Now get some white paint and a fine brush, and paint squares on each alternate square. Again, because of the time crunch, I used a pencil, but next time I’ll use some paint. Now colour in each alternate square in the grid. Next, using your ruler and black ink, measure every 1/2 centimetre along the top and bottom, and sides and flip your ruler upside down, (so the flat edge is held a little above the card to prevent the ink from smudging), and draw black ink lines in a grid pattern taking care to miss the letter. If you are using a gold size and leaf, I would suggest leaving it till the end to apply just draw the pencil letter on the card so you can do the decorating around it. I know that I’m not a precise painter and so, to keep it extremely precise, I had to go slowly. Outline the letter first and fill it in later. Here, if you had more time and supplies, you could use size and gold leaf, but I used gold paint. Measure the central square, either according to the diagram above or according to your own wishes and transfer the pencil letter to it. Here is a breakdown of the steps with Helen’s demonstration, but I’ll take you thru them with my piece just below. I think that, except for an “I”, “T” or an “O”, you just can’t measure the middle and have to eyeball it, but it’s such a precise little painting that you’ll probably get it spot on in that space. Now put the tracing paper on to the front of your card and go over it again tracing the pencil lead onto the card. Maybe you could have a look on line for a template or write to Helen she might send you one.īut once you have a font, trace the letter on some tracing paper with a precise, sharp pencil, flip the tracing paper over and trace the letter to the back. I’m not sure what to advise you for the letter as we were given a printed page with the correct sized font, but for my next adventure, I’ll design the letter myself. The letter will sit in the middle of the square, so pick your letter first and them maybe cut your square. The dimensions of the square I used are in the image above. Once someone shows you how, it’s really easy. Putting this letter together was a bit like figuring out Celtic knots. Two very small, very precise paintbrushes
So, if you’d like to have a go at making yourself an illuminated letter like I did, then gather your materials, you will need:Ī different colour to you card stock pencil or paint The old Medieval artists used powdered earth pigments and real gold or silver, and I would have loved to mix my own pigments and use real precious gold leaf, but, again, this practical class was only 1.5 hour long, so had to settle for coloured card stock and metal based gold gouache paint from Winsor & Newton. I was thrilled to get into the Medieval manuscript decoration class, not only because it was something I had never done before, but also because here was my chance to learn about this from instructor Helen White, a master artist in illuminated manuscripts, with an amazing three decade long knowledge base. You know, huge books with torn pages and brown stains containing precious paintings. Old botanical illustrations or old maps do that for me too. Something about the illuminated letters just makes my heart sing. Each time I’m at a museum I search them out. You know, I’ve always loved that glowing, golden Medieval manuscript illumination. Enjoy.Practical class: Medieval Manuscript Illumination There were so many 16th Century illuminated letters to share with you that I’ve grouped them by letter into single posts, rather than create a post for each letter image. There isn’t a complete alphabet here but there are so many wonderful letters that unless you are working with names, hopefully there’s a letter that you can make work for your project. Most of the letters are on a beige background with red, blue, orange, green and black decorations. Some were even gilded with gold – making them even more beautiful. I’ve built upon their efforts to rescue just the illuminated letters to share with you.
I’m indebted to a university library who took the time to photograph each page of this historic work and made the page images available freely online.
Illuminated manuscript letters t full#
I’m assuming that is much the case with this beautiful work full of 16th Century illuminated letters. After all, most of the books of that time were commissioned by the Catholic Church. The binding was usually a work of art in itself done in leather and metal decorations.īooks were extremely expensive and the subject matter was almost always religious. In the 16th century, when someone wanted to make a book they usually did everything by hand – from making the paper, to hand lettering and illustrating each page to binding it.
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