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Subject: scribes digest V2 #147
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scribes digest         Thursday, July 9 1998         Volume 02 : Number 147



In this issue:

    Re: [scribes]: Gold leaf prices
    Re: [scribes]: neat pens
    Re: [scribes]: Re:   A & S advice
    Re: [scribes]: A & S advice
    Re: [scribes]: A & S advice
    Re: [scribes]: event prize scrolls
    [scribes]: Celtic colours / Meehan books
    Re: [scribes]: A & S advice
    Re: [scribes]: A & S advice
    Re: [scribes]: A&S advice

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Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 00:14:44 -0700
From: "Thomas Brownwell" <brownwell@home.com>
Subject: Re: [scribes]: Gold leaf prices

The best gold prices I've found are at EasyLeaf.com.  Their prices beat
JohnNealBooks.com and Paper & Ink.  EasyLeaf also has the largest selection of
gold products, including burnishers, etc.  At Tetchubah's house we made gesso
and used her French Whiting, aka slaked plaster, which she bought from EasyLeaf,
5 pounds at a time for cheep! (i.e birdseed :-)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Douglas Brownell       AKA     Thomas Brownwell, Calligrapher,
brownwell@home.com             Dancer,Silversmith,Singer,Cobbler,...
San Diego, CA                         Barony of Calafia, Caid
The 4 elements = good physics stuff:: Or,a fountain, a chief rayonny gules.
Goutte enough herald:: (Fieldless) A goutte barry wavy azure and argent.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 07:51:43 EDT
From: AngelODay@aol.com
Subject: Re: [scribes]: neat pens

In a message dated 7/9/98 12:06:12 AM Central Daylight Time,
daffyd@worldpath.net writes:

> Gelly Roll (gel-based ink, rollerball pens) by Sakura
>  Acid-free, water-proof, fade-proof. Only one tip size available...
>  looks like about .05mm.  Available in same colors as Millenium, and
>  also metallics (gold, silver, and colors) I'm not sure if the metallics 
>  are acid free or not. Retail price: about $1.20 each.

	  These come in white too, and for shakey hands can make nice small lines.
You can also blend those lines with a wet paint brush, so I'm not so sure
about them being water proof. 

~Aine

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 08:50:12 EDT
From: FITCHYBEAR@aol.com
Subject: Re: [scribes]: Re:   A & S advice

In a message dated 98-07-09 01:27:02 EDT, EowynA@aol.com writes:

<< 
 Sometimes.  But the "People's Prize" competition last month at Queen's
 Champion  (and we don't actually have such competitions particularly often,
so
 it was a nice change of pace)  awarded the prize to the scroll on vellum,
done
 with dry pigments ground into a binder (egg?  or gum water?) and gold, done
in
 the style of one of those late Italian mss.  (I forget which one)  --- quite
 authentic, and yes,
 quite flashy, too.  >>

 Yep it is quite flashy <G> the binder was egg yolk it was actually a
combination of a couple of mss.. The calligrapher did a wonderful job too
grinding her own inks I believe-JimBear (who gets to look at it every day)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 08:50:06 EDT
From: FITCHYBEAR@aol.com
Subject: Re: [scribes]: A & S advice

In a message dated 98-07-09 01:06:08 EDT, hughesjp@fyi.net writes:

<< 
 I *hate* popular vote competitions!  Not only do you have to contend with
 the "popularity contest" aspect of it (oh, look, there's Bill's piece;
 let's all vote for that!), but you also have most people
 voting on the basis of "ooh, ahh" factor.  The piece that is impressive
 because of its adherence to period techniques and its attention to detail
 will usually be passed over with preference given to the flashy fantasy
 piece.  I've seen both of these outcomes more often than any kind of
 well-reasoned judging in such competitions.  Yuck, ptui!
 
 Graidhne ni Ruaidh
 BMDL, AEthelmearc
  >>

 I'm glad you added the personal bias alert.........I've seen many "period to
death" items winning in popular votes. It may just be the crowd on hand that
day that go for the OOOHHHHH AAHHHH factor, most folks I know appreciate a
well researched and well done item. All things being equal, I think the period
piece would win.-Jim Bear

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 08:50:10 EDT
From: FITCHYBEAR@aol.com
Subject: Re: [scribes]: A & S advice

In a message dated 98-07-09 01:06:47 EDT, e_e_maes@yahoo.com writes:

<< Find out whether your kingdom has any A&S standards for judging (I
 assume everyone does).  READ THEM.  Then decide whether or not to use
 them.  Then tell everyone what set of criteria you are using - kingdom
 or home grown.
  >>
she did say this wasn't a juried contest which would omit panels of this
nature-JimBear

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 09:10:03 -0400
From: Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>
Subject: Re: [scribes]: event prize scrolls

Whenever I've done scrolls for this sort of event, I tend to pick a
style with lots of figures or miniatures involved.  I then put the local
group's arms up toward the top in some sort of nifty border and
supporters having something to do with the contest (figures in armour,
musicians, jugglers, whatever...).  I fill the miniatures with scenes
that fit the contest.  If it's a heavy weapons tourney, I do scenes with
combats, using different weapons, sometimes even as a running story so
that if you looked at the scenes in order, you would see one fighter
winning and moving on to the next scene, maybe losing there to be
followed by the 'winner' from that scene moving on to the next scene. 
Stuff like that.
I'd do the same for fencing, maybe borrowing illustrations from a period
fencing manual.
For music, I'd put a bard playing an instrument up at the top and
different styles of singing and playing in the miniatures, maybe
painting in expressions showing that one group is trying to sing/play
louder than another- fun things, humour....
For a kids' treasure hunt, I'd make the scroll look like a period map to
some extent, with fun pictures and so forth (here there be dragons, that
kind of thing), with the writing in a clean bold hand so any kid could
read it.
As for games, have a bunch of miniatures with people playing games, or
if the ones you'll be using have gameboards, show those in the
miniatures....

Um, didn't mean to ramble there....I just started thinking up
ideas...I've been feeling inspired of late!  :)
Oh, and you might want to look at Italian Rennaissance styles of scroll-
particularly the architectural style.

Er, I'll stop babbling now....  ;)

Miri

> Our shire will be holding a local event in September and I will be involved
> in making award scrolls as prizes for various games & tourneys held during
> the day.
> 
> Do any of you have suggestions for wording or ideas that you have used for
> similar scrolls? I have done scrolls like this before, but am running out
> of ideas. There is no specific theme for this event, but we will be making
> scrolls for heavy weapons tourney, fencing tourney, a musical competition,
> a children's treasure hunt, and several 'silly' games.
> 
> Perhaps there are period manuscripts with illuminations touching on some of
> these areas that I could use for inspiration?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.
> Ellen of the Scholars

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 09:13:20 -0400
From: Lea Viljanen <lea@tapas.nixu.fi>
Subject: [scribes]: Celtic colours / Meehan books

I like the Aidan Meehan books on celtic illumination etc,
but the sometimes annoying part is that they're B&W (which
is great from the drawing point of view, though).

Anyway, I'd like your opinion on the *covers* of the
Meehan paperbacks. Is the colour scheme used in them
historically correct or not?


- -- 
Lady Kerttu Katariinantytar Roisko   Or, a tri-corporate ladybug
Barony of Aarnimetsa, Drachenwald    gules and sable.
mka Lea 'LadyBug' Viljanen	     ladybug@iki.fi

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 07:25:13 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Morgan E. Smith" <mesmith@calcna.ab.ca>
Subject: Re: [scribes]: A & S advice

  I, too, have run "People's Choice" A&S competitions (not, however,
limited to callig/illum stuff) and have never found that it turns into a
solely popularity-of-person thing.
  If you give people a lot of advance warning that this will take place,
and talk up the idea that they will be in the position of judging (rather
than "choosing") they take it quite seriously. This year, I ran a
"People's Choice" thing at December Coronet Tourney - three months later
at the Principality A&S Champion's Competition, there was 'way less
bitching about the judging - because people had BEEN judges, and now knew
just how hard it is to do properly, and how much good stuff there is.
  My favourite judging story is about Lord Blackhawk. He is only eleven
years old, and I asked him to help judge the metalwork category. The two
adults judging with him were a bit worried, as Blackhawk's dad had some
pieces in that category, but Blackhawk in fact gave his father pretty
awful workmanship scores, because he said (on the comment sheet given to
the contestant) that Seamus hadn't done as good a job as his son knew he
was capable of! Mind you, this is a child who can do really wonderful
piercework himself, and once built a tiny, working catapult, complete with
eight pages of documentation he wrote himself. (It was much enjoyed by the
head table at a feast, because it could send a cooked pea down the length
of the table with considerable force...)
  You have to give people a chance to learn about judging, and to
understand what goes into it. Otherwise it just seems arbitrary and
ego-driven, and they feel slighted, no matter what the verdict actually
is.

Morgan the Unknown

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 09:58:29 -0400
From: Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>
Subject: Re: [scribes]: A & S advice

>   I, too, have run "People's Choice" A&S competitions (not, however,
> limited to callig/illum stuff) and have never found that it turns into a
> solely popularity-of-person thing.
>(snipping of cool story involving pea catapult)
>   You have to give people a chance to learn about judging, and to
> understand what goes into it. Otherwise it just seems arbitrary and
> ego-driven, and they feel slighted, no matter what the verdict actually
> is.
> 
> Morgan the Unknown

Well said!  I've found that if you educate folks about it, they respond
well.  I like to have two sorts of judging on occasion:  The first being
by Kingdom standards and point values, the second being the popular
(bean count, vote count, blank 3x5's that folks can leave comments on
for the entrants, etc.)choice.  It makes people think about the whole
judging issue, and it gets them to the table to look at what kind of
things are being done that they might try themselves.

Miri

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 10:50:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eldred@concentric.net
Subject: Re: [scribes]: A&S advice

Unfortunately, in my area the people who enter A&S displays / competitions
/ etc. are usually on the event staff, so you won't find them
"hovering"--which means we rely on documentation, if we can get  it.  It's
hard enough encouraging people to enter A&S in the first place...*sigh*

What are these Laurel prizes that Eowyn speaks of?  I recall our Kingdom
Minister of A&S encouraging Laurels to bestow tokens upon those whose
works are pleasing / show promise / are excellent / etc.  Is this the same
thing?  I have yet to see a Laurel do this, tho'.

Eldred AElfwald
Canton of Falcon Cree,
Barony of Nottinghill Coill,
Kingdom of Atlantia

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End of scribes digest V2 #147
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