Archive for the ‘Scriptorium’ Category
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26
Aug
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project – Embroidery & Calligraphy
Some of you may ask what embroidery has to do with calligraphy – but sometimes you can also find letters, words and whole texts/stories on tapestries,… following a typical style of its time… 
…and I decided to embroider “We have Dragons” – and that’s a kind of calligraphy – just with thread and needle instead of ink and embroidered…
Sounds difficult? maybe, but it is rather easy if you dare to try it (and have enough letters to get a feeling of the style you want to copy
First I took a look at the letters which were available for me and I was very happy because the Tristan tapestry has many of them…
I could find all letters besides the “W” but I just followed the style for the “V” and doubled it for the “W” (after taking a look at the available “M” and “N” and finding a style similarity with the “V”).
I also took a look at the spacing between the letters and the spacing between the words and what connected or separated them – that’s how I found the lovely + crosses + …because this crosses don’t appear as regular separators (sometimes a small ring was used, sometimes just emtpy space) I decided to ‘just’ use them for the start and the end as a additional decoration
…and not to forget this small extra tiny bits at the base or top of some letters… this small bits really are the additional spice of your embroidered calligraphy
Then I wrote down the words – ca. the height which I wanted to achieve in the end – on 3 small stripes of paper/ one word on each stripe and arranged them underneath the embroidery to get a feeling which distance between the letters and at the beginning and end could work well…
As soon as I found a nice distance between the words I connected the stripes with a glue stripe
Finally I pinned the stripe with the words, just leaving some space for the embroidery, to the fabric and started to copy the words with a pencil on the fabric – still playing a little bit with the space – and started embroidering…
While embroidering I made the decision to alter the distance and shape of some of the words – maybe some of you can see the difference between the paper stripe, the drawing with the pencil and the final embroidery – but small differences between the outlines at the fabric and the final embroidery are period 
For example the “A” , “R” and the “S” – I tried to copy the angles and the small extras as exact as possible
…and now I am working to fill the background with yellow wool…
I think that’s the first time that I embroider the “outlines” before I start working at the background – normally I fill the background first and then start with the outlines…
2
Jul
2010
12th, 13th & 14th Scroll – AoA (blank)
Maybe some of you remember that I sent away my AoA scroll blanks some time ago to our Kingdom Signet Clerk (see the “AoA Scrolls” for more info) – now our Kingdom Signet Clerk – for the kingdom of Drachenwald (Europe, middle East & South Africa) – changed.
Lady Trinite, who did a great job, passed the office to Lady Aryanhwy and I am quite sure she will also do a great job too Recently Aryanhwy contacted me concerning my AoA blanks and I was very sad because I had to tell her that they were already sent out and possibly also already used… 
…and therefore I decided to start working at another bundle of blank AoA scrolls – since I finished the calligraphy for the Guild Charter – I admit I am still very proud of this piece of work – I try to practise my “Bastarda” hand with at least one (AoA blank) scroll every month or every two months… and this week I had a nice calligraphy ‘run’ 
*lol* and finished already three new blank AoA scrolls…
…and I started to make a small makers mark “R” and to include it in my pen work where possible…
The “L” initial is inspired by a lovely document which can be found in the catalogue of the ‘Karl der Kühne’/'Charles the Bold’ exhibition:
- Splendour of the Burgundian Court: Charles the Bold (1433-1477)
- Karl der Kühne (1433-1477): Kunst, Krieg und Hofkultur
…and the pen work is inspired by the artwork of the famous Albrecht Dürer – I have a rather old book with many pictures and I try to copy and reassemble some of his pictures to enrich my blank AoA scrolls…
…btw. Lady Aryanhwy is the nice lady who supported me and made the lovely calligraphy for my second AoA scroll
…interesting link: Dragon’s Scriptorium
If you have ever thought to try some calligraphy and/or illumination – please don’t hesitate and ask our Kingdom Signet Clerk, or the next scribe and/or illuminator you know…, like me, Mistress Bridget or Mistress Melisande for example – it’s really a lot of fun and if you like to paint or to write it’s also quite easy with some practise – there are also some nice handouts for beginners out there including scroll wordings… – I got my starting pack including beginner handout from Mistress Bridget and I still use and love it… – and there is also always a great need of scrolls…
21
Mai
2010
9th, 10th & 11th Scroll – AoA (blank)
This week I sent all my AoA scroll blanks to Trinite, the Kingdom Signet Clerk – including this 3 scroll blanks, which I just finished the day before.
My 9th scroll:
I think I should practise my Bastarda hand more often – the initials are quite difficult to handle and I need more practise to get a more precise and calm hand.
My 10th scroll:
“B” – initial:
My 11th scroll:
“P” – initial:
…btw. you can find gorgeous scrolls from other artists here in Drachenwald at the Dragon’s Scriptorium blog.
5
Apr
2010
8th Scroll – AoA (blank)
Worst case for a blank scroll? …the blank scroll is finished and you recognize that you forgot the free space for the name of the recipient… that’s what happened here – I struggled with the English text and forgot the free space for the name – lucky me that I had enough space at the end for “For Our noble servant…” – I hope this saves the scroll from the paper basket and makes it useable again for an AoA scroll…
Here the detail of my “Dürer” inspired drawing:
…and here the pictures for my inspiration – first for the picture on the left and the clouds:
For the picture on the right (the mountains and the small village):
For the castle on top of the mountains on the right side and the birds:
3
Apr
2010
7th Scroll – AoA (blank)
After all embroidery for Anya’s cloak and because my right wrist hurts since I pealed 2kg Kiwis and cut it to small pieces for my caramelized Kiwi marmalade (I don’t like the word jam very much and marmalade looks like our word for jam here in Austria – “Marmelade” ) – therefore I decided to do something relaxing – practising my Bastarda hand and do another AoA scroll (blank) – I love to do scroll blanks because I don’t have to worry about the recipient (his/her persona, time,…) and also because I know that there is always a great need for scrolls…
…at the picture above you can see the Dürer picture of which I tried to redraw some parts – here are the parts that inspired me to try to redraw them:
For the picture on the left side:
For the picture on the right side:
For the lovely small insect on the right side of the bottom line:
For the small stone on the left side of the bottom line:
Why a bottom line? …because, when I finished the scroll, I had the feeling that it looked incomplete – I added the insect and the stone but it still didn’t look right … and than I knew what was missing … and the bottom line connected both drawing at the bottom and made the scroll look more ‘complete’ for me
Btw. here is the inspiration for the decoration above and underneath the field for the coat of arms – after I did the line for one side of the field for the coat of Arms I saw that it was too long and I shortened it by inserting a second, additional field for the coat of Arms and than, because the distance above and underneath was rather big, I looked out for a nice decoration inbetween this parts:
…and mistakes are period *lol* …if you take a look at the first line, you’ll find a rather big break in the word ‘kno_w’ – when I started to write the w, I saw that I was too much right to connect the letters to the word that it should be – therefore I inserted this small decorating line at the back of the w… *lol* good that mistakes are period I think my solution is rather easy and most people wont even recognize it if they don’t read my blog…
8
Mrz
2010
6th Scroll – AoA (blank)
I used Schreibtinte / Writing ink – Eisen-Gallus-Tinte “Scabiosa” (Rohrer & Klinger, Leipzig-Co.) for this scroll and again I tried to copy a small part from a Dürer picture
7
Mrz
2010
5th Scroll – AoA (blank)
Yesterday I finished another AoA scroll blank (size A5) – unfortunately there is not much place left for the year and the event name, but hopefully that won’t matter… I think my Bastarda hand is getting better with each scroll and I love the “A” letter initial that I tried for this scroll blank…
Instead of Nan-King Encre de Chine – intense indian ink (Lefrac & Bourgeois) or the Schreibtinte / Writing ink – Eisen-Gallus-Tinte “Salix” (Rohrer & Klinger, Leipzig-Co.), that I used for the 4th scroll, I used Schreibtinte / Writing ink – Eisen-Gallus-Tinte “Scabiosa” (Rohrer & Klinger, Leipzig-Co.) for this scroll and I am very pleased with the color
27
Feb
2010
4th Scroll – AoA (blank)
Today I finished another AoA scroll blank (size A5).
Normally I use black Nan-King Encre de Chine – intense indian ink (Lefrac & Bourgeois) but today I tried to work with Schreibtinte / Writing ink – Eisen-Gallus-Tinte “Salix” (Rohrer & Klinger, Leipzig-Co.)
…and again I tried to copy a small part from a Dürer picture for the bottom
27
Feb
2010
3rd Scroll – AoA (blank)
Recently I saw a gorgeous scroll done by my friend Melisende from Insulae Draconis (England) and decided that I really should practise my Bastarda hand – and how could I practise a hand better than doing another scroll… …and here is the result – my 3rd scroll – this time again an AoA (Award of Arms) scroll
…this here was my workplace for this project – normally this is our dining table – I used my embroidery basket to get an inclination of about 30° which makes writing for me much easier than if my drawing plate would lay flat on the table…
I love Melisendes scrolls and especially the scroll she made for Gyles catched my eye.
After the calligraphy was done I decided to add something at the bottom of my scroll – therefore I took a look in one of my books about the work of Dürer and found this nice book,… and decided to copy it as good as possible
…and this is the result – I hope you like it
I admit that I had to face some problems and that I made some mistakes while I was writing down the text, but with the help of a very sharp blade – I think I got it from Mistress Bridget when I started with calligraphy and illumination and it is one of the most useful gifts I ever got for calligraphy – I got rid of the mistakes and now I am quite pleased with the result
18
Dez
2009
interesting exhibitions in Vienna – now on display: Wenzel von Böhmen – Heiliger und Herrscher
On my way through the town I saw a very intersting advertisement for a exhibition on display at the ‘Österreichische Nationalbibliothek‘ here in Vienna (link to the page with text about the exhibition – sorry, only in German) – the exhibitons at the ÖNB are not very big but the items on display are rather interesting and normally the catalogues accompanying the exhibition are really great – I am very looking forward to visit this exhibition and to have a look inside the catalogue
Auf meinem Weg durch die Stadt sah ich ein interessantes Plakat, das für die folgende Ausstellung in der ‘Österreichische Nationalbibliothek‘ Werbung macht – hier ein direkter Link zu der Ausstellungsbeschreibung – die Ausstellungen in der Prunkhalle der ÖNB sind eigentlich nicht sehr groß, aber die ausgestellten Sachen sind ziemlich interessant und der die Ausstellung begleitende Katalog ist normalerweise sehr gut und ausführlich – ich sehe einem Besuch dieser Ausstellung mit großer Freude entgegen und freue mich schon sehr darauf, einen Blick in den Katalog zu werfen
Wenzel von Böhmen – Heiliger und Herrscher
Prunksaal der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
Josefsplatz 1, 1010 Wien
26. November 2009 – 31. Jänner 2010
Di. – So. 10 – 18 Uhr, Do. 10 – 21 Uhr
(Tuesday – Sunday 10 – 18:00, Thursday 10 – 21:00)
Eintritt: € 7,– / ermäßigt € 4,50
10
Dez
2009
28
Nov
2009
my second scroll & Aryanhwy’s calligraphy :)
Finally I got a scan of my 2nd AoA scroll from Aryanhwy:
- calligraphy by Lady Aryanhwy merch Catmael
and I love it!!! isn’t it beautiful?! the beautiful calligraphy really enriches the painting and I think the scroll looks great now
22
Nov
2009
illumination/calligraphy found in the museum ‘Schottenstift’ in Vienna
…and some interesting calligraphy & illumination found at the “Schottenstift” museum in Vienna – I tried to make good close up pictures too – I tagged all illumination and calligraphy photos, you can find all photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/racaire/tags/calligraphyillumination/ )
…and here some of the books and documents I found:
I hope you’ll find the photos interesting, if not, than I very apologize for posting this information.
19
Nov
2009
Kingdom University Pictures online! :)
Finally my photos taken at the Kingdom Universtiy near Hamburg are online now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racaire/sets/72157622701301219/
Gunnhild and Volker, members of the shire Aventiure, tried their best to make my stay as comfortable & interesting as possible and we also managed to visit three museums
Kingdom University was very interesting and I think my class was a success because it was a lot of fun – hopefully the class will result in many new Klosterstich projects and I am very looking forward to see the results
Furthermore I am very happy to tell that the charter of the Dragon’s Needle Embroidery Guild was signed by Their Majesties Judith and Gerhardt and King Gerhardt sealed the charter with the front gem of the crown of Drachenwald
The second Guild Meeting was very interesting – Many thanks to Gunnhild, Eleanora, Katherina and Rakonczay for attending the Guild Meeting and I also want to thank the other ladies who attended the Guild Meeting but are no members by now. Just a short summary for everyone who is interested: We discussed the possibility of the Guild participating in the ‘Coronation Cloak for Frankmark’ project but we think that as long as no details are known a further discussion is more or less senseless. We had a great idea for a new challenge concerning a new wall decoration for events – you will get to know more as soon as I worked out thedetails
To bad that I only managed to visit two classes and missed the class of lady Himiltrude – hopefully I will be able to visit the next University event and to attend more classes.
The Pelican ceremony was very interesting – btw: Congratulations to the new Pelican Master Robert of Canterbury!
The most funny part of the event, besides my class, was the dancing after the feast (Master Giano and the kitchen crew did a great job!) – Queen Judiths 15th century dances made me really breathless
Many thanks to everyone who made this event possible!
7
Nov
2009
Guild Charter – last sentence added
Today I added the last sentence at the Guild Charter:
“In order that this charter remain valid and unshaken for all ages, We, Judith and Gerhard, King and Queen of Drachenwald, have ordered the present document to be written and to be sealed with the impress of Our seal on the 14th day of November, A.S. XLIV.
King Queen”
Many thanks to Aryanhwy who found and drafted an old text for me