Scribe Notes



Volume 5, Number 1



Unto the scribes of the Principality of Lochac does Mistress Rowan Perigrynne give belated greetings

As will all be aware, Master Richard de la Croix handed the office of Provost of Scribes over to me at 12th Night, so that he can concentrate on his Baronial and recent family commitments.

Master Richard has done a fabulous job during his term. He not only brought down the number of outstanding scrolls but managed to re-enthuse a number of scribes-in-hiding (including myself) back into productive work. i hope i will be able to maintain both his excellent organization and the interest he has created.

For those of you who do not know me, I have been a scribe for many years and previously held the office from 1982 to 1987. I am very keen on authenticity in terms of materials and design, but I doubt that is a major problem to any of you!


New Address

Not only has the office moved to my place, but my place has also moved. My address is now appearing in Pegasus, but here it is anyway:

Robyn Probert
85A River Road
Greenwich NSW 2065

or phone: (02) 9437 5475 up to 9.30pm EST

You can also contact me via e-mail: robyn.probert@lawpoint.com.au


Assignments

I have already had a number of people asking me about assignments and what my policy is on outstandings.

On one hand, we can't have people sitting on assignments for years and not getting anything done. On the other hand, I do understand that you may feel very attached to particular assignments, especially if the person involved asked you to do it for them.

In general, assignments expire after a year. If you haven't started on them in a year, I would like to take them back and let someone else have a go.

However,

In any case, I will contact you before reclaiming assignments.


New Assignments

We have LOTS of assignments ready to go and only 24 scribes actually working on something at the moment. If you would like to take on an assignment (or even knock out a few AAs while you are taking a rest from that Peerage scroll - thanks Frae), just let me know!


Materials

The Scribes Office funded by a subsidy from the Heralds office. We get $2.50 from each submission which we use to print AAs and buy paper.

This doesn't give us much for materials, but the scribe's office will replace paper for original scrolls (one sheet for each completed scroll) and will supply AoA blanks as required.

I am also looking at buying large sized heavy duty envelopes to give to people with their completed scrolls, to protect them travelling home from events. I have just received several scrolls to be mended which have suffered from rain at events.

Do you think this is a useful way to spend our money?


Saving Money

I would like to send Scribe Notes to all active scribes and to anyone who is seriously interested in working for the College. This is expensive and doesn't come out of scribe funds.

I plan to send Scribe Notes (and other correspondence) via e-mail where possible. I have addresses for:

If you are also on e-mail, please send me a note!


Recognition

At 12th Night I was saddened to see a number of scrolls being given out by the Herald at the back of court. Whilst I am all for short tight courts, I think this moment should be seen as more than merely administrative, either for the recipient of the long awaited scrolls, or the scribes who had laboured over them.

I have since spoken to Their Highnesses, who have agreed to make sure all future scrolls are handed out in court, with the names of scribes proclaimed. Even if people cannot admire the detail of the work from the back of the hall, at least they will know who did it.


More Recognition

A number of our scrolls were over in the West Kingdom for signing and sealing recently, so Mistress Aldith (Head of the West College) made a display out of them at the Principality of the Mists Investiture.

Mistress Aldith said that "People up here were dazzled by the quantity and quality of the scrolls ... Actually, the tenn "blown away" is probably not an overstatement of the reaction."

It's true - we do produce some great work!


Even More Recognition

Mistress Aldith also brought up the matter of Silver Nibs. The Order of the Silver Nib is a West Kingdom award for scribes who are producing work of a uniformly high standard and/or who are producing large volumes of work.

If you believe that any of your fellow scribes deserve this recognition, please let me know!


More Scribes Needed

The College needs more scribes!

Although many of you have put in much effort over the last year, the Royalty have put in even more. The result is that we have a new flood of assignments, especially AAs (please feel free to ask for a batch&).

If you know of anyone who might be interested in becoming a scribe for the College, please encourage them to get in touch with me.

I am planning on advertising in Pegasus and in local Newsletters too. For the local groups, I was hoping to provide local contacts (ie already active scribes) as well. I know some of you are acting in this role already, but if any of you would like to co-ordinate something locally, please let me know.


Exemplars

As most of you will know, an Exemplar is basically a sample of your work. In period, scribes produced exemplars to demonstrate their various hands, styles and versatility to potential clients.

Although you may not know this, one of the requirements for being an official scribe of the College is to submit an exemplar to show what level work you can produce. This is kept on file so that future Provosts have some knowledge of your style, even if the don't know you personally.

I am reinstating this policy, so from now on, I will be asking for an exemplar from all scribes before they start to work for the College (if you run groups in your area - please note!).

I would very much like to fill in the gaps from those of you already working and get an exemplar from each of you. (I know many of you actually did an AA scroll as your first piece of work, but with any luck, those are now hanging on someone's wall.)

If you are a calligrapher, the exemplar should show the hand or hands you would like to work in. If you are an illuminator, it should show some illumination - say a capital and bit of border. If you are happy to paint-by numbers but don't want to attempt any drawing or design yet, just photocopy part of an AA blank or anything else suitable and paint that. In all cases, it is not meant to be a full scale work - just a sample!

Another option would be to send a photocopy (colour for illumination) of something you have on hand but don't want to part with.

I would love to get an exemplar from the following scribes who have produced recent work for the College:

I am also missing exemplars from scribes who have produced work in the past, or have current assignments:

In addition, there are many people who have expressed an interest in scribing, but have not yet undertaken work. I would like exemplars from:

... and anyone else who fits in this category!

I have some old exemplars from some scribes who are now working at a much higher level. If any of you

would like to update the exemplar on file, please feel free, although it is probably more useful to spend your efforts on The Backlog.