From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V7 #37 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Monday, November 12 2001 Volume 07 : Number 037 ======================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with unsubscribe scribes-digets in the body of the message. Leave the subject line blank. Do not include any additional text. [scribes]: Works on line was: Shell Gold Re: [scribes]: writing between the lines Re: [scribes]: writing between the lines [scribes]: My Sincere Apologies Re: [scribes]: My Sincere Apologies [scribes]: Ashburn Charter [scribes]: Newbie Scribe... Re: [scribes]: Newbie Scribe... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 11:47:07 +1100 From: Steve Roylance Subject: [scribes]: Works on line was: Shell Gold hi The scoll by me (Thorfinn) for Charles is missing in the long process of travelling from Lochac to the Mists for Royal signatures and seals and returning to Lochac. Any information welcolm. as ever Thorfinn Lochac (West 8 months and counting) Melbourne Australia Karen Williams wrote: > > Randy Asplund wrote: > > > > Cystennin , that is one really beautiful piece! Well done. I wish more > > people would post URLs to samples of their work. > > If you would like to see examples of work done by scribes in the West, > look at http://history.westkingdom.org/Scrolls/index.htm. Some of mine > are on there, including the first one I ever did, and the most recent > one I did. (I certainly hope there's a noticeable improvement.) > > Branwen ferch Emrys > > -- > Karen Williams =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 10:20:19 -0500 From: wyverns Subject: Re: [scribes]: writing between the lines I can see going fast for a secretary hand. They were almost certainly done quickle, and a perfectly rendered hand was never the point - only rendering the necessary information/ideas into legible writing. But for the book hands, I struggled for years at a moderate speed - the hand might flow, in the sense that modern cursive can flow if done neatly, but I got further and further from the hand I was trying to copy, and always toward something that looked more modern, less period. I also made many mistakes - in the calligraphy itself and also by skipping a letter, putting the wrong letter (like turning a c into an e just because I had been doing several e's), or messing up the spelling. When I slowed way down and concentrated not on the words but on each individual stroke and letter, the lettering became instantly more even, even for hands that I had been doing for years, I made almost no mistakes even without first practicing a particular text, the spacing improved, and it just looked more lovely than I could ever achieve doing it quickly. It also became more pleasurable despite the need for greater concentration, or perhaps because of it. You could almost say I felt like I had become 'one' with the calligraphy. I at first thought, as had been suggested by others on this list, that it was a matter of having learned the hand better, so I tried allowing myself to speed up a little. I was instantly back to more mistakes, slightly drifting-to-modern hand, and just not as good or as pleasant. Now I always do it slowly unless I am 'taking notes' or playing with a text or something preliminary to making a formal scroll. In a more period context, maybe it is the difference between being a monk who has no deadline to complete a book quickly and so works with painstaking care and contemplation, and a student, craftsman, or court scribe who must learn to do it reasonably quickly and still do well in order to do the job or earn the money. (I wonder how much the various calligraphic hands are reflective of those differences?) I definately prefer the monk's contemplative way. But if others haven't found it useful, perhaps it's more 'just me' than I thought. M. Enid now of Calontir =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 15:36:46 -0800 From: Karen Williams Subject: Re: [scribes]: writing between the lines wyverns wrote: > > You could almost say I > felt like I had become 'one' with the calligraphy. I think this is the key more than anything. I do a hand well once I've found the speed and concentration level at which I start feeling a Zen moment. :-) Branwen ferch Emrys - -- Karen Williams branwen@ix.netcom.com =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 17:37:30 -0800 (PST) From: Malin Faierwood Subject: [scribes]: My Sincere Apologies Greetings fellow scribes. This weekend at Coronet, I commented in a negative fashion about a friend and fellow scribe's work while in the scribal room. I most humbly and sincerely apologize to any I may have offended through my inconsiderate actions. I am taking steps to rectify this directly with the scribe himself and assure you I will not be so thoughtless in future. In service, Malin Faierwood __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 08:59:03 -0500 (EST) From: john j cash Subject: Re: [scribes]: My Sincere Apologies Dear folks, It's often difficult to comment on another scribe's work, when you don't think it's as good as it could be. I've had success with the technique of pointing out one good thing for every bad thing, so the person gets both a sense of achievement and a direction to work towards improvement. For perfectionists like myself, who see a lot we think is "wrong" with a scroll, this technique requires a lot of patience. But it works. It's also difficult reading "confessions" such as Malin's here on the list, not knowing the circumstances. As a general thing, it shows we do not as a body know how to make positive comments -- perhaps because we do not know what we expect of SCA scrolls. We should address this, and the list is a fine place for it. More specifically, it shows any of us can be assholes given the opportunity. On the one hand, there are those of us who can only make a comment as a disparraging jest, or a snide snicker. I am not among them. On the other hand, there are those of us for whom nothing is worse than slighting a beginner's work, and who believe nothing short of public humiliation will redress the balance. I am not among them either. Neither of these forms of communication has a place on this list. - -- johannes v.n "To the Taliban from the American people: Give us Bin Laden, or we will take all of your women and send them to college!" =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 16:39:54 EST From: Floriligeum@aol.com Subject: [scribes]: Ashburn Charter - --part1_138.47a2244.29219baa_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have a scroll to do & the contact person let me know that the recipient would dearly like it if the scroll could be based on something called the Ashburn Charter. If anyone knows where I can get a glimpse of such a document-facsimile or even a clear description of it I would be most grateful. Yours in service, Sarra the Lymner Caer Adamant (DE), East Kingdom MKA Sarah Dressler Sarra's Florilegium www.sarrasflorilegium.knownworldweb.com - --part1_138.47a2244.29219baa_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have a scroll to do & the contact person let me know that the recipient would dearly like it if the scroll could be based on something called the Ashburn Charter.  If anyone knows where I can get a glimpse of such a document-facsimile or even a clear description of it I would be most grateful.



Yours in service,

Sarra the Lymner

Caer Adamant (DE), East Kingdom
MKA Sarah Dressler
Sarra's Florilegium
www.sarrasflorilegium.knownworldweb.com
- --part1_138.47a2244.29219baa_boundary-- =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:43:59 +1000 From: "Dani " Subject: [scribes]: Newbie Scribe... Hi all... I'm an aspiring scribe from Lochac (Australia) and have just gotten my first dip pen. As the pen was sold in bits and pieces, I don't have any instructions or hints for the care and feeding of a dip pen. What tips would y'all suggest? I'm thrilled with the pen (of course I rushed home to try it out). It is sooooo much easier to write with the proper definition between thick and thin lines, than the cartridge pen I had been practicing with. Any advice for a novice scribe is welcome. Cheers. Annys ferch Llewellyn Barony of St. Florians de la Riviere Principality of Lochac (MKA: Dani Walther) =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 18:50:54 -0600 From: "Corinna Taylor/Al Frank" Subject: Re: [scribes]: Newbie Scribe... Use an old brush to fill it instead of dipping, and rinse and dry it after use. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dani " To: Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 5:43 PM Subject: [scribes]: Newbie Scribe... > Hi all... > > I'm an aspiring scribe from Lochac (Australia) and have just gotten my first > dip pen. As the pen was sold in bits and pieces, I don't have any > instructions or hints for the care and feeding of a dip pen. What tips would > y'all suggest? > > I'm thrilled with the pen (of course I rushed home to try it out). It is > sooooo much easier to write with the proper definition between thick and > thin lines, than the cartridge pen I had been practicing with. > > Any advice for a novice scribe is welcome. > > Cheers. > > Annys ferch Llewellyn > Barony of St. Florians de la Riviere > Principality of Lochac > > (MKA: Dani Walther) > =================================================================== > To unsubscribe from this list, send email to > with a blank Subject: line and > unsubscribe scribes > in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in > the body. > =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V7 #37 ****************************