Taking a break

For a little while, not permanently

I'm going to take a little break from scribal work. I will do an assignment, if asked, but I'm not going to knock out a dozen blanks at once. Not only has my arthritis ramped up, making it painful to hold a brush, but I did 62 pieces of illumination, this year. Something like 30 of those were given to AEthelmearc and 25 were given to Deftwood for their big book of blanks, and a handful for the Hael.

While I have joked that everyone on the Kingdom should have one of my scrolls, I don't intend to take work away from my fellow illuminators. I have given away a lot of blanks; enough so that calligraphers will have plenty of paper to make my work look good. More than enough blanks to ease the demand on all illuminators. For a while, they will have more time to work on their painting and layout.

As funny as it would be for a court to be held where every scroll given out was painted by me, it would not be a service to our Kingdom. AEthelmearc has the best calligraphers and illuminators in the Known World and Kingdom and Baronial courts are where we can show off how good our scribes are. I am not so egotistical to think that I am the best illuminator in the Kingdom: I'm not even the best illuminator in my Barony. I am proud that my scrolls are awarded to deserving people and equally proud that they are awarded along side with the work of my fellow scribes. I can only hope that the recipients enjoy their scrolls and that I can inspire others to try their hands at scribal.

On an unrelated note: have you ever noticed that artificial banana flavor tastes nothing like a banana? That is because artificial banana flavor was created to taste like the Gros Michel variety of banana, which was the most popular type of banana in the early 19th century. It almost went extinct due to a fungus and was replaced by the Cavendish Dessert Banana, which was cultivated to be resistant to the aforementioned fungus. I have read that while the Cavendish isn't as sweet as the Gros Michel, it does have a more complicated flavor.