I said this blog would be about my SCA journey, so here's the first post:
There was a kingdom wide call out for Christmas/Yule themed scrolls for an event that the Barony of Axemore is hosting called Christmas Revel. They asked for a ready made scroll and just an inked copy to make into pre-prints. They have so many scrolls that you could choose from that I seriously had to pair down what I was going to make.
First up was research. I've always wanted to make scrolls because I would see these illuminated manuscripts and just fall in love with the idea of recreating them. So I took to the Internet and good ol' Google and searched for border patterns and pictures from already existing manuscripts. These are the three inspiring images that I found. One is for youth combat, one is for heavy fighting, and one can be versatile in either A&S champion or rapier.
 |
| "Snowball Fight" (Flemish c. 1560) Walters Art Museum W.425.12 |
 |
| Bruges manuscript, Royal 17 F. II, folio 116v |
 |
| Fresco depicting January at Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, c. 1405-1410. |
Next came laying out the scroll. It is best to leave a one inch border all around the scroll to make framing easier. So I draw out (in pencil...always in lightest pencil) a frame to work in. I then had to make the decision of what border I wanted. I chose to do a mix between two (because really who can decide between two favorites.)
 |
| You can faintly see the outline of pencil for the framing. |
My next step was taking inspiration from the chosen manuscript and making it my own. I included elements of it and left out others as to not clutter the design.
Final step in beginning design is to ink the scroll. This provides a way to clean up your pencil marks and provides a clean base for painting the scroll.
Just as a general rule (and because I'm just beginning calligraphy) it's always a good idea to practice your wording to make sure it will fit. As you can see below I need to tighten up my spacing in the beginning and add in some little tweaks before I put pen to my scroll. Some artists put their wording on long before they even start the design, but I like to see how a scroll is going to shape up before I start thinking about the words. I had originally decided this scroll was going to be an A&S champion scroll until the childlike snowflakes above called to me for loving children to play below them.
