This year, at Birka, some of the members of the Order of the Silver Brooch participated in a post-holiday, secret gift exchange. The object was to spend about 4-8 hours making a project for another member, and then we would get together Saturday night of Birka to exchange. It was a great homage to the East Kingdom Artisan Exchanges from a couple of years ago, and a tradition that I hope continues next year! It was a great “excuse” to meet some of really creative members of the order, and talk a little craft after most of the craziness of the event has died down.
For my project, I started with my artistic roots – writing and words. My recipient was looking for something that was both Greek inspired, but also touched on their love for fourteenth century work. They do a lot of Eastern European activities, so I started looking into Byzantine literature styles. I found reference to a style of poetry that was found in various time periods and cultures, The Begging Poem. Begging poems were pieces written from an artisan to patron for a variety of reasons, but for Byzantine artisans were typically a request to the patrons who had commissioned works to be paid. They peaked in the 12th century, and the works of
Theodore Prodromos addressing the emperor about the state of the life of a street artist are known for being particularly biting satire.
After digging into several examples of this style, I settled on a Blank Verse-like, unrhymed, 15-syllable stanza. There is a lot of information to go into on the references here, but the short version is that the last name of the recipient translates to them being a descendant of Ajax, from Greek history.
Once I had that written, I had to decide how to present it. Well, everyone knows that if you need to know anything Byzantine, talk to the East’s favorite Byzantine-Informed, Technical Consultant and Historian (The acronym is a compliment, I swear) , Baroness Anna. She points me to a dyed vellum and geometric inspired document, the marriage contract of Empress Theophano, and away I go. Seriously, this document is gorgeous, click the link and check it out.
Brooches being Brooches, I was starting way too late to actually acquire dyed vellum, however, which ultimately would have made this piece much easier to put together (more on that later). So I started playing with my options to replicate the geometrics on the dyed surface, and the pop of the gold calligraphy. First, I tried a washed out ink background. While I am sure that the way we see the scroll today is an effect of time on the piece causing it to fade, I reasoned that the faded background would help the gold be more apparent. After doing some initial color tests though, this assumption was wrong. Changing to a more antique shade of gold, and using a bold red and black background with watercolor paints provided the best aesthetic.
The next step was to lay out the grid and geometric work. I knew I wanted to include the bold circles that sit behind the text, and really wanted to include some of the delicate, fleur-de-lis type patterns in between the circles, but could just never get them to a place where I liked the way that they looked. Right up until it was time to add them, they were still going to be in the piece. Ultimately, I decided to not add them because I was worried about messing up the background and time was short enough that I didn’t want to risk having to start over again.
So I started with a grid in pencil, and laid out the calligraphy and the large circles. I was aware of the size concerns from the first line, which is why the finished project (for shame) does not have all the text in it. But I was able to get the text that I absolutely wanted in there included, and the way that the geometrics and the calligraphy worked made me very happy.
Once that was done, the first order of business was to get the red circles down. Given the choice between the interior details and the exterior frame of black, I opted to start with the red, thinking that if the red went over the lines, it would be easier to fix. I wasn’t wrong, necessarily, but the thickness of the paint definitely made that very risky; too many layers would really create more of an issue that just the paint itself was going to. Thankfully, this went very easily; I am not a fabulous painter, so this was encouraging.
Phew. They came out almost entirely, mostly circular! Next was the black work, after allowing the red to dry for a few hours. The thickness of the paint was already becoming a concern. I had two issues, and neither were good: The paint either entirely covered the pencil calligraphy, which fortunately I had pictures to reconstruct. Conversely, in sections where it didn’t cover the calligraphy, the paint was down and I wouldn’t be able to erase it. Well, shit. The calligraphy is now going to need to be very close to the original. But, on we solider to the black work. I want it to be completely dry before I lay down the black, so I am going to let it sit for 2-3 days.
The calligraphy to match the original is going to be gold, which I am doing with paint and brush, and in Greek script. Rather than be totally crazy and try to translate the text to Greek, I used a common SCAdian, Pseudo-Greek script. I found this one which contains lots of information on the source of the script, and carried on. After letting the paint on the background dry overnight for the first night, I let it dry pressed between two books to make sure that the parchment didn’t curl. I am about to start the calligraphy, and and getting nervous that the thick base paint is going to make for a very tough surface to work with.
Thankfully, it wasn’t… really. Or at least I didn’t know any better since I don’t do a lot of full scrolls, and certainly have never done ANYTHING like this. While the calligraphy was time consuming, it set pretty well onto the surface. There were some sections that I had to touch up after the whole piece was done, but was able to fix some of the imperfections from the text version. Without the grid being visible, the straight edge was very important to making sure that the characters were in line. Once complete, I let it dry overnight, and framed the final work.
Things that worked well
The calligraphy is the star here, I think, and I am fine with that.
The grid layout was a really good idea, and saved my bacon at the end.
I think I made good decisions about how to do and what not to do in terms of elements. The effect is bold and looks well-executed because I kept it simple.
Things that didn’t work as well
Using a paint base for the calligraphy is not optimal. Or at bare minimum, it needed to be thinner without losing boldness.
Leaving the pencil framework and painting over it created some issues.
While the calligraphy came out well, the scale of the calligraphy isn’t optimal. Most likely, it needed to be two pages long, because I am not sure I could get the calligraphy smaller if I am applying it with a brush
Things I learned
Framing covers sins.
I would like to try and find better ways to produce a dyed vellum look, or even just use dyed vellum. Starting a week before it had to be delivered limited my options.
The testing of the color interaction REALLY was a good idea, because if I had just dove in with my original idea of using the ink wash, I would not have been happy with the final project.
Things I need to learn still before doing this again
How to lay down the calligraphy in pencil, but not have it affect the final piece? I suspect that I just needed a second manuscript.
Is there a better way to create or replicate the dyed vellum look?
How do I get my ornaments more consistent (other than, you know, practice them)?