Heather Hall Laurel

When I heard that Heather Hall was going to be laureled for her cards and gaming expertise, I had to bite my tongue so as not to immediately volunteer to do her scroll.  I had no idea if she'd had someone in mind for her scrollage, and I didn't want to step on anyone's toes.  When I asked her later on who she had doing her scroll and she said 'noone'  I was like 'mine!'  I'd had an idea from the beginning to make her a tarot card.  I'd wanted to since I saw the first of the tarot cards at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library- and I'd downloaded each and every single one.   They're so shiny!  So I'd decided that I would make her a tarot card, since they remain some of the most recognizable cards of the time.  I went through every available card in the Visconti Deck, Cary-Yale pack 1428-1447.  I chose that deck because unlike other decks it features females in all the traditional roles beside the male card of the same role. Obviously it had to be an arcana card in this case- though I can find uses for many of the others- the coins suit seems particularly suited for awards.  I ended up choosing the female knight of coins, because it had the most available space within its art to put text.  I particularly loved the doves, and turned them into laurel wreaths as befits Heather.

I forgot to take a picture of the penciled in initial drawing.  

In the above picture- the gilding is only flat.  I flatgilded it first and then dabbed on gesso overtop of it in order to make the raised areas, before applying my size to the raised areas and laying gold again.  I found polishing it took the gold off my Gesso for some reason (possibly because it was so terribly humid when I was doing the gilding-no choice there) so I left it alone and didn't polish it. 

 

The rest was done in gouache, and in between each layer of paint I had to let it dry completely and squash it under a book to try to mitigate the curling.  It didn't work adequately, but it's better than it was before I pressed it. 

The coin reads: Cellach Regis Mediterranei.
The cloak scrolls read:  Heather M Hall Ordinem Laurea Fit. 
The box at the bottom 3, 31, 52

 And the lovely Magestra Heather Hall and all her accoutrements. 

Rhonwen's Kings Chalice

I've only ever done one Kings Chalice before I was offered the chance to do this one.  They are given for dedication and research into one's persona.  Rhonwen was getting one for her study of Wales, so the exemplaar had to be both Welsh and simple enough to get done in under a week.  

 This source is a Welsh Grammatical text, and honestly my favorite part of this manuscript is not the whimsical little circles but the full alphabet in the text itself.  It is housed in Oxford's Jesus College and is MS 15, pg 5. 

So the book didn't have an M capital, so I just turned the B on its side, and used that.   I hadn't quite cleaned out my nib well enough even though I used a toothbrush...so the red isn't as vibrant as it aught to be, but I do kind of like the effect. 



ENGLISH: 

Listen to the words of Cellach, king of England and Vukasin with his hand, the queen.

It is the right and privledge of the monarch to reward excellence in the study and portrayal of personas.

We have long admired the dedication of Rhonwen merch Alun in her study of Wales.

It is our pleasure then to award Rhonwen merch Alun a king's chalice. 

Tell all, far and wide that she is worthy of this honor, and let it be written by our scribe this 15th day of March in the year 52 as we contest at Gulf Wars.


WELSH:

Gwrandewch ar eiriau Cellach, brenin y tiroedd canol a Vukasin gyda'i law, y frenhines.

Mae'n iawn a llawenydd y frenhiniaeth i wobrwyo rhagoriaeth yn yr astudiaeth a phortread o bobl.

Rydym wedi edmygu'n hir ymroddiad Rhonwen merch Alun yn ei hastudiaeth o Gymru.

Rydym wrth ein bodd i gael merch Rhonwen, Alun, i ddyfarnu gwydr y Brenin.

Dywedwch wrth bawb, ymhell ac eang ei bod hi'n haeddu yr anrhydedd hwn, a gadewch iddo gael ei ysgrifennu gan ein ysgrifennydd y 15fed o Fawrth hwn ym mlwyddyn    52 wrth i ni ymladd yn Rhyfel y Gwlff.