March 2022 – Philomene’s Scriptorium

This particular scroll was a combination of traditional inserted into a non-traditional format. It was also a collaboration with others to offer this award to our Baron and Baroness as they stepped down and were given court baronages.

LAYERS, depths of devotion, effort, meaning….working from back to front:

Windmasters’ Kittyhawk, with a map of the Cantons superimposed on his body, as the heart and soul of the Barony.

Waves…based on beadwork by Baroness Isabeau de Valle that was to go on their court coronets; I created 3 layers of these waves to honor Atlantia.

Within the waves, are two black hammerhead sharks (part of the Baron’s arms), and posed between them the award, a baronial crown, of gesso with white and yellow gold leaf and gouache for the stones. These hammerheads were also used on their coronets which were made by Goodwife Michel Almond de Champagne.

The inscription, penned over an inked sea orm from Magnus’ Carta Marina of 1539.

The biggest challenge was to make sure everything fit within the flower frame, that enough of the Kittyhawk was visible, the script was visible and the sharks were prominently displayed. Next came the layers…all well and good to create them, but they had to be separated.

I mounted each layer to foam board, separating some more than others with spacers. Then the entire shadow box was illuminated with LED lights that were battery operated. The switches were attached to the bottom of the frame to enable the viewer to turn them on/off and change out the batteries.

This scroll was created for a very dear friend, who had asked me, should he achieve this level, to make his scroll. I had never been asked before, and this conversation took place about a year or so ago. We discussed his wish for a traditional scroll, preference of colors, and really, not much more.

I was contacted by his mentor a few months prior to this award and asked to create his scroll. By now, most should be aware of my love for personalized scrolls as well as my obsession with the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta

I chose this page because of its beautiful hand by George Bocskay, the Secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I. These hands were written between 1561 and 1562. (The illumination is by Joris Hoefnagel, about 30 years later.

While the hand has quite a few letters, I realized that a few that I would need were missing. I copied out the letters that were present, and then used them to (hopefully) extrapolate what the missing letters would look like and make sure that they would fit in. I also wished to be as true to spacing as my scroll would allow.

Extrapolation page, spacing page, and scroll in progress.

Next, personalizing this for him. I was aided and abetted by his amazing wife. She requested to have some of his music, to work in his two household affiliations, his lute, and his Pearl for Brewing, but most importantly to include their sweet boy Morgan.

Beloved pets are….hard. If you don’t paint them well, then your attempt at personalization is for naught. I do not have an art background, I have not taken modern classes (but hope to someday), and having a black lab to paint and not make into just a blob was intimidating especially as he and Ciaran’s lute were to be most of the visual focus of the piece .

The raised gold music on either side is a song written by Ciaran himself, called The Path. The left side is the beginning of the song, a symbolic start to his journey. The left side is the end of the song as his path has lead him to this moment. The lines of music intentionally meander, unevenly, with ups and downs, much like a journey.

Each paragraph has a gold musical notation used as the decorated capital letter.