[EKStationers] FW: SCA made books

[Christopher Bogs]

Greetings, good gentles --

The following is reposted from the SCA Scribes' list with the kind
permission of the author; it's more related to the scribal arts but is
important for anyone who does both C&I and bookmaking, or who wants to bind
illuminated and calligraphed work.  It's written by Master Ranthulfr, an
excellent scribe from the Midrealm who has lots of experience working with
period pigments and techniques.

Yrs.,
Christoph

-----Original Message-----
From: scribes-bounces at castle.org [mailto:scribes-bounces at castle.org] On
Behalf Of Randy Asplund
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 10:57 AM
To: Scribes
Subject: [Scribes] SCA made books


Hi folks,

This is a long one, but worth it if you are thinking about making a book....

There have been some people doing marvelous things with making period 
style books in recent years. More and more people are taking on this 
kind of huge project (myself included), and I would like to pass on a 
few words of advice that you may find helpful.

As already mentioned, I was one of quite a few scribes who worked on the 
Middle Kingdom's Great Book of Ceremonies (aka the MK Great Boke), 
created around 1986. We are all just really damned proud of that big ol' 
thing. However, being one of the first of it's kind (I think THE first 
such SCA sponsored project), there were some hard lessons to be learned. 
This just came up on the Midlaurel list, so I figured I'd tell you what 
I told them (plus some).

!) The book "could" have been half the number of pages. It was only 
written and painted on the recto (right hand page). So every verso (back 
side) was left blank. This did two things: First, it compromised the 
medieval look of the interior (which nobody really noticed much), and 
second, it saved the book from ruin.

What? Yes, the book would have been a disaster in a few years if it had 
been painted on both sides of the page. Now I am not saying that you 
should only paint one side of the page! Oh, no! You SHOULD use both 
sides, but I'll tell you why this happened so you can do a work around.

Several years after the book was made, I was given the task of getting 
the remaining blank pages filled in with appropriate ceremonies, etc. 
that had been left out when the book was bound. While I had the book 
back, I was able to inspect it closely and I found that a fair bit of 
color had transferred from the painted sides to the unpainted facing 
pages. If this had happened to a book written and illuminated on both 
sides, the book would have been ruined.

So why did it happen?  It was a combination of the paper being a bit too 
absorbent and the paints being unmodified watercolors and gouaches.

We used Rising brand two-ply "vellum surface" paper. The people planning 
the book (big round of applause for the hard work of Mistress Grahdne!) 
were very careful and conscientious to pick what they thought was the 
best material possible for the purpose.  Here's where it went wrong: We 
had lots of experience making calligraphy and illuminations for award 
scrolls that would go into frames, but we had no experience with the 
same materials going into the compression of a book.

You see, watercolors and gouaches are designed for framed artwork. They 
have enough binder to hold them on the paper, but not so much as to 
prevent them from sinking into the fibers as well. This dissipates some 
of the adhesive potential, but it also causes a penetration that is hard 
to remove. Pigments work into the fibers. But when the fluid carries the 
binder down into the paper, some of the pigment particles of bodied 
pigments (non-stain based colors) stay on the surface with less 
surrounding binder than they need. This makes a weaker paint film. Both 
watercolor and gouache are somewhat weaker in the tempering medium 
anyway (meaning they contain a low amount of the gum arabic binder), so 
they will become more susceptible to rubbing away under friction.

How to get around this?

I suggest that when picking a paper, you pick one that has a little more 
sizing in the paper. The "sizing" is the term for the binding glue in 
the paper that holds the fibers together. This seals the surface from 
deep penetration of the fluids in the colors, so the binder will tend to 
stay on the surface with the color. Then, test the paints on a like page 
as you use them to be sure they can withstand the friction and 
compression of being in a book If you still find the paints are rubbing 
off, you will need to add a little more binding medium to the paint.

To add more binder to store bought watercolors or gouaches, all you need 
is some gum arabic fluid and some wet paint. Squeeze paint from the tube 
into a shell or plastic watercolor well.  Then add a little binding 
medium and THEN enough water to make it fluid enough to  test a swatch 
on the same type of paper you are using. When dry, test the sample by 
rubbing hard with the same paper. Add a little binder at a time because 
you don't want to overbind the paint. Overbinding causes the paint to 
look too transparent, and it can lead to brittle paint film. If you WANT 
a thinner paint from lots of binder, you will need to add a hint of 
sugar (fine powdered or honey), but test this too, because over 
abundance of sweetener can make the paint not dry and stay sticky.

Don't worry. It may sound complicated, but it isn't really, and after 
you do it a few times it becomes second nature. The medieval artist did 
this all the time.

CAUTION:  There are different ways to get gum arabic. Winsor & Newton 
sells two types. One is with an acid preservative, and one is without. 
The acid will change some acid sensitive pigments such as ultramarine. 
Another way to buy it is in the crystal "tears." These look like drops 
of amber, and can be found at specialist grocery stores and middle 
eastern and Indian food stores, sold as "edible gum" (this type is a mix 
of clear to reddish, but works). It is also sold as clearer yellowish 
drops from special art supply stores like Kremer Pigments.  You can also 
buy Gum Arabic powder from some health food stores, and this is cheaper 
and very clean stuff. You just mix it with warm water and let it soften. 
Strain if needed.

2) I don't know why the MK's Great Book was originally planned for being 
only worked on the recto. I seem to remember that it may have been 
because of the way the assignments were made. Each artist was given a 
chapter of ceremony or listing, and enough paper bofolios (the spread) 
to do the work.  This allowed the artists to do their whole "gathering" 
in as many single pages as it took, and more pages could be added by 
folding a bifolio and adding it to the binding as if it was it's own 
quire (gathering).

This would make binding it a nightmare of stitching, and I would suggest 
using a more authentic manner would be better, even though it would 
require more patience.

Folks, if you want to make a better book, it really makes sense to write 
out the whole thing first (on both sides of the page), leaving openings 
for illustration. Have fewer people write it, and give them larger 
sections so they are writing in full quires (gatherings of four quires 
(spreads) nested together. Then give those pages to as many illuminators 
to decorate as you wish. They can be the same artist, or teams of 
artists. The calligraphy always takes less time than the illumination 
anyway. This will make the project much more manageable, and the look 
will be more authentic.

Well, enough for now, I need to make shoes or I will be barefoot at 
Pennsic! (No big deal, since I go barefoot at Pennsic a lot anyway....)

RanthulfR


-- 
VISIT RandyAsplund.com
To see a Universe of art ranging from Magic: The Gathering 
to Star Trek and Medieval Manuscripts:  
Original Art & Prints for sale!

Randy Asplund     (734) 663-0954
Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustration
2101 S. Circle Dr., Ann Arbor, MI. 48103