So excited for this team up! I’ve admired Katrusha’s work for a long while now. Due to various life and SCA events, she had stepped back a bit, so we never really got the chance to sit down and chat.
As luck would have it, we both camped with Norseland at Pennsic L(50). Through that event we got to hang out, chat, and nerd out about all the things, especially scribal!
One of the evenings she was lamenting the possibility of having to turn down an accepted scroll assignment. She was getting ready to head off to grad school and wasn’t sure she could do the whole thing on her own. I offered to help her out, and take on the words and calligraphy.
Once we’d all made it home we chatted and came up with a layout and plan for illumination, and figured out which script to use. The illumination would be Turkish, something she could handle very easily. The only catch is that while I’m able to pick up new scripts without too much trouble, I’d have to learn Turkish or get a translator because I don’t do hack-hands*. So after some discussion we settled on Insular Miniscule, as it has a similar look and it’s a script I’m already quite familiar with.
Knowing the rough shape that Katrusha wanted, I decided to leave her plenty of space to play with or cut down as she sees fit.
I did use a new ink on this scroll, Buckthorn from Scribal Work Shop. I was really happy with how the ink handled on the Perg, though it went down really faint and at some points was hard to see. I did enjoy watching it darken as it dried. I’ll be looking into using more of their inks in future projects.
Words:
Unto all subjects gathered hear the words of Ardrí Brennan and Ardrígain Caoilfhionn for They are pleased by the skill on the archery field of Lady Safiya al-Naghira. A true aspiring Champion, her average score steadily increases along with her achievements in archery. She has made top sixteen, then top eight in the Archery Champion Competitions in AS LVII(57) and AS LVIII(58). Additionally, she was chosen as an Alternate on the Pennsic XLIX(49) Archery Champs team and earned a spot on the team for Pennsic L(50).
Therefore we find it right ,true, and deserved that she be inducted into the Order of Apollo’s Arrow. Done by Our hand at Carolingia’s 50th Year Celebration in the LVIII(58th) year of the Society.
Yes, donby, it’s now a word. Because scribes are human, we occasionally make spelling or spacing mistakes. I didn’t notice this one until I had done the O in Our, and by then it was too late to scrape and correct without leaving a huge mar in the middle of the paragraph, so I decided to leave it.
*Hack-hands is a term we used for faux calligraphy hands that “look” culturally accurate, but are actually just stylized English alphabet to look the part. Their use has raised some issues in the scribal community.
