Alger von Ze'ez's
Silver Rapier
What is this and Why Am I doing This?
This is an Order of the Silver Rapier scroll requested by the Kingdom of the East for a friend of mine named Alger von Ze'ez, who I met while I was training in New Jersey.
I was proud to train beside him, and even more proud to hear that he's earned this award.
I picked this design for this recipient because the award requisition gave me a lot of artistic freedom. When I last spoke to him, he didn't have a defined persona, but this design reminded me a lot of the garb colors that he frequently wore to practice and events.
Learn more about the extant here: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg359
Materials Used:
Paper
This is Acrylic pad 246 lbs, 9 inch x 12 inch by Artist's Loft
Extant is made out of parchment, this was the paper that I was able to afford and I readily had on hand to use. It's a durable paper with a linen-texture finish. According to Artist's Loft user guide, it's rated as "very good" for watercolor, gouache and India ink.
Light table
Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor
Extant features muted colors that hint heavily to watered down gouache or watercolors being used
Fountain pen and De Atraments archival ink
This was the pen set that I had available on hand; extant was made out of quill and likely iron gall ink
Pigment pen
This isn't period, and it's scarcely used. I used the pigment pen to go back over and 'shape' any awkward-looking letters.
Pencil and eraser
It's late period
Total time spent on scroll alone: 6-ish hours, 20 minutes*
*This is an estimated time because I took a lot of breaks between start to finish.
Original Words by Lord Julius Gautieri
Hear the Crown's voice shake the air as swords in bind!
A new fighter, especially one with passion such as his is far too infrequent.
Alger von Ze’ev has improved the fight and safety, of himself, nay, the whole of Settmour Swamp.
He has grown to be a part of this Kingdom’s community and our courts such that we would be remiss to not acknowledge.
Thus, do we, King Matthias, and Queen Feilinn, find it fitting to cloak this swordsman in argent and induct him into our order of the silver rapier.
Done this day, November 18th, Anno Societatis 58 at 100 Minutes War.
In Progress - 10/23/2023 8:17 PM
In Progress - 10/23/2023 9:22 PM
In Progress - 10/23/2023 9:57 PM
In Progress - 10/29/2023 1:51 PM
What? Why do you have such a big gap between days?!
What happened was I forgot that I had another scroll due much sooner, so I stopped working on this scroll to focus on this one.
In Progress - 11/1/2023 5:40 PM
In Progress - 11/1/2023 6:24 PM
In Progress - 11/1/2023 7:17 PM
FINISHED - 11/1/2023 10:09 PM
Okay, so I didn't take the best "completion" photo. I really should have brushed off my eraser dust from the piece before photographing.
Me fighting Meister Clewin
How it Turned Out on Paper
So okay, I didn't draw myself in the same outfit. I really wanted to put myself in my pink and black waffenfrock, but decided against it. Instead, I put the same guy in the extant to fight Clewin.
I also upgraded Clewin's armor to feature metal gauntlets and leg armor. I did, however, kept him in his brown Converses.
Why is Meister Clewin in this Scroll?
Simply put, the design and inspiration for this scroll came from his wife, Miesterin Fredeburg von Katzenellenbogen after their trip to Germany. I saw this scroll design and fell in love with it. She graciously provided me with all the necessary resources, tips tricks and advice on how to recreate it. She saved my sanity on this project on more than one occasion.
Naturally, she was completely supportive of pranking Meister Clewin in the process.
The photo credits belong to me after we fought each other at Queen's Rapier Championships.
A Poke from my scroll to the Extant
I think I did a decently good job pairing the two up together. ^_^'
Side-by-side Comparison to Extant
Departures from Period Technique
The atypical attire of one of the combatants, this was a purposeful decision
My watercolors are commercially produced and purchased
This was the material that I could afford
I didn't paint wounds or injuries on anyone, despite it being present on the extant
I just didn't think it looked nice, I wanted a more polished look and less of a Halloween Horror Massacre vibe. Besides, I -clearly- lost that match to Meister Clewin in the photos
Things I Learned
I forgot to draw in the Order's badge into this scroll. I literally just remembered it as I'm writing the documentation for this page.
Clean up the page before photographing it, especially of eraser filings