[Artemisia] mixing paint

[Mike Bradley]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 11:45 PM, Elaine <carynvnk at comcast.net> wrote:
> Greetings everyone:
> Lady Aurora asked with trepidation:
> Most important: How can I teach grade-schoolers to blend tempera paints from
> the raw materials without getting caught in the middle of a gooey egg fight?
> :P
>
> And Caryn replies:  Use gum arabic.
>
> Or make glair from the egg whites (egg yolks don't do well in manuscript
> painting) and they cease to resemble eggs at all. You have to do this anyway
> before you can use them for binder.
>
> Stickily yours,
> Caryn
>

Wait...what?

I'm supposed to use eggs when making scrolls?  No wonder I quit doing
calligraphy and illumination; I just kept using paper, ink, and
water/oil colors.  Maybe my work would have been better and more
appreciated if I'd added some poultry amniotic fluid.

(Or maybe it was getting a scroll that I spent 30+ hours on back from
the Baron and Baroness ... with my name on it... but still... :) Or
maybe it's because *every* scroll I do takes that long.  Not everyone
can be that bi... dear lovely friend of mine, Mistress Osandrea, and
whip out scrolls that make mortals weep, and heralds ask for something
in a sans serif font that they can actually read, on a moments notice.
;) )

But seriously, eggs?  On a scroll?
.
.
.
REALLY?

My interest is piqued, Your Grace.  I may actually want to learn more.

Couchbar (who ran around gloating the first time he got a scroll done
by Osandrea, refused to touch his own DWS scroll because he knew how
much work Bethany and Vilhelm had put into it, and after 15 years as
court herald *still* hands off some scrolls to someone he trusts more
to hold on to them...)

I could list all the scribes that I hate*, but really, go to court,
wait for the awards, the herald will list them off for me.

*For some value of hate that equals "damn, that is *awesome* work".

Nota bene: Tongue -> Cheek. I have nothing but the utmost respect and
admiration for the scribes of Artemisia and their work. Annoying
talented people every one.

And seriously, eggs?