Given in Adamastor

This weekend marks a remarkable event - elevation of three companions of the Pelican in our southernmost reaches in Adamastor. This piece is for Lady Katherine Percival, who lives in the early 13th century.

I chose a piece from a commentary on the Psalms, early 13th c, from Austria; the image is from HMML. I love the hand (early Gothic, can't go wrong for me) but was also pushed to try raised gold - the largest and most complex I've tried.

One drawback of this digital library is that the size of the page is not recorded - almost all the images are of the 'shiny bits' of illumination, with few whole-page images. So I matched the size of the illumination to the size of the text, to fit on a piece of A5 vellum.

This gold was laid using Miniatum, a size by Kolner, which I found thicker and heavier than Cornelissen's own 'improved gold body'. It's transfer gold, rather than loose gold, so it has some shine but not the mirror gloss.

I don't think I've yet done this illumination justice, but it serves as my starting point for the 30 day challenge.

Important point I learned *after* finishing this item - you can scrape and reshape the size, and the gold after being laid down, with a knife blade, to get crisp straight edges and smooth curves. I'd originally thought you had to lay the glue+gold down perfectly, then tidy the edges with paint outlines. My next pieces will benefit from figuring this tweak out.

Another note - it's easier to lay small areas, than try to do an entire figure like this one (with many small patches). Next time...

The Latin text is courtesy HRM Aryanhwy.




Callig done, glue laid

 

Gold laid (photo poor, sorry)



Finished initial, with whitework and outlining




Finished piece