Blackletter
This is what a week of Gothic Textura practice looks like.
Calligraphy & Illumination
Scribal Playdate, Part the Second
When last we left our intrepid scribes, they were taking a wee cordial break. After we finished imbibing, it was time to make some iron-gall ink. First we started out by grinding Aleppo oak galls (you can use domestic US oak galls, but you have to use so many more because they are not as tannic
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Scribal Playdate, Part the First
A couple of very lovely, wonderful ladies got together last Saturday and threw a Scribal Play Date for those of us who were interested in learning some intermediate scribal techniques. It was almost ten hours of scribal classes and experimentation, and we still didn’t get around to mixing pigments and painting. I’m going to break
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Gesso and Gilding
Remember when I went to KWHSS and took classes on gesso and gilding? Well, I thought I’d try it at home to see if it worked as well as I hoped (hint: it didn’t). I reconstituted the mostly-dried gesso unto a thin paste and painted up some pretty leaves and an illuminated letter. The off-white
Parchment and Quill
One of my continuing goals is to be as authentic in my craft as I feel I can reasonably be. Sometimes that means that I machine sew my clothes except for visible stitches. Sometimes that means I order three ounces of white silk tram to dye with natural dyes for embroidery. This time, it means
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Known World Heraldic and Scribal
A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to go the the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium (or, cumbersomely, KWHSS). People came from all over the SCA world, some from as far away as Drachenwald (most of Europe), to take classes and share knowledge. It was tons of fun. Penelope working on a
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Hellsgate Chivalric Scroll
One of the things I really enjoy doing is making scrolls for the Barony. The Stronghold of Hellsgate is a satellite group to Bryn Gwlad, north of us, but associated with us. They hold their own competitions to determine chivalric, rapier, and a&s champions. This scroll is based on a Greek manuscript from the late
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Calligraph all the things!
I’ve been trying to do as much calligraphy and illumination as I can. One of the really awesome things about tournaments is that most of them require you to submit a letter of intent, stating that you want to fight. It’s a chance to shmooze the Royalty and to show off your (or your friend’s)
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