makes any sense, but I wanted to stay as close to the original as possible rather than try to extrapolate, even though the result may look somewhat unbalanced to the modern eye.

Text:
Because of the available space, I was not able to write a period-style text, since these are generally extremely long and verbose. Instead, I stuck with something as simple as possible and with a large number of varied capitals to add extra interest to the design. Euterpe, the muse of music, was known to the medievals; she is mentioned in John Lydgate's Exposition of the Pater Noster (Cambridge, Jesus College 56 (Q.G.8); London, British Library, Harley 2255; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 683), dated to the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 15th C.