I am a (gold) leaf on the wind....watch how I screw up
Heh. On Monday I returned from Easter travels to a scroll assignment for Coronation. As usual being crazy and short of time I decided to try and use mostly-authentic materials just to pile on the challenges. So I used a piece of goatskin parchment and oakgall ink from the goodies that Nicolaa brought back from Pennsic for me last year. And gold leaf from the stash I bought in 2003 for $29.95. Considering the rise in commodity prices, that stupid little book of gold leaf is probably worth close to $100! Weird.
I've used parchment before a few times but normally prefer the greasy side. This time I used the dry side. What a mistake. This particular hide had far too much tooth and my oakgall ink bled freely, completely blurring my letters. Also the dip pen caught and stuck all the time.
And for some reason the Guild of Limners oakgall ink stayed a light to medium brown. Not even remotely what I would call black. Don't know why.
Anyway. For the design I decided to adapt an element from the Sollested horse collar (Denmark, 10th century). I've used the dragon terminals before but this time I used the topper instead. It's got a bit of the Jellinge vibe.
It's got a couple of intertwined beasties with nice fangs. I drew it with pencil initially, then inked it in with the oakgall ink.
I have NEVER used gold leaf before, unless you count sticking a tiny piece onto one proto scroll back in 2003 with little more than glue stick.
I picked out a couple of writhing limbs that seemed best suited for highlighting with gold leaf. I gooped some acrylic gesso into a seashell and watered it down to the consistency of thick cream. Then I painted the stuff on in a couple of coats with drying intervals. Went back and built up some areas a little more. Of course, after I had done that I went back and read some gesso sottile recipes and apparently the acrylic gesso is only a starting point and not really a recommended one even as a base. Sugar is involved, for example.
The parchment cutting, pricking the points, design and gessoing took up Monday. Tuesday night was our anniversary so we were out. Wednesday night I didn't do anything much other than email and blowing up Zuma. Thursday night was groceries, karate, banking and other busy stuff. So you bet your sweet patootie I had to do the rest on Friday night after work.
Friday after dinner I sat down and drafted the text for the scroll.
Then I worked on the gold leaf. I drizzled a little honey into a plastic cup, then watered it down a little. I painted that on the gesso patches as my attempts to make them sticky with warm breath through a straw were not working. Aurelia had recommended I drop a bit of high proof alcohol on those areas to reactivate the gesso but I couldn't find my tiny promo bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and I was pretty sure there wasn't much to activate anyway.
Then I used an exacto knife to indirectly cut the gold leaf through the orange paper layer above. Then I rubbed a q-tip through my hair, glided it across the end of the mostly cut piece, and was able to attract it on so I could lay it onto the slightly tacky gesso. This technique worked pretty well and I was able to lay all the gold fairly quickly. Towards the end I was able to lay the pieces almost clean, which is not easy given how it wrinkles at the least provocation.
I didn't bother with a leather cushion as I was taking the gold directly from the book, cutting through the orange paper layer to separate the pieces I wanted. In the end I used about two full leaves. This covered each section about twice. I also used the straw to blow up the loose edges of the leaf so it would double over onto itself and help avoid some of the waste bits.
I don't have glassine parchment to use as a layer for burnishing. I do have some crappy pretend parchment that is fairly stiff and see-through so I figured it would do. I cut a small piece of that and used that to safely press down the leaf as I laid it.
I didn't have a proper burnisher or muller. Initially I tried using smooth quartz pebble over the see-through stuff but didn't like it, so then I got out a little funky metal spoon, used the bowl and that seemed to work better. I don't know whether you're supposed to burnish in little circles or back-and-forth strokes. I tried a little of everything, various pressures and I guess the best way was little circles, with tempo but not too hard. That makes sense I guess. No vulgar comments people.
Now I didn't have a proper brush either. I used a moulting unused make-up brush which I don't recommend as it was not really soft enough and it roughened the gold rather than cleaning up the loose bits. I did try to save all the little bits but my table has glints on it here and there.
Some little corners came up a bit bare. I tried to fix those but screwed up, especially on the top portion, full of right angles, where my little honey experiment ended up smearing when I couldn't remember my own design. I was also using a metal tool to try and scrape away the excess adhering bits of gold and the tool itself left residue on the parchment. Not the win there.
The gold definitely does not have a mirror finish but I was able to bring up some real shine. And it looked OK in Court.
Not having time nor the proper setup to use the red lead (also a Pennsic goodie) I settled for modern red gouache for part of the design. And I hauled out my India Ink to refresh the outlines and fill in part of the design as I was really disappointed with the oak gall ink's lack of depth.
I did the calligraphy last as I wasn't sure how the gold leafing would work. Was not happy at all with the pen catching and the bleeding, as previously mentioned.
And another thing - the parchment really seemed to pick up ambient dirt from my hands so I guess I will need to buy cotton gloves for future projects (any ideas? I don't know where to buy such gloves).
However I think you can tell it is gold leaf.
The scroll has personality and strength even if the execution is comparatively crappy. But with only 12 hours work I think it will do.
So next time it's back to the greasy side of the parchment.
Here are some pictures:
So dear Lady Avelyn of the Hedge, fellow scribe, enjoy. It's a messy scroll, but at least the ingredients are good.
I've used parchment before a few times but normally prefer the greasy side. This time I used the dry side. What a mistake. This particular hide had far too much tooth and my oakgall ink bled freely, completely blurring my letters. Also the dip pen caught and stuck all the time.
And for some reason the Guild of Limners oakgall ink stayed a light to medium brown. Not even remotely what I would call black. Don't know why.
Anyway. For the design I decided to adapt an element from the Sollested horse collar (Denmark, 10th century). I've used the dragon terminals before but this time I used the topper instead. It's got a bit of the Jellinge vibe.
It's got a couple of intertwined beasties with nice fangs. I drew it with pencil initially, then inked it in with the oakgall ink.
I have NEVER used gold leaf before, unless you count sticking a tiny piece onto one proto scroll back in 2003 with little more than glue stick.
I picked out a couple of writhing limbs that seemed best suited for highlighting with gold leaf. I gooped some acrylic gesso into a seashell and watered it down to the consistency of thick cream. Then I painted the stuff on in a couple of coats with drying intervals. Went back and built up some areas a little more. Of course, after I had done that I went back and read some gesso sottile recipes and apparently the acrylic gesso is only a starting point and not really a recommended one even as a base. Sugar is involved, for example.
The parchment cutting, pricking the points, design and gessoing took up Monday. Tuesday night was our anniversary so we were out. Wednesday night I didn't do anything much other than email and blowing up Zuma. Thursday night was groceries, karate, banking and other busy stuff. So you bet your sweet patootie I had to do the rest on Friday night after work.
Friday after dinner I sat down and drafted the text for the scroll.
Then I worked on the gold leaf. I drizzled a little honey into a plastic cup, then watered it down a little. I painted that on the gesso patches as my attempts to make them sticky with warm breath through a straw were not working. Aurelia had recommended I drop a bit of high proof alcohol on those areas to reactivate the gesso but I couldn't find my tiny promo bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and I was pretty sure there wasn't much to activate anyway.
Then I used an exacto knife to indirectly cut the gold leaf through the orange paper layer above. Then I rubbed a q-tip through my hair, glided it across the end of the mostly cut piece, and was able to attract it on so I could lay it onto the slightly tacky gesso. This technique worked pretty well and I was able to lay all the gold fairly quickly. Towards the end I was able to lay the pieces almost clean, which is not easy given how it wrinkles at the least provocation.
I didn't bother with a leather cushion as I was taking the gold directly from the book, cutting through the orange paper layer to separate the pieces I wanted. In the end I used about two full leaves. This covered each section about twice. I also used the straw to blow up the loose edges of the leaf so it would double over onto itself and help avoid some of the waste bits.
I don't have glassine parchment to use as a layer for burnishing. I do have some crappy pretend parchment that is fairly stiff and see-through so I figured it would do. I cut a small piece of that and used that to safely press down the leaf as I laid it.
I didn't have a proper burnisher or muller. Initially I tried using smooth quartz pebble over the see-through stuff but didn't like it, so then I got out a little funky metal spoon, used the bowl and that seemed to work better. I don't know whether you're supposed to burnish in little circles or back-and-forth strokes. I tried a little of everything, various pressures and I guess the best way was little circles, with tempo but not too hard. That makes sense I guess. No vulgar comments people.
Now I didn't have a proper brush either. I used a moulting unused make-up brush which I don't recommend as it was not really soft enough and it roughened the gold rather than cleaning up the loose bits. I did try to save all the little bits but my table has glints on it here and there.
Some little corners came up a bit bare. I tried to fix those but screwed up, especially on the top portion, full of right angles, where my little honey experiment ended up smearing when I couldn't remember my own design. I was also using a metal tool to try and scrape away the excess adhering bits of gold and the tool itself left residue on the parchment. Not the win there.
The gold definitely does not have a mirror finish but I was able to bring up some real shine. And it looked OK in Court.
Not having time nor the proper setup to use the red lead (also a Pennsic goodie) I settled for modern red gouache for part of the design. And I hauled out my India Ink to refresh the outlines and fill in part of the design as I was really disappointed with the oak gall ink's lack of depth.
I did the calligraphy last as I wasn't sure how the gold leafing would work. Was not happy at all with the pen catching and the bleeding, as previously mentioned.
And another thing - the parchment really seemed to pick up ambient dirt from my hands so I guess I will need to buy cotton gloves for future projects (any ideas? I don't know where to buy such gloves).
However I think you can tell it is gold leaf.
The scroll has personality and strength even if the execution is comparatively crappy. But with only 12 hours work I think it will do.
So next time it's back to the greasy side of the parchment.
Here are some pictures:
So dear Lady Avelyn of the Hedge, fellow scribe, enjoy. It's a messy scroll, but at least the ingredients are good.