SCA: Scribal Stuff
DH and I have been taking an hour or two when the kids go to sleep to work on our hobbies instead of spending the entire evening together. We are together all of the time, so it is nice to have a few hours doing our own thing- even if we are less than a yard apart. I'm currently working on some SCA scrolls. I'm just making some blanks because our mail is too slow for me to do actual kingdom assignments. It's nice to be able to help. I still feel out of my element with the SCA stuff, but I do enjoy the arts & sciences stuff and the people have been really nice. I think it will just take time to see where I can fit in. It's really difficult for me because there are tons of things that I would have loved to do before having a family, but now my priorities have shifted and I have to balance household things, the kids, and hobbies. I find hobbies tend to get pushed to the side because of everything else. I know I should take more time to myself, but it just seems like every time I have someone help me with things around here- I have screaming children, a huge mess to clean later, things get forgotten,etc. It helps that we are doing this free time evening thing, but sometimes I just wish I could have 5 minutes of total silence. My mom thinks it is because I'm an only child. I grew up with a quiet, mostly empty house. We spent most of our time with my MANY cousins, but I still could go home and read a book, write, draw, take a long bath, etc. DH grew up in a loud household with 4 kids. The exact opposite. He can't seem to do anything without the television running or something noisy. I love having children/ family, but sometimes I wish they had a mute button for about 5 minutes. Now that our son can reach the door knobs, I can't even escape to the bathroom without a toddler clapping for me when I flush. I'm just a bit grumpy today I guess. Well, there is really no sense in complaining... on to the next topic.
Pergamenata... that is where I was intending to go with this entry. I need to find a place that sells Perg. inexpensively in Canada. I'd be happy with a place that sells it reasonably in the US, but I really need a place in Canada. No one seems to know of one. I did find a recommendation for Calligraphy supplies from the Aethelmearc site, so I'm going to try that one and see if they happen to have it. Fortunately I have a few sheets here for my current work, but I am going to need some more soon. I need to find a cheap light box also. I'm considering just making one, but I figured that I would shop around for a premade one just in case. I don't need anything fancy or complicated, so either way that shouldn't be too big of a deal.
My current work:
I have two things on the go. First, I have started to work on a Bar and Ivy scroll based on the work of The Duke of Berry (The Belles Heures). I have drawn the ivy, but I'm not sure what to do for the bar portion. He uses a couple of bars that are so similar to one another and I don't want it to look identical to his work... I may just shelve it for awhile until I figure out what to do. The ivy looks nice, however I made it even on both sides so that the scroll has symmetry which is something the Duke of Berry didn't do, but he worked with two page spreads and I am not. I don't think anyone wants a piece that will look strange and off center in a frame.
The second piece is one I photocopied at the library and forgot to mark the book and author on the copy. I think it is from Catherine of Cleves' book of hours, but it could be from 3 other sources that I found that day. I'm going to look it up when I get into a town or I will check when I buy one of the books, but I am fairly certain that it is from her hours. Anyway, I started mapping out the design on graph paper because it is easier for me to determine space, but it is taking me some time to get it right. This piece has a large religious icon in both the upper left and right corners. Top center and running down each of the sides is flowers and ivy. The bottom third of the page is a depiction of mountains and birds with trees and flowers. It's not extremely complex, but the work that I am using for an example is much bigger than the size of the scroll that I plan to make. I don't see a point in shrinking the art because I am drawing it freehand anyway, so it's just going to lose detail that I need. So, I'm trying to shrink things down as I draw. I sectioned off my graph paper leaving little boxes for the forms of birds, trees,etc. and labeled everything, but it will be awhile before it is all drawn in and worth continuing on quality paper. Well, I should actually work on these instead of talking about them for now...
Pergamenata... that is where I was intending to go with this entry. I need to find a place that sells Perg. inexpensively in Canada. I'd be happy with a place that sells it reasonably in the US, but I really need a place in Canada. No one seems to know of one. I did find a recommendation for Calligraphy supplies from the Aethelmearc site, so I'm going to try that one and see if they happen to have it. Fortunately I have a few sheets here for my current work, but I am going to need some more soon. I need to find a cheap light box also. I'm considering just making one, but I figured that I would shop around for a premade one just in case. I don't need anything fancy or complicated, so either way that shouldn't be too big of a deal.
My current work:
I have two things on the go. First, I have started to work on a Bar and Ivy scroll based on the work of The Duke of Berry (The Belles Heures). I have drawn the ivy, but I'm not sure what to do for the bar portion. He uses a couple of bars that are so similar to one another and I don't want it to look identical to his work... I may just shelve it for awhile until I figure out what to do. The ivy looks nice, however I made it even on both sides so that the scroll has symmetry which is something the Duke of Berry didn't do, but he worked with two page spreads and I am not. I don't think anyone wants a piece that will look strange and off center in a frame.
The second piece is one I photocopied at the library and forgot to mark the book and author on the copy. I think it is from Catherine of Cleves' book of hours, but it could be from 3 other sources that I found that day. I'm going to look it up when I get into a town or I will check when I buy one of the books, but I am fairly certain that it is from her hours. Anyway, I started mapping out the design on graph paper because it is easier for me to determine space, but it is taking me some time to get it right. This piece has a large religious icon in both the upper left and right corners. Top center and running down each of the sides is flowers and ivy. The bottom third of the page is a depiction of mountains and birds with trees and flowers. It's not extremely complex, but the work that I am using for an example is much bigger than the size of the scroll that I plan to make. I don't see a point in shrinking the art because I am drawing it freehand anyway, so it's just going to lose detail that I need. So, I'm trying to shrink things down as I draw. I sectioned off my graph paper leaving little boxes for the forms of birds, trees,etc. and labeled everything, but it will be awhile before it is all drawn in and worth continuing on quality paper. Well, I should actually work on these instead of talking about them for now...