The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

Text complete. Figures have been underpainted with permanent white. Gesso laid down, gold leaf and aluminum leaf applied. Text and leaf have been burnished.

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

Prep Work For Painting

"Once the calligraphy was completed, the figures on the tracing paper were transferred to the black illustration board. This was done by scribbling on the back of each figure with a white color pencil, then the tracing paper was centered on the board and the figure drawn over again from the front side of the tracing paper, leaving a white outline on the black background.

"All of the illumination on this scroll had to be painted twice. Everything was painted first with a slightly diluted white paint. The white sealed the surface and kept the colored paint from picking up the black dye in the paper. As the white undercoat was put down, the white paint would get more and more gray as the brush picked up the black dye from the surface. Once everything was painted white (with a couple of extra coats on the hands and faces of the figures), gesso was laid down and sanded in preparation for laying gold and aluminum leaf.

"This shot shows the scroll with the white under painting and the metallic leaf applied. The aluminum leaf was much easier to work with than the gold leaf because it was thicker. Later I also found out that it was slicker and it took some persuasion to get paint to stick to it." -- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

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