The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week

1. Received a Save the Date from The Nephew

2. Stone for an outdoor project was delivered.

3. Wed. was a cold, raw, rainy day brightened up by the male cardinal visiting the bird feeder. Haven't seen the cardinal pair in quite some time. I usually think of my folks when I see the cardinals.

4. Christmas shopping for the girlies is done

5. The new Paper and Ink Arts catalog arrived. So many toys, so little money!

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Great Northeastern Blackout

Tuesday November 9, 1965. 5:15 PM EST the lights went out all over New England, New York and parts of Eastern Canada caused by a power station failure in Canada.

I was 10 years old and was playing over at a neighbor friend's house when the world was plunged into darkness. Mrs. N. lit some candles.

Ma worked, but got a ride home from Boston from her friend who lived down the street from us. She probably wasn't home very long when the lights went out. She must have known I was playing over Ls house because shortly after the lights went out, with flashlight in hand, she came to get me. It was spooky walking though Himself's backyard to get to our house. I wasn't afraid of the dark, and Ma held my hand.

I remember her telling me she had just finished frying chicken for supper. She was relieved because at least we would have something hot for dinner.

I don't remember much else. A vague recollection of reading by candlelight. We had a fireplace so Ma probably got a fire going so we would be warm. Don't know whether Dad was on the road trying to get home or where The Brother was in all this.

Do you remember where you were when the lights went out?

Wordlesday Wednesday

Four To Go

The small size frame had come from my parents' house. It was a gift and had a picture of the girlies when they were little. Fortunately, I had the same frame in a larger size. I had used it to frame a cross-stitch birth announcement for The Eldest. How do you spell relief?

Matted, framed, picture wired, and delivered to the museum two days before the deadline.

Three To Get Ready - Part 2

Quote lettered, illumination inked and Roberson's Gold Size was applied.

23 karat gold leaf was laid down and burnished with an agate burnisher through a film of acetate.

Shell gold was painted into the counterspace of the U and the round seedlings. When the shell gold dried, it was burnished with the agate burnisher without the acetate. The shell gold seedlings were tooled with a sunburst design and a bird and flower were tooled into the counterspace of the U. The etching give an extra sparkle to gold as the light catches the desingn.

Traditional colors for illumination are red, blue, and green. Since the picture frame had a touch of pink, I decided to mix a rosy red to use on the flowers. 

Painted with gouache and shaded. White work was applied. So far so good until I went to put the piece into the frame. While I had planned on an 8 inch by 10 inch frame, the actual size of the frame was 5 inch by 7 inch. How did I miss that, and what was I going to do?

Three To Get Ready...

With the design for the illuminated letter decided, time to lay out the quote on graph paper. The quote would fit in an 8 inch by 10 inch mat with a writing area of approximately 5 inch by 7 inch. I decided on using the Italic hand. x-height of the letters would be 1/8 inch with a size 1 mm Brause nib.

Since the quote was woodsy, I decided to use walnut ink for the lettering. 

The design was transferred with pencil to the diploma parchment. I decided the corners around the initial would be gilded and the counterspace, the inside of the letter, would be painted with shell gold. The two golds would be a nice contrast.

Two For The Show...

With the quote picked out, the next step was to think about the layout and design. Since I wanted to start the quote with an illuminated initial, I turned to some books and notes for inspiration.

I liked the B with the bird. Not too crazy about the vine, but decided to try it out. Meh.

From the Manuscript Illumination and Gilding notes from the classes I took with Valerie Weilmuenster, I decided I liked the shape of the vine and box from one of her Ws. So I drew a boxed U and added birds to the vine. There's my letter.