Verdant Quill: Autumn 51

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A Book of Letters

Original Post

Cover Design

Final Post with download Link

Persona Development and History

ot everyone in the SCA goes the monastic route. What can I say, I'm special. But when I decided to pull together the basic idea of a monk for the SCA I already had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to put him within history. For a while I could basically just tell anyone who had asked that I was a Benedictine monk from England who traveled abroad somewhere around the time of the Templars. Then, when I had more time and a better idea of the the various eras of history that interested me, I started to put down the specific events that I wanted my persona to have either witnessed, heard of, or was inspired by. This gave rise to a persona development document which you can find through THIS LINK.

Scribe's Chest Project

will admit that for a monk who's taken a vow of poverty, I really like to find stuff for my persona  to have. Maybe he found it on his travels or uses it as part of his monastic work, The story behind the 'artifact' is half the fun for an archaeology-nut like myself.

So, when I spot a cool-looking chest on a TV series or movie, my brain starts to wonder, "could my monk have that?" As a traveling scribe and herbalist / apothecary, there's plenty of 'stuff' for him to keep track of. So a small wooden chest like this could be handy - especially since I carry a plastic tool box to carry my scribal gear currently and I've been looking for a more period version.



As seen in the TV series, “The Pillars of the Earth”,  This pointed-chest with double-opening lid and inside drawer A pair of hinges for the upper lid with a hasp for a lock onto the lower one. Handles on both outside panels and “something” on the inside lid. The chest was later identified through the Midrealm Arts and Sciences group on Facebook as a Gable-Roof Chest.

I have yet to build this but I consider it one of my ongoing projects. Follow my progress through THIS LINK here.

Turning Textile Patterns into Scribal Borders

inding inspiration for scribal borders isn't always easy. Sometimes you have to look in some interesting if also unconventional areas to find the design elements which identify a culture, region and era.

So as part of that research, I took a bit of embroidered silk (detailed below) and pulled the pattern out with GIMP and turned it into a workable border pattern for a scroll.

Early Coptic Textile Fragment 
Date: 6th–7th century
Geography: Egypt
Culture: Coptic

LINK HERE

Scroll Tracing Pics

Some people have asked for blank copies of the scribal designs that I have posted as tutorials; something that they can use as a reference or possibly as a tracing guide. So I've created some of my designs in GIMP and posted them up on google drive for people to download.

A few people have also had the idea of printing out the blanks and using them as coloring pages for children's activities at an event which I think is pretty darned cool as well.

LINK HERE

Scroll Levels: An Explanation

After a few years of teaching scribes, I had the idea of classifying scroll layouts in terms of levels or, put another way, as an expression of the complexity of design and what skill might be needed to achieve it. And, as many of the members of the SCA are also gamers, the idea of a ‘level’ system for scrolls seemed to be a plausible way of bridging the gap between the Scribes of the SCA and the potential scribes who are eager to put pencil, pen and brush to paper.

LINK HERE

Getting Started as a Scribe in the SCA

Here's a guide to getting started as a Scribe in the SCA.

The following document is meant to serve as a starting guide for those who wish to pursue the scribal arts within the SCA. It is by no means a comprehensive guide as every scribal path, like the branches on a tree, is unique. However, each path starts the same way and this is what I shall focus on; the basics. Within this document I shall cover a discussion on the starting materials, tools, techniques, references and designs that should give anyone a basic understanding of what they’re getting into when they say “I want to try being a scribe”.

Link HERE

Inkle Weaving Pattern Guide

Here's a list of the patterns that I've worked out for the inkle loom so far. I've listed variations on the pattern by color and shown completion dates. It's more of a record-keeping system so that I can keep track of what I've done so far and I thought that others might want to see the patterns for the designs that I've posted. Link:  HERE