From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V2 #65 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Monday, June 8 1998 Volume 02 : Number 065 In this issue: [scribes]: Further adventures in period materials [scribes]: Fw: Illumination online: Life of Edward the Confessor Re: [scribes]: Specializing and what I'm working on Re: [scribes]: Specializing and what I'm working on [scribes]: Report on England ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 10:35:09 -0500 From: Jennifer Rosen Subject: [scribes]: Further adventures in period materials I've been avidly reading and collecting all of the group's postings on gesso. I tried a period gesso recipe this weekend, and thought you all would be interested in an experiential account. Here it is. So I made my first batch of gesso according to the recipe in Secreta. However, a friend convinced me to use titanium white instead of lead white - - there's so much scraping and burnishing after it's dried, it seemed a bit too hazardous. I also got tired of grinding, so I did not grind it as much as the book recommends. Foolishly, I did not do a test first, but painted right on my scroll. When the gesso had dried, I tried to burnish it, but the burnisher scraped the gesso off. The gesso seemed soft and chalky. I decided that since I had used fresh hide glue, I hadn't used enough (because of the extra volume the water adds). So I went back, after laboriously scraping off the old gesso, and added more hide glue. I also mulled it for 5-10 more minutes. As I was waiting for my sample to dry, I noticed that my gesso became gelatinous as it started to dry out. This time, the gesso worked beautifully, and I got that glorious mirror polish that people talk about. Another thing I discovered: when I had been making hide glue in the microwave, I noted that with a little bit of heat, the glue turned to a watery liquid. When I rehydrated the gesso, it seemed kind of lumpy, so I put it in the microwave on "defrost" for about 15 seconds. It smoothed out, got thinner, and got rid of the air bubbles, so it went on the page very smoothly. As the gesso cooled, it got a little thicker, and I noticed something: I was doing bar and ivy and gilding the little round dots and acorns. I was going for nice domed dots. As the gesso thickened, the dots, after they dried, had little dimples in the center. My early dots were smooth and fine. Food for thought. I probably should have reheated the gesso a little. I burnished the gesso a little bit before I gilded - some areas got shiny, but it also smoothed out any grittiness on the surface. In terms of gilding, my process was to cut a piece of gold and pick it up on a brush, use a paper tube to breathe on the gesso, lay the gold, and burnish through a piece of glassine. I used my dogtooth for the top surfaces and a pencil burnisher around the edges (though the glassine). I then had to let it rest for about half an hour. I then rubbed it lightly with a piece of silk, and used a dry brush to get rid of any remaining loose gold, and burnished directly on the gold with the agate burnishers, working lightly and quickly. I could see when the polish was coming up. When I was impatient and tried to burnish early, the gold peeled right off. I could tell because the burnisher seemed to stick a little to the gold - I asssume this was because the water from my breath had not evaporated yet. I had some trouble with gold adhesion at the edges, and I think I need to let the large areas rest even more before burnishing (I got terrible coverage on the large areas). I'm inclined to put a second layer of gold on almost every piece of gesso, except a few of the small dots and acorns that look okay. The second layer of gold creates that really deep shine. Regards from the smelly esoterica front! Yours in service, Gianetta ________________ Lady Gianetta Andreini da Vicenza Jen Rosen jrosen@zwell.com Per fess gules and azure fretty, in chief in fess three popinjays Or "Oblectatio praesens non satis celeris est." (Instant gratification is just not fast enough.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 13:04:31 -0500 From: "Helen Schultz (KHvS)" Subject: [scribes]: Fw: Illumination online: Life of Edward the Confessor This was put on the Arts list and it is most wonderful...I apologize to those who are also on this list (but I don't think you will mind it at all). Meisterin Katarina Helene von Schoenborn, OL - ---------- > A 13th century anglo-norman manuscript online... you can zoom in on > specific sections of the pages and images: > > http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Ee.3.59/ > > Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Shire of Eisental; HERMS Cyclonus) > aka Aunt Bunny, mka Jennifer Heise > jenne@tulgey.browser.net > > "To love in deed and in truth..." (from canonization mass for Jadwiga of Wawel) > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 14:23:35 -0700 From: Laurie Jenkins Subject: Re: [scribes]: Specializing and what I'm working on It was indeed a stunning piece of work! What Jim-Bear neglected to mention was the award that the scroll was given for. Let me be the first to congratulate Master Jim-Bear :) for his Laurel in the arts of Illumination and Woodworking, given by Their Majesties of Caid on Saturday, June 6th. It was well deserved!! Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah. Cheers, aliskye >>> 06/07 11:11 PM >>> In a message dated 98-06-04 14:42:41 EDT, Luiseach@aol.com writes: << My last project was the calligraphy for a Laurel scroll on vellum, yummy stuff that it is, under partial heaven conditions-short lead time, great illustrating partner, my kids fixed dinner and my house is still a mess. Next project will be doing promissories for their soon-to-be-crowned Majesties of Caid, Ivan and Anastasiia; I start tonight. Luighseach nic Lochlainn >> Just a note.......today (Sunday) at Caid's Queen's Champion Tourney, ther was a People's Prize Tourney where they voted people's choice for best object d' arte, Luighseach and her partner won...........the calligraphy and illumination were absolutely increadible!!!!!! I think it is one of the best pieces I've seen........JimBear ! ! ! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 18:07:55 EDT From: Seton1355@aol.com Subject: Re: [scribes]: Specializing and what I'm working on << congratulate Master Jim-Bear :) for his Laurel in the arts of Illumination and Woodworking, >> VIVAT! VIVAT! VIVAT! Unto Master Jim-Bear from Phillipa Seton WELL DONE!!!!! (We've never met, my lord, but you've given me good advice in the past. Major Congrats on your Laurel!! :-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 15:26:40 -0700 From: Carolyn_Richardson@cch.com Subject: [scribes]: Report on England Okay everyone, I'm finally back from my trip to England and here's what I found while wandering around England. Pretty much nothing. Admittedly I didn't have a whole bunch of time to look around for the obscure stuff but I did get to the new British Library and I was disappointed with regards to the number of manuscripts they have on display. They have this huge new exhibition hall but only 2 cases had illuminated books in them - not even the Lindisfarne was out. I did do a quick sketch of one of the manuscript pages they had out which was stunning - some of the most detailed gold work in small spaces that I think I've ever seen. But it was generally disappointing. I think if I'd had time to arrange a reading room pass I'd have been more pleased. There are no manuscripts left on display at the British Museum at all. On a brighter note, I finally got to the jewellry collections at both the British Museum and the V&A. Both left me drooling for more, particularly their Georgian and Regency collections. I also finally managed to get to the V&A's textile collection to look at the lace - almost makes me want to take up bobbin lace (almost). Oh, and Harrod's costume jewellry department is worth a tour particularly if you like doing Victorian and Regency costuming in addition to the SCA - some really killer stuff there fortunately I was broke by then. I also got to the costume collections at the V&A and Bath. The weather in England was outstanding - 75 degrees or thereabouts and sunny for nearly the entire trip, with the exception of one evening when it rained. The Brits were flabbergasted by their own weather - it's apparently very unusual for it to stay nice so long. Lambs were everywhere in the fields (my mom says she'll never eat a lamb chop again) and everything was in bloom. The Chelsea flower show was going on the first few days we were there but we couldn't fit it in (and it looked massively crowded from the TV reports we saw). Now that I've used most of my vacation for the year I guess I have to stick around and get to work on other stuff (like the house and Exchequer takeover). It won't be nearly as much fun. 3 weeks of vacation has left me 6 weeks behind - how did that happen? Tetchubah of Greenlake Kingdom of Caid ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V2 #65 ****************************