Coursera: Medieval Manuscript Class - Week 6
In week six, we are to begin working on our "manuscript" in terms of writing, decorating and illustrating. This 160 page project of mine is VERY ambitious and could not possibly complete it within the given time period. Thankfully that was not required, only some examples of different forms and such needed to be shown for this section of the class. Below was my report submitted, however, for some reason, this week they had a drop box for pdf or doc rather than the text block to fill in with links.
Rubric One - Source
MSS ONE
My favorite, the Morgan Black Book of Hours.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843721370/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843721384/
https://www.pinterest.com/georgemenke/the-black-book-of-hours/
MMS TWO
The Charles Black Hours.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843799449/
MMS THREE
The Maria Black Hours.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843799455/
MSS FOUR
A song book in Brussels.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843799460/
Rubric Two – Design Plan
(I don't know why, but my software kept rotating all my pictures and I could not figure out how to fix it. I am sorry.)
At first I made the following chart for my plan for all ten quires:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843799152/
But I became worried that I may confuse myself so I printed out a template sheet and made ten more quires in a sort of dummy book that I could write out what goes where and color code it for my reference. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843928089/
This allowed me to determine where a hierarchy of initials of different types would be, where all my illustrations would be and the two different type of frames used for these, plan out my author page in the back, and all the decoration and marginal decorations would be. And it will most likely be this dummy book that I will use for the next book binding section as the actual project book will not be complete for at least a year.
Rubric Three – Execution I tried the “traditional” method of the order of creating the pages, but after that I began to experiment with different orders just to see what would work best for me. I personally prefer to do the calligraphy last, but that is just my preference. All coloration is done with watercolor. Preparing the Initial with a gold pen https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021442/
Liquid Leaf on the initial
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021453/
I forgot to get a picture of how I detailed the initial, but here are two others:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843930480/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567843930486/
Added the writing, but it went on a bit thicker than desired so I went down to a smaller nib.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021462/
Used this ink, still waiting on my gold ink from Amazon!!! >:-[
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021465/
Extra Shots https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021468/
Started margin decorations (my own custom style and one from the Morgan Black Hours)
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021524/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021529/
Started margin decoration for illustration frames https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021536/
Began coloring margin decoration https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021543/
Began filling in the gold work
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021547/
Began coloring margin decoration for illustration frames
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844021559/
Now the illustration with the curved top is going to be a watercolor copy of a photograph, but I fear it will take me longer to complete than the assignment due date. The other illustration though I thought to do a map, which I knew I would be able to complete. But with some experimentation, I did not like the two page version of the map, so I decided to split the 9 sets of arms across the two pages. Here is one page containing 4 of them, when I get to the opposite page, I will have the other 5.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844050258/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464011567844050263/
The little colored notes are a reference for me as to which page of the Morgan Black Hours the border decorations are from so I can refer back when I fill them in. Now I would have filled in the gold work in the decorative borders, but as stated above, I am STILL waiting on my gold ink from Amazon. I want to see how it looks with the gold ink I ordered before continuing much further. For anyone that wishes to continue to watch this entire book develop over the next year, you can keep checking progress at my website. http://merrycx.wixsite.com/scribal/my-black-hours-book