Dragon's Barb Scroll

I received a scroll assignment with the following information:

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.

My first Kingdom Scrolls completed

I finally created an entire scroll including the Calligraphy.  It was with a little trepidation that I submitted my name to the list of volunteers to create Kingdom award scrolls.  I was given the chance to create two scrolls for the court this past weekend.  This meant that I would have to write the text, do the calligraphy and the illumination.  I must admit that I was more than a little worried about the assignment.  I had never met either of the two individuals who would be receiving my work and I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about things.

This was the scroll assignment that I received:

Court of Their Majesties Savaric and Julianna

Constellation Academy of Defense V

May 12th , 2012 A.S. 47

Shire of Mynydd Seren

1) Arlecchino (Randy Winderlich) Constellation/Mynydd Seren - AoA

Assisted in procuring new members via numerous demonstrations, dancing,

faithful reconstruction of the Commedia Dell'arte character Arlecchino

2) Chernislava Alekseeva (Lisa Coss) Constellation/Mynydd Seren - Dragon's Barb

Exemplary skill with a bow and devotion to the teaching of

archery, assisted in the running of the line and in preparation for event,

and helped train novice archers in both basic and advanced techniques.

Given that I had never done this before I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when receiving an assignment.  Silly old me thought that the text would be prepared for me.  I thought that perhaps the Crown would be interested in approving the text prior to signing a scroll.  I went through the scribal handbook and drafted the following text for the scrolls:

Proclaim to all unto whom these presents come that we, Savaric and Julianna, King and Queen of the Middle Kingdom have heard of the many good works and labors, especially in the aid of procuring new members via numerous demonstrations, dancing, and faithful reconstruction of the Commedia Dell'arte character Arlecchino.  We are therefore minded to bestow upon Arlecchino of Mynydd Seren the right to bear arms as registered within the society without let or hindrance from any person, and the rights and responsibilities conveyed by his elevation to this rank from this day onward.

Done by our hands this 12th day of May, 2012, Anno Societatis 47.

Pray let all know that we, Savaric and Julianna, King and Queen of the Middle Kingdom have heard much good of Lady Chernislava Alekseeva.  She has demonstrated exemplary skill with a bow, a devotion towards archery instruction, a willingness to serve at events and eagerness to train novice archers in both basic and advanced techniques.  We are therefore minded to create her a Companion of the Order of the Dragon’s Barb.  We bestow upon her 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 12th day of May, 2012, Anno Societatis 47.

I then tried to do a little research online to see WHO these people actually were.  I was able to find some information about Lady Chernislava Alekseeva, but little about Arlecchino. 

Lady Chernislava Alekseeva – Dragon’s Barb

The information I found about Lady Chernislava Alekseeva seemed to indicate that she had a Russian persona.  As is common in the SCA it seemed that her persona didn’t necessarily hold true to a certain location or time period.  I found pictures of her in various forms of garb, including Japanese while doing drumming.  Rather than try an emulate a Russian manuscript I simply chose to do something based on a page from a book of that time period where the illumination would match the award being given.  As she was very active in archery and was receiving the Dragon’s Barb, I hoped that she would appreciate a period painting based on the a page from a book owned by Catherine of Cleaves.  I altered the illumination slightly to allow for the badged at the top.  I also chose to use the recipients heraldic colors as my main color scheme.

As this was my first attempt at calligraphy I found that I had to do this portion 4 times before I ended up with a product I was satisfied with illumination.

Here is an image of the calligraphy.

I then sketched the illumination using a mechanical pencil.  When I was satisfied with the layout I inked the design in with a metal nibbed quill pen using India ink.

Here is an image of the fully inked scroll ready to receive paint.

The remainder of the scroll was done using gouache paint applied with a brush.

Here are some close-ups and the overall completed scroll.

Arlecchino – AoA

I couldn’t find much in the way of information via the internet for Randy Winderlich.  I was able to find many images of the various portrayals of the Commedia Dell'arte character Arlecchino.  I chose to simply to a late period vine work edge with a caricature of Arlecchino and the mask worn by the character.  Here are some images I found which inspired the final design.

This was only my second attempt at calligraphy I found that I had to do this portion 3 times before I ended up with a product I was satisfied with illumination.  Turns out that I spelled the recipients name wrong and had to start over.  I then used my prior copy as the basis of my text and therefore ended up spelling it wrong again.  Ughh!

Here is an image of the calligraphy which I ended up using.

I then sketched the illumination using a mechanical pencil.  When I was satisfied with the layout I inked the design in with a metal nibbed quill pen using India ink.  I know that this isn’t a period design, but for this recipient I hoped that the free hand caricature of his inspiration would be appreciated.

Here is an image of the fully inked scroll ready to receive paint.

The remainder of the scroll was done using gouache paint applied with a brush.

Here are some close-ups and the overall completed scroll.