As a natural progression, I had to, at some point, make a scroll that would be given out. While the first was not really period, it was a challenge unto itself as I was asked to make scrolls for an award for a contest. The scrolls were for “Best Group” and she asked me to make three of exactly the same award…um, gulp? The theme was Potterverse, including Fantastic Beasts, and so I drew bits from both series. The hardest part? The hand. Wishing to emulate the famous Potter script was difficult as it was more of drawing the design rather than shaping a letter. And the words, created as a spell by the person who held the contest were hard to get into the space. (The photo I have is a bit skewed as the paper was curved. It makes the words seem even more crooked than intended.). Challenge accepted.
The next two awards followed my Laurel’s recommendation to do awards “locally” for the barony, and personally for your family. Neither knew they were being recognized and doing these scrolls in the same house was a challenge, to say the least. Having to hide and cover while you are painting is NOT a joy. However, seeing their faces totally made up for it!
The first was for my husband. Taking the personalization to heart, this was all for him. I used the image of Monty Python’s trumpeters (from the opening of the show) and used them as my left border. The initial was from a real exemplar…my first! I felt that it fit well with the trumpets. In this too was my first use of “invisible” ink (which is totally period as I later discovered) and it is black light responsive. What I drew with it, however, is not, it is Boba Fett’s helmet. It has meaning for my husband, and it was an “Easter egg” for just him to know about. My Laurel helped me with this one…she did my gold work, using rabbit glue and gold — shiny and SUCH a difference from the mica! I did things a bit backward, doing the illumination first and then my calligraphy. You can see where I ended up scratching up the surface of the pergamenata with my pen containing the invisible ink….I didn’t think it was going on, then it pooled…then, well, I left well enough alone as the gold was already down and I was in a bit of a time crunch.
The second was for my son, a Baronial award to be given at the same event. There was a blank that our Chancery had for this award…and while quite detailed…it had Sponge Bob characters across the bottom. Not anywhere near my son’s interest! I felt I could do better for his first award, I just knew it! He is a BIG Minecraft fan, and he had just been given our rescued kitten. I found this:
…and it all fell together. I replaced the boulders with Minecraft blocks, colored the cat more closely to his new kitten, and for the initial, created a Minecraft bunny inside the letter “B”, the shape of which was from an exemplar with a bear.
Philomene’s Scriptorium 