[Ansteorra] Original Scrolls

[Michelle Dodd]

Hear! Hear! As someone who has been painting charters for only a few months I would like to add only a few small comments. Not only does it take time and effort to paint a charter to MY satisfaction, it isn't cheap. The 'charters' may be disposable. The paint is not. One basic color tube is about $10. It is not used frivolously. Charters are done with care and hope that the recipient will enjoy it. 

 
YIS

Lady Gabriele


 

> Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 21:24:29 -0600
> From: ladycatrin at gmail.com
> To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Original Scrolls
> 
> I think it is very important to remember that a scribe's work is unique (a
> few other activities in the Society also come to mind) in that it is both an
> art AND a service. This puts the scribe in the rather unenviable position
> of being vulnerable to artistic criticism for doing something altruistic.
> 
> Take time to consider the fact that someone, somewhere, spent many long,
> painstaking hours lovingly crafting each scroll that is handed out in
> court--completely original or otherwise. Consider that they spent that time
> laboring over their project knowing that they were going to give it away for
> the sake of someone they may not even know, and then start the process
> anew--all out of love for their art and their kingdom.
> 
> Like everyone else who donates their time in service to the Society, they
> don't *have* to do this. It's not their job. For every one I've known,
> it's been a passion and a point of pride, but nobody is paying them to do
> it. And yet I look at the scrolls on my wall and can plainly see that the
> work that went into each one was as careful as if it were a paid commission.
> 
> I hear a lot of people saying "they could do it *this* way if they *really*
> wanted to." What that actually translates to is, "if they were willing to
> sacrifice even more of their time and effort." The bottom line, though, is
> that no one has the right to insist that someone else should be willing to
> take on more work and responsibility--not when they're volunteering in the
> first place, and not when we are all supposed to be here to enjoy ourselves
> and have fun.
> 
> It would be a little bit like saying that the cooks who prepare our feasts
> are simply not cooking up to the standards of other kingdoms, and that we
> should require them all to redact their recipes from primary sources and
> cook using strictly period ingredients and equipment. Someone is giving up
> their entire event to feed you. The food is tasty and edible and prepared
> with all the skill the cook possesses. If you want to march into the
> kitchen and demand better than that without offering to help, then I don't
> want to be in that kitchen to see the response. If your scroll is neat and
> pretty and presentable enough to hang on your wall, then the scribe has done
> her job and if you want more than that, you'll need to find yourself an
> artist to commission.
> 
> There is nothing wrong, of course, with being a scribe yourself and saying
> that you personally would like to make more original scrolls, and that you
> would like to help others who are interested in doing the same. This is a
> worthy and wonderful undertaking. Pushing yourself and encouraging others
> to excel is always a wonderful thing. But whether it's intended or not, to
> say that it would be better if everyone got an original scroll is to
> minimize the efforts of the people who have labored, out of the kindness of
> their hearts, to give their gifts to the kingdom in the form of innumerable,
> beautifully painted charters.
> 
> -Catrin ferch Maelgwn
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