Taking a brake from playing World of Tanks, improving my skills making Birka Type 6 chains, working on a Seax and attending the Atenveldt Arts & Science Competition (I did not enter because I did not have enough time to complete my secret project), I whipped out the paper cutting scroll for the Queen’s Prize this past weekend.

Not truly a medieval scroll, but a scroll none the least and in tune with Halloween. I did not have time to snap the completed scroll (the wording), but this is the finished product for paper cutting. Much to my horror, the recipient is one of Atenveldt’s apex scribes, and I was always worried about her receiving one of my scrolls. To go off on a tangent for a moment…I have never charged nor requested service in return, and my payment is to watch the joy my scroll brings them at that moment. I watched her as she received my scroll, and she seemed to “squee” a bit when she got it. People have seemed delighted to receive one of my scrolls and typically say to me that they finally got a “Seved.” I wonder if she hopped to get one of my scrolls eventually, much like I would like to be the recipient of one of her scrolls eventually. Some day maybe. Here is where the description can be found: https://armyeric67.com/queens-prize-paper-cutting/

Birka Type 6 chain. Figured it out. Also has it origins from the Roman period. This is my first attempt using 20g, half hard, round brass wire. It is approximately 24 inches in length (I need to add 2 more inches so it will fit around my head). It still needs to be cleaned up. I will purchase some terminals for it and maybe suspend a Thor’s Hammer from it. Once I complete a pressing project, I will make another one using the tricks and observations I acquired making the first. If I am happy with that I will move in to silver so I can make my wife a necklace for a jeweled Viking pendant I got for her a year ago.

Once I have time, I will make some videos on how to make this chain and include all the pit falls and observations I encountered along the way. I still need to complete my videos on making the Birka Type 3 chain, lantern building tutorial/video, a secret project that I will hopefully enter into the kingdom A&S tourney, another secret project that is due in September and subsequent how to documentation for it. And then a tutorial and video on the Birka Type 6 chain. As always…stay tuned!

For most of us, we probably started doing calligraphy with the Speedball calligraphy C series nibs. I discovered calligraphy around 1977 when my family moved from Illinois to Indiana and I found my mothers art case. In it was oil paints, paint brushes, various calligraphy nibs, India Ink, and an old Speedball textbook on Gothic Script. This discovery closely coincided with my cousins visit that summer and they introduced us the wonderful world of Dungeons & Dragons. Now I was firmly entrenched in the world of Medieval Fantasy and calligraphy was an artistic outlet for me. I was also checking out all the medieval books I could find at the local library and I will tell you now: the younger generations have it so good now with the Internet and the ease at which you can find information.

I have played with various nibs and have always come back to the Speedball C series nibs whenever I need to do specialized work (gold ink or a special ink). My pen of choice, for everyday calligraphy, is the Pilot Parallel Pen; I use the 1.5mm (which is the same size of C-4) for most of my work. I have several of the same sized pens (black, red, and blue) so I don’t have to worry about stopping and starting (I don’t like to do partial calligraphy…it is all or nothing, because I feel if I take more than an hours break, my flow is messed up and now the calligraphy is noticeably different from when I first started to when I restarted).

I, along with the standard Pilot Parallel Pens, also use the modified Parallel Pens available for John Neal Booksellers (JNB). They come in 1.0 and 2.0mm sizes…I typically use the 1.0mm pen size. Note once you modify a Parallel Pen, you void the warranty but the modified pens by JNB are warrantied by them.

In preparation for this post I took my dial calipers and measured the tips of the modified JNB pens. Needless to say I was disappointed to find that, of the three that I own, two did not match the as advertised size. One measured at the tip, .85mm (also verified by measuring the line) and another measure at 1.5mm (also verified by measuring the line). So what to do?

My plan is to, in one of my next videos, is to show you how to modify these pens. In preparation, I have purchased files and high grit sand paper. I also have sharpening stones along with the dial caliper. Now I just have to purchase a few sacrificial pens and boldly go forth.

Until next time, thanks for reading.