This was my first Order of High Merit assignment. Seems Signet saw my other work and decided to bump me up a level from Awards of Arms and other Silver level award documents/scrolls.
I decided from the start I wanted to gild the document in silver (for the crescent) and gold (for the crown). I also wanted to be a little heavy with the gold in general. I reviewed my recipient’s wiki and decided on a late-ish period Italian theme for the them to match her persona.
Research commenced.
I found a piece in a book of hours I liked and I decided to try a new poetic form, terza rima.
Once I had a rough draft, I sent it over to Her Excellency Aislinn Chiabach who made a few tweaks, and then I made a few more. Eventually the words read thus:
“Words reached Our Sovereigns’ ears of this gentle’s deeds
Given so freely, she never seems to tire
Her work knows no bounds, of this you can believe.
Devoted local leader tending the fire
Providing many labors for all the parts
And minding the hearth of Stonebridge’ Shire
She’s a deft hand in promotion of the Arts
From local lands to country, she will work from
Her noble center, giving of her whole heart
A faithful servant to the Eastern Kingdom
She’s led folk in the path of aid, great and small
All the long day until the work had been done
Over years, it can be said, she’s heard the call
Sitting gate, demos, cooking, and more there is
Teaching the Knowne World at War, she gives her all
Great Sultan Mohammed and Wise Brenhines
Corotica lift Arabella De Mere
to the Order of the Silver Crescent for this
Steadfast service to Shire and Sovereignty fair.”
The words required more space than the inspiration page, so I digitally altered it.
I traced the image onto paper, smoothing the introduced transition and included the lines for the calligraphy
Using a lightbox I traced the image onto pergamenta.
Next it was time for gold. I applied miniatum provided to me by a fellow scribe, THL Aaradyn.
I let it dry, then breathed on it, and eventually had to give up and add modern adhesive on top of the miniatum. Then I went bananas with the gold leaf.
After the gold I applied adhesive and silver leaf. The first go was not great.
I tried again with better results.
Next I hand blended several gold inks to create just the right shade and applied the calligraphy.
I painted the green areas first
I painted the yellow and white sections next. A lot of the yellow is a base for more gold.
Red next.
Then the blue bits
Highlights were applied to the reds and blues and veining on all the leaves
And then, more gold and some fine red line work to finish out the document.
My favorite part – all the tiny gold dots! Even though I had trouble with the miniatum adhering, I love the raised texture it gave to the document. I had fun with all the gold, and I know the recipient loves it, which is the best part.
