[Scriptoris] Fwd: [SCA_S&I] Re: Photos of Mary Rose County

[Hillary Greenslade]

For those who checked out Ari's new scribal project online, 
here are the specifications on what/how she created it. 

(will have to paste together)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=p3vrgn8.bcbcgv0k&Uy=-nd0gbk&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=929750181603_455561773108

Enjoy, Hillary

--- scribe_ari <scribe.ari at gmail.com> wrote:
> To: SCA_Scribes_and_Illumination at yahoogroups.com
> From: "scribe_ari" <scribe.ari at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:54:20 -0000
> Subject: [SCA_S&I] Re: Photos of Mary Rose County
> 
> --- In SCA_Scribes_and_Illumination at yahoogroups.com, "Gael Stirler"
> <gael at ...> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Hanim Ari,
> > 
> > Thank you for sharing the pictures of the County scroll for Mary Rose. 
> > Please tell us what brand and type of paper, paints, and brushes you 
> > used. If you used Perg for the support, please advise on how you kept 
> > it from cockling even though there was such a large coverage of paint. 
> > YOu say that it took 3 months. What parts were the most time 
> > consumming and what parts went quickly? You were working on a County 
> > scroll and therefore didn't require secrecy, why did you still prefer 
> > to do the calligraphy last? 
> > 
> > Just curious about other scribes techniques and methods,
> > Mistress Dairine
> >
> 
> Paper: Pergamenta supplied by Dame Katherine. It is not my favorite
> and I think this page was a part of a faulty batch as it retained oils
> within its makeup that even with endless page preperation still caused
> chipping of paint if not managed aggressively. I prefer vellum.
> 
> Paints: Mix of period powdered pigments (Malachite, lapis, lamp black,
> shell gold, vermillion, verdegris), and some modern guasch. 
> 
> Brushes: Same ones I've been abusing or years. I'm horrible with my
> brushes and freely tell folks to not use me as an example of brush
> care. lets see...
> size 5 wedge synthetic royal taklon
> 10/0 WNL american painter synthetic
> size 3 sable (the maker has chipped off the handle)
> size 2 round tip flat sable  (fuzzed way out of shape but serviceable)
> 2/0 sable (the maker has chipped off the handle)
> size 2 round end Master touch synthetic (fuzzy but good)
> 10/0 fine point liner missing hairs but that only makes it better
> tiny chinese made squirrel hair sumi brush
> 
> Technique starts by taping it down to a masonite board and taking a
> kneeded gum eraser to the entire thing. DO this a couple times to
> remove excess oils from the page. I also have some pounce made from
> dust from sanded antler that I rub the surface with. (wear a dust mask
> while doing this)Draw the basic design then ink and erase the hell out
> of it again with the kneeded gum eraser. 
> I prefer to work on the illumination before the calligraphy. For me
> writing is the thing that is always done last as I am comfortable with
> modifying size of script to fit the available space. Also, because I
> use perg and vellum it is easy to correct any spelling errors by
> scraping them off and re-writing them. 
> After inking the design, then apply all of your gold leaf. This is
> important because leaf Gold sticks to paint, and paint has a hard time
> sticking to burnished leaf gold. Due to the rough surface of paint and
> the gum arabic used as the binder gold just loves to stick to it which
> is why the shell gold details are painted on last. 
>  
> ****From this point on it is essential that a mask be used to seperate
> your hand/arm/clothing from the surface of the page at all times.**** 
> 
> Once the leaf was on the page the miniatures were blocked in with
> color. I prefer to start at the center of the page and work to the
> outside. This means that my hand and arm spends less time over the
> painted surface. The entire outside border under the feathers is
> painted with lampblack. I kept the mix on the dry side to help prevent
>  cockeling. Also I allowed the page to dry compleatly under my
> worklamp  before working on it again. The heat and time worked to
> remove any small waves that might have come up. Recall that the page
> is taped down as well. All painting atop the black surface was done
> with a nearly dry brush to prevent color seepage in the feathers. I
> think the most time consuming portion was the painting on of the shell
> gold to every vein of the feathers. Other than that I spread out the
> the detail work in such a way as to keep my interest in the piece up.
> When I would begin to get bored with a section I would move onto
> another and come back to it later. This kept me from overworking a
> detail because I was looking at it with fresh eyes. 
> 
> The calligraphy: I do calligraphy like most folks write with a ball
> point pen. I don't really think about it, I just write. (This comes
> from learning when I was 7, and practicing it ever since 25+ years) It
> is true that keeping it secret was not a requirement. Writing the text
> last is just the way I do it. 
> 
>