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The Scribal Workshop Blog
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Laying down the gesso and gold leaf for an illuminated manuscript of the House at Pooh Corner song. All of the work on this manuscript is done using medieval techniques. The gesso is made using a medieval recipe and the gold leaf is adhered to the gesso after breathing on it to activate the adhesives in the gesso. The gold is then cleaned from the parchment and polished to a high shine.
A timelapse of the painting process of the knotwork on a custom poem. The egg tempera paint is all made using medieval materials and painted in small sections as it dries very quickly.
Timelapse of the knotwork on a custom poem illuminated manuscript. The majority of the video is at 20x speed. The underdrawing was all done with a lead-tin stylus and the erasing is with either leather and pumice, or stale bread. The final inking is with a quill and iron gall ink.
A time lapse of the Calligraphy for a poem written by a client. 20x speed for the majority of the video. The lines are all drawn with a bronze stylus, and the drawing was completed with a lead/tin stylus based on medieval recipes. The iron gall ink is my medieval recipe, written of course with a handcut goose quill.
It isn’t exactly eyes of newts and the blood of a dragon stewed together under a waxing gibbous moon or anything, but it doesn’t feel far off from that. And this recipe is one of the most straightforward I know of to our modern “follow this recipe, have success making cupcakes” mentality. Frankly, that wasn’t the mentality in the middle ages and renaissance. The mentality was, “here are some guidelines, take these and everything you learned from your master when you apprenticed” and you will succeed. But enough of the history of technical literature and recipes…
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