Does everyone know that we have a group for JUST pictures of scrolls? No scribal announcements or cool art tips – there are other groups for those important things.
The Æthelmearc Scroll and Scribal Gallery is just for pictures of scrolls. The initial premise was that it was for the recipient to do the posting, but it is okay if the artist does so instead. However, let’s look at the benefits of having the recipient do it.
First, the scribe knows you got it and love it! Second, the artist may not have gotten a picture and if they did, their picture may not have royal signatures or even calligraphy on it. Third, you get to brag on their work for them.
Oh shoot, you might be thinking, I didn’t know about this back when I got my award last year. Or 5 years ago. Or 20 years ago. It doesn’t matter! Put a picture here! I was thrilled to once see a scroll pop up that I had never photographed. If you put each scroll in its own post, then when people go to the photo gallery it is just example after example of what we do.
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.
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/.
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?
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.
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.
As 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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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!