My Second Scroll - I finished my second scroll for the SCA during October. Way back when, the first time I ever served on a Queen's Court in the SCA, I was on Luciana's court. When someone steps down from being King or Queen the first time, they are make a Count or a Countess. I had the very good pleasure to work on Luciana's Countess scroll.

Luciana's Countess Scroll

click to see the whole album

Things I liked about this project - I liked doing the layout in PowerPoint, wow that really worked nicely. You can customize the slide size (to make it match your scroll size), add objects with specific sizes (like a 3-inch circle, etc.). And it was really simple to layer various drawing selections, to build the perfect shield, helmet, mantling, and roses wreath.

I like the look of the grid elements on the header and the footer. I got that idea from another Caidan scroll that I saw on the Caidan wiki. (You can scroll through images of scrolls produced in Caid in the Scribes section of the Caidan wiki.)

While I was working on the research for this scroll, the scribes email list was discussing various techniques for metallic gold. One person mentioned layering gold paint on top of red paint, and I liked how my finished illuminated letter looked because of this techinique. And I like the overall finished look of my calligraphy.

Things I would do differently - I definitely should start painting earlier in the week, not the night before I need to deliver the finished scroll. *embarassed laugh* But nice to know I can do the whole thing in one short, adrenaline-fueled burst. But really, I *need* to start earlier.

I cannot believe I've misplaced my drafting pens. I need to find them again, for very narrow black lines. Although, Medb Renata mentioned that signatures don't need to have inked lines, so I could just do those in pencil and have them erased after the scroll is signed. But I would like to leave my drafting pens with my painting supplies from now on (once I find them). I need to practice with some of my other pen nibs, to see if I can get some fine lines from some of my existing pens, rather than relying on the drafting pens. I would have liked to have done the curling red with red ink and a pen, rather than a tiny paint brush and gouche.

And I need to start doing specific calligraphic alphabet practicing, not just barely adapting my own hand to look *sort of* like the examples from history.

Wrapping it up - Overall, I'm happy with this project, and I have another assignment with a deadline. I've started some of the imagery research for this assignment already, as opposed to waiting to the last minute. But I have two no-deadline special-project scrolls still on the back-burner, and I need to get back to working on them. Those scrolls require some specific outside consulting, and I've let that lapse for a while. And I've got some ideas how to work on including my calligraphy and illumination into the Pentathlon competition scheduled for April 2011. I'm happy.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Luciana, for being such a wonderful introduction to SCA court service at the kingdom level. I miss you, dear.