So, I’ve got a new commission. The Laurel scroll for one Lorenzo Petrucci. I am quite excited and nervous all at the same time. This time I know it is going to end up hanging on a wall in my house so I don’t want there to be any glaring, ugly flaws! 🙂
I am trying to do this one as fancy and true to period as I can. Lorenzo selected the piece that it is to be based on. It is the dedication page of De Pratica Seu Arte Tripudii by Guglielmo Ebreo of Pesaro. It is a 15th century dance manual by some dead Italian guy. I think it is quite fitting to his persona.
Material. It is going to be done on vellum. I ordered a hide a few weeks ago. It came rolled up in a 4″ square tube and is now being flattened out between the mattress and bunk board of D’s upper bunk. I think (hope, hope, hope) it should be ready by Labor Day weekend.
Text. I’ve got the spacing worked out. It is going to be a mix of Roman capitals and Humanist. I’ve only done practice rounds using steel nib on paper so far but I will be quite pleased if it turns out as well on the actual scroll.
Quills. I am going to do all of the text with real live, dead bird feathers. I spent yesterday waiting for the sand to heat up in my little crock pot and then waiting for it to cool down. Sand left unattended and forgotten will get very hot (>300F). Note to self – when doing this project again, set a timer. I also learned not to pour the water off of the feathers until it is time to actually cure the feathers. Otherwise the membrane is not quite as easy to scrape off.
The actual cutting part is not as intimidating as I thought it would be. Mostly, I think that will be a matter of practice, practice, practice. I ended up cutting or re-cutting 11 quills. I’ve only tested 1 so far using red gouache. It worked fair enough on paper. I’m hoping it will work just as smooth, if not better, on vellum.