Opal scroll for Lord Benedict Bainbridge: Storvik Novice, 2025

This scroll is extra special for me. Having recently acquired a (very unexpected) student in the Arts & Sciences, I realized I should probably join in on the fun of working on live* scrolls. Can't have my student - Jozsa Kócza- doing all the work, after all! I received my assignment from Mistress Finnech and did not recognize the recipient's name. Oh no, a scroll for someone I didn't know! Since I did not know this gentle well enough to go all out on customization, and since it was an Award of Arms-level scroll, I ultimately decided to push myself to do something inspired by Albrecht Durer, my favorite medieval artist.

Angel Playing the Lute, Albrecht Durer, c. 1497

I struggled for a day or two, trying to find a piece of medieval art that A. Spoke to me, and B. Would allow me to insert the award's heraldic device in a way that would not detract from the vibe of the piece overall. Luckily, I happened upon the image above, and recognized the raw potential it had. Satisfied with the inspiration, I set about to sort one of my least favorite parts of creating a scroll: drafting the compositional design, and tackling the calligraphy and its formatting. Because I am an illustrator/illumination Pearl, and NOT a calligraphy & illumination Pearl, I will tell you flat-out I am not approaching calligraphy in a historically-accurate manner. Yes, I try my best to keep to period hands, but that does not always work out with the way I do my calligraphy. I am going to skip over this bit, as it is by necessary evil only that I set my pen to paper and calligraph anything. ;) That said, I was rather pleased with what I whipped up in Google Docs. I quickly printed out the calligraphy, grabbed my carbon paper, and transferred it to the paper. I also traced the angel and lute to make sure I had decent scaling for the image.

Very rough transfer/sketch of the angel, and the unadorned calligraphy.

As this post is already getting lengthy, I will skip to the part where my heart simultaneously jumped to my throat and feet: Disaster struck.

Guess who learned that carbon paper transfers do not like to be erased? Guess who also misjudged the alignment, because the lightboard she was using could not shine through the grey mixed media paper she was using? It was at this point that I wasn't sure if I could continue on with this scroll. I had unwillingly approached a crossroads: either continue on, completely modifying my plans, groaning about the amount of work I would have to put in to hide this mistake... or start completely over again. Either way, I had inadvertently devised more labor for myself, and it truly was a bit heartbreaking. I had a major decision to make. Thankfully, my partner, Dante, and my student, Jozsa, were there. They reminded me that I had received two Silver Nautilus awards for overcoming some awful, usually last-minute scroll catastrophes (there will be future blog posts about those stories). I rolled my sleeves up, shook it off, and remembered who the fuck I was... so to speak. I do this all the time. I fuck up my art, have a mini existential crisis, then I buckle up and throw down. I do my best to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in these situations. I am truly so grateful to them both for giving me gentle, succinct reminders that I have this within me. Having taken so much time off from scrolls, I had forgotten, and I'd crawled into my head and thought I would just have to suck it up and start over. Nah. Fuck that, my friends. Fuck. That.

The work-around: I darkened the wall the lute rests upon, changing the angle some. Also, I really had fun with the cross hatching. It is, weirdly perhaps, one of my favorite parts of this scroll! Subtle, yet great support for the image as a whole.

I was able to see this scroll given out during court. I have video clips of it, which are on my TikTok. And later, I received a lovely message of gratitude from the recipient, Lord Benedict Bainbridge, himself! This was very unexpected, but so dearly appreciated. I am not used to receiving thanks for my efforts, so this truly cannot be praised and appreciated enough. So much work goes into these scrolls, and frequently, a lot of heart ache and time, too, to say nothing of some of the financial costs. A simple "thanks" can go oh-so-far, especially in recharging a crispy scribe's batteries. I now no longer feel hesitant to make scrolls for gentles I do not know. I am now a bit more familiar with Lord Benedict, and have a new friend. I suppose the moral of that story is scribes should absolutely feel emboldened to take on assignments for strangers; they might just become your friendly acquaintance before long! Here is the final result, followed by some progress shots because I took so, SO many. Materials used: - QOR Watercolors - Mechanical pencil - Gouaches of various kinds - One (1) paintbrush that saw me through ALLLLLL of this! - Microns and other assorted pens - Black ink

The final piece. June 2025.

Hand progress. M'lord Jozsa helped me by quickly sketching the digits (thanks, kid!) because my hand was being wonky that day, and I just needed something there so I could shape and mold it with my paints/inks. See below...

More hand progress.

The other hand! This one is all me, and was drawn before said hand crap. Look at this disaster! I was so heartbroken when I realized it wouldn't erase...

Bit by bit, putting it together...

The paper soaked up the inks sooo quickly... it took many, many layers.

Word on the street is I am not the only scribe who hates painting/drawing the Opal heraldry! :P

Apologies for the blur.

Wing progress.

More wing!

I may or may not add more details about my process in the future. For now, I am leaving off with contentment and happiness. I am very happy I took on this assignment, and for once, I feel very proud of my work. I hope you enjoy it, as well!