Rohan Hours I

Here is the line drawing, and here is a color version.

This is based on a border element found in the Rohan Hours, a 15th century French illuminated book of hours. The coloring shown in the jpg is essentially the same as the coloring shown in the manuscript, but I have also used this same line drawing with other color schemes, some of which will be suggested later.

The materials used in this scroll:

4 ply Bristol board
Higgens India Ink
Vermilion water color mixed with egg yolk (acanthus leaves)
Ultramarine Blue Deep pigment mixed with gum Arabic.
Sequin Gold pigment mixed with gum Arabic.
Green Lake gouache
Violet gouache (thistles)
Carmine gouache (red in the initial)
Reddish Violet Gouache (initial)
Bleedproof White
Cadmium yellow medium gouache

The tools used in this scroll:

Ames lettering guide
Mechanical pencil
Ruler
Nib holder with Mitchell nib and reservoir
T-Square

Illumination:

Size 3/0 round brush
Size 3 round brush
Crow quill with holder
Ruling pen
Mechanical pencil

I first did the layout and calligraphy. This scroll used homemade paints; I mixed the dried pigments with enough water to make a paste, then mixed the paste with liquid gum Arabic. I added egg yolk to vermilion watercolor by first separating an egg into yolk and white, then grasping the yolk by the sack, piercing the sack, and allowing the contents to spill into a bowl. I mixed water into the yolk (at 1:1) and then used this solution to thin the watercolor down to working consistency -- that is, approximately the consistency of warmed honey or melted ice cream. I used the 3 round to lay in the paints and the 3/0 round to add the whitework details. Finally, I used the crow quill to touch up the outlines around the illumination.

Reference for this work: The Rohan Hours.

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