Teaching~~Studies~~Learning

I expect this page to be continually under construction. Please check back frequently.

Writings

Click "Playing with Period Pigments", to see the  handout for my class on  grinding earth pigments and dispersing the pigment powder  in a binder. You can also go to my webpage that shows my current work in this area by clicking here.

Diapering Made Simple is my updated handout for my hands-on painting and illumination class on the techniques of production of two styles of geometric diaper patterns. I taught this class at the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium, September of 2009.

Healthy Hands: A Quest --  Since I am both a dental hygienist and an artist I have at times stressed my hands to the point of chronic pain. After learning of the care I needed for my hands I wrote this paper to pass that information on to fellow artisans, crafters, and other keyboard addicts.

You can click here to see the directions to easily sew the 15th century Beguin head-covering I usually wear. My homepage picture shows me in it.

Cloth book covers are seen in many Northern Renaissance paintings. Here are directions to easily sew two different book chimese. These make great gifts, largess, camouflage, and, prizes.

Using Wash Techniques In Illumination links to an article of mine that was in the first edition of the on-line Calon Scrolls, October, 2006, pages 30-33.

A Gift Fit For A King links to an article I published in the April, 2007, on-line Calon Scrolls, pages 29-31. It is a basic description of how to hand-engrave glassware so it looks like a 15th or 16th century goblet.

Diamond-point Engraved Glassware--This paper is an update of my class hand-out teaching how to do engraving on glassware.

Under this heading you will find reviews of books of particular interest or help. (Sorry, "being of interest" may at times be in a negative way.) Please click on the blue link to read a review (pdf format) of the book listed.

Book Reviews

Engraving and Decorating Glass: Methods and Techniques by Barbara Norman -- An introduction to glass decoration.

Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work by Jonathan J. G. Alexander -- presents the lives, context, methods and tools of medieval book producers.

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms by Michelle P. Brown -- A concise dictionary of terms with pictures about medieval manuscript production.

Click here to read my paper that pictures and describes how I recreated  a 15th century Flemish illumination on parchment with gold leaf. I entered it in the Calontir  Kingdom Tri-levels Competition, July 2007.

Art Stuff

East Meets West Competition--I have a thing about finding and connecting  information dots. This paper shows the connection of the making of glass, diamonds to make engraving tools, the concept of engraving glass, and the flowery acanthus pattern. It is the paper that went with the glass I engraved for HRM Garick von Kopke at his Calontir coronation, October, 2004.

This paper describes the research and  methods I used to make the 15th century devotional object that was portrayed in the Portrait of a Young Man by Petrus Christus. I enjoyed finding the various parts information I needed to do the work properly and re-creating it. It did well in the July, 2000, Tri-level Competition too.

Home I Early Illumination I Recent Scrolls I Period Pigments I Engraved Glass I Patterns I Biography

Calontir Scribes' Handbook

Last revised  October 31, 2009

Unless otherwise noted, all works are copyright 2007, 2008, 2009  by Susan E. Gordon known in the SCA as Jehanne Bening.