Court of the Majesties Lucien and CatarinaAt Border Skirmish in Their Shire of RavenslakeJune 8th, 2013 A.S. 48Award - Award of the Dragon's BarbRecipient - Sebastian Elgar (MKA Peter Czyzweski) From the Shire of Blackhawk/Region of the MidlandsFor: Helping to bring archery to the Shire of Blackhawk and maintaining equipment and practice for Shire members.
I did some preliminary research on the internet on the recipient before designing the scroll. I wasn't able to find many images or information of the recipient in any particular period garb. The few images I found were general nondescript red and black colored fencing armor. The only image I could find of the recipient doing archery was in mundane clothing. For this reason I chose to do a scroll which wasn't based on any particular time period and "simply make it look pretty".
The following interest struck me as kind of funny. I found it on the individual's FB page. Kind of funny that I was standing right behind him. That funny looking dude with the peach Elizabethan outfit is me.
I wrote up the follow scroll text to be used:
Proclaim unto all that we Lucien, King by right of arms of the Middle Kingdom, and Catarina our Queen, do recognize Sebastian Elgar for his unceasing efforts to bring archery to the Shire of Blackhawk and for his steadfast maintenance of the equipment used by the shire members. We are therefore minded to create him a Companion of the Order of the Dragon’s Barb. We bestow upon him all rights and responsibilities attendant upon this rank, and the right to bear the badge of the order without let or hindrance from any person. Done by our hands this eighth day of June, Anno Societatis Forty Eight, at this Border Skirmish in the Shire of Ravenslake.I still don't much care for my calligraphy, but I suppose the only way to get better is to continue trying. At this point I am only able to write about 2 or three lines at a time and then I need to take about a 5 minute break. I know I should relax my hand more, but I concentrate so hard that my hand starts cramping up very quickly. The following scroll text took a few hours to complete. Way longer than it should...
The overall design of the scroll was sort of off the cuff. I sketched out the border after I had completed the calligraphy. I had a general idea what I wanted to do but simply made it up as I went along.
After the image for the border was completed using pencil I inked it in using a metal tipped quill pen. I then painted a base coat of gouache colors.
The overall procedure was basically lay a base coat of red and grey down on the border. I then came back with a slightly darker color to add shading to the border. I then added some highlights to the border using a lighter tint of the same colors. Lastly I added the white work on the top using a fine tipped brush and in some areas a quill pen.
The illuminated letter P was the last touch needed. I took the design straight out of a calligraphy book I have. The overall look was intended to stand out as red and dark grey as that appeared to be the colors which the recipient wore most often in the images I found.
