Ciaran is a good friend of mine. Shortly before this assignment, Josh and I had just completed a scroll for Ciaran for a baronial award. I wanted to do something special for him, and also do something a bit challenging for myself.
I had not done a Black Hours scroll since I made one for my daughter years ago. Since that time, my knowledge and skills as a scribe have improved greatly, so I decided it was time to try another one.
From my previous research, I knew that there were limited places to find exemplars for Black Hour scrolls, so I started with the Morgan Library. I began reviewing the Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead, made in Bruges, Belgium, ca. 1480. Knowing Ciaran’s love of animals, especially his pup Nova, I selected Folio 46v, shown below and located at https://www.themorgan.org/collection/black-hours/43 :
The original was silver and gold lettering on vellum stained black. As I have not yet used vellum, let alone having any knowledge concerning staining vellum, I chose to work with a commercial black paper – made by Canson.
The Process
I first had to run some tests against the black paper.
Pounce was not usable because the paper showed visible signs of being rubbed with the chalk substance.
Gouache laid a little on the surface, taking long to dry. I decided it was acceptable and that I could work with it. As a result of this choice, I had to lay out the paint in thin layers with ample time to dry so that it would not flake.
From there, my first challenge was how I would transfer the design to the paper. I usually use a light box, but obviously could not use this process with the black paper. I had used transfer paper in the past for sewing, so I ordered a sample pack of Saral wax free transfer paper. When it arrived, I decided to use the yellow as I felt it would show up on the black, but also would be able to cover with the paint.
The picture below shows the yellow tracing paper with some of the paintwork started.
You may note at this point that you thought I was doing a Sagittarius – well, I was! Whoops, I wound up spending a good deal of time painting over that and putting the correct award in.
Anyway, on to the materials I used. I started by painting the background blue with a Holbein gouache.
The exemplar documentation mentioned “Gold and Silver ink” but nothing about gold leaf. I intentionally chose to not use gold leaf for two reasons:
Prior experience with gold leaf binding agents with similar paper led to problems such as bubbling and cracking.
Even if tests of the binding agent proved successful, adding gold leaf to this scroll might have taken away from other elements of the scroll given the amount of yellow.
I wanted a paint that was on the thicker side, so I used Windsor and Newtown gold gouache.
After I added in the gold, my next challenge was to figure out how to add the calligraphy. Usually, I add in the pencil lines with a lettering guide. Again, due to the black paper I could not use my usual method. So I looked at the exemplars and noticed the lines remained for the calligraphy. I then used a crow quill, loaded with white calligraphy ink, and added the lines in using a T-square. Although the original was with silver ink, I only had white ink which looked as good as the silver. Since the original had silver and gold ink, I used gold ink for the name of the order as well as Ciaran’s name.
The completed calligraphy showing the white and gold ink:
I liked how the gold calligraphy looked, so I used it in crow quill to add in the small details on top of the blue gouache.
A close up of the dog:
Overall, I was very happy with how the scroll came out. I learned some things for the next time I do a Black Hours scroll. One change I will make is to use a different type of paper that accepts the paint better. I believe the recipient was happy with the end product, which is the best result!
Comments