The Book of Una

“I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom” (Author Unknown). As most of you know, the Pennsic Watch is a 24/7 operation requiring the work of over 3,000 volunteers. I want to personally thank some of my crew members for giving up a significant portion of their vacation to help make the Watch successful. I truly could not have done this without your help.

Ajax Thermopoleaklea
Sir Alric of the Mists
Duchess Angelik Chastellain de Beauvais
Baron ArnBiorn Bassi Dansson
TH Lady Arianwen o Wyndham (lost and found)
Baroness Briatiz D'Andrade
Baron Dietrich Schwelgengräber
Duchess Eilis O'Boirne
Baroness Ekaterina Volkova
Duchess Elina of Beckenham
Duke Frederick of Holland
Duke Gavin Kilkenny of Kilcarren
Baroness Gwenllian ferch Gwilim (called Makai)
Sir Gregory Lochswan
Dame Hróðny Rognvaldsdottir
Lord Ken of the Lost (lost and found)
Iu’lianiia Schvercek (called Cricket)
Sir Magariki Katsuichi no Koredono
Duchess Megan nic Alister of Thornwood
Sir Michael of Northwood
Baron Mikael Auraprestr
Baron Mikail Azadan Askoldovich
TH Lord Ragnar Bloodaxe (lost and found)
Baron Robert Thompson (called Saunooke)
Ronan O'Gobhann
Duke Rurik Longsword (Parking)
Sir Sirhan al Cyani ibn Atai Akarel Diablu
Master Tofi Kerthjalfadsson
Tomasso Valeriano
Lord Wilhelm Smydle von Solingen (lost and found)

If I missed anyone, I do apologize. Thank you again for all of your hard work and dedication to working Pennsic War 40. Vivat!!

Mistress Una de Saint Luc
Deputy Mayor for the Watch, Pennsic XL

Fleur d’AEthelmearc (mid level A&S award) scroll for Roxanne de Saint Luc. Given out at Pennsic War 40 (2011). Based on The FLOWER BOOK OF HOURS by Simon Bening (16th century). The scroll is done on goat skin parchment with period pigments, to scale of the original manuscript. Calligraphy and Illumination by Mistress Una de Saint Luc with wording by Sir Ogami Akira.

For Pennsic, I made a “stunt double” (photo copy of the original) to the real scroll wouldn’t get damaged at Pennsic.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/unadesaintluc/Beckysstuntdoublescrol07-2011l.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/unadesaintluc/BeckysFleurphoto07-2011.jpg

Here is the text written by Sir Ogami -

A daughter of St. Luc is a stranger in a strange land that has become familiar. Ten thousand miles from the home she loves, her heart yearns for mastery of a new art that was old a millennium ago. She ties back the sleeves of the kosode she sewed lest the silk be stained in her efforts. Her brushes create light and shadow, her inks and paints bringing to life faces and mountains undreamt of by her sisters so very far away. The day turns to dusk as the night comes creeping, yet her hunger for perfection is unsated. Tired eyes droop and trembling hands fail, but with the bright light of morning her joyful quest will be born afresh.

We, King Christopher & Queen Morgen of AEthelmearc, have many times seen the remarkable art of Our modest Roxanne de St. Luc, and likewise her skill with fabric and needle on the backs of so many of Our subjects. It is Our will that the cries of praise and wonderment by the populace not go unanswered.

Note: this is artwork and documentation done by Roxanne de Saint Luc (my sister).

This is a Millrind scroll for a person with a Japanese persona during the late Muromachi period. It is based on a Japanese painting called “Hawks and Pines” by Sesson Shukei. Although the actual date of the piece is unknown, the artist lived from 1504-1589 during the Muromachi period in Japan. The original is actually two separate hanging scrolls. The hawk that I used for a reference for the top of the scroll is supposed to be hung on the left and the one on the bottom is supposed to be on the right (Sadao & Wada, 2003). I originally found the two scrolls when looking at the Tokyo National Museum website and have since found them in other books of Japanese art. I would like to request that the judges kindly evaluate the piece solely on the painting and not the calligraphy as that was done by a different artist.
The original paintings were 126.5 cm high and 53.5 cm wide (or 49.8” x 21”) (Sadao & Wada, 2003). I was unable to obtain paper of the desired quality in this dimension and reduced the size of the painting proportionately.
Westerners refer to papers for Japanese ink painting as “rice paper” even though they have nothing to do with rice. Japanese papers were usually made from sandalwood, bamboo, mulberry, cotton or linen (Frame, 2002, p. 18).
The paper that I chose to work with was a hot press cotton watercolor paper. I chose this paper for its fine grain and smooth surface. The paper is absorbent enough to handle the amount of water that is needed for large areas of ink wash, but is fine enough to do detailed work without a lot of excessive bleeding.
Ink in Japan is made from either pine carbon or oil carbon, and glue. The inks varied in color from brown tones to bluish. Japanese inks are available in a stick form which must be ground on a smooth surface with a slight tooth to it (usually slate). After grinding the ink, water must be added. I have found the ink stick to be inconsistent and at times may leave a gritty residue. For this piece I chose to work with a bottled, liquid ink to keep consistency and have more predictable results (Frame, 2002, p. 12-13). Shading effects are created by adding more or less water to the ink.
The originals were two separate scrolls which I decided to combine into one unique piece that would be to the recipient’s liking. The original pieces do not have calligraphy as this one does. As previously stated, I was not the calligrapher for this piece, but it was translated into Japanese and Kanji was used to add to the authenticity of the piece. There are examples of scrolls with painted images and calligraphy on them dating back to at least the 8th century (Sadao & Wada, 2003).
I have not found evidence for the use of pencils in Japanese sketching in period. Sketches were done with ink directly on paper. One example that I found of a sketch showed the artist simply folded his paper, drew a single line, and created the rest of the artwork from that line (Yukio, 1960). I chose to do a basic sketch in pencil first to create the layout of the branches and to determine the placement of the hawks. From this basic outline I then added my ink.
I used sable hair and goat hair paintbrushes to apply the ink. Many Asian brushes are made from wolf, goat and hog hair set in a hollow bamboo handle (Gair, 1995, p. 115). The goat hair brushes were soft and wide which allowed for an even wash over larger areas. I used the sable brushes because that is what I owned and was more familiar with.
The hawks chosen were appropriate for the recipient as they have a martial arts background. Paintings featuring birds of prey were “popular among military men, and often featured steely-eyed hawks poised for flight, an image suggestive of the turbulence of the late Muromachi years” (Sadao & Wada, 2003, p. 150).
In the future, if I were to do a similar piece, I would like to avoid the pencil sketches and create purely with ink. Consistency with stick ink may improve with additional practice.


References

Frame, S.(2002). Japanese Ink Painting: Beginner’s Guide to Sumi-e. New York. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

Gair, A. (Ed.). (1995) Artist’s Manual: A Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Materials and Techniques. San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins.


Sadao, T.S., & Wada, S. (2003). Discovering the Arts of Japan: A Historical Overview. Tokyo, Japan. Kodansha International.

The TNM Collection (2011). In Tokyo National Museum. Retrieved from http://www.tnm.go.jp.

Yukio, Y. (Ed.). (1960) Art Treasures of Japan. Tokyo, Japan. Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai.

I few weeks ago, I noticed a female duck nesting under a sign at work. She is well hidden and most people don’t even know she is there. Every day, when I drive into work or leave for the day, I look for my duck. I’ve never seen her wander away from her nest to get food, nor have I seen a mate.

Last night we had some major storms come through (high wind, rain, lightening etc). Was I worried about my house, my car, my neighborhood or anything like that? No...I was worried about my duck.

This morning, when I came in to work, her head was down…really down…not in a good way down. My first thought was “OMG! My duck is dead!” In a feeble attempt of hoping my duck was not dead, I decided to go down to the cafeteria and buy some wheat bread for her. I remember thinking “bread! That will do the trick! If she is alive, it will give her strength. And if she is dead…well….either it is magical bread and will bring her back to life or I will just had a dead duck covered in bread bits on the front yard.”

When I walked out to the nest, her head was up and she was watching me, but she kept as still as a rock. From a distance, I tossed her the pieces of bread and just walked away. I hope she eats something.

As I walked back to my office, I thought to myself “gosh…I would make one lousy nature photographer for the Discovery Channel. They would have to assign me to filming rocks or something…and even then I would probably want to clean and love the rocks! Oy!”

see more Political Pictures

Like I said in the previous entry, when I’m out walking Tally I will frequently see different wild animals. We have seen wood ducks, mallards, blue herons, many deer, bunnies, beavers, and etc. This morning, while we were working on our second mile, I turned the bend to find a skunk. You can imagine the words that came out of my mouth when I saw him. Thankfully, Tally and I were far enough away that he wasn’t bothered by our presence (too busy hunting for grubs) but still…he was right next to our walking path! I stood there for a bit, trying to decide if I should attempt to keep walking and risk getting sprayed or give up and go home. Then, I had a moment of “duh” and realized I was walking on a loop! Hence, I could turn around and walk the other way around the loop! (duh) So I turned around and we proceeded to finish our morning routine via going the opposite way.

While I was walking away from the skunk I began to think…normally I get excited when I see critters in the wild. I might exclaim something like “oh wow! Look at the deer!” or “cute bunnies!” or “nice beaver!” OK, maybe not quiet like that, but when I came across the skunk, do you think I said anything like “oh wow! A nice, cute skunk!” No. Instead, I was annoyed because the skunk was blocking my route. That wasn’t very fair to the skunk. He can’t help it if his self defense is a bad smell, and he was a cute skunk (from 10 feet away). Besides, this wasn’t *my* path. In fact, I was intruding on his turf and he was probably just as annoyed that I had interrupted his lovely breakfast. In the end, it was actually kind of nice that the skunk had been there because it gave us a change of scenery. I guess when life gives you lemons; you make lemonade…and when life puts a stinker in your path, find a new way to get to your destination.

Ever since I adopted Tally puppy from Lollypop Farm last summer, I’ve taken her out for a morning walk before work. Tally is a total mutt and looks kind of like a dingo (Australian wild dog). Some of my family members even call her "the dingo". When I adopted her she had just turned one, hence she had all of that puppy energy in an adult size body. I knew I needed to get that energy out or else the house would be doomed, so I promised that I would walk her every day.

At first, the idea of getting up early to walk the dog seemed like such a burden (hmm…sleep in a few more minutes or get my butt out of bed to go walk? Hmmm…). Well, I had made a promise to Tally that I would walk her, so every morning I did just that...leash in one hand, coffee in the other (sometimes grumbling and wishing I was back in bed). I started off by just doing one lap around the block (about one mile).

When I told people I was walking Tally every morning they were pleased but at the same time had this tone in their voice as if to say “yeah, right…we shall see how long this lasts…especially with winter coming.”

Fall came, the equinox past and it was now very dark out in the morning. Instead of saying “it is too dark out to walk” I instead got a flash light and attached it to my travel coffee mug, got a light for Tally’s harness and some visible tape for the leash. Now armed and covered in lights, we kept walking every morning – leash in one hand, coffee in the other.

I started to enjoy my morning walks. They were so peaceful and quiet. I delighted in watching the seasons change and spotting various critters (deer, ducks, bunnies etc) on our journey. With all of the craziness of life, it felt good to just have a moment of peace where it was just nature, me, my dog, covered in lights, the leash in one hand and my coffee in the other.

Winter came. A normal person might have said “it is too cold and snowy out to walk the dog” but I didn’t. Instead, I bought Tally a coat and for me, bright pink snow pants to combat the dark, monochromatic season. The idea of stop walking didn’t occur to me, because what started off as a promise to the dog had now turned into an addiction. I was enjoying my morning walks so much that I found myself feeling a little blue when I had come to the end of my one mile lap. Right around the New Year I said to myself “what is stopping you from doing two laps?” Well, my mind started trying to come up with all kinds of reasons, like “well, at some point I need to get ready for work” and “there is weather out here!” but to be honest, all of the reasons were weak compared to my desire to keep walking. So, in the middle of winter I started walking two miles every morning in my hot pink snow pants, covered in lights, leash in one hand and my coffee in the other.

In February we started hitting some record cold temperatures and snow fall. It was at this time that I finally met my match. One day while out walking, Tally stopped walking and lifted her foot. I went to check on her and realized it was so cold out that it was now bothering her feet. I quickly held her paw in my hand, warming them with my body heat. After a minutes she was good to go again, but it was at that time that I realized there really was a limit for our morning walks. I tried dog booties but two of them fell off before we even got to the door, and the other two fell off somewhere in the snow. Now, when the weather man came on, I was less concerned about the daily high but more concerned about the daily lows, hoping that the temps would be OK for walking. If it was too cold, I told Tally we couldn’t go, but of course she tried convincing me otherwise. Even with the cold, upstate NY temps, we probably missed maybe 15 days out of the whole season. On the days we couldn’t walk, not only was Tally upset (her whines sound like a whale mating call) but I was upset! I wanted to go too! At first, I thought “ahh…this is nice, I can sleep in.” but to be honest, that happy feeling of sleeping in was really pathetic compare to the happy feeling I got from getting up early and going for a walk with my dog.

Spring came…or so I’m told. We have had a mix of weather, ranging from cold, windy and rainy to sunny and warm. I think it was some time in March I found myself feeling blue when I came to the end of my second lap, and started thinking about doing a third. Same as before, I couldn’t find any reason why not to do that third lap, so we did it. This morning I heard some people talking about how they were training to walk a 5k. I took a little pride in knowing that I was walking 5k every morning now. Our morning walks have become such a matter of habit that I am caught off guard when people are shocked at what I do.

A few weeks ago, my right foot was bothering me. It started bothering me last fall, but I just ignored the pain and kept walking. While I was getting a pedicure done, my friend said she thought something was actually wrong with my food and I should see a professional. The doctor took some x-rays and discovered the reason why my foot was bothering me was because I had lost the fat pad in my foot and a fractured bone. I also have hyper-flexible joints, so while the normal toes only bend back to a 45 degree angle, mine can go 90 degrees. As a result, with every step, I’m hyper extending my foot and coming down on the fracture with no padding to protect it…and I’ve been doing this every day for miles for the last six months. The doctor looked at me and asked on a scale of 1-10 how painful was it. I just looked at him and said “didn’t we just establish that I have a high pain tolerance since I’ve been walking on this fracture for months?” I guessed the pain to be at a seven, but I don’t know if that tells you anything or not. We discussed options for treatment. He can’t really do anything about the fracture at this point unless he does surgery. We decided to first try custom orthotics and see how it goes. He might give me a shot or two also. I told him I didn’t care what he needed to do as long as I could walk my dog. I felt tears starting to form in my eyes when I thought about not being able to go for my morning walk anymore. I found it a little odd…the idea of *not* being able to walk anymore was more painful to me than walking on fractured foot. I don’t know how many times I said “I don’t care what you have to do as long as I can still walk my dog”. I must have started to sound like a broke record but that was all I could think about.

After the diagnosis, I did take some time off from walking, which depressed me a bit. After a few days I realized I had just been walking on this fracture for months…what changed? Nothing other than I had a diagnosis…a name for Mr. Pain. While my foot hurt, it didn’t stop me for the six months before…so why should I let it stop me now just because it had a name? Screw it! Yes it hurt, but the joy this brings me far outweighs the pain and besides…the doctor didn’t tell me I couldn’t walk anymore. So I popped an Aleve, put on my shoes and headed back out the door – leash in one hand, coffee in the other.

I have one coworker who will frequently ask me “did you walk your dog this morning? Tell me again how far you walk? In this weather? What time do you get up in the morning?” She seems to be somewhat amazed that I do this every day, and has even made comments that allude to her wanting to do the same. I tell her she can do it…you need to commit yourself some how (for me, making a promise to the dog helped) and go for it…every day. You don’t need to do a marathon…just walk around the block or to the end of the street. After a while, that “once around the block” might turn into a desire to go twice.

For me, what started off as a burden and a chore became something that brings me so much pleasure that the idea of stopping now seems unbearable. And just to think…this all started when I decided to adopt an abandoned mutt from the local shelter. For my birthday, my mother bought me a silver ring. On the outside are human and dog foot steps and on the inside it says “you will never walk alone”. Yes…and as long as I can still walk, we will be out there, doing our “dingo 5k”.

As you probably know, in period they used quills or reed pens. Today, there are many other items we can choose from. When it comes to doing scrolls I recommend staying away from Sharpie brand markers. They contain a high level of acid (hence the smell) and will bleed and change color with time. Look for pens/ink that is “fade proof” or archival. Below I have listed some of the pens that have been recommended by various scribes within Æthelmearc.

For drawing:
SAKURA Pigma Micron pens in sizes .005 mm, .03 mm, .01 mm. These disposable pens are waterproof, archival ink, and quick drying. Cost is about $2.00 per pen. Come in various colors.
Uniball Vision Elite comes in different sizes and colors that are waterproof and fade proof.
Pitt Artist Pens – waterproof, smudge proof (when dry) archival ink (pH neutral) disposable pens. Costs about $2.50 per pen.
KOH-I-NOOR Rapidograph Technical Pens. These are high quality professional technical pens that include a chrome stainless steel point with a refillable ink cartridge. Costs about $20 per pen. While these are nice pens, they are expensive, so you want to take good care of them. I recommend if you get a set of rapidographs, you might want to pick up a pen cleaning kit as well (example: Koh-I-Noor Pressure Pen Cleaning Kit for about $16).
Hunt crow-quill style nibs (cost - $1.00 per nib) and Speedball Super Black Waterproof Indian Ink (costs about $3.50 for a two ounce bottle).

Cartridge pens for calligraphy -
Sheaffer – Basic set (includes pen, 3 nibs and 4 ink cartridges) will cost about $10.00
Parker Vector. Come in a deluxe calligraphy set for about $25. The set includes six ink cartridges of different colors, 4 nibs, and a booklet.
Dip pens for calligraphy -
Speedball. Pen holder runs about $2.00 and nibs (C-5, C-6) costs about $1.90 per nib.
Mitchell nibs – costs about $1.00 per nib. For a set of 10 nibs with 2 reservoirs costs about $9.00.
Brause nibs – per nib it is about $1.30. For a set of nine (including Oblique cut, rigid. .5, .75, 1, 1.5, 2, 2 5mm.) costs about $12.00.

Just a side note - I do not consider myself to be a calligrapher by any means, so if you would like to learn more about pens for calligraphy, I suggest you talk with one of the “pros”.

For any scribe who wants to start learning more about period techniques here are three of my favorite books.

MEDIEVAL CRAFTSMEN – SCRIBES AND ILLUMINATORS by Christopher DeHamel. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo. 1992. ISBN 0802077072. I think I paid $12-$15 for it. This is a great introductory book for getting into doing research for calligraphy and illumination. It is an easy read and has great photos. A must have in my opinion. The pages of my book are dog eared from all of the use.

THE MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF MEDIEVAL PAINTING. Daniel V. Thompson. Dover Publications, Inc. New York, NY. 1956. ISBN 0486203271 Cost is about $9.00. I LOVE THIS BOOK! My copy is so beaten up from use. It is a MUST HAVE for anyone wanting to read more about medieval C&I.

THE CRAFTSMAN’S HANDBOOK ‘IL LIBRO DELL’ ARTE” CENNINO D’ANDERA CENNINIO – Translated by Daniel. V Thompson, Jr. Dover Publications, INC, New York, 1960. ISBN048620054 Cost is about $8.00. Some people have said reading Cennino as difficult, but I personally found it easy and I didn’t want to put the book down.

In period, manuscripts were gilded with gold leaf or painted with shell gold.

What is shell gold? According to P. Lovett (2000) "real gold powder which has already been mixed with gum Arabic and is sold in tiny blocks (or buttons). It is called shell gold because it used to be sold in mussel shells; a penny-weight of gold was dumped in the mussel shells with gum Arabic, and the shell formed the palette."
Lovett, P. (2000). Calligraphy & Illumination: A History & Practical Guide. New York, NY. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Real shell gold is not cheap. A small button (0.4 g) can run about $20. Larger buttons will cost you over $150 for 2.5 g.

In the SCA, You do not need to have real gold on your scroll to still make it look great. Many scribes have found suitable alternatives to the real deal. Some scribes have found that when they mix the various gold colored paints together, they get better results. Here are a few kinds of gold colored paint that scribes have recommended.
• Holbein Artist’s Gouache in gold. Cost is about $15
• Winsor & Newton designer Gouache in gold. Cost is about $10-$15
• Winsor & Newton drawing ink in gold. Cost is about $8.
• Schminke powder gold (this might need some additional gum Arabic mixed in). Cost is approximately $10
• Sumi-e porcelain pan gold watercolor paint (comes in a round porcelain dish. Also called Yasutomo Japanese Porcelain Pan Watercolors). Price is roughly $12 each.