General Guidelines for Producing Quality Scrolls

Mistress Aldith Angharad St. George, OL

(Please note, this article has not been updated to reflect current guild practice regarding assignments)

1) Before starting, get an assignment sheet from the Chancellor or Principality scribe. This will give the spelling of the name, the blazon, and who gave the award (King/Queen or Prince/Princess), and the date. If the blazon is not clear to you, get a copy of the emblazon (or at least a sketch) as well.

2) Finish the lettering before you start the illuminating; if you blow it, it won't hurt so much to start over.

3) Leave at least 1" (2.54 cm) margin around the edges of the scroll [Sometimes scrolls need to be trimmed, they may have been damaged, or don't fit their frame properly].

4) Erase guidelines with a soft eraser.

5) Use a soft pencil (#1 or #2) to make guidelines and press lightly. It will erase easier and won't leave tell-tale marks.

6) Don't use whiteout to correct errors. Use a paper that will allow you to use a razor knife to scrape off the error or mix up paint to match your paper.

7) Please don't spray your work with any kind of fixative. We cannot get the seals to stick and they can't be signed.

8) Don't use felt tip pens: they bleed, do not give clean lines, and fade. The same goes for watercolor markers: they all fade.

9) As you will see on the text pages, the minimum size has been removed from Western scrolls. But if you are really going to vary from the maximum size listed consult the recipient first. [Standard scroll sizes: 11" x 14"; 16" x 20" (best); 18" x 24". Frames for these sizes are easily available in the US.]

10) Before doing something a little on the "different" side, consult with the recipient. What you may think is really great, they may not, and it's going on their wall.

Consider that many medieval manuscripts are as colorful today as when they were 600/700 years ago. While we can't begin to assume that our scrolls will be around that long, proper choice of materials can ensure a life span of 40/50 years or at least as long as the recipient wishes to keep them.

Even though we do not want to slavishly duplicate the work of the medieval scribes, we think that the permanence and brilliance of their art is worth recreating.

Permanence should be the word here in any scribe's choice of materials and methods. I suspect, from some of the scrolls I've seen, that these considerations never occurred to the scribe doing them.

The Guidelines and materials listed in this handbook have been formulated to ensure that the recipient of our scrolls can enjoy them for many years. But if you have experimented with other materials than what we have listed, we want to know to better our craftsmanship.

So in closing, Scribes, this article is to assist you in carrying on a tradition that stretches back many centuries. There will always be someone who can do it better and someone who does it worse. What is important is that you do your best!