[Scriptoris] Scroll salvage help offered

David Brown lddevin03 at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 7 16:01:02 PDT 2010


This is great advice. I thank you for sharing but the are that needs to be 
repaired is kinda big and that would be a lot of scraping. Is there a way to cut 
out the section and replace it with a clean piece? My dad used to do this with 
carpet and linoleum.

Lord Devin




________________________________
From: Elaine <eshc at earthlink.net>
To: "Scribes within Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <scriptoris at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tue, September 7, 2010 5:13:15 PM
Subject: [Scriptoris] Scroll salvage help offered

Greetings to Lord Devin and those who are interested in learning more. This 
missive comes from HL Lete Bithespring.

One definition I heard for a professional (of any profession) is that (s)he has 
already made the mistakes and knows how to head them off. I prefer letting 
others make the ones I might and letting them give me what to look for to avoid 
the problem how to get out of it when I have one. I don't consider mistakes 
something stupid, but I think of them as part of a learning curve. Students are 
allowed mistakes.... Mistakes are part of the student's job.

Here's a simplified version (but lengthy) for discussion:
Inks and paints fall into two categories: those that are dye-based (staining) 
and those that are pigment-based (like ground up rocks). Dye-based colors soak 
into the surface, Pigments sit on top. Your waterproof inks probably have some 
sort of plastic-based carrier like acrylic. Waterproof media should be used on 
work that will be frequently handled (especially by people who don't wear the 
white, museum gloves or have had training to handle art work by the very 
edges.).  As a side-bar: non-waterproof inks are the best for getting uber-fine 
lines.

My decades of study and practice have given me the following general solution 
for the inks or paints deciding to take a side trip to where I wanted them to 
amble:
Let the paper thoroughly dry (putting it under tension to make it flat again is 
a whole 'nother discussion). Get a new, virgin xacto blade ( my preference: #10, 
the curved one) so it won't be dulled by previous use and possibly snag the 
paper fibers. Curve the paper over a room-temperature beverage can, the damaged 
side of the work top-most. (I actually have graduated to holding the underside 
with my other hand.)

Now, very, very gently scrape the area to make a powder of the paper that's 
scraped away. Don't dig into the paper! Act like you are scraping the scales off 
a butterfly wing without damaging the wing itself. That's the kind of pressure 
to use. Keep changing the direction of the scrapes--N, S, E, W.

If you have a line of previous strokes that you want to protect, use the blade's 
point to make a 2 nano-meter incision along the edge that you want to protect 
and scrape up to that point. If you have made the incision correctly, none of 
the fibers the previous work is on will be pulled up by the scraping actions.

When you have scraped the surface to your satisfaction, put the work on a hard 
surface and cover with a piece of glassine (the paper you get for free at the US 
post office with your stamps) over the damaged area, Burnish the roughed-up 
fibers flat again with the back of a spoon on the glassine to prevent the next 
inkstroke from wildly running along any fibers that stick up.

A wonderful "stuff" I like to dust the area with is sandarac, a Middle-Eastern 
tree sap that is ground up to facepowder consistency. I use it at a 
pre-burnishing time. It is also handy to dust over and rub into paper that has a 
tendency to let ink "bleed" or "feather" instead of give you the fine edge or 
line you seek. It's also good to rub onto papers that ignoramuses have rubbed 
their hands on and thereby transferred their body oil onto your expensive 
paper!  (I use it to prepare the area when inscribing in century-old books for 
people.) Note of warning: don't get any sandarac on your fingers and rub your 
eyes---it's like cayenne pepper!

Meanwhile, back to the present--You, Lord Devin, are to be commended at your 
efforts to correct something that happened. Now that you have already put paint 
over the area on this project, you might want to scrape any part of the paint 
that is raised above the other writing surface and to burnish it so as to seal 
the interstices as much as possible if you are not using sandarac. Pigment-based 
media will sometimes flake off later if laid on too heavily.

There are also some art-store sprays to be misted on work that will seal work 
areas. Pastel (chalk) artists use the spray to anchor different layers so as not 
to smudge previously applied strokes. If you use it, I would suggest the whole 
sheet's being sprayed so as not to have discolored areas appear later when the 
work ages on someone's wall.

One more thing...... don't rub your bare, body-oil coated ( and maybe nervously 
sweaty) hand on the surface at any time. Use a cover sheet. Tell yourself : "Oil 
resists ink."

If any of you readers have made it this far, you are a dedicated scribe and 
professionally conscientious enough to be/become a skilled artist in the field. 
Congratulations! Life-long study and experimentation is what makes a true 
artist.

I hope my small would-be tome has helped in some steps toward your goal.

YIS,
Lete
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sep 6, 2010, at 5:59 PM, David Brown wrote:

> I have created an original scroll and water has been spilled on it. I think I
> heard a collective gasp...
> Now the thing is that none on the paint was damaged, just the calligraphy. I
> thought that the ink I was using was water proof but I guess not. I must go 
and
> seek out waterproof ink for the next one.
> Anyway. Is there a way to salvage the scroll? I let it dry then used a wet 
>brush
> to re-hydrate it and a cleah paper towel to suck up the ink. That worked well
> but I need to try and cover up the spot. I am using gouache to paint over it 
>but
> I am afraid that even if it is covered up that ink will not totally dry on the
> paint.
> 
> Any help would be great.
> 
> Lord Devin
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Scriptoris mailing list
> Scriptoris at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/scriptoris-ansteorra.org

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