charter # 13

in which our plucky heroine takes a half day mental health break...

Painted charter #13 Wednesday... This Russian style design* was a stretch for me - I used details from two different period originals to with the intention of creating a design that referenced the very intensely polychrome aesthetic of the area. Here is what it looked like as I began filling in the base colors, trying to get a good color distribution..

Always, while I am filling in the base colors, the page goes through a gawky stage where it all just looks awkward. For me, I try and remember that, and keep my focus on getting the colors balanced in a way that allows the eye to move nicely across the page, rather than on how it looks at the moment. Here, I started by placing the red, as red is a color that is attractive to the eye, then next the yellow ochre, as the lightest of the four colors... then I began to fill in with green, leaving space for blue, and always striving for a dynamic balance

All the base colors were filled in, with a few adjustments here and there to make sure that various colors were not so close to each other as to form uninteded larger blotches. Still need to paint the birds, after looking at some more manuscript images for inspiration. The overall look reminds me a bit of Ivan Bilibin, though his artwork is of a much later time, he also looked at medieval artwork for inspiration.

If I had wanted to, I could have stopped at this point (well, after painting the birds, too!) An original period page I was looking at for inspiration had a very plain wash of polychrome colors, with only a tiny bit of interior shading, decorating scrollwork:

The final stage of this AoA charter painting. I decided to add some fairly simple internal detailing and shading to the scrollwork, as most of the period originals had similar detailing or even more elaborate decorations

a closer view of some of the shading and linework. Truly, it would be possible to put in two or three times as many hours as the almost six I put in on this charter painting. The design lends itself to elaboration; I feel like I really need to learn more about shading and decorating scrolls, but I am still having fun nonetheless. And hopefully whoever ends up with this as their AoA scroll will enjoy it as well!

One of the two birds on this charter - I wasn't sure if it was intended as a peacock, since the crest rather looked like it. I just went with "generic polychrome avian" instead. I am still really happy with the tiny details I can add with my new paintbrush.

The other little bird from my #13 charter... This one I took most of the details, shading, and coloring from a period little bird. It looks a little bit like a ring neck parakeet. I had fun with the shading, and particularly with how I painted the birds tail - half red, half ocher, with the details counterchanged
For some reason the little (partially cut-off) birds caught my eye; at the top of this page, from "Gospel book, Armenia, Van, 1461, MS M.749 fol. 242r", in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum

:::

I have been really stressed lately, and when feeling powerless about situations both personal, and medical, and political, and global, sometimes I need to just choose a tiny bit of downtime. Painting charters, which is basically like coloring in, but with gouache paint instead of crayons or markers, is both self soothing, intensely satisfying, and of service to the organisation I have been participating in for the last twenty-umpteen years.

:::

July SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	pewter casting	Thora cuff trim	bag of hangers
2	charter #12	-	yard waste bin
3	charter #13	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-

:::

* charter master design by José Cabrera de Castilla

pewter casting in cuttlebone

in which our plucky heroine took a class last weekend, taught by Alail Horsefriend, at ATWW* about an accessible low-tech way to create cast metal objects...

we started by cutting a cuttlebone in half, smoothing the soft inner portion against itself to create matching halves, and cutting notches into the sides, to allow for wiring the two halves together...

The "gate" or sprue opening into the mold, at the top wider edge of the cuttlebone halves. This is where the molten pewter is poured. The nifty thing about pewter is that it melts at a fairly low temperature, which makes this a process a lot more accessible.

Here are the two halves of the mold I carved on site. I used a coin to get the basic shape of the disc, and then added some simple motifs to each side. Any lettering needs to be put in backwards, so as to come out correctly. The scratches that look like spider legs are vents, to allow the air in the mold to be displaced when molten metal is poured in at the top.

Here it the rough casting, showing how the vents allow the metal all the way into the mold, the bits of metal flashing (that went into the mold vents) is thin and easily cut away from the finished piece. I just left them there so I could take these photos prior to cleanup

The obverse of the casting. This really shows the texture of the cuttlebone, which is a unique characteristic. I also will need to cut away the sprue portion of the disc

A closer view of the casting. Once I cut away the sprue/gate portion, and clean up the edges, I intend to fill in the background around the Summits Grail with blue. Since pewter melts at such a low temperature, enameling is not an option. I will use a transparent lacquer or paint instead

The obverse came out equally clear... however, I ought to have checked the calendar...since I think it is actually Anno Societatis 51 (what can I say, it was hot at the event and my brain was fried, and I got confused)

Finish work on the tiny pewter casting - I cut away the sprue gate and the vent flashing, drilled a hole at the center top, and colored the background blue, to match my "friend of the Summits" award. Since pewter melts at such a low temperature, it was necessary to use fingernail enamel instead of vitreous enamel. I like that the texture of the cuttlebone casting is still visible through the overlaid color.

:::

July SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	pewter casting	Thora cuff trim	bag of hangers
2	charter #12	-	yard waste bin
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-

:::

*ATWW is one of my favorite SCA camping events, with many different types of activities, as well as a splendid location near Gold Beach on the southern Oregon coast. My favorite parts of the shindig are the various classes available, visiting my friends at the "cooks playdate" encampment (where enthusiasts of medieval cookery gather to experiment in trying new recipes and techniques) and the amazing views of the night sky, as the site is at the end of the road in a valley surrounded by hills and trees, but almost no houses. This means that the night sky is intensely visible, and one man camped near us brought his large 13"? telescope and set it up; I saw the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter for the first time, and what a special treat that was!!

the cohort diminshed

painted charter #12... needed to take some mental health time today.

I am getting a bit faster with my painting, this one took only about five hours. And I'm slowly developing a set of techniques for filling, shading, and patterning the spaces. I intend, as well, to create a reference notebook of various period border and diapering patterns, to help add variety to the outcome.

I had fun with the details, adding interior patterning in various ways. I am particularly fond of the little green foliage bits that burst out of the design border!

:::

...sometimes looking up old friends on FB leads to finding them again... well I just looked up Vanessa Schnatmeier, my childhood best friend from 5th grade through junior high, and come to learn that she passed away in 2012, from the same sort of cancer that I too was in treatment for in 2011/2012. We had lost touch over the years, save a brief reunion one time when I was in the Bay Area fifteen years ago or more, but somehow I always figured I had time to try and reconnect again... I guess my point is don't wait. If there are folks that are important to you, reach out. Life is short.

:::

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July SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	pewter casting	Thora cuff trim	bag of hangers
2	charter #12	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-