This is a powerpoint that I made for a class where I pretended to be a monk creating a manual for a new scriptorium in Northern Ireland in the later Middle Ages.

1. To Create A Manuscript

2. Preface This manuscript was created to help instruct new students in the creation of manuscripts. In the following pages you will be able to see a layout of the scriptorium and instructions on all different aspects of the manuscript process. For anyone desiring to work in the scriptorium, they must read this manual.

3. Layout of the Scriptorium For the scriptorium, I plan to have a library to store all our completed manuscripts. Attached to the scriptorium will be a tower where at the top of the tower there will be desks for the scribes, illustrators, and students. There will be a separate desk for the armarius. Please see the insert of the layout of the scriptorium.

5. Placement of desks In the tower, there will be thirteen desks, including the armarius’ desk. There will be four desks for the scribes, four for the illustrators and four for students who are still studying the craft of manuscripts. Each scribe and illuminator will be responsible for their own pens and inks. Parchment can be found in the library with the completed manuscripts. Please see the insert of the layout of the tower.

7. Pages of the Manuscript The best parchment comes from white sheep or cows. To prepare the parchment, you must first wash the skin in cold water for a day and a night. After washing the skin, take it and place the skin in a mixture of lime and water for about three to ten days, or until the hair falls off of the skin.

8. Pages of the Manuscript You will next want to mix the lime and water solution several times a day to ensure that the entire surface of the skin is covered. After the hair has fallen off, take the skin out of the solution and lay it hair side out on top of a long wooden surface. Scrape off all hair with a long curved knife.

9. Pages of the Manuscript After the parchment has been scraped, it is now ready to be placed upon the frame to stretch it. Take hot water and pour it on the parchment to keep it moist.

10. Pages of the Manuscript Take the lunellum, the crescent shaped knife, and continue to scrape the parchment, tightening it as necessary. Continue this process until the parchment reaches the thickness desired. Let the parchment dry before you take off the pegs to remove it from the frame.

11. Pages of the Manuscript To make the pages for the manuscript, take the parchment and fold it into the size desired. For a folio, fold the parchment once horizontally. The parchment should be folded once in half and once again to be a quarto size. And if folded once more, the gathering would be octavo.

12. The Quill Pen, the best is the sharpened quill; especially when made of goose or swan feathers but crow and raven is also sufficient.

13. The Quill To make a quill one must cut off the thin end and most all the barbs. If the feather is still soft, then soak the feather in water and then stick it into hot sand so as to make the shaft hard.

14. The Quill Shape the shaft of the pen with a small knife by cutting both sides and putting a slit into one. Place the end with the slit onto a table and cut the end of it horizontally so as to get a straight tip. The pen is now ready for use.

15. Preparing the Inks Before you begin making your manuscript, you should seek out gallnuts, which will be on oak apple trees or other oak shrubs. To spot a gallnut, look for a soft pale-green apple-like sphere in a tree.

16. Preparing the Inks Make sure that when you collect your gallnuts that they are not too young. If picked too young, the gallnuts will shrivel up and won’t be any good.

17. Preparing the Inks A proper gallnut will be picked when the larvae is fully formed and leaves a hard nut behind. This hard nut is what will make the ink. Take these nuts and grind them up. Once they are crushed, place it in either rainwater, white wine, or vinegar. The gallnut should remain in this solution for several days next to the sunlight or fire.

18. Preparing the Inks Next, one should collect sulpheric acid and pour it over old nails, filter the liquid, and then mix it with filtered alcohol. Once this is finished, add it to the gallnut mixture. If done properly, the result should be the liquid changing from a pale brown color to black. This is the ink from which one can write the text.

21. Gilding When applying gold to your manuscript, there are two different forms: powdered and leaf. To apply the powdered gold, first you must make the ink by mixing the powdered gold with gum arabic. Once the ink is made, you may apply it to the desired area with either your pen or brush. Make sure if you are using the powdered gold that you paint it last after all the other colors.

22. To apply the gold leaf, there are two processes you may choose from. The first is to take wet glue, apply it to the desired area, then carefully lay the gold leaf on top of the wet glue. Burnish the gold leaf with a stone. The other method to apply the gold leaf is to apply gesso, a thick water-based paint made with chalk, plaster or gypsum, instead of glue. By applying gesso, the picture will achieve a raised edge giving it a polished flair. To make the gold leaf, take the gold and pound it until it is thin – as thin as you can possibly make it before it crumbles.

23. Ruling Every manuscript should be ruled. Order and neatness is provided through the ruling of your manuscripts. You do not need to use a stylus or the back of a knife any longer, but pen and ink should be sufficient. Black ink is the best for making lines, but other colors may be used for humorous works.

24. Ruling To rule your manuscript, take a gathering and measure out the lines by pricking the edges of the gathering. Make sure that you pierce it all the way through and that your lines are evenly measured. Then take your pen and carefully draw lines for each page; from hole to hole on each side of the page.

25. Writing If you are going to be a scribe, you will be copying manuscripts. To copy a manuscript, make sure to place the exemplar above or next to your desk. To hold open the manuscript to the correct page, attach a weight to the end of a string and lay the string over the page. The weight should be dangling over the desk. This will hold the page in place. If by chance you were ever to make any mistakes, please make sure you have a knife at hand. Take the knife and scrape off the ink before it really sets into the parchment. The quicker this is done, the less your mistake will show.

26. Binding the Manuscript Once the text has been transcribed and the illuminations are completed, then collect the gatherings to give to the armarius. He will then oversee the binding of the manuscript. Before binding the manuscript, you should make sure that manuscript is free of smudges, erase guiding words, and any other unnecessary marks. After this is completed, the manuscript is ready to be bound.

27. Binding the Manuscript To do so, place the bands for the spine on the sewing frame, then place the first gathering onto the frame and sew into the center of the gathering and around the bands. Then place the next gathering on top of the first and repeat. To bind the manuscript you must first collect the gatherings into one stack. Place the gatherings onto the sewing frame.

28. Binding the Manuscript After all the gatherings are sewn and attached to the bands, one should sew the gatherings together. To do this he must sew through the center fold of each gathering, around the band, through the center fold again and around the next band, and repeat the cycle until all the gatherings are sewn together.

29. Binding the Manuscript Take a used sheet of parchment and cut out a piece to fit the spine of the manuscript. Take the manuscript and place it in something that can hold it steady. After the gatherings are sewn together, place the manuscript on a lying press. Tighten the screws to hold the manuscript in one place and make sure that the manuscript is level. Using the plough, cut off the uneven edges of the pages. Once completed, please set the manuscript aside

30. Binding the Manuscript Using glue, attach the parchment you cut to the spine of the manuscript. Make sure that the parchment is securely bound to the spine. To do so, spread glue over the edges of the parchment. Next, take the boards that will be the covers for the manuscript. For a good board, wood is the best. But a pasteboard made of pressed used parchment also works.

31. Binding the Manuscript Regardless of the material used, make sure that the board fits the manuscript. Take the ends of the bands from the manuscript and attach them to the boards. If using pasteboards, holes can be drilled with which the ends of the bands could sewn through. After the bands are sewn, glue the inside of the board and attach a used piece of parchment. This will help the bands to stay in place.

32. Binding the Manuscript If the boards are not made of pasteboard, the bands can be attached by hammering wooden pegs into drilled holes. A pigskin could be attached to the spine with glue if a more finished look is desired.