Quills, Brushes, and what's next

I've had chance to play with the quills and brushes I have made lately on a page from my Beowulf project.  Both the quills and the brushes work ok.  I need to keep practicing at making them. I can currently cut a quill small enough to do the lettering I want, but I'm not getting the hair lines and sharp corners that I get with the metal nibs.I think some of the issue is with the curing of the quills.  I'll do more cleaning of the barrels before I do the curing and see if that helps.  The latest Minever brush works really well compared to the badger brushes I've made so far.  The hogs hair also works pretty good as long as the hairs stay together.  I'm planning on attempting to make a few more badger and hogs hair brushes and I'll need to order some more minever before I can make more of those.

The page I'm working on for my Beowulf project is coming along nicely. I'm using my mixed pigments, quill pens, handmade brushes, Arches Hot press Watercolor paper, and sumi ink.  Not all the materials are period in nature yet, but it's getting much closer and I can gauge how the quills and brushes preform as I'm use to using modern versions of the tools with the mixed pigments on the Arches paper.

Next special project I think will be making ink.  I have the materials to make a batch of oak gall ink, just need to plan the day to do it.

Isaac

Pictures of making a Medieval Brush

The following pictures are of a Minever brush.  I have already cut, cleaned, and have the quill barrel soaking in a glass of water.

I've tied the first tie on this bundle of hairs.  I've done what I could to make the hairs come to a point.

The tuft was dipped in water, to wet it down to make it a bit easier to work with.  I'm making my second tie that will help establish brush length.

I've threaded the tuft through the quill barrel.  Again the tuft was dipped in water.

The handle was carved down to fit the barrel and a small ring was cut to help the barrel grip the handle.

I just finished tying waxed linen string around the ring notch and near the tip to help the quill barrel to dry tight in those locations.

Extra string has been trimmed and now the brush is ready to dry out for a bit so the quill shrinks.

A selection of brushes I've made.  From the left: First three are badger, Hogs hair, and Minever.  Not all my stick carving has turned out very well, but the brush does still work.

Isaac

Testing My Handmade Brushes

I've now made three brushes using badger hair, quill ferrule, oak handle and waxed linen thread. Last night I tried painting with them.  I used minium (red lead) paint on Pergamenata scrap for my tests.  Over all they worked ok, painted much like an abused modern store bought brush would.  I might be able to clean them up with some time, but really I need to get better on shaping the hairs during construction. But, I'm pleased with my attempts so far.

Isaac