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The Æthelmearc Gazette

~ Covering the Kingdom of Æthelmearc of the SCA

The Æthelmearc Gazette

Category Archives: Scribal

Signets Need Your Scroll Cases!

18 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by aethgazette in Scribal

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Scroll Cases

Hello folks. I’m wearing both my Baronial Signet and my Regional Signet hat today.

Now that we’ve seen a return to in-person events, we have been blessed with a great many wonderful awards. Our scribes are awesome and talented and have risen to the challenge.

With each scroll, we try to include a scroll case so that the beautiful piece of art can be transported home safely without damage.

However, as a result, we are now running low on scroll cases!

This is a good problem to have! But now I’m asking folks to take a look around and see if they have any scroll cases at home that could be returned for Baronial and/or Kingdom use (you should get that scroll framed and put on display anyway).

Also, if folks have the time and inclination to make scroll cases, they are just two pieces of cardboard covered in fabric…a great way to use up scraps! Most scrolls fall between 9×12 and 12×20, so those sizes of scroll cases are the most useful.

I will be at War Practice. (I’m also Signet Of The Day) Scribal Playtime will be on Saturday from 1-5 in the Great Hall and I’ll be there. This would be the perfect time and place to drop off scroll cases.

I will also be at BMDL’s Japanese Iris Festival on June 4. And, of course, Pennsic.

Thank you in advance!!!

In service,

THL Rachel Dalicieux

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Online Æthelmearc Heralds and Scribes Symposium April 10

26 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Heraldry, Scribal

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Heralds & Scribes, Symposium

Greetings Æthelmearc,

Silver Buccle Herald and the Sylvan Signet invite you to attend the Online Æthelmearc Heralds and Scribes Symposium for 2021.

It will be held on April 10 starting at 9AM.

We are actively seeking teachers in both heraldic and scribal subjects.

Please visit the event website to sign up to teach a class or to view the event schedule and list of already registered classes.

heraldry.aethelmearc.org/events/heralds-and-scribes-2021.html

In Service,
jorundr hinn rotinn
Silver Buccle Herald

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Society-Wide Virtual Known World Heralds & Scribes Symposium Includes a Heralds’ Point

19 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by aethgazette in Announcements, Event Announcements & Updates, Heraldry, Scribal

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Heraldry, Heralds & Scribes, Known World Heralds & Scribes, KWHSS

Greetings Ӕthelmearc,

In conjunction with Known Word Heralds and Scribes Symposium being held this weekend, there will be a Virtual Heralds Point! See below for signups to join in and consult on names and arms for gentles From across the Known World!

Cheers,
Brandubh, Silver Buccle


The SCA College of Arms will be hosting a Virtual Heralds Point for three weeks beginning on Sunday, Jan 24th. Whether you’ve been meaning to get something registered for a while but can’t find your local herald, or you’re a herald looking for a little more consulting work, this is a great opportunity to get something moving. Links to the sign-up forms can be found at http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldspoint/.

The best part of this consulting table is that we’ll be taking electronic payments via Paypal for submissions. So if you’ve been putting off submitting, this is the time to do it! The hope is that it will be very flexible, a submitter can enter their ideas and preferred forms of contact, and a herald will get in touch and try to help them through the process, either slowly by email over the course of a number of days, or in one hit over a zoom meeting, whatever it takes. Sign up today over at http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldspoint/.

Thanks!

Lillia


Note: Information on the Virtual Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium is available here: https://sites.google.com/view/MidYearKWHSS2021

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SCA Shop Talk: Bee and Elephant

29 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, SCA Shop Talk, Scribal

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merchants

Welcome to a new feature of the Æthelmearc Gazette: SCA Shop Talk!

With gift-giving holidays coming and the pandemic making it hard for small businesses to survive, we thought it would be great to help support our merchants by getting the word out about their shops. We’ll post interviews with SCA merchants where we ask them about their businesses and the goods they sell.

If you are an SCA merchant and would like to be featured in a future column, please write to us at aethgazette@gmail.com.

Our first merchant is Lady Nichola Beese, of the Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands.

What’s the name of your shop?

Lady Nichola Beese

Bee & Elephant

How long have you been in business (online or at events)?

Since June of 2019.

What website do you use? What do you like/dislike about selling through that venue?

Our shop is set up through Square Up. https://bee-and-elephant.square.site/

I find the software intuitive and user-friendly, which is a major consideration. And Square makes card readers and hardware that are very useful for in-person sales. The major downside is that they don’t take Paypal, which means tracking those transactions separately.

What kinds of goods are you selling?

Handmade parchment, inks, and hide glue. Custom sewing, fabric painting, and embroidery, everything from Birka caps to ornate livery coats to shirts for ten man teams. Handmade pottery, jewelry, scribal tools and supplies, animal bones and hides, and the odd vintage piece that catches my eye. I’m currently working on establishing a partnership with a local potter for some exclusive pieces, and am very excited to have a source for handmade girdle books.

What are your most popular products?

The parchment is by far our most popular item, I think because it is a consumable item. We also have a very popular scribal pigment kit for folks wanting to experiment with making their own paints, and our first original product, the leather-cover needle book, continues to be popular.

Are you also the artisan as well as the seller?

For a number of things, yes. All the parchment, glue, and inks are my work, and so is the custom sewing and embroidery, to this point.

Do any other artisans sell through your shop?

Least Weasel Weaving provides our narrow goods, and I am working on a new pottery line with Terru Ceramics.

Do you offer any kinds of discounts or special offers? If so, what?

We offer periodic, and rather random sales, generally on our entire catalog.

How has business been since the pandemic, and has the pandemic made it harder or easier to make items to sell?

The pandemic, coupled with personal circumstances, made me really focus on parchmenting and establishing the business online the past six months or so.

I’m home more often, which is good for production, but so are the children, which is definitely not!

Is there anything else you’d like prospective customers to know?

I never thought I could be one of those people who turned a hobby into a job, but I really enjoy my work and creating things for the community to use. I love working with people on custom projects, especially the challenge of making reality match up with their dream.

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Virtual Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium 2021

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by aethgazette in Heraldry, SCA @ Home, Scribal

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KWHSS

Breaking Heraldic and Scribal News!

There will be a Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium held in January of 2021. The event will be a three day online event running January 22 to the 24th 2021. More details will be coming soon for attendees and class registration.

Check the event website for event updates.

Cheers,
Brandubh, Silver Buccle

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Call for Letters of Intent: Kingdom Signet

28 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by aethgazette in Announcements, Officer Announcements, Scribal

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Call for Letters, Signet

scribe3As the term of our Our office will conclude in April 2021, we are seeking letters!

It is time to call for Letters of Intent from the Sylvan Signets office. This position requires a highly organized individual with excellent communication skills both in writing and in person, strong interpersonal skills and the ability to maintain composure under stressful circumstances. It also requires familiarity with platforms such as google docs, spreadsheets, both in google and Excel, as well as being available via phone, text, IM and email on a daily basis. This position needs an average of 20 hours a week, sometimes more for upcoming events such as Pennsic, War Practice and 12th Nights. This position does involve significant travel, as the Signet’s presence is important at Royal progress events, ideally 2 or more Royal Progress events per month.

To this end, we wish to offer an outline of some of the work that is done by the Signet’s office:

  • Coordinate the assigning of scrolls- including, but not limited to coordinating illuminators, wordsmiths and calligraphers and the transition of the scroll to its final destination.
  • Keep detailed records of assignments, both current and backlogs.
  • Providing physical and digital copies of the docket to Their Majesties, their Jewel Herald, substitute Heralds and the Silver Buccle Herald.
  • Assign, coordinate and monitor assignments provided to deputies. Deputy roles include: Drop-dead, Education, Backlog, Regional, Website, Fundraising, Special projects and the Scribal Retreat.
  • Teach and mentor scribes through personal contact, retreats, classes, contests, and community building.
  • Function as a presence and as an administrator for the Scribal Facebook page as well as provide content for the Signet’s web page
  • Curia reports/attendance
  • Ordering vellum for each reign and assigning the County and Ducal scrolls
  • Organize and attend the Scribal Tea at Pennsic
  • Administer the scribal track at Pennsic through the Education Deputy

The specific policies of the Signet’s Office can be found at http://signet.aethelmearc.org/policies-2/policies/.

If you have any questions about the position, please don’t hesitate to contact us at AEsignet@gmail.com or through IM. If you would like to be considered for the position, please submit your resume and a letter of interest detailing your current involvement in the scribal community and plans of action to further enrich the scribal community through your 2 year term of office. Deadline for letters is December 1, 2020. Letters of intent and resume are to be submitted to the following: ae.king@aethelmearc.org, ae.queen@aethelmearc.org, ae.seneschal@aethelmearc.org.

Thank you,

Co-Signets of Æthelmearc
Mistress Antoinette de la Croix OL OP
THL Shirin of Susa

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Behind the Scenes: Serena Milani shares her VQPT entry

19 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by aethgazette in A&S Faire, Arts & Sciences, Scribal

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Queen's Prize Tourney, virtual A&S

Today’s article in our series on the Kingdom’s Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney is about a beautiful entry titled Italian Humanism: White-Vine Illumination on Vellum, made by artisan Serena Milani. As we do not have the ability to converse with our entrants face to face, the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney now offers the opportunity to drool over images and read the documentation right there on the Kingdom Ministry of Arts & Sciences website – even to leave feedback! And to learn a little more about the artisan and their thoughts behind their entry, the organizers decided to broaden our traditional entry of object and documentation with personal interviews.

serena finished scroll

The scroll is a recreated Italian white-vine illumination that is gilded and painted with homemade pigments on a sheet of sheep vellum. It was created for a Fleur d’Aethelmearc recipient with collaboration from Nichola Beese who created and provided the sheep vellum, from Jehan LeBlanc who provided the words, and Magdalena Txoperena for doing the beautiful calligraphy.

Serena’s scroll is a recreated Italian white-vine illumination that is gilded and painted with homemade pigments on a sheet of sheep vellum. The scroll was created for a Fleur d’Aethelmearc recipient. The 11” by 14” sheep vellum is crafted by Nichola Beese. The homemade pigments (ultramarine blue, red ochre, bohemian green earth, and zinc white), gilding (with 24k gold) and illumination, done in the Italian white-vine style, is created by Serena Milani. Later on, words, created by Jehan LeBlanc, were calligraphed by Magdalena Txoperena.

Could you tell me a little about you, your persona.

My persona, Serena Milani, is influenced by the real-life female artist known as Artemisia Gentileschi. During the renaissance, in the area modernly known as Italy, the arts flourished and trade with foreign cultures was prosperous. There my persona lives…

Serena Milani is an aspiring scribe and painter from Milan who moved to Florence to study art. During her time there, she is learning how to make her own paints, gild, and paint beautiful works of art. Recently, she was commissioned to create a scroll for the noble and most honorable Lady Fede di Fiore with calligraphy assistance from Magdalena Txoperena. The scroll was completed and presented on time and the recipient is pleased with the piece.

What inspired you to make your entry?

When I found out that THL Fede di Fiore was to receive her Fleur d’Aethelmearc, I was thrilled to do the illumination. I asked Nichola Beese for sheep vellum, Jehan LeBlanc for words, and for Magdalena Txoperena to do the calligraphy. THL Fede di Fiore was one of the first individuals in the SCA to welcome me and to teach me sewing. She taught and assisted me with creating a beautiful Tudor dress to wear for my first Æthelmearc 12th night in the shire of Abhainn Ciach Ghlais. It was a dream come true! Fede’s skills as a seamstress are remarkable and her art is magnificent. I am very honored to illuminate her Fleur d’Aethelmearc scroll.

serena headshots

THL Fede di Fiore (on the right) assisted me with creating a beautiful Tudor dress to wear for my first Æthelmearc 12th night in the shire of Abhainn Ciach Ghlais. It was a dream come true!

What is your intention with your entry?

My intention with this piece was to create it as historically as possible, in a safe manner. It is based off of Italian humanism: white-vine illumination. THL Fede di Fiore’s persona is Italian, so this style fits her persona perfectly. I created my own pigments and paints. Those were ultramarine blue, red ochre, green earth, and zinc white. I gilded the sheep vellum using homemade gesso and 24k gold leaf. Once the scroll was calligraphed by Magdalena Txoperena, it was framed and then presented to THL Fede di Fiore in person during the virtual Æthelmearc Æcademy Court on 7/11/2020.

Did the entry throw up any unexpected issues?

Overall, this project went very smoothly and came together in a timely fashion. The most challenging aspect of the illumination was designing and creating the knotwork in the Italian white-vine. Knotwork can be tricky. After practicing and drafting, the knotwork turned out lovely. It is fun to follow the vines with your eye.

Did you learn something specific, something you would do differently, or would recommend others to do again?

I really enjoy gilding. I love the aesthetics of gold. I want to continue improving my gilding skills. Furthermore, if I could, I would have loved to use the historical pigments of vermilion and lead white. However, crafting those pigments are dangerous and not safe because of the mercury in cinnabar, which is used to make the pigment vermilion, and lead in lead white. Additionally, I do not live in an environment in which I could safely paint with those pigments.

What motivated you to enter the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney?

I entered the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney to share my love of the scribal arts. I also want to demonstrate my progress as an artist and receive feedback. I am honored if anyone is inspired by me to create their own historical scribal pieces. Furthermore, the timing worked out well in my favor.

Anything else you would like to share?

I would like to thank Nichola Beese for creating and providing the sheep vellum, Jehan LeBlanc for the words, Magdalena Txoperena for doing the beautiful calligraphy and painting the device and badges at the bottom of the calligraphy and the scribal college for being supportive and teaching me illumination. Ultimately, I want to thank THL Fede di Fiore for being a wonderful teacher, enabling me in the arts and for her friendship.

serena group portrait

The proud recipient of her Fleur d’Æthelmearc scroll.

Thank you, Serena Milani, for sharing your wonderful work with our Kingdom’s artisans and populace!

If you would like to see Serena’s entry, follow this link. And if you liked her work, have a question to ask, or a tip to share – please leave your comments with her entry! You can “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of the entry’s page. Their Majesties announced the winners in Virtual Court at the Æthelmearc Æcademy on July the 11th, and the winners are listed in the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney website.

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Winners of the Kingdom Scribal Contest Announced

17 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, SCA @ Home, Scribal

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Scribal competition

From Mistress Antoinette de la Croix and Baroness Shirin of Susa, Kingdom Signets:

We were SUPER busy selecting the winners for the contest, packing up for shipment all the gorgeous backlog scrolls that our talented scribes created and photographing the lot. The category and the winner(s) are listed below. Where there is more than one winner, they are ordered alphabetically.

30 scribes participated in the contest, 28 backlog scrolls were created and another 36 blanks scrolls were submitted for a total of 64 scrolls! Our scribes are the BEST!
Thank you EVERYONE for participating, this has been a blast and has made lots of recipients very very happy!

  • The Plague – Mistress Luceta DiCosimo
  • Roman/Greek – Lady Aurelie of Nithgaard
  • Byzantine – Lady Aurelie of Nithgaard
  • Tetralogical/Novgorod/Russ – Baroness Bubba Blackhammer, Lady Aurelie of Nithgaard
  • Miscellaneous – Lady Kolfinna Jodisardottir
  • Glorious Goldwork – THLady Phelippe “Pippi” Ulfsdottir, Lady Serena Milani
  • 14 Century Acanthus – Sir Ardan Scott
  • French Quilts – THLady Edith of Winterton, THLady Vivienne of Yardley, THLord Owen Tegg
  • Wondrous Whitework – Master Caleb Reynolds
  • Romanesque – Sir Ardan Scott
  • Psalters – Mistress Abigail Kelhogge, Sir Murdoch Bayne
  • Squashed Bugs/Flowers – Lady Allesandra Serena Renda of Gibellina
  • Celtic/Knotwork – Lady Judith Krahe von Schwarzwald
  • Zoomorphic – Lady Aine ingen Ui Briain
  • Italian Renaissance – Lady Fede di Fiore
  • French Renaissance – Lady Nichola Beese
  • All ink, all day – Lady Eilionora inghean Bhaird, Lady Alianora Bronhulle, THLady Ceindrech ferch Elidir, THL Zosia Kowalewska
  • Black and white – Lady Arsalan Egesig
  • Non Traditional – Lady Nichola Beese
  • Oldest Backlog – Lady Tierrany Rose Orre (AS33)
  • Most personalized backlog – Lady Grainne Ruadh
  • Peerages – Baroness Bubba Blackhammer, Lady Fede di Fiore, Mistress Fredeburg von Katzenellenbogen, Lady Nichola Beese, Baroness Shirin of Susa
  • Visconti Lover – Lady Kadlin Sigvaldakona (we added this category AFTER because Antoinette was so impressed with the THREE Visconti blanks she submitted)
  • NO entries for Scroll with largest number of scribes working on it
  • NO entries for marvelous minuscules

Video slide shows of the entries are available at the links below:

  • Video #1
  • Video #2
  • Video #3
  • Video #4
  • Video #5
  • Video #6

Scribal Contest - Tierrany Rose Orre

One of the winning scrolls, by Lady Tierrany Rose Orre.

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Behind the Scenes: Caleb Reynolds Shares His VQPT Entry

09 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by aethgazette in A&S Faire, Arts & Sciences, Interviews, Scribal

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Queen's Prize Tourney, virtual A&S

Another fine artisan to participate in our Kingdom’s Virtual Queens Prize Tourney is Master Caleb Reynolds, who entered with a wonderful illumination. His entry “Axeman vs Centaur” sure sounds intriguing, and of course we all want to know more! As we do not have the ability to converse with our entrants face to face, the Virtual Queens Prize Tourney offers the opportunity to fawn over images and read the documentation right there on the Kingdom Ministry of Arts & Sciences website – even to leave feedback! And to learn a little more about the artisan and their thoughts behind their entry, the organizers decided to broaden our traditional entry of object and documentation with personal interviews.

scroll0149-1488x2048

Two reproductions of an inhabited initial from the Hunterian Psalter, by Caleb Reynolds.

Could you tell us a little about you, your persona?

I am Caleb Reynolds. I joined the SCA in November 1984 after seeing an armored combat demonstration at the Texas Renaissance Festival. I tracked down my local chapter (Barony of the Stargate) by looking up Richard Lionheart’s number in the phone book. My persona is a late 11th century Norman in occupied Saxon England. My piece is based on the Hunterian Psalter, which was produced in York around 1170, about a century after William’s conquest. While my persona would not have lived long enough to have seen this book, he might have been familiar with similar psalters, particularly as he rose in the ranks of landed nobility.

What inspired you to make your entry?

I like the image. I enjoy the elegant simplicity of the Hunterian Psalter artwork. There is such a diverse variety of images that it is one of my “go to” sources for inspiration. I had no actual assignment in mind for the large image, planning on holding onto the blank until the next assignment I received relating to thrown weapons (the image contains an axe and a spear). I had completed the large image when the Shelter-in-place Scribal War was announced. And since I already had a high-res image of the source material, as well as my version of it, I asked to do the ‘A’ for AEthelmearc’s challenge and, as the first one to respond, I was given that honor.

What is your intention for your entry?

The smaller image, essentially a miniature scroll blank, was sent in for the Shelter-in-place Scribal War. The larger version might be used for the thrown weapons tourney at Summer’s End this year, if normal returns to town. Otherwise, it will be used next year.

Did the entry throw up any unexpected issues?

The larger image gave me the usual anxieties: What am I doing? Why did I pick these colors? I’m going to ruin it. I am satisfied with the end result, but, looking at the scan, my eyes are automatically drawn to the flaws. The smaller piece; that was a completely different set of hurdles. The same second guessing, but this time on actual vellum, which I’ve never worked on, before. For non-scribes, gouache soaks into paper (the larger image was done on 100% cotton paper), and since it soaks in, it stays put as long as you don’t put too much paint on at once. Vellum doesn’t behave that way: the paint floats on top of the material and can move to places you don’t want it, particularly if you tip the paper. Pergamenata (a plant-based vellum substitute) is the same way. My method of dealing with this issue was to apply a thin, thin coat of pigment in each area, to act as a primer. Once the primer coat was dry, subsequent layers of pigment bonded to the primer and was less likely to run to other areas. As small as the vellum piece is, 3×2 inches, I used four or five layers of gouache in order to get the depth of the shadows and the shading.

Did you learn something specific, something you would do differently, or would recommend others to do again?

I might not have chosen this image for the Scribal War. I had thought that it was going to be easy; I had already made a larger version of the image, and a smaller image meant that I would use less paint. The thing that I didn’t take into account was that this is a detailed image, even for a 12th century manuscript. Other entrants used the majority of the vellum, while I made a tiny, tiny scroll blank. I needed to wear off-the-shelf reading glasses in order to see what I was doing. I did make a number of small mistakes that I worked around because I have zero experience with scraping paint off of vellum: I did not want to damage the fragment. It certainly challenged me.

What motivated you to enter the Virtual Queens Prize Tourney?

I hope that I can inspire others to try their hand at illumination. I certainly do not consider myself to be one of the Kingdom’s top illuminators: I can’t do perspective; I can’t get gold leaf to stick to anything other than my hands; my “calligraphy” is basically me trying to print neatly. I am envious of my fellow scribes and their skills. But, I have heard from tons of people over the years that they couldn’t make a scroll as good as {INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR FAVORITE SCRIBE HERE}. I’ve said it, myself. We have magnificent scribes who can make scrolls as good as the Duc de Berry’s book of hours, or Catherine of Cleves’. But some people are under the impression that unless they can scribe at that level, their work won’t be wanted; so they don’t try. It’s like saying, “I will never be as good of a fighter as Sir Maynard, so there’s no point in putting on armor and learning.”

Our Kingdom does not promote this idea (some Kingdoms do, but they aren’t as nice as Æthelmearc), but it’s a mental road block for people. “I can’t do that, so I won’t even try.” I do early period designs, where my artistic skill is no better or worse than the scribe from a 1,000 years ago. I enjoy showing people that if they can color between the lines, and practice some very basic techniques, they can make wonderful work. Both of these scrolls are just 7 colors: Red, dark blue, light blue, green, brown, gold, and a little bit of white. If I can inspire new scribes to try their hands on the early period work, perhaps they will gain the confidence and skills to do the more complicated, later period pieces.

Thank you, Master Caleb Reynolds, for sharing your wonderful work with our Kingdom’s artisans and populace!

If you would like to see Caleb’s entry, follow this link. And if you liked his work, have a question to ask, or a tip to share – please leave your comments with his entry! You can “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of the entry’s page. We have four more weeks to peruse, enjoy and interact with the entrants. Make use of the opportunity, if you can!

Would you like to enter your own project? The deadline for entering the Virtual Queens Prize Tourney is June 30th, and you can find all you need to know on how to enter on the KMOAS website.

 

 

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Behind the Scenes – Kingdom Arts & Sciences Championship: Black Parchment by Mistress Abigail Kelhoge

21 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by aethgazette in A&S Competition and Display, Arts & Sciences, Scribal

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A&S, black parchment, competition, scribal supplies

All of the black manuscripts that we know about were made during the time of Philip the Good and Charles the Bold  from Burgundy, but only seven survive today; among them are the Morgan Black Hours, the Black Hours in the Hispanic Society in NY, the Black Hours of Galeazzo Maria Sforza in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and select pages in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy in the Austrian National Library.  The Morgan Black Hours (MS M. 493) was made in Bruges, then part of Burgundy, (modern day Belgium), in 1475-80 by an Anon. artist in the circle of Willem Vrelant.  The book measures 17×12 cm (approx. 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ in.) and has 242 pages with 14 full page miniatures.  It is written in gold and silver ink with opaque pigments that stand out from the black parchment.

The black dye process makes the parchment unstable.  Instead of lasting for two thousand years, most black parchment will only last for a fraction of that; an estimated 50-600 years and considering that half of the surviving manuscripts are in poor condition that is an accurate estimate.  The Morgan Black Hours are currently undergoing conservation to see if the paint can be stabilized as the parchment has become brittle.

The Morgan Library says that this vellum (1) is smooth and shiny.  Looking at the digital images, you can see some cracking on the paint, and flaking or uneven uptake of the black on the parchment.  Some of this may be due to wear and tear, but I think most of it is original and reflects the natural textures of the surface.  Facsimile Finder and Wikipedia both claim that the parchment was dipped or soaked in an iron-copper solution, which is possible as that follows some black leather dye recipes of the time, but judging by the look of the finished product, I would say this was painted on in layers as per Cennini’s instructions.

Dipping can be a problematic process at best, and disastrous at worst; other parchmenters have tried dipping without much success and it is not recommended as it creates a big mess, uses a large amount of dye/ink, and leaves the parchment with a bad texture that is difficult to work on.

Below are Cennino d-Andrea Cennini’s instructions from Il Libro del Arte (translated by Daniel V. Thompson Jr.), written in the late 1300’s, and rearranged by me for process clarity.

“When you want to tint kid parchment, you should first soak it in spring or well water until it gets all wet and soft. Then, stretching it over a board, like a drumskin, fasten it down with big-headed nails, and apply the tints to it in due course, as described above” (below).

(He gives instructions on how to mix colored ink).  “Then take a large paint pot, big enough for these ground colours, and put in enough of this size to make it flow freely from the brush. And choose a good-sized soft bristle brush. Then take that paper of yours which you wish to tint; lay some of this tint evenly over the ground of your paper, running your hand lightly, with the brush about half dry, first in one direction and then in the other. And put on three or four coats of it in this way or five, until you see that the paper is tinted evenly. And wait long enough between one coat and the next for each coat to dry. And if you see that it gets shriveled from your tinting, or horny from the tinting mixture, it is a sign that the tempera is too strong; and so, while you are laying the first coat, remedy this. How? –Put in some clear warm water. When it is dry and done, take a penknife, and rub lightly over the tinted sheet with the blade, so as to remove any little roughness that there may be on it.
If it should come about that the paper or parchment is not smooth enough to suit you, take this paper, and lay it on a walnut board, or on a flat, smooth slab; then put a sheet of good clean paper over the one which you have tinted; and, with the stone for burnishing and working gold, burnish with considerable strength of hand; and so, in this way, [p. 10] it will get soft and smooth.”

Using Cennini’s method for coloring a piece of parchment (black), I did a test swatch on sheep with iron gall ink, front and back.  It worked well, so I decided to try an entire piece of parchment.

IMG_0920

Process:
I received the hide of a downed sheep (that means it died in the field), and it was filthy.  The hide was full of holes and discolored on the flesh side.  I fleshed (2) and dried it, then soaked it in water for a week to remove as much dirt as possible (at which point it froze, and fortunately absorbed the tannin (3) that would become necessary to make good black parchment – I did not know this at the time).  Then I prepared the parchment as per Theophilus’ instructions.

Theophilus, a 12th Century scholar offers a set of instructions:

“Take goat skins and stand them in water for a day and a night. Take them and wash them until the water runs clear. Take an entirely new bath and place therein old lime and water mixing well to form a thick cloudy liquor. Place the skins in this, folding them on the flesh side. Move them with a pole two or three times each day, leaving them for eight days (and twice as long in winter). Next you must withdraw the skins and unhair them. Pour off the contents of the bath and repeat the process using the same quantities, placing the skins in the lime liquor and moving them once each day over eight days as before. Then take them out and wash well until the water runs quite clean. Place them in another bath with clean water and leave them there for two days. Then take them out, attach cords and tie them to the circular frame. Dry, then shave them with a sharp knife after which leave them for two days out of the sun. Moisten with water and rub the flesh side with powdered pumice. After two days wet it again by sprinkling with a little water and fully clean the flesh side with pumice so as to make it quite wet again. Then tighten up the cords, equalize the tension so that the sheet will become permanent. Once the sheets are dry, nothing further remains to be done.” (Reed, 1975, p. 74).

I rinsed it as well as I could and tried a second fleshing on the beam to remove the stains from the flesh side.  They did not come out.  The finished parchment felt lovely, so I decided to dye it.

Ceninni emphasizes how important it is to use a dry brush.  He is working on pre-cut sheets, re-stretched tight like watercolor paper.  I left the parchment on the original stretcher rather than waste materials re-stretching and re-cutting.

I used a softer hog bristle brush and iron gall ink as I had a lot on hand. I brushed the ink on both sides in one direction quickly, letting it dry flat on each side.  Then I repeated perpendicular to the first application and let each side dry again.  I applied the final coat on the diagonal and let everything dry overnight.

IMG_0928

It was critically important to keep the ink coats light and dry, because too much moisture caused softening and a permanent gasoline-like stain where I accidentally dripped, even after trying to sop it up.  In subsequent experiments with other inks & dyes this has held true, so this is why I doubt the dipping theory – too much liquid is a recipe for disaster on parchment.

I cut the black parchment off the frame and made it into 8×10 sheets.  I made the mistake of using a metal ruler, which left silver-point lines on the parchment. I used the offcuts to patch holes with a small amount of commercial hide glue; some patches were more successful than others. This is one of the most even pieces of parchment I’ve made to date (March 2019).

IMG_0932

Several people have worked on this black parchment with varying degrees of success.  It has a slightly chalky texture, which creates a bit of drag on brushes & pigments, but it seems to be relatively user-friendly.  The gold watercolor took beautifully; the cobalt blue watercolor needed titanium white to show.  I will definitely try again, though with more purposeful use of tannin next time.  Test swatches show that the uptake is not as good without the mordant. (4)

References

  • The Morgan Library, Black Hours MS M. 493
  • You can read some historic information about the surviving black hours on Facsimile Finder.
  • Cennino D’ Andrea Cennini. The Craftsman’s Handbook. The Italian “Il Libro dell’ Arte.” Translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1933, by Yale University Press.
  • Ceninni’s instructions for tinting paper and parchment for drawing
  • Wikipedia on Cennino Cennini
  • Theophilus’ instructions for making parchment

Definition of Terms

(1) I will refer to this as parchment from here on out because all vellum is parchment but not all parchment is vellum; vellum being from calf exclusively.
(2) Fleshing is the process of removing any remaining tissue from the inside of a hide or pelt.  Once that is done the hide can be frozen, salted, dried, or moved on to the next stage.
(3) Tannin is used as a mordant to help iron-based dyes adhere to fabric and leather.  I inadvertently mordanted this hide, which allowed the iron to chemically bond to the tannin, creating a near-perfect black substrate.
(4) A mordant is a chemical treatment to fiber (in this case skin) that allows a molecular bond between the dye and the fiber. It “fixes” the color in place.  Without tannin, the iron does not bond as easily to the parchment.

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