Making A Scroll With Arms
Heraldic art is valuable for scroll creation and the best way to personalize an award scroll.
How Do You Write Haiku?
I’m taking a non-SCA class. One assignment was to write a haiku. I thought “great – Haiku are probably period”. Well I had a few things to learn. You may already know they’re a three-line poem with lines having five, seven, and five syllables each, in that order. Now haiku didn’t begin that way. They started as a something called […]
Easy Does It SCA Scroll Creation From 2018
Last year about this time I gathered together my prior posts I’d written about scroll creation. The post was Easy Does It: SCA Scroll Creation. Though I didn’t plan it, the posted links round-up made a scroll creation how-to table of contents. And it’s been a very popular blog post. Since then I’ve added more, In case you missed any, you can see them below. Beginning SCA AoA Award Painting Tracing Uses Illuminated Diapering Guide To Blank Border Scroll Creation The Secrets Of Black And White Gouache Testing – Which Gouache Brand Rewets Best? Why Are Vellum And Parchment So Expensive? Secrets Of Artist Brush Repair Tips To Preventing Rusty Dip Pen Nibs How To Sharpen Your Broad-Edge Calligraphy Nib Tips To Drawing More Period People The Best Beginner’s Paint Making Post Tips And Tricks To Making A Neat Scroll Tips For Saving Money As An SCA Scribe Between last year’s list and this one, there’s a lot to take in. Please realize my offerings are not the only way you can do things. Create your art with your style and skill while striving to make it appear as a long lost page from a medieval illuminated manuscript. And take joy in what you create. Related Prior Post: Easy Does It: SCA Scroll Creation Post Round-Up
How-to Get Your SCA Recreations Noticed
Calontir’s Queens Prize just happened a month ago, September 15th. You may have seen pictures on FaceBook about it. Sadly I wasn’t able to go, but I had many friends that attended. Some were novices who didn’t enter. Why? Many people make authentic medieval items but lament writing documentation. Are you like them? You make something from start to finish […]
How-to Write An SCA Award Recommendation
Recognition in Court Do you know someone worthy of an SCA award? Someone who deserves recognition for their outstanding medieval recreations or plentiful service? If you do you can help them out by writing an award recommendation. Yes, you can do this. Anyone can submit one. In Calontir the easiest way to do this is by the Online Award Recommendation Form. Much simpler […]
Illuminated Diapering
One of the easiest ways you can embellish a scroll is to add diapering. Diapering is the geometric checker-board pattern you see in illuminated manuscripts. It adds dramatic visual interest and fills the vacuum medieval art abhorred. Link to image. Link to image. You may see them include gold leaf or without it. Link to image. Link to image; You may even find it decorating a grotesque animal or clothing article. Diapering isn’t difficult. You can make it simple or complex, whichever you want. The more complex patterns are easily created when worked in steps. It’s all based on a supporting grid, even if it’s invisible. You first construct a grid then systematically insert your chosen colors or patterns. Quality diapering is determined by evenly distributed grid lines. While you want an accurate grid I think extreme precision detracts from a medieval feel. You don’t want it to be vector-graphic perfect. With every diaper pattern, you begin with a grid. If you want you could generate one on Incomptech and trace it using your light-pad. I use a ruler and a 4H pencil, and evenly measure each side of my chosen space and make marks. I then connect opposing dots. If you want your lines visible go over them with ink then erase your pencil lines. This first diapering pattern was done into the late 14th century. It is the less complex one I’m sharing. It’s also easily modified using other shapes and patterns. You begin […]
How-to Paint And Pen Straight Lines
M. Giraude’s laurel scroll showing interlinear and filigree lines. For years I’ve fussed over painting straight lines on a scroll. I keep coming back to starting with a ruler and light pencil lines then painting over those lines. The problem is when you use light intensity paints like pink, white, or yellow you see the pencil line through the paint making them seem […]
It’s Clear: My New Way To Secure And Line Your Scroll
Previously I wrote about drawing calligraphy guidelines with a ruler and pencil. It’s one of the two simplest ways you can rule up a scroll page. The other easy way is the one I’ll tell you today. Use Incompetech.com’s free plain graph paper generator and print off the size grid you want. When using the graph generator you have many options. Unless you want to […]
Beginning SCA AoA Award Painting
Baronial Preprint Looking back over my posts I realize I haven’t told you about painting AOA award scrolls. Oops. Whether your Kingdom calls them “preprints” or “charters” they are a great way to learn illumination. And as you’re learning you’re doing a priceless service for your Kingdom or Barony. Monarchs of any SCA kingdom need hordes of preprint scrolls to […]
How To Find The Source Of Undocumented Online Images
Unidentified Pinterest Image You know those lovely illuminations you find on Pinterest when you search for scroll inspiration. Your perfect source but it has no manuscript information. There’s a way to find the source using the image. It’s called a “reverse image search.” This technique is called “a reverse image search.” It analyzes the image contents itself comparing its colors, shapes, and textures with a known sample. It does not use a picture’s associated keywords, tags, or descriptions. This helps you because you don’t need search terms or keywords. It saves you guessing at words that may not be related or use people’s fuzzy labeling. It helps you find images related to the sample or its popularity. It may also discover any altered or derivative works. To reverse image search using Google Chrome: find your chosen internet image right click on it click on “search Google for image” It’s simple, really. You can try it on the above Pinterest picture. What did you find? When I did it Google found more than 5 sites to check plus several computer-designated similar images. One interesting enough to explore further. While not something you’ll use daily, it is another research skill for your tool-kit. A handy tool for those pesky undocumented manuscript images. Related Prior Post: How To Google For Illuminated Manuscript Inspirations
The Best "How-to" Decorative Letters Book
If you’ve looked at the stunning art in medieval manuscripts and wondered how they were made then the main book you need for learning illumination is The Illuminated Alphabet: An Inspirational Introduction to Creating Decorative Calligraphy by author Patricia Seligman and calligrapher Timothy Noad. As SCA scribes know, illumination is a unique craft with its own techniques. It is not watercolor or acrylics. It’s not even illustration. So ferreting out its methods is tricky. The Illuminated Alphabet is the best book to help you learn methods to re-create historic illuminated letters. The book begins with a brief illuminated letters’ history, describing artists creating them and their patrons. It then delves into basic illumination techniques and a materials’ list. paper and vellum brushes, pens, and pencils paints and inks including gouache, egg tempera, and watercolors gilding techniques such as the combination of gold leaf and gesso My favorite explorations in the book are Noad’s illuminated letter adaptations from period masterpieces. They cover five individual manuscript styles: Celtic Romanesque Gothic Renaissance Modern Revival Each style includes upper and lower-case letter designs, borders and decorations, materials used, gilding instructions and a gallery. The examples featured are: the Lindisfarne Gospels the Book of Kells Emperor Henry II’s Periscopes the Lincoln Psalms a Bestiary Lion Books of Hours Whitevine Lettering William Morris a Horoscope Initial The Illuminated Alphabet has detailed instructions for each project and how they were adapted from original sources by the book’s artist. Step-by-step photographs and instructions include tips on […]
Using Gouache For Ink
M. Giraude’s scroll showing gouache ink interspace lines and filigree. Here’s something intriguing I tried on M. Giraude’s scroll. And it worked well. Better than I expected. I used gouache as ink. Since then I see several modern calligraphers online have done it. So my apologies if this is common knowledge. Even so, I am excited about it because it’s […]
17 Scribal Insights Of Patricia Lovett
Surfing YouTube I came across these well presented scribal videos. This series by Patricia Lovett is a perfect place for you to begin or review things scribal. They’re inspiring too. Lovett is a long time professional calligrapher. She also wrote Calligraphy and Illumination: A History and Practical Guide, The Art and History of Calligraphy, and others. Her information in the videos is great, but she also shares items she’s created or is selling. Most of these videos are less than 5 minutes long. Calligraphy – pens Calligraphy – papers Calligraphy – measuring lines Calligraphy – Setting up a calligraphy sloping board Calligraphy – using a pen Calligraphy – inks and paint Calligraphy – three golden rules Calligraphy – Spacing 1 (again) Calligraphy – Spacing 2 Calligraphy – sharpening nibs Calligraphy Clip – vellum and parchment Calligraphy Clip: Colour mixing in the pen Book of Hours Recreation Project 7+ minutes I combined the following videos for you into playlists based on one calligraphy script. Each script is taught by Patricia Lovett in Youtube videos. Uncial Script Playlist 6 videos Gothic Script Miniscules Playlist 7 videos Gothic Script Capitals Playlist 5 videos Italic Script Playlist 6 videos This is such a wonderful bunch of calligraphy videos. I hope you find time for them all or recommend them to a friend. Enjoy. Related Prior Post: The Art and History of Calligraphy, Book Review
How To Search For Illuminated Manuscripts Without Getting What You Don’t Want
There’s something I neglected to include when I posted about searching the internet for illuminated manuscripts. I left out telling you how to exclude something you know you don’t want, like Pinterest or Wikipedia items. It’s simple. You can eliminate things from your search by putting a minus before the term of the things you don’t want. Any word you google immediately preceded by a “-” sign excludes those items from your search results. Specifically, you type a space before the minus sign and none between the minus sign and your excluded things. When I search for illuminated manuscripts without “Pinterest” I enter illuminated manuscript -Pinterest. If you tried that link you’ll find the results come up under Google’s option “All”. If you click on the “Images” header you get this. Or just start your search on Google’s “Images” page. You can also exclude multiple items, but each term must include a minus sign immediately before it. Try illuminated manuscript -Wikipedia -Pinterest. Or possibly this, illuminated manuscript -French -Pinterest. And don’t forget the space just before the -. Omitting Pinterest boards may be important to you because not all image collections are well verified. Some board owners are better researchers than others. It’s your choice, but using the – operator will reduce your search clutter. Related Prior Post: How To Google For Illuminated Manuscript Inspirations
Easy Does It: SCA Scroll Creation Post Round Up
New Year’s Eve I spent time considering what I wanted to do with this blog. One goal is to be more organized and focused on my post topics. That should make the topics easier for you to follow. Scribal Art Collection Display To begin, I ferreted out my prior instructional posts. Previously they related to a project or class I was doing. That’s […]
Heralding: Lonely Tower’s Roll of Arms Project
Barony of the Lonely Tower’s Roll of Arms You’ve seen these before in earlier posts, often in the background. It’s Lonely Tower’s Roll of Arms. Anyone in the Barony who has an SCA heraldic device has a painted picture of it here with your name on the back. The oldest existing armorial is from the 13th century. They continued to be […]
How To Draw Calligraphy Guidelines With A Pencil And Ruler
I’ve mentioned lettering a scroll using a lightpad and a text mock-up to assist with line spacing for my calligraphy. This keeps me from omitting letters or words, wasting time restarting or using more of my limited pergamenata resources. Sometimes I use a preprinted grid in the same way. Both preprinted methods save time. But what do you do if […]
How to Find the Script Your Persona Might Have Used
In Russian Persona Recently on the SCA Scribes Facebook page, I came across the question “What script would my persona have used? The short answer is, “it depends.” Of course, there’s more… So my newest readers know, an SCA persona is “the fictional person you wish to have been, had you lived prior to 1600 A.D.” It embraces your name […]
How To Use Heraldry On SCA Scrolls
Bi-lingual Hebrew-English Scroll After calligraphy heraldry is probably the most common motif I include in a scroll. Whether it’s a recipient’s arms, the order’s device or the Calontir banner I use them somewhere. Even if the recipient’s persona came from a culture that didn’t have heraldry. When I receive a scroll assignment I first collect as much information about the recipient as I […]
How to Use Pergamenata for Scrolls
It’s here! My full-size pergamenata sheets arrived from John Neal Bookseller less than a week after I ordered them. With vellum costing $100 for a 12″x16″ page, I find machined pergamenata, a terrific alternative. It comes in heavy-weight, commonly used in the SCA, or a light-weight. I regularly used the light-weight until Calontir‘s Falcon Signet began providing heavy weight to […]
An Itinerant Scribe 