Aryanhwy's Calligraphy and Illumination

Monday, May 19, 2014

Winner's cards for "Beauty and the Beast" contest

At Double Wars this year, the Order of the Rose hosted a "Beauty and the Beast" cross-dressing contest. My contribution to the contest was illuminated cards for the winners. I volunteered to do these about a week before the event, so I couldn't do anything too elaborate, but I figured it'd be a good time to dig out a pretty, flowery B and a grotesque B for the respective winners.

I picked the exemplars out on May 16. The exemplar for Beauty is Codex Gottwicensis 125 (115), f.83v. The exemplar for Beast is adapted from examples in the Macclesfield Alphabet. I didn't expect to find the Macclesfield letters to be so easy! I started the initial that evening, and quickly did the rest of the calligraphy and most of the initial, all except for the grotesque. It's all done in ink (Winsor & Newton's calligraphy ink), with three different size nibs (3mm, 1.5mm, and drawing tip, I believe), and took about 45-60 min. Love it!

May 17 I was able to sketch out the initial for Beauty while Gwen took her nap, and paint in the green. I painted the orange while she took her nap. May 18 she slept late and didn't take a nap, so I had to paint with her in the room...always a distraction. There was a spilled cup of water (on the floor thankfully) and a finger in the blue paint (then dragged onto the dress not so thankfully), but I did get the blue, carmine, and gold done with her supervision. I figured, "Oh, I have only the whitework and the black to do after she goes to bed". Yeah, and all the shading. Those bits alone took ~1.5 hours dedicated work. But the result made Joel go "Wow -- that's really good!" when it caught his eye, distracting him from his work. So, result!

I did the calligraphy for Beauty May 19; I had wanted something a bit more delicate and feminine, but my ink was glopping on me. It still looks nice. That left the grotesque for beast, which involved some practicing. The good thing about grotesques is that, almost by definition, they're basically impossible to screw up. This one isn't as nice as I might've wanted, but it fits well with the initial, and how could I have a card for the Beast that doesn't have a grotesque on it?

Saturday, April 19, 2014

PCS for Shauna of Carrick Point

Shauna is a good friend, and when she confessed that she'd never received a scroll for her PCS, I volunteered to fix that. The text is adapted from the Letters Patents of King Henry the Seventh Granted unto Iohn Cabot and his Three Sonnes, Lewis, Sebastian and Sancius for the the Discouerie of New and Unknowen Lands and reads:

Ulric and Eleo nora, by strength of sword, Prince et Princess of Drachenwald, to all, Gree tings. Be it known that we have gi ven and granted, to our wellbeloved Shauna of Carrick Point full and free authority, to sail all parts, countries, and seas of the East, West, North, and South under the banner and ensignes of the Popular Com- pany of Sojourners, depicted plainly above, to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles, lands, or provinces of those benighted who do not know of Drachenwald to tell tales of our lands to all she may discover or find. In witness whereof we have caused these presents to be drawn up, signed ourselves the iii day of March, a.s. xxii.

The text was written on 9 Mar., and the exemplar, BL MS Harley 3841, fol. 1, was also chosen that day too. Next up was cutting down the perg and sketching out the margins and lines, etc. And that about used up my evening. 10 Mar. I sketched out the initial, painted it and the PCS badge, and all of the red penwork on the inside. It's so very satisfying. 12 Mar I did the rest of the penwork on the initial.

I calligraphed it on Apr. 19; I'm relatively happy with the script, but not with the sizing or spacing. This nib was too big; the next size down I have was way too small. Grrr. But I like the way the little yellow detailings on the capitals really tie things together!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Fox for Irminric æt Eoferwic

I picked out the exemplar on Mar. 25. It's BL MS Burney 216 f. 14, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=3612, and I sketched the layout and initial on Apr. 10, and inked in the initial. Then I wrote the text, which reads:

Nasr et Eleanorae, prin cipium insulenses draconenses, haec verba sunt.

1. It is, in the laws of the is lands, that people go by rank, each according to his condi tion, Martlet, Ffraid, Fox.

2. And if there a scholar is, who through learning thrives, so that he has good education and art, then is he thence forth Martlet-right worthy.

3. And if a gentleman thrive, so that he serves the prince, then is he then ceforth Ffraid-right worthy.

4. And if there a fighter is, who through diligence thrives, so that he attains the acclaim of his fellows, then is he thenceforth Fox-right worthy.

5. And one such fighter is Irminric æt Eo forwic, and we the aforenamed princes enscribe him as a member of the order of the fox during the Oxford Roll Tournament, xxv aprilis anno societatis xlviii.

The text is based on extracts from early Anglo-Saxon laws concerning people's ranks.

While at the Scriptorium Nordmarkensis over the weekend, I was able to complete the painting of the initial, on Apr. 12. I also took "before white-work" and "after white-work" pictures, because it's always good to be reminded of just how awful the before versions are, and how much improved the after ones are:

I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but I cannot articulate why, which is part of why I am unsatisfied with it! I did the calligraphy the evening of Apr. 14, and overall, I'm actually rather pleased with the result, even given the misspelling and the misplacement of the "iv", and my reservations about the initial.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Blank M for Nordmark

This weekend I attended the Scriptorium Nordmarkensis, and during the "free scribe" period I wanted to prove to the people taking my puzzle initial class that yes, they really are that easy and did this one up in about half an hour. I then left it with Alfhild, the Nordmark signet, for future use. The exemplar is BL MS Burney 28 fol. 1.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Blanks for the Gulf Wars gift basket

Scroll	Exemplar

Since the easiest light-weight, easy-to-pack contribution that I can make for overseas gift baskets is scrolls, I wanted to do a few blanks for TRM to take to Gulf Wars. I picked out one exemplar on Jan. 1, because I remembered how fun other initials of this style were to make for last year's Pennsic basket. I sketched out the margins the same day, but then did not have time to return to this until Feb. 14, when I picked out for more exemplars. Feb. 15, Gwen actually played happily and let me sketch out the margins and base frameworks for all of them, and then I began painting while she napped. I managed to complete the first one (based on BL MS Sloane 265 f. 2) that day. I completed the second (based on BL MS Burney 6 f. 4) on Feb. 16. For as simple a design as it was, I made a lot of mistakes! I definitely want to do this one again, since I think I could improve it quite a bit. I completed the third (based on BL MS Harley 4903 f. 137v) the same evening after Gwen went to sleep. I love this style -- it's really pretty amateurish, but I think the palate and the bold leaves are really striking. And when you do it with gold leaf instead of gold paint, it doesn't look cheap. I then started and finished the fourth one (based on BL MS Royal 6 D VI f. 58v) on Feb. 17. It took "Northanger Abbey" plus about 10 minutes of "Emma" to complete.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Letter for Nobelesse Largesse gift

I was asked to step in as an "angel" swapper for the previous Nobelesse Largesse gift exchange. The theme for that exchange as "high persona", and included the requirement to write a text in-persona to your recipient. I miffed the intro to my text, intending to spell my name in Latin and then failing. Oh well.

I hope to transcribe the text of the letter and add it soon.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Lindquistringes for Tamara Samuilova of Thamesreach (a blank used)

I always love it when I get pictures of blanks that I've made after they've been completed. You'll recall back in October I posted images of four blank scrolls I'd made for a new scribal arrival in the kingdom, Lord Andrew von Otelingen. The first has been used and given out (my illumination, his calligraphy):

Turned out very spiffily indeed.