Basic Materials
1. Archival is a term which
means your paper, paints, and ink won’t fade or degrade over time.
2. Use paper with a smooth
finish. The terms plate, vellum, and hot-press, all mean the paper is smooth
enough for calligraphy. Hot-press Arches or Fabriano brand watercolor paper is
what I usually use.
3. Gouache or watercolor
paints are good. Acrylic paints tend to look plastic. Oil paints don’t work on
paper. The oil will eventually destroy the paper. Commercial ‘tempera’ paints
are not good either – they can chip & fade.
4. Buy a decent brush with a
very pointy tip. A sharp point will help when you’re trying to paint details. I
use a size #1 ‘round’ watercolor brush most often.
5. A basic pencil, eraser, and
ruler will be very useful for tracing, sketching & working out your
designs. Use a white eraser. Colored erasers may leave color smudges or smears.
‘Kneaded’ erasers also work.
6. I prefer a ‘dip’ pen which
consists of a separate metal nib and a nib-holder. Cartridge pens also work
well. Cutting a quill pen from a feather takes some practice but is the ideal
tool for writing and drawing on real vellum (animal skin).
Suppliers:
In addition to checking out your local craft & hobby
shops, here are a couple of online sources:
High-quality, inexpensive, brushes that have a fine-pointed
tip:
http://www.kalishfinestbrushes.biz/
Watercolor paper and a wide variety of art supplies:
http://www.danielsmith.com/
Artist & Craftsman
Supply - variety of art supplies
Scribal supplies & instruction books:
http://www.johnnealbooks.com/
Griffin Dye Works: small lampwork mullers, glass grinding
slabs, some pigments, brush rests, ink stones, ink bottles, mixing pans, etc.
Dry pigments & supplies for making your own paints:
M. Horowitz gold leaf
(718) 740-6175
221-23 Hartland Avenue, Hollis Hills, NY 11427
Random Tips &
Tricks
1. Tracing is totally period.
There are descriptions and recipes for a variety of tracing papers in medieval
writings.
2. Straight edge – Use a
ruler with cork backing or put several pieces of tape along the back to raise
the edge from the paper slightly. This will keep ink from wicking under the
ruler when you draw along the edge.
3. White work – is a term
used in the SCA to describe fine white lines and patterns painted over an area
of color.
4. Thin the paint (watercolor or gouache) with water
to a consistency like heavy cream. Thin it more if you need to get very thin
lines or tiny details.
6. Use the tip of your brush
to get into corners and make fine lines. A light touch will give you more control. You can also use a bigger brush
to lay in large areas of one color. A larger brush that comes to a very fine
point will hold more paint and make it easier to do long lines than a very tiny
brush with a few short hairs.
7. Look at and study medieval
examples. Be aware that photographs in books may not be true to the actual
colors of the original. What you are looking at in a reproduction is printer’s
ink, not gold leaf, shell gold, actual pigments or ink. Medieval colors may
degrade or tarnish over time. Gray might be tarnished silver leaf. Also read
the text and note the size of the original. Many photos are greatly enlarged.
Medieval manuscript sizes varied from huge books several feet across to tiny
ones an inch wide.
8. Metal ‘dip pen’ nibs have
a thin coating of varnish to keep them from rusting while they sit on the store
shelf. You need to remove this coating before using the nib for the first time.
Run the working tip of the nib through a small flame (candle or match) very
briefly. The varnish will burn off and leave black soot. Wipe off the soot and
you are ready to go. Be very careful not to burn yourself. The nib is metal and
will heat up if you hold it in the flame for more than a moment.
9. Pounce: gum sandarac is a
type of pounce - a powdered substance applied to paper or vellum to improve the
writing surface. If your ink ‘feathers’ or ‘beads up’ on the surface of your
paper or vellum, tap a ‘pounce bag’ of gum sandarac over the surface. Dust off
the excess. This will help keep your ink where you put it. (Pounce bag: cloth
bag full of finely powdered gum sandarac. The powder sifts through the fibers
of the bag when you tap it on the paper surface.) Pumice and several other
substances are also used as pounce.
10. To practice a new
calligraphy hand, xerox a copy of the exemplar you wish to learn on the
lightest setting. Match the width of your pen nib to the letters on the copy.
Then trace over the letters to familiarize yourself with the strokes, letter
shapes, and spacing of letters, words, and lines.
11. Don’t become too attached
to a specific pen nib. They will eventually wear down and corrode over time.
Buy several of the same size in the brand you like.
12. If your metal pen nib has a
burr or is not quite sharp enough to give you the fine hairstroke lines you
want, rub it across a piece of emery paper or crocus cloth several times to
smooth it. Don’t sharpen it too much or it will slice through your paper. The
finest grit of nail-polishing emery boards work well for this. (The variety
used for polishing the fingernail surface.) Make sure the emery paper or crocus
cloth is on a hard flat surface to ensure your nib retains its straight edge.
13. Get on the scribal lists
and ask questions. The scribes are very happy to talk to you and are very
helpful and knowledgeable.
14. Good website with
instructions on learning left-handed calligraphy: http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_left-handed.php
15. When using loose gold leaf, you can use a
VERY clean pair of small scissors to cut through the leaf and the paper page of
your leaf booklet. Cutting with the scissors crimps the edge of the gold leaf
& paper slightly, so that you can use the paper to position the gold leaf
(like patent leaf) without haveing to invest in a gilders cushion, tip, &
knife. Make sure you don’t use the scissors for anything else or you may get
oil or some other substance on the blades which will stick to the leaf. Wipe
the scissor blades with a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol to help clean
them.
16. You can use a straight-edge or ruler to help
rule straight lines with a paint brush. You must firmly prop the
straight-edge/ruler at an angle with your hand, or place a block under the
straight-edge to raise it high enough to touch only the ferrule (metal part of
brush that attaches bristles to handle). Hold the ferrule of the brush firmly
against the straight edge and the bristle point just touching the paper. Then
draw the brush steadily down the length of the straight edge to mark your line.
