Another commission

Nordmark's signet scribe asked me if I could consider doing a backlog scroll the other day, so I looked at what I might do and have taken on the task of doing a late 15th century scroll for the service award of Nordmark. It has to incorporate a golden ribbon, as that is the name of the award, and the recipient requested late 15th century as a style. This style request was the main reason that I took it. Hopefully I'll do a good job, but at least with a specific scroll ordered I can get going again on scribal stuff.

Hah, said the hand to the scribe!

Well, I thought this next scroll would be an excellent opportunity to finally learn batarde as my second calligraphy hand, but damnit all I am way too impatient to sit doing excersises all on my lonesome. Especially since I don't have a good ductus for the hand. I have one picture of batarde miniscules that I saved, but looking closely and comparing it to a target manuscript it doesn't have the same a's.

Besides, it's annoying to have to turn my head to one side to check the computer screen for the correct shape. I may be shooting myself in the foot by trying to switch to right-hand writing as well because seriously, I don't have the same sort of fine motor control with my right as I do my left hand. Yes, I sew much better with the right, but that's because once, long ago, that's how I was taught. It's fine motor skills, but not the same as the writing.

*sigh* I know it is all down to practice though, but it bores me silly before I've done even two full lines of i's or o's.

What I need is a sheaf of paper of how the letters should look, a separate sheaf for how to produce said shapes and I need dedicated time to learning the shapes.

I've also consulted the recipient and she has some wishes for things to incorporate into the scroll. I can definately do that. And if all else fails, textura was used during this period as well, just not as much as batarde was.

Anyway, back to my pen and paper, practice, practice, practice! Perhaps tea will help.

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4 hours Later: It seems tea did help, and I managed to produce fairly even, fairly nice and mostly recognizeable letters even with my right hand. However, that hand now feels a little funny - like there's unevenness in the first three fingers compared to the ringfinger and pinky (I only use the first three to hold the pen).

It was interesting to note the differences between my left and right hand as well - I realize now that I really have been fighting the pen with the left hand all this time, even thought I was able to produce moderately good forms with that hand without needing ten or twenty tries as with the right.