Level:  Kingdom of Atenveldt (awarded on Saturday, 17SEP22)

Paint:  Winsor & Newton Gouache

Pen & Ink:  I have not found a good gold ink that stands out on the black paper so I used gold gouache

Illumination:  Imitation gold

Paper:  Legion Stonehenge Aqua Black Watercolor paper, 640 gsm/300 lbs and Canson Mi-Teintes Red paper, 98 lbs

Knife: X-Acto #1 Knife with #11 replacement blades.

Time: Approximately 30+ hours

Inspiration:  The Lace Book of Marie de’Medici ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/medmss/ ) and various Jewish Katubah scrolls.

This scroll was presented to Mistress Irisko at her elevation this past weekend (17SEP22) during the Crown Tourney. The scroll is sitting behind glass due to its fragility so there is some glare and reflection on the glass. The technique used is known as canivet and was developed around the late 1500’s. With the exception of the painted Kingdom COA, Mistress Irisko, and the calligraphy, all art work was cut work.

Problems Encountered and Lessons Learned: When starting off on a scroll of this type it pays to practice cutting (I did several hours of practice). Learn how the knife blade moves through the paper, how the blade tugs at the paper and where to hold the paper while cutting. I went through approximately 45 knife blades and as I cut, once I felt the tip snap off, I immediately put in a fresh blade. There were times that the paper felt moist and cut differently. Since the paper I used was thick, the cut on one side was sometimes different on the other side due to the way I held the blade (at a slant instead of straight up and down). It also helps to have a full sized, self-healing, cutting mat. The design was drawn out on one side, cut on that side and then flipped over for the end result. The major reason was because I used a chalk pencil and any attempt to erase those marks would have resulted in torn connections. When you draw out your picture and begin to cut, make sure the various elements of your design are connected otherwise you will end up with disconnected or excessively dangling elements.