Travelling Time and Space

Yeah, I know. Not really a topic for anybody but scribal people but it popped up again as topic on one of my emailinglists and I'm just getting tired of hearing it :o) So I'll use it for today's post and be done with it forever *G*

There are few topics that incite crazed arguements like the mentoning of the use of egg tempera in medieval book illuminations. The reason for that, of course, is our modern mindset. How so ? Well, today we understand "egg tempera" as pigment mixed with egg yolk as binder. Period. Pigment bound with egg yolk was indeed not used in medieval book illuminations but preferred for panel painting and was a forerunner of the later oilpaint. The content of natural oils in the yolk of an egg creates those shiny oilrings around the paint when used on parchment - an effect nobody was ever really going for.

Back to the tempera paint. Now, here are a few definitions I found right of the bat

This painting medium combines pigment with egg yolk and distilled water.
myrlejohnson.tripod.com/id12.html

A water-base paint made with egg yolk binder.
www.collectorsguide.com/fa/fa018.shtml

 

A paint which uses egg as a binding medium.
www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/glo ssary.html

A medium created by mixing pure, ground pigments with egg yolk. This was a very common medium before the invention of oil paints.

www.brigantine.atlnet.org/GigapaletteGALLERY/we bsites/ARTiculationFinal/ MainPages/E-IVocabulary.htm

the medium used before oils became popular during the Renaissance. The yolk of an egg is mixed with the ground pigment and applied with a soft brush usually with sharp, short strokes, and which dried very rapidly. Oil painting allowed for greater freedom, was easily blended, stayed wet for hours and days, and so eclipsed the use of egg tempera in the 15th century.
www.ekeda.com/portfolio/hr/glossary .htm

The use of egg, (either the whole egg or just the white or just the yolk, but using just the yolk is most common), mixed with water and pigment to make a paint. This process dates back to the Egyptians where there are examples of sarcophagi being decorated with them that are still in tact today. It is painted on solid supports and is capable of great detail as well as many other effects. It is very fast drying so does not lend itself to blending very well. ...
www.kidzpicz.com/Artist%20Manual/dicti onaryofartisticterms.htm

Egg tempera is a type of paint used by artists. It is made of pigments mixed with egg yolk which acts as a binding medium. It is made fresh, a little at a time by the artist as it doesn't keep. It is not sold commercially.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_tempera

So egg tempera paint is basically paint that uses either egg white, egg yolke or both as the binding medium. Nothing wrong with that since 'egg tempera paint' literally only translates to 'paint tempered with egg' and it doesn't specify which part of the egg the paint was tempered with, right ?

People like Theophilus and Cennini both point out in their art manuals that in medieval bookpainting a paint tempered with egg white usually referred to as 'glair' was used. Glair tempered paint was supposedly slowly replaced by gum arabic tempered paint in the 15th century but that's besides the point.

Egg tempera paint was used in medieval book illumination. You need to specify what kind of egg tempera because most people will assume - based on their modern understanding - that you are talking about egg yolk tempered paint instead of egg white tempered paint ['glair'] but egg 'white'/glair tempera paint was used as paint for book illuminations during the SCA time period and well beyond that.

So there.

 

Sources :

Theophilus, On Diverse Arts

Cennino D'Andrea Cennini, Il libro dell arte

several online dictionaries for a definition pf "egg tempera"

 

This past weekend turned out to be christmas and easter wrapped into one. The few hours I spent at Cutlasses & Corsairs on saturday were packed with action, reconnecting with some wonderful people I get to meet only too few times throughout the year, making new acquaintances and many many wonderful 'presents' during a wonderfully entertaining court with Her Majesty Judith.

I arrived on site just a little after 4pm - just in time for scroll drop-off and chasing down somebody who had the names of the winner of the C&C competitions to finish the competition scrolls. Well, that didn't work out quite as well as we'd hoped because people kept disappearing or weresimply invisible to every person who hada  radio. Court started out a bit on the confused side and I ended up playing secretary to Don Cullen, this year's autocrat, adding a bit of slapschtick to the first part of it. I have to admit I'ma  court nut, mainly because I was lucky enough to grow into the SCA through quite a number of very fun courts with court schtick and tear jerker awards. This court was one of those *S*

Seeing Milica pale realizing "Oh shit, that's m"xe!" when she was called into court and receiving her Order of the Argent Palm for service was great *G* so was Martine's expression of shock when she" was ordered into court and receiving recognition for her amazing art in form of an Order of the Argent Estoile award. She just couldn't believe it *L* Presenting the painted venetian flagfanes as the Castlemere Scribes's contribution to the Gulf Wars giftchest went very well and our gift along with the Micky Mouse and Goofy pages was very well received. As usual I didn't get dismissed from Her Majesty's presence when everybody else gets to leave [and I should be getting used to that and that I do a bad job at staying under any pointy hat's radar] and Darlene was called up for her Argent Estoile and presented with the scroll I did for her, my secret scroll for the past two weeks *G* I"m so thrilled with this award for her because she has learned so much during the past year and in turn she has simply turned around passing it on to whoever is interested. Oh, and I love her for having faith in my crazy ideas *L* Anyways, here's a picture of the scroll I did for her. It's W&N gouache with W&N goldpaint and Sumi ink on 9"x12" Bristol Board and you'll find a quarter in the lower right corner for comparison

 

 I'f you're looking for a bigger picture of it for details take a look at my gallery 1 link and go to the Trimaris 2006 scrolls.

After that I was wrong again to think I was dismissed *sheepish grin* Her Majesty awarded me with an Order of the Tradewinds [AoA-level award for A&S especially calligraphy and illumination] and then sent me off. Heh :o)

We saw many Shiremembers receiving awards and Tamara got belted as protege to Master Sebastian and Innis as apprentice to Mistress Gianette whose ceremony and the way she included all of Innis's other peers was just beautiful. Like I said, I'm a sucker for courts like this. 

Lady Xena received her Argent Scales and since she'd asked for a merciful execution [now, that was before she knew she'd get an award] she was beheaded behind the throne. The "THUD!" of the axe hitting the floor [obviously after cutting through her neck] ended the court. Lovely ! *L*

Later that night after people forced me through various threats to stay for feast I received the female Cornerstone of Castlemere, a Shire token given to one female and male Shiremember every year for service to the Shire. Christmas, I tell you !

Tired and happy I drove home taking Kate, Milica's 8 y/o daughter with me. We'd arranged for her to stay with me and my family for the night so Milica could party all night at the masqued ball and things went very well for all parties involved. Finndragon was tickled pink to find her at his house ready to play with him the next morning. Milica and her son joined us for a late breakfast and we had some more time to just relive last night's moments.

 

Today is monday and it's back to the treadmill *G* There're scrolls to paint and write, dresses to sew and other crazy ideas to bring to life "with sweet love and devotion" to use a line from "How sweet it is to be loved by you"

Yes, it's done ! My super secret assignment is finally all done and scanned. Unfortunately, I can't show it off just yet because then I'd have to kill you *nodnod* It'll be awarded tomorrow so by sunday there'll be pictures for you all to see

I'm getting old, I think. No, it's not because Finndragon is now a walking talking aging reminder [he's 2.5 years old now - how did that happen ?!] but more because ... well, tonight there's obviously a hardrock concert going on somewhere in downtown Jacksonville. I haven't had the time yet to check who it is and it's actually pretty nice stuff they are playing but it's a tad loud. Window-clirring loud. Feel the base in the hardwood floors kind of loud. And Metropolitan Park is a good number of blocks away. Miles, actually. That's how I know I'm getting old *G* Loud music wouldn't have bothered me as much when I was *sigh* younger, y'know. Finndragon appears to be asleep worn out from an afternoon at the Zoo and I'm surprised he is because -I- wouldn't be able to sleep with that volume level.

Good thing, concerts are over by the time I schlepp myself to bed :o) 

 Done !

• Castlemere Scribes's contribution of painted venetian flag fans to the Gulf Wars giftbaskets including a box covered in blue felt with the Trimaris Kingdom Arms painted on the front
• 14 competition scrolls for Cutlasses & Corsairs + 1 blank
  
• 2 Cornerstone of Castlemere scrolls [I by Martine, C by yours truely]
  
• 7 gilded nuts for royal taxes
• small case with 6 small and 3 big linen napkins with painted norse designs for the giftbasket for the royal heirs [by Darlene and your truely]
  

Still to finish

• commission scroll [all it needs are final touches here and there, no more than perhaps 1 hour worth of work; scans will follow after this weekend]
• cover art for the next issue of Castlelore
• 1st quarter A&S report
  

I've been thinking [not on purpose, really ...] and come to the conclusion that I prefer SCA events that are highly focussed on one topic/theme. Looking back at the events we attended last year "Pilgrimage to Rome" ranks as no 1 - it was different and entertaining in a way that was very refreshing from the usual [sorry] generic SCA weekend event.

Now, I realize that my great love for special events might be greatly related to the fact that we can't go to many events and so I want the few we manage to attend to be special in more than one way but I also think that a well-picked theme and its execution just adds a lot more to the general atmosphere of any event. Decoration, games, classes to name only a few will benefit from a good medieval or renaissance theme and I think we worry too much about a decrease in attendance. "Scriptorium", Castlemere's event on the fine arts of the middle ages, drew a good 100 visitors; as a one day event and with no fighting, mind you.

Just pick a theme and run wild with it ! I can't wait :o) 

At least one of my fingers tends to be ink-smudged. Due to some odd twist of fate calligraphy has become my main focus, not illumination, and my inkstained fingers herald this for all the world to see.

Today I almost claimed inkstains of a different nature on my fingers but was lucky enough to end up at one of the places with a nifty modern laser apparatus taking my fingerprints. Today was my biometrics appointment as part of my immigration process and yes, they still use the ink method when there is too much business on any given day. Now it's back to waiting when the next appointment is going to be ... might be up to another 8-10 months *sigh* Hopefully it'll be sooner or else I won't get to travel to my family this year ...

Last night was rough : after coming home from watching "Memoirs of  Geisha" with M. at around midnight and catching a slim 5 hours of sleep both hubby and I woke up to a very sniffly cold-ridden Finndragon and eded up watching "Finding Nemo" for toddler comfort. About an hour later the Finndragon was ready to give the bed another shot and we all were out cold in no time again for another round of shut-eye.

Me being the early morning bird I woke up for good at 9am and so I'm feeling somewhat groggy a little more than 12 hours later. We met for a scribal tea at my place today and got the Cutlasses & Corsairs competition scrolls done for next weekend. Yay us ! Tuesday I'll get another 2 scrolls to add the calligraphy and I need to get the illumination painted on my scroll commission and I'm all set and ready for the upcoming Shire event.

Pictures will follow soon; I'm relieved to see my calligraphy return to normal again after that scraggly excuse for handwriting on that flemish-style youth acclaim ... yargh !

Anyways, off to bed it is :o) Good night ! 

The painted lid for the feastgear basket is almost done : only the roundel needs to be done now but that'll have to wait until I've made up my mind about the design [rRemember ? Coat of Arms or miniature dilemma].

Finndragon decided to help Mami paint and tackled a little wooden chest I had found about 2 years ago at a thriftstore. It's a cute little bench-chest-stepstool-thi ng and I'd started on painting it with some norse artwork - and never got around to finishing it. Well, that problem is solved thanks to Finndragon who stole a brush and sneakily started priming it before Mami noticed and had a chance to intervene. Now the stepstool-bench-chest is painted a nice bright purple sporting the outlines of coat of arms accompanied by acanthus swirls on all sides and a "Glueckshaus" gameboard on the top :o) I have this wonky idea of maybe turning it into a little freezer chest by adding some insulation to the inside but - you know - there's no rush for that *G*

 Anyhow, here're pictures !

 

 

That's the feastbasket and here's the box in progress

 

 

No, not Veteran's Day. Valentine's Day. Reading around everybody seems to have been writing about it except moi. The reason for that is simple : I/We don't really do Valentine's Day and so we tend to be very lax about it. And me being the funny german that I am I always thought of Valentine's Day always something between couples. Seeing it being extended to friends is confusing. While the general idea behind it is wonderful the generic commerce tied with it makes me want to gag. It's worse than Mother's Day !

Chocolate might be okay but all those pink plush fuzzies [all the cute ones like bunnies and puppies and kitties and .....waaah], the pink balloons and pink greeting cards are driving me into a pink haze of madness. Not only because they are pink but because they are generic. There is nothing personal about giving me pink balloons and nothing says less "I love you" than yet another pink fuzz-bear holding a plush heart to its polyester chest, and if you were somehow expecting a Valentine-something from me - sorry, really. It's not that I ldon't ove you, really, or that I don't think of you. It's rather I never thought you wanted me drive you into the same pink haze of madness

However, I call a wonderful Valentine my own *S* Every year, my husband cooks a whole meal with dessert for me on Valentine's Day. He spends days searching for the right kind of recipes and then spends hours fighting bravely with ingredients and pots and pans in the kitchen to present a wonderful meal to me in the end. I'm not allowed to do anything but I usually try to find something to be a Valentine in return. This year I replaced my hubby's commuter french press he accidentally ran over *giggle* His old one is now literally a french 'press'

 

So to all of my friends out there who didn't get a plush bear from me : I love you and you are very special to me. I'm a lucky bug to have met you and to have you make me part of your life.

This is just a quick update because the weather is gorgeous and just perfect for doing stuff outside on our nifty good-sized porch *G*

I don't know how but this blog with my ramblings on the SCA, projects and other things has made it onto the list of Hotblogs by tblog. More precisely, it's on spot no. 7 of the featured blogs based on popularity and frequency of updates. I know that I enjoy reading other people's reeactment/costuming blogs but obviously never expected mine would be equally well read. Weird *G*

So now that the pattens are done it's back to one of my many interim projects. Interim projects are projects I magically conjure out of nowhere so I don't have to work on any of my major projects. Procrastination at its finest, I think. I have no idea why I do it like this but obviously I need a rather firm deadline to be really productive. Oh, and some cooperation of the Finndragon to nap when I feel most active and awake which I do now. That is odd because I'm fighting The Sniffles [tm] again and while I sound really funky [too many smokes, too much alcohol - neither of which actually applies] I haven't lost my voice completely yet. Not even after the abuse last night when I had to fill in for our dance teacher and teach a class at our local Shire meeting. Heh ...

 Alright, where were we ? Interim project, right. Feastgear at this time. I'm working on and off on updating my family's feastgear. I managed to cut out 4 napkins and fringe the edges putting plans of embroidery off until I'm done with the tablecloth. The tablecloth [same fabric as the napkins - cream-colored linen] is halfdone ie one side sports some simple running-stitch embroidered black lines and some pulled-thread/hardanger work. I just need to copy those patterns to the other side as well and mmmmmmmmaybe embroider both hubby's and my Arms into the center [or that little combo-icon I came up with for Finndragon's shield]. More on that [interims project] later. Today I decided to paint our feastgear basket. It's one of those picnic baskets with a solid lid which is excellent for painting your arms or whatever you fancy on it. After two coats of gesso and 2 coats of purple paint [purple is the one] I now copied some good-sized acanthus leaves around a roundel in the center of the lid. This roundel is going to be filled with some kind of miniature, either a happy threesome family scene or a feast scene Pictures will follow later because right now it looks like a purple painted lid since the pencil lines are too faint to see on the pictures.

Off onto the porch it is for now ! More to follow later :o) 

 

Considering that neither leatherworking nor woodworking are anywhere near my strengths I was pretty surprised how well all worked and came together.

Since I'm trying my hand at somewhat pointed-toes slippers I needed to have pattens - pattens that would also match the shape of my slippers. I therefore took the sole pattern for my shoes and transferred it onto the wood adding a slight 'seamallowance" to allow for my sawing acrobatics *G* In the end I think that's the only part I'd change. The pattens turned out a bit 'massive' looking because of that.

 

So here they are, freshly cut and with the edges sanded.

The next step was all about leather and cutting out various straps from scrapleather I had from the pilgrim bottle adventure with my Master. My feet are pretty small and now it is even more obvious ... heh. I bought a box of #4x7/16" blued steel cut tacks as they seemed to have the right length and a fairly wide head to tack the leatherstraps into place. 

Here is what they look like with the leatherstraps all nailed into place. Not too bad, eh ?

 

 And here is another one with my foot in it :o) They do fit and the hinge sits at the perfect spot so you can actually walk surprisingly comfortably. The London Muuseum book "Shoes & Pattens" describes the decoration of leatherstraps [and shoes] in one of the chapters so I might fiddle with that now that the basic patten is done [or I might just oil the leather because it looks so clean and new *g*]. They still look a leeeettle bit too big so I'm considering trimming the tip a bit more making it narrower.

 

Today I got a nice piece of 100 year old cedar from Patrick the carpenter who helps restoring one of the old historic houses around the corner. Patrick is irish [of course], plays guitar in a pub on weekend nights and works as a carpenter the rest of the time to get by. He cuts beautiful and huge blocks for the Finndragon from some of the boards he tears out of the old porches and even sands them so there won't be splinters in tender toddler fingers. And he has nifty pieces of scrapwood most of the time we stroll by :o)

Once we got back home I searched for my shoe sole pattern and transferred that onto the piece of wood adding a 'seam allowance' for a bit more 'room'. Then it was sawing time. I have next to no experience in woodworking but I think for a first attempt I didn't do too bad *G* I managed to cut out my two pattens without cutting off any fingers and now they are sitting here nicely sanded waiting for the next step. Since I want to make a pair of hinged pattens for more comfort I'll need to cut the upper 1/3 and then reconnect it to the lower 2/3 with a strap of leather.

Here's a picture of what they are supposed to look like [approximately] once I'm done :

 

 

For those interested in my latest scribal adventures I've uploaded the latest scans into the folder "Trimaris scrolls 2006" in my gallery 1.

Papersize as usual is 9x12 except for scroll no.3 and no. 10 which are half that size

 

This one's my favorite despite [although my calligraphy is at its crappiest]

 

 

Today I took the Finndragon [now 2.5 years old] to the Zoo. It was a perfect day with bright blue sky and a sun warm enough to make running around outside dressed in thick sweatshirts but without a jacket a lot of fun. Finndragon is obsessed with fish, elephants and trains at the moment so Jax Zoo was just about the most perfect place for him : we took the trainride around the zoo, checked on the elephants and hung at the jaguar exhibition that features nifty big fish. And we became official zoo members so we can go for free for a year every time we want :o) Heh.

Finndragon has also taken to surrendering to a nap fairly late in the afternoon and now stays up usually until 8pm. That cuts down severely on my SCA project time and sometimes reading some of my favorite reeactment/SCA blogs I feel slightly inadequate in my endeavours and results. Boy, there are some people whipping out really neat stuff at least twice a week and here I am with barely 1h every evening to indulge in all the nifty projects lined up and collecting dust. Squeak !

At least the blue wool dress is coming along nicely. I even managed to set in the sleeves into the funky shaped sleeve opening. I still haven't decided on the lining yet. Maybe I'll just nicely face the sleeve/neckline openings and stitch up the seams nicely by hand or something. Advice and suggestions are greatlyw elcome because despite my costuming activities I hardly consider myself a seamstress :o) Then Finndragon needs a new outfit to match Mommy's new dress *G* The last couple of SCA pictures showing him were a real eye opener : I didn't really decorate his garb ! Ack ! Unadorned tunics on my child ! Ack ! So I've been adding trim to his woolen and linen tunics and they look a lot better already. Next thing is a little doublet and some hosen for my little munchkin-man.

Tonight I'll devote to more norse bead research. I got the Haithaby Excavation book on beads just yesterday via ILL and I need to write to the nice professor in germany who might be able to point me to more information on the size of norse bead beadholes [no kidding *G*]. More on that later !

Oh, and I'll be revamping my webpage

That is the big question. I have cut out the sweet blue bargain wool [ the one that resists my fulling attempts succesfully except for the selvage edge ... hmph] and machine-stitched it together and it fits incredibly well. Better than anything I've stitched up in the past without the duct tape dummy. Yay duct tape dummy !

The wool has a nice drape and a good weight without being too thick for Floridian weather. I don't mind wool on skin and I'm not allergic to it so I'm wondering whether to line it or not. It might get a little warm with underwear -and- a lined dress but it would probably look prettier and more finished. Here's your Florida reenactment dilemma at its finest.  

Guess I'll wreck my brains over it while trying to figure out the sleeve-shape that goes into the Grand Assette sleeve opening and has the seam on the back of the sleeve ... heh.

Well, it works and my readers seem to be happy about it so here's two more pictures. One in blue german -with- some kind of headdress at 20th Year and an old beloved one showing me in viking garb at 8 months pregnant during my apprenticing ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

I plan on wearing norse at the next event because it's freezing here :o) and only viking fashion will keep me really warm so I'm hoping I'll get to show you some colorful danish impressions ;o) 

 

 

So here is the first attempt at inserting a picture in this recently bland-ed blog. It's showing me [blue german renaissance] and my foster laurel Melessee [viking] and some of her other apprentices [we are never to be found in one place together - one of us has to survive to tell the tale, right ?]. Yes, it's an only girls troupe and I consider that scary *G* 

 

So as of late I have caught a 15th century bug. It might be a "german in exile" thing but I've recently discovered my own country's history and that includes, of course, its reenactment qualities. And since people have been bugging me about yet another garb workshop I've started researching mid-15th century german and there's something I noticed about several miniatures depicting feast scenes that simply confuses me. Spoons. Or much rather the lack thereof. No spoons in painted miniatures of the mid-15th century in the Holy Roman Empire. Knives, plates, mugs, pitchers, fancy saltcellars - you name it, but no spoons. Weird, eh ? It's not like they didn't have them and/or use them. There -are- extant examples of spoons, predominantly made from metal and foldable, in museums. Maybe they were too profane to paint/draw ? Vewy vewy strange ...

Have a laugh ;o) http://web.archive.org/web/20... Daily Life in the Middle Ages http://www.rathergood.com/val... Valhalla .... or so http://web.archive.org/web/20...~schuldy/scatanic.html The SCAtanic Verses http://web.archive.org/web/20...://www.routiers.org/sca.htm And there is more ... *giggle*

Today finds me doing the wool dance *G* because I can claim two victories in the neverending search for wool fabrics in Florida ! [Why wear wool, you might wonder. Well, it's the historical costumer's choice :o)] I ordered very pretty 100% wool gabardine from Fabric mart for stunning $3.99/yard and after a little gentle abuse in the washer and the dryer it now looks absolutely scrumptious and is as buttery soft as it looks. The second lucky find came - surprise, surprise - from JoAnn's fabric. I guess I was right suspecting they might be hiding wool fabrics somewhere in the store; they've only completely forgotten about it and only find it when they sell whatever isn't nailed down when they are closing one of their stores. 8 yards of bright blue Burlington wool are now mine, mine, mine. I'm all set for the next chapter in my costuming adventures which will officially begin this weekend with the making of a duct tape sewing dummy. Two more girls are coming over and it's going to be a mad sight to behold *G*

Our Shire's pirate themed event is approaching fast and so is Gulf Wars. Just like in the past years the scribal group of Castlemere is working on a contribution to the giftbaskets for the upcoming war and last night we met for the first time to sit together and create venetian flagfans, a most decadent spiffy dress accessory that can be - hold your breath - painted ! Here's a link that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about http://www.vertetsable.com/de...