Scriptorium – sneak peek at yesterdays calligraphy for a vigil book…

The motto of yesterdays afternoon was: Calligraphy, calligraphy & some pen work! *wooohooo* 😀

Ok, first things first – a friend of my sweetheart will become a knight of the SCA in about 2 weeks. 🙂

Every SCA award which is given out by the King and Queen during court at an SCA event is already a rather big deal but being elevated to the peerage – to become either a “Laurel”, a “Pelican” or a “Knight” – is one of the most important “awards”/elevations the SCA has to offer. Therefore I was very happy when I was asked to contribute to this very special moment by creating the Knighting scroll.

…but before the actual knighting takes place during court, there is a vigil on the night before. The vigil always differs based on the wishes of the person who is elevated. However, it is a wonderful possibility to personally congratulate and to give advise for the further way. For many SCA members the vigil ceremony is nearly as important as the actual elevation ceremony at the following day. 🙂

And normally there is also a vigil book where everyone who attends the vigil can write in some personal words of advise & compliments. When I got to know that a friend of mine is making the vigil book, who just lives ’round the corner, I volunteered to created the calligraphy for the first book page. And my friend AJ was so nice to bring me some pages of the (soon-to-be-vigil) book.
Well, what shall I say, with all the special requests my sweetheart had for this project, I ended up working several hours at 2 rather small pages filled with calligraphy and penwork yesterday… *lol* But damn, I think it was really worth it! 😀

Unfortunately I can’t show you the whole calligraphy and penwork until after the vigil and knighting ceremony. But I have some small sneak peeks at it for you – enjoy! 😀

The “white belt” is the SCA sign for the “Order of the Chivalry”. Every “knight” of the SCA can be easily recognized because they normally wear a white belt. 🙂

…and some decorative pen work. The picture above shows a sneak peek at some red pen work to emphasize the name. And underneath you can see some black pen work to fill in a rather big empty space in the middle:

…and now I should practice my hand a little bit more before I start working at the Knighting scroll. Though I can only show you sneak peeks at the moment, I am very looking forward to show you the whole calligraphy after the “Meridian Grand Tournament” in 2 weeks, where the elevation will take place. 😀

PS.: if you would like to try this Batarde / Bastarda calligraphy style too – you can find my personal calligraphy “cheating sheets” here: Scriptorium 😀