Scribal activities

My spare time this fortnight has been spent finishing off illumination on some Award of Arms scroll blanks. I have managed to finish seven, which has made me very happy. A good friend (and very talented calligrapher) does the writing and I do the painting. It works well. Unfortunately I won't be able to show any pictures until these are signed, sealed and presented to the recipients!

Scribal Work - Italian White Vine Award of Arms Blank

I have quite a stack of scrolls waiting to be worked on, and here is one of them. I really love this design! In Lochac, the SCA award known as the Award of Arms is standardised and recipients get a scroll customised to the individual.

Scribes complete the details such as name, blazon and device, and then paint in the details. This original design was created by a long time ago; I am not sure who the original designer was. It is my favourite scroll blank design.

Illuminating AoA scroll blanks

I have a new set of projects that I am looking forward to starting (and am quite excited about) so I have been working hard on trying to finish off (or at least get more done on) existing projects. This week I have been working on illuminating Award of Arms scroll blanks. Naturally, I can't show the whole scrolls without spoiling the surprise, so I can only show a tiny hint!

AoA Scroll Blank #1

Recently I have been working on my first scribal assignment; colouring an Award of Arms scroll blank.

The blank was designed by Master Richard de la Croix and is derived from a 1440 manuscript fragment. The blank shows a bastard Gothic hand which was very popular on the continent and in England in the fifteenth century.

I opted for classic red, blue and gold treatments. This excellent book given to me by my sister has been invaluable as a design reference, as it has many close-up pictures of extant manuscript pages in similar styles:

And here is my attempt. Unfortunately the colours really haven't shown up very well on the photos.

(Of course I can't show the name or device or it wouldn't be a surprise!)