New illumination scroll blank; 12th century German

Another illumination with design from Stannheim Missal. The illuminated letter "B" is adapted from St. Alban's Psalter which was painted in Germany in the 1120s. I'm starting to get comfortable with painting and may try something a little more complicated next time. However, I can't start anything until after the Crosston Dance Ball because if I work on anything is should be my costume for that.

New illumination; from Stammheim Missal

I've done a bit of illumination here and there over the last several years but not finished much of anything. Now I am doing blank scrolls for SCA awards. This gives me a goal to focus on, an opportunity to practice and I am making something useful. This is the third scroll blank I completed. I'm not where I want to be with my painting technique but I am improving.

Materials:

-Pergamenata 11 x 14 inches
-Windsor & Newton goache paint
-Cobalt
-Cadmium red pale
-Cadmium yellow medium
-yellow ochre
-Ivory black
-Zinc white
-Permanent white
-Sumi gold paint
-Brushes: a cheap synthetic #3 round and a Kolinsky 3-0 liner Series 8 from Kalish
Finest Brushes (great brush!)

The design is taken straight from one of the calendar pages of the Stammheim Missal, made in Hildesheim, Germany in the 1170s. I really love the bright colors of German manuscript painting of this period.

My First Medieval Needlecase

After many years of not doing much in the way of needlework except wishing I was doing needlework, here is my first effort. I rummaged in my needlework box and found a piece of 22 count cotton canvas which I embroidered in brick stitch using six strands of DMC floss. The pattern is from www.wymarc.com; it is based on an embroidered 14-15th century German bag at the V&A Museum. I chose DMC cotton floss because I have lots of it and if I bungled it then I wouldn't be out much money. Next time I plan to use silk.

Here is the link to Machteld's Historical Embroidery Page instructions for finishing seams. I used the same DMC embroidery thread as for the needlecase. The embroidered braid technique looks pretty but is not very fast. I will try finishing seams with fingerloop braid next time and see which I like better. Here is the link:

http://machteld-embroidery.blogspot.com/2007/04/finishing-seams-of-14th15th-century.html