More Charter Designs

I've been working on several different projects little by little right now.  I have two more charter designs that I'm working on finishing up.  This time a Sable Talon and a Compass Rose.

Sable Talon in done in the style of the Grandes Heures of Jean, Deke of Berry.  The Grandes Heures was finished in 1409, and it thought to have been commissioned around 1407.  The book's 126 folios measure 400 x 300 mm.  I've used pieces from the "simple" pages to make the illuminated boarder.  Long necked dragons are very common on these "simple" pages as well as grotesques.  I've used an armored half-man/animal grotesque since the award deals with the field of combat.

The Compass Rose is done in the style of the Macclesfield Psalter. The Macclesfield Psalter was made in East Anglia in the second quarter of the 14th century.  I've used pieces of two different folios for the Compass Rose design.  I started with f. 87r for the general shape of the boarder and I replaced the upper flower in a circle with the Award's registered badge. The other page is f 104v for the larger capital T and some of the design work on boarder. 

The Compass Rose is still just in pencil.  Because of the extra illuminated letters, I had to work on the calligraphy spacing before I could nail down placement on the boarder and line fillers.  I'll be able to clean it up and ink it soon.

Isaac

Books, Books, Books

I haven't done to much work on my calligraphy or illumination lately. I've been doing more reading.

I went ahead and picked up a cartridge pen made by Manuscript so I can do some practice calligraphy at work during lunch breaks at work. The dip pens were just to much trouble to try and get set up, used, and then cleaned up in the little free bits of free time.

For my birthday, I received some money, so I made an Amazon order for some more books.  I picked up the following: Beowulf: Facsimile of British Museum MS. Cotton Vitellius A xv, with a transliteration (Early English Text Society Original Series), Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications), The Macclesfield Psalter, Italian Illuminated Manuscripts in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum), The Gilded Page: The History and Technique of Manuscript Gilding plus a few other non C&I related books.

The Beowulf book is going to be great for my Beowulf project when I get back to it.

The Macclesfield Psalter is two parts, the first is on the Psalter, studies into it's making, the content it shows, ect and the 2nd part is of the facsimile of the Psalter's pages.  I can't wait to dive into this book.  I think it's going to make a really great source of inspiration.

I've been reading The Gilded Page: The History and Technique of Manuscript Gilding and so far it's really good.  While I've read some of the author's sources like The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting, and The Craftsman's Handbook: the Italian "Il Libro dell' Arte" it's been years.  The recipes the author has in the book go from the very period to an easy modern recipe using white glue as it's main ingredient to make gesso.  I'm now thinking I'll have to invest in some gold leaf and other supplies to try out the new knowledge.

Isaac

Queen's Rapier almost done

That's right.  A few more times at doing the calligraphy and I got a copy I was happy with and it has the right spaces.  So I went and made a few copies of each the illumination and the calligraphy and played cut and paste.  I still need to make a final copy and type up an informative blurb.

The design is taken from "Verses about the Bleeding Host relic at Dijon" f. 2r, France: 1450-1499
Found here: http://app.cul.columbia.edu:8080/exist/scriptorium/individual/MdBJ-G-31.xml 

Colors look like: Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Hooker's Green Light, Hooker's Green Deep, Magnesium Green, Gamboge Hue, Raw Sienna, White, and Gold.

Isaac

Design Sketchers for a few more charters

ile I'm still working on my calligraphy for the Queen's Rapier, I had some time to sketch up a few more ideas for other charters.

I'm using the Yates Thompson 13 for a source.  It's a Book of Hours and is also known as 'The Taymoth Hours'.  It's from the 2nd quarter of the 14th Century and uses a Gothic hand for it's text.
My source of the manuscript can be found here.

Both of the following pictures are of the pencil sketch of the layout.

The first is for the Sable Falcon, a nonarmigerous award that's 8.5 x 11 in. Because of the award's status, it's smaller size usually dictates simpler illumination, so I trimmed off part of the right side and top border.

The Second is for the Arc D'Or, an award that carries a Grant of Arms and is 11 x 14 in.  I haven't erased my do not cross lines around the "pages" yet.

Isaac

Queen's Rapier Test Fit

First test fit of the calligraphy on the illumination.  Need a bit more practice with the letter forms, but over all it looks good.  Found a few spelling errors to fix and a line needs to be left after "day of" for the month.

Isaac