When a text layout isn't straightforward

I've been pushing myself lately, not because I was told to but because I felt it was time. So with this AoA for a Middle Eastern persona I decided to get into the two sized texts that the Ottomans loved so much.

And I found an excellent piece for it. This is a page from the Qur'an, written in both Arabic and Persian. It is a warning page, the text underneath being the Persian and the source of the warning, saying ˓Alī Ibn Abī ṭālib said, Woe unto you, O Qatāda, if you interpret the Qur˒an by yourself.
The piece can be found here, and the original leaf is housed at the Morgan Library. Other leaves reside elsewhere - the book is not whole.


I took this piece and decided that it would be excellent to highlight the reasons for the AoA, the Royals, the Recipient, and the event, and leave all the other words to be the subscript. The layout for this took much longer than other pieces I've done, including the hourglass shaped text for the Kells AoA I did last year.

What I loved most was how the text ran along the outside, in the border, and continued into the center. I omitted the medallion in the center because I had more text to place than they did. I saved the medallion on the left side for the Arms, and left room at the bottom between the border and the bottom row of text for signatures. I also left room between the rows for the blazon once his Arms are passed.

This was another assignment where I received little information about the recipient. Even reaching out revealed little more than what I already knew. Middle Eastern is a wide range, and from a scribal standpoint does not narrow it down. So, I did what I could with what I had and moved forward on creating the scroll.

I roughly sketched the vines a few times before closer inspection revealed that they're circles. All the vines are, at their base, circles around the red text. That made things easier, and I think I achieved a much better recreation. The piece is done on pergemenata, and when I ordered it I ordered white instead of natural so visually my piece is different from the original. Because of this, I changed the color of the outside tracks on the knot work. In the original, those are a beige very close to the parchment color, but slightly darker which could be either a faded gold or a raw sienna/ochre color. I tested both on a scrap piece and they did not look cohesive with the piece. I chose instead to do the those tracks in rich gold gouache like the vine work. I am very happy with the final piece, and I feel it has the cohesion of the original. The calligraphy was done with Winsor Newton Red ink, Higgins Eternal black ink and Mitchell nibs. All words by me.

Visually I am happy with the scroll. If I were to do this again, I would likely move to a larger page size to accommodate so much text. However, staying with this page size is more in line with the original, and I'm happy with that. On a practical note, it's also easier to find an affordable frame with an 8x10 mat opening than it is larger sizes.

Tsar Ivan, presenting it in Court at Mudthaw, photo courtesy of Dayna Tarabar

Comedy/Tragedy in a Borre style

I was sent an assignment, and I haven't gotten one yet that I've turned down. I knew I would be able to accept this, and it only got better when I read who it was for- someone I know who is deeply deserving of the honor of the Order of Troubadour.

I also knew that for this I needed the absolute right words, so I went to Nicol mac Donnchaidh, because he has the best way with words and because he knows the recipient. He was overjoyed to get the assignment and thus the scroll was born.

With Viking personas it gets tricky to get the right look, the right feel. In our case we got lucky - Cedar has a Wiki page. They laid out exactly where and when they're from, what they do and how. It made our job easier to a point. That point being that most of what still exists from their time period is metalwork.

So how do you take a medallion in the Borre style and make it a painted page? Well, you look at other works, find your period color palette, and then start sketching. This is an award for a Skald, a bard, an artist. Cedar has immense talent. I needed this scroll to pay honor to that.

I did some searching and found a medallion that jumped out at me. This is Borre style, found at Upland, Sweden. The link goes to the item catalog entry.

To me, this little face was smiling. That, in concert with the fact that this is a bardic award, lent me to think that perhaps what I needed was a Borre style Comedy/Tragedy mask medallion.

Then was the drawing, making sure each part fit together and reworking the knot in the center to be a four pointed knot instead of a triskele. It meant redrawing the face to include a mouth, and then redrawing it to both smile and frown.

What stumped me the most was how to do the text. I struggled a lot with this, and ultimately enlisted three people to help sort this out - Nicol, Christiana, and Alayne. Ultimately I followed their suggestion to do the text in red around the outside like dots. I think I got close, but in retrospect I should have gone down a nib side to really get closer to the red dots so often seen in the Kells and Lindisfarne manuscripts. As it is I'm happy because the calligraphy is fairly easy to read, even if you do have to turn the scroll 360 degrees (twice) to read it all. This was also my first time doing circular text - that was interesting. I need more work on getting that style of text layout cleaner, but I am happy with the results.


The scroll is on pergamenata with gouache and Winsor Newton red ink by a Mitchell nib. Final size of the scroll is 9x11 on an 11x14 page.

Cedar, receiving their scroll in Court at Mudthaw, photo courtesy of Dayna Tarabar:

Adding Arms and Blazon

For Barleycorn/ Ostgard Investiture I had an AoA assignment which I delivered and got to see go out in Court. It was awesome, and I was so glad she enjoyed it. 

http://aaradyn-ghyoot.blogspot.com/2017/10/an-aoa-for-barleycorn.html

So the recipient, Cailleach, sought me out and had me add her Arms and Blazon to the scroll. I've never been asked to do this before! She sent me an amazing photo of the scroll framed and hanging on the wall. I won't lie (or hold back) - I cried a little. To know that my work was so treasured, I was truly touched. It's the wish of every scribe to know that their work is loved, and displayed for all to see. It was the kindest thing she could have done for me. 

Of course I said I'd finish the scroll and we arranged for me to pick up the piece at Dancing Fox and return it to her at Mudthaw. Sadly I cannot go to Mudthaw, but a courier will take it for me. (I love my couriers very, very much - every scribe does. They are wonderful people who do a great service for this Kingdom.) 

The piece came to me well packaged and opening it back up and seeing my work I noticed all the places that I have improved, and the places where I did better than I thought. It was a little scary to work on my own piece again, and wonderfully fulfilling too. I am thankful for this chance. 

The finished piece: 

I left myself possibly the SMALLEST shield to put the arms in! This is a lesson I will absolutely remember in the future and I will give a larger space for the arms. I also didn't leave enough room for the blazon to be added comfortably. Again, a lesson that I am taking to heart for the future. My sincerest apologies to any and all scribes who've had to add Arms and Blazon to an AoA I've done! 

I think my camera was tipped a little, because the text is much more straight than it appears here. Overall though, I am happy with the results and, more importantly, Cailleach is happy with the results.