Mother's day Gift 2012

I started my Mom's gift for Mother's day a while back and have been keeping a photo record of it's progress.  Mom talked about liking a quote but not the calligraphy from an art piece in a catalog.  So I decided to try and come up with a better bit of calligraphy and some illumination to fit the quote.

 The quote is "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

After a lot of research, I ran across some white work "rain" that would fit with the style I was looking at doing the project in.

I showed my Mom the project after just starting it, so she knows about the gift and that it'll be late.

Completed Design

Lead-tin stylus on white Pergamenata

Calligraphy done, out lining using a walnut ink.

I didn't have the quote in front of me when I sat down to do the calligraphy.  I messed up the quote a little bit by replacing the word storm for word rain. 

Out lining done.

Laying down paint in layers.

Adding details by using more layers of paint.

Playing with Science!

Started a few experiments the other day. 

The first is trying to make some verdigris to eventually turn into paint. I have two copper pipe sleeves sitting on a plastic cap that has holes drilled into it to allow any fumes to flow through.  The jar is a simple glass jar picked up from the local retail store.  I decided on glass, so I can watch it and see what happens as time goes on.

After a few days.

The other is a friend and I set out to make some oak gall ink for the first time.  Over all it turned out ok, a little watery but hopefully with some time and leaving the lid off, that will be fixed. We also made Gum water to use as a binder for the ink.

Crushed Oak Galls simmering in water for almost an hour.

After hours of simmering, the iron is added.

After a simple stir all the liquid is black

Ground up some egg shell to help with the acid levels

First straining

Second straining.

Copy Master & New Toys

Finished up one of the last pieces for the weekend the other night.  It's a master for a black and white set of copies that will be given to the individual winners of the micro tourneys that will be going on.

I also received my order from http://randyasplund.com/
The tools are great.  The picture doesn't do the knife justice, it's beautiful and feels really nice in the hand.  I did try out the lead-tin stylus and it's a bit different then a pencil, a lot smoother and so little pressure is needed to get a mark.

Champions

I've been working on champion scrolls when not writing or doing research lately.

Illuminated Armenian Manuscripts were chosen to be the source of inspiration for the six regular champion scrolls needed for the next local event.  I used the illusioniary Armenian hand I created a while back for the calligraphy.  Each of the Armenian Scrolls was designed and painted by other talented members of the guild.

Maggie's Design & Painting

Cheryl's Design & Painting

I choose to use other designs for the champions scrolls I was working on since they aren't part of usual set of champions.  Two are for Youth champions and two are for champions from a series of micro tourneys. 

Youth Combat Champion

Youth Archery Champion

Micro Tourney - Most number entered

Micro Tourney - Most Wins

Teaching Classes

Started a class series about how a medieval manuscript page was made with a friend of mine helping to teach. The first class was a lecture class that went over each step, that went really well, and we'll be doing a different step hands on as the months go by.  Right now we're planning on covering Pricking & Ruling, Quill Cutting & Calligraphy, Gold Leaf, Painting in Layers, and Miniatures & Grotesques.

Isaac