The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

The Commission

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

The Commission
Long, long, ago in the misty reaches of antiquity, Aricia Jehane Devereaux asked me to do scrolls for her and her husband, Eric Bearsbane. Eric's Oerthan Viscounty and Aricia's Laurel went on my backlog and languished there for a very, very long time as they awaited the birthing of An Idea. Eventually An Idea came along for both of their scrolls and I began work on Eric's Viscounty. During that time, Aricia asked if I still wanted to do her Laurel scroll (hint) because if I didn't (hint) she could get someone else (hint) to do it. I told her that while I was okay with it if she wanted someone else to do it (hint), I actually had An Idea and was going to start work on her scroll just as soon as I finished Eric's.

This was true. I had been inspired by a set of "Black Hours" from the Master of Anthony of Burgundy as the last approach to try on black illustration board. The look was bold, different, and it was a challenge I felt I was up for. Attempts by other scribes in that style were out on the Internet and I felt that I could do as well. How hard could it be? thought I. A nice block of text, a miniature, and a floral border -- no surprises there. I hauled out my last piece of illustration board, penciled in the margins, the border, and the spots for the miniature scene and block of text, along with a nice circle left and right in the border, and two more in the bottom part of the border. I would put the Arms in the side circles and leave the bottom circles open for the two wax seals.

First up, the text. The text block on the piece was measures, reproduced onto a piece of scratch paper, and the text duly inked out in a nice black letter hand. I laid this down onto the piece but could see it didn't look right -- the text block was too fat and square. It needed to be more elongate and skinner, so I redrew the two blocks on the piece, made a box with the new dimensions on another piece of scratch paper, and re-lettered the text to make sure it would fit into the thinner box. It did, with some lines left over to spare at the bottom for the signatures. Good. This was going to be the only really tedious part, as I'd learned by doing Lorenzo's Pelican scroll -- first lay the text down on the illustration board in white paint, then go over it with silver/gold gouache and burnish it.

This took quite a long while (I am a slow and grudging calligrapher) but eventually resulted in a nice text done up with a fancy capital (I sketched a cat inside because Aricia loves cats). All painted with white, then gone over with the silver gouache, then burnished. Ta-dah! Done at last! Now for the fun part -- the miniature and real painting! -- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).