Painting grass and trees

Laura and Bertrik came over and we worked on painting the natural background in the illumination for 1989. I went back to look for better examples to paint from, and found the Livre de la chasse (c. 1480). We had a 2001 calendar with reproductions from this book in our bookcase, still in plastic, and now we have 12 wonderful reproductions to paint from. Suddenly the puzzle of how to paint the background fell into place.

Laura painted some tests while Bertrik made lots of terra verde paint, adding more black pigment after each batch (4 in total?). This gives a color that compares well to the background in the reproductions. The very dark green in the original also makes sense, since the terra verde is very difficult to work with (sort of slimy and blobby and not very opaque), and adding the black pigment makes it easier.

I toiled on the gold, trying to repair some letters that had partially stuck before. We had added more gesso to the parts that weren't covered, and I tried to put gold on them, but wasn't very succesful. When I tested the new layer of gesso earlier it seemed to work ok, so I was baffled and annoyed. After Laura left I got to fill in the last bits of dark green, so I also got to share in the succes of the evening...

Bertrik, Laura and I worked on the book on Wednesday. The illumination for 1989 is taking shape, with some of the people filled in. Bertrik and I put extra gesso on most of the pages that won't stick. We used the second batch of cold gesso, and added a little extra sugar. We're not sure if the problem is not enough sugar, or the layer of gesso needed to be thicker which might mean that more sugar rises to the surface.

Right now the gold work seems to be the critical thing to work on. The gold sticks to the red ink, so it should be put on before any writing is done (allthough, writing this, I realize I can write the text, and then fill in the capitals after the gold is put on). The gesso needs to harden for a few days, and then I'll try to do some gold work. Then I can continue writing on the introduction, 1988 and the rest of 1989.

Some years I could write text for, but the text needs to be worked on first (1993, which has a bit too much text, and 1994, which has no text at all).

Dom, dom! Weer vergeten de huidenlijm op te lossen. Plan voor de komende week:

-zondag lijm oplossen en een batch warme gesso maken
-die lijm ook nog proberen te gebruiken in de week erna.
-als er meer scribes komen: blaadjes met gesso doen.
-zo niet, dan misschien alleen dingen voor het event voorbereiden.

Alternative plan: use cold gesso batch 2 on the leaves in the history book.
Alas, notes on how well the gold stuck to this have disappeared a couple of weeks ago. It didn't stick to begin with, but in the end it worked better; but we can't remember what made the difference. Did two or three thin layers of gesso work better than one thick one?
We do remember that the gesso needs to dry out completely before polishing, so put on the gold, wait a week and then polish.

This time the test works fine. The test pieces we did on feb. 17 stick fine. They have a slightly darker outer edge, but by breathing on it well the middle becomes darker as well, and the gold sticks fine. Rubbing it after 15 minutes drying time is not a good idea: about half the gold came off. Bertrik patched it up again and now we'll wait a few days before trying to polish it.

Putting on new gesso on paper. The first try it seems to have gotten much too wet. A dark ring of moisture appears around the painted gesso. What does this do to the sugar in the gesso (enough of this needs to be on the surface for the gesso to stick).

I'm practicing bastarda again. Nib 4 was too wide for the book, I'm now using a thiner one (it does seem to have a number, but it's unreadable by artificial light...).

Testing :(

Bertrik is trying to put gold on the batch of gesso we made a couple of weeks ago (second batch of cold gesso). Last week it stuck, now it doesn't! Grrr. Stupid stuff, we're going back to modern glue!

No, not really. But it is frustrating!
Here's what happens: the outer edges look a bit darker to start with, and become shiny when breathed on. The gold sticks to the edges (about 0,5 mm), but not the middle. Small dots and thin lines (which don't really have a "middle") are ok.

Bertrik is also putting gold on a scroll blank that I put warm gesso on at the beginning of this month. At least this sticks... First try of polishing is so so. One dot loses some of its gold (in one spot on the side) and a leaf is ok, but becomes a little shine through.

Meanwhile I'm practicing my calligraphy and feeling the fact that it's been a long time! Every letter has to be just right, on the millimeter, or it looks wrong. Do I have the patience for this. Well, hopefully it will get easier with practice. I'm practicing gothic littera bastarda, which should provide me with a script that my persona(s) can use, and is also the script we used on the Polderslot History book, so I'm getting double value for my practice. Have to watch out for monks' cramp though, after an intensive day at the computer for my daytime job...

Testing testing

We're ready to test batch two of the gesso. We made it last week and let it dry out and harden.

To use the gesso we put it in a mussel shell with tap water and let it sit for about 20 minutes until we could dissolve it, stirring with a wooden stick.

We made several tests: one thick layer, dots, one thin layer and two thin layers.

Succes number one: this batch sticks! Whohoo!
Bertrik tried to polish the first dot, which was disappointing, because the gold disappeared... Maybe we need to wait longer between putting the gold on and polishing. After waiting a bit longer the polishing went ok but not great. Most likely, the layer of gold is too thin. Wait and see in next weeks installment of the gesso quest...