[Sca-librarians] Ecclesiastes Carpet

[Johnna Holloway]

This came across the local list but since
Librarians might be interested in this project--
I thought I would send the post on...

Johnnae


Hello everyone,

At long last I am very happy and relieved to announce that with the
completion of the Carpet Page my Ecclesiastes book is finally finished!
For anybody who came in lately, that is a medieval book that I was hired
to create using all medieval materials and techniques. I had to collect
and special order some colors, tools and materials, but I also had to
actually make quite a few. I made tools for color manufacture, layout,
pricking, scoring, etc., even a tool for beating the egg white to make
the binder for the paint. The book is written with oak gall ink on
sheepskin parchment, has colors I made from scratch including blue from
Lapis Lazuli, yellow from a rock containing arsenic, and red from insect
bodies. This book is only ten inches tall.

The following page shows the steps from cutting up the sheep skins
through layout and writing.
http://randyasplund.com/browse/ecclesiastes/ecclesiastes.htm

The next page linked at the bottom of the first shows the process of
painting and touches on making color. This is all just a small taste of
the book I am writing on how medieval books were made. I am also
planning to seek a publisher for the Ecclesiastes as an art book. The
painting process can be found on this page:
http://randyasplund.com/browse/ecclesiastes/EcclesIllums.htm

Both of these pages are very graphic intensive. Consider this a warning
if you are on Dial-Up.

Feel free to cross post the message and URLs.

Ranthulfr