[Scriptoris] Definitions, repairs, & quotes--Oh, my!

[Elaine]

Wikipedia is a great site. Has a lot more info in its entries than  
Rose Folsom's  "The Calligrapher's Dictionary," long a staple in my  
library.
Thanks for sharing. I can share what has worked for me in doing  
corrections. Perhaps there are others out there who could also share  
additional stuff, helping us all to become better.

BTW, ever notice the scalpel looking tool in illuminations of scribes  
at work? It's not just to hold down a "bubble" in the skin while he's  
writing on it, the tool's for an instant palimpsest! Actually a  
glorified ink eraser of the time-----provided the ink or gouache is  
the kind that sits on the surface (not a dye type that sinks in  
deeply, or you may scrape a hole in the skin) and the media is dry  
(no smearing).

Talking about erasing today's mistakes? Here's my "sharing" of a  
suggested way for corrections. Hope it helps.

A way I use to "correct" or clean up untidy lines is to take a NEW  
xacto blade ( I prefer the curved one for this.) and verrrry  
shallowly run the point along the edge or line you want to keep or  
"crisp up". Next, curve the paper or skin over, say your left index  
finger, though I have used an empty Miracle Whip jar, & hold the  
blade at a 90 degree from from the surface to be erased. Begin  
scraping, but just deep enough to make powder of what is being scraped.

Scrape and carefully blow. Scrape in a quarter turn from the  
direction you were scraping or rotate the surface a quarter turn.  
Gently blow. Continue the steps. Be careful next to the incised  
boundary you cut the first time. The cut is to keep fibers in the  
area (where you want the crisp edge) from coming up with the powdered  
erasure.

When what you wanted erased is satisfactory (I use a jeweler's  
binocular magnifier to check.) , cover/protect the area with the kind  
of paper (glassine) that the post office uses for envelopes for  
stamps then burnish the area and a bit beyond it with a smooth,  
curved tool--a gilder's agate burnisher (not a dogtooth kind) or even  
the  back of a spoon. The trick is to burnish down the fibers enough  
to have a good receptor of ink, but not enough to make the area  
noticeable from a high shine.

After that, I like to dust/pounce the corrected area with powdered  
sandarac (uber-ground sap from a Moroccan/Australian tree). With a  
feather reserved just for that, I rub the sandarac into the area the  
knife roughed up and then dust the powder off with the feather,  
thereby not applying body oils from my hand to the paper or skin, and  
certainly no mist of spit from blowing on the powder! (Trust me,  
getting the sandarac in your eyes is like getting jalapeno juice in  
them!)

Next, with a TINY pointed pen nib, I lightly test the ink in the area  
where a planned letter's broad stroke will cover the test site. If   
the ink doesn't "feather," I have done the above steps correctly. No  
seepage into the fibers around the test area? Now I can put in the  
corrections, and only God and I and a really astute fellow  
calligrapher will be able to spot it.

I know this sounds tedious, but it is the way mundane professional  
calligraphers use. When people pay good prices, they want "perfect"  
pieces. Been there, done that---for mundanes' money. The SCA also  
seems to have liked work I did (freebie) in the past,  as I was  
awarded an Iris. Semi-retired now, I have physical problems  
associated with long-time hunching over work, as some of you already  
are finding out for yourselves!

Quotes I have found useful:
"As one of my "traditional watercolor" teachers said, "The  
professional in any field is an expert in concealing any mistakes." I  
would add to that, " A professional grade artist knows where/when the  
mistake is likely to happen and knows how to avert it." Another of my  
teachers said, " I like to watch professionals, whether a cellist or  
a ditch digger, because they make the job look easy and that even I  
could do it."

Patience, sharing, and continued study/practice are the keys to  
excellent work. (But you already knew that.)

YIS,

HL Lete Bithespring, pedantic artist and scribe
"The perfectionist is essentially a lazy person, because the work  
time is shortened by not having to spend additional work and time in  
corrections.--E. Crittenden"
................................

On May 8, 2009, at 6:09 PM, Giertrud Gyldenstierne wrote:

> *palimpsest*
> a manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which  
> more than
> one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely  
> erased and
> still visible
>
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palimpsest#Etymology
> YIS,
>
> Giertrud Gyldenstierne
>
> God is my lyght and saluation, whom then shall I feare? God is the  
> strength
> of my life, of whom then shall I be afraide?
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