Okay, this one maybe should have been a multi post blog, but I'm just going to put it all here. This was a scroll that was assigned to me the week of Coronation. A Court Baroness scroll for Lady (now Baroness) Aine ingen Comyn. Since there was no way I was going to get a scroll done in two days, I decided to seize this opportunity to allow her to determine the elements of her scroll. To say she was determined to challenge me was an understatement. The Requirements: 1. Black Hours. But not just any black hours... the Black Hours of Charles the Rash, Duke of Burgundy. 2. Real gold. 3. Real silver. 4. As much period pigment as I could manage. After looking at the few pages I could get access to, I also determined to add some of her past awards, and her three cats. My original design. I did a transfer, at the recommendation of two mentors, using a fake Armenian bole (sienna chalk stick) so that I could trace it onto the black Arches cover paper. (I'd never worked with black substrate before). I watered down instacoll (the mustard color on the letters) as the size for a flat gilding (something else I had never done). Then I applied 23k yellow gold leaf on the names and white gold on the rest of the letters, then burnished. Next was the real shell silver and real shell gold (also two more firsts as I've never worked with either). Next was applying all the pigment, most of it period, some of it I mixed myself. The green and the red I mixed from dry pigment. The white and the green on the device were gouache. In order to finish the shell gold shading, I had to actually make more myself. And then it was given to her whereupon it was at the framer's in less than an hour.
Things I learned: need to get the proportion on the letters a little better, they were too big. Next time go ahead and try the poisonous red and white for accuracy. And be a little more delicate on my accents.
4 Comments
3/6/2016 08:43:01 am
WOW! Amazing work! I love doing black hours (or working on black in general). You did an amazing job! I usually use Strathmore Artagain black paper. It has a great smooth surface and is close to black velum looking. If you do another black scroll I hope you will consider trying that for your paper. Master Tristan
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Failenn
3/6/2016 09:58:28 am
Thank you! I'm also working on a modern solution to the problems presented by the acid in the oak gall dye on parchment and the flaking of the carbon black method. I am hoping to have a new black hours to show off next year done on parchment.
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3/6/2016 10:07:34 am
I actually bought some black parchment/velum at Pennsic a few years back. It is lovely but so far I have not done anything on it. Depending on what size you need I might be willing to part with some if you want to have it to work on instead of trying to make your own.
Failenn
3/6/2016 12:43:08 pm
Thank you! I am wanting to make it as part of my KASF display next year to see if my method works and have a sampler of all three types (Oak Gall ink, Carbon black, and a modern) with paint on them
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