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…
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…
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…
British Library’s Arundel 11, f. 9 Detail I find designing and painting puzzle versal initials refreshing. They are uncomplicated, decorated capital letters that don’t take long to make. They may be created on most any size versal, whether average or impressive. And they can be used with any script from Caroline to Gothic–except Fraktur. At least I haven’t seen…
I was honored and excited to do a late German scroll recently. Excited for the opportunity to create cadels, as many late period German texts have. This is how I went about it. After receiving the text, I researched legal illuminated German works from the 15th century and calligraphy cadel images. I had my plan and did the layout. I…
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, from the Cotton Nero A.x manuscript 1400s. Via Wikimedia commons One of my favorite scribal books is The Illuminated Alphabet by Patricia Seligman with calligraphy by Timothy Noad. I value it for its 12 oversized illuminated letter projects taken from five historic eras. These versal letters are used to teach illumination…
Happy Easter Everyone. With Easter and the Holy Week before it I wondered what medieval images I could find about them. I expected there to be an illuminated manuscripts image bonanza and nerdy trivia, but first I needed find how to search for them. As usual, Wikipedia provides a place to start. Holy Week is Lent’s…
Scroll creation is like cooking. You begin the creative process knowing for whom you want to cook and when you want to serve it. You collect the essential ingredients you want to use, calligraphy, paint, and support. Using medieval sources, you add a pinch of intuition, a dash of inspiration, stir them together hoping for…
When you adventure into using a dip pen you will find its use noticeably different from cartridge pens. Even the supplies needed are different. Besides the obvious pen nib holder, nib, ink and paper I have a few other things I use along with my dip pen set up. Most of my nibs also have…
I’ve collected numerous calligraphy manuals over the years, searching for tips and tricks to improve my lettering. As an SCA scribe, my book criteria differ from calligraphy books for modern works. Here are my preferences. Traditional Calligraphy Guides The book should focus on the nib-lettering technique I want to learn. For most of us in…
Calontir‘s current Monarchs, Logan and Ylva, are Norse-Viking and the scroll they want me to do is for a person with a 14th century Western European SCA persona. How do I blend those two? I started by asking Google. Trolling for manuscript images with Google is helpful if you know the way it searches. Its search results…
Over my 26 years in the SCA I’ve heard many people lament writing documentation. They want to show off their authentic medieval re-creation. They excitedly show me the well-done “what’s it” they made from start to finish. It’s a real medieval-style treasure! They ask me, “What can I do to show it off, without writing documentation?” …