Working on Parchment

 

*All techniques here can also be applied to pergamenata (vegetable based artificial parchment)*

 

You have your first piece or parchment/pergamenata, yay! But you have no idea where to start. (Or, if you're like me, you started working on it like Bristol... and it didn't exactly work...)

 

Here are a few tips and tricks I've come across while working with parchment and pergamenata.

 

Care & Handling

 

It is important to keep your parchment in as little humidity as possible to prevent buckling and bowing. If it is buckled, or if it gets bent, place it between baking paper (sometime called parchment paper actually--essentially wax paper minus the wax) and put it under a bunch of heavy books. Use large books for the base if you can, or lay down some cardboard before placing the books on the parchment to prevent creasing from multiple books. If your parchment gets wet, dry it off *immediately*, press it under some heavy books, and pray it doesn't ripple or buckle.

 

Initial Treatment

 

This is SUCH an important step, in my honest opinion. Every piece I get, the first thing I do is the initial treatment. Unlike Bristol and other papers, which are highly absorbent, any oils or residues will just sit on top of parchment or pergamenata, meaning that when you try to apply ink or paint, it will either not take at all or will chip off easily later on.

 

The poor man's version of this initial treatment is to just take a basic white eraser (high polymer, smudge-free if you have access to one, okay if not) and just erase the entire surface.

 

The way they would prepare it in period would have been something called pounce. You can buy modern pounce (the pounce at John Neal Books is pretty good) or make your own. I make mine according to Cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte, taking some bones from boiled chicken wings that have been setting outside a while and throwing them in the fire until they turn white. I then powder it with a pestal and mortar.

 

You can apply pounce by sprinkling it on and spreading it around with cloth or feather remnants on your quill or you can put it in some linen and tie it off and tap it along your page. Some people leave the pounce on there, but I prefer to brush it off, either with some clean cloth or feather remnants on the back of my quill.

 

Working on Parchment

 

*Once you treat your page, it makes life a lot easier to lay down cloth or paper between the page and where your hands will touch the page.*

 

After I sketch (I prefer a lead-tin stylus but pencils work fine--just write lightly or use a 0.5 or 0.3 lead pencil for faint lines), it is time to ink. First, I do calligraphy because calligraphy mistakes are a lot harder to cover up / fix than illumination mistakes. For this, I use an appropriately cut goose feather quill (flat or angled as needed). For more on how to use cut and use quills, see that section in the how-tos. If you do make a mistake, let the letter(s) dry completely, write the new letter(s) on top, let it all dry completely, then scrape around the new letters, removing any places on the old letters that are poking out. You can then burnish with a smooth stone. You can try scraping first then writing the new letters on top, but I personally don't like the results as much. If you do decide to do this, make sure to burnish before writing the new letters.

 

Next, if the piece requires outlines, I use a cut crowquill the same way you would use your micron to outline. I cut this the same way as my other quills except bringing it to a point instead of giving it an angle. I don't split my quills, choosing to score them instead (they last longer for me since I'm so heavy handed).

 

After this, I apply gold if there is any (you must do this before painting as loose leaf will stick to paint) then move on to painting. For more on basic gilding and pigments, see those sections.

 

Source

 

While there are several people I get parchment from, my go-to mass producer of medievally-prepared parchment is Master David de Rosier-Blanc. This is his Etsy shop.