Making the Indenture

What is an Indenture and Why am I making one?

An indenture is a legal contract between two or more parties that reflects an obligation or covenant between those parties. Indentures have a history rooted in medieval England. An indenture can be defined as a specific agreement within a contract noted with a specific duration or significance. Indentures were initially used to convey land and for service contracts of a certain period of time, usually seven years.

The process of a master taking on an apprentice was treated more like a business transaction. After all, the master would need to invest time, effort, and resources in training their apprentice, and in exchange, the apprentice would offer their services. Apprentices would formally be taught the trade of their master while in turn the master would have an ‘indentured’ servant to assist with the tasks being learned. Such an agreement would require some sort of legal document to safeguard the interests of both parties. It was a two-party agreement in which both sides had specific terms and goals that were spelled out.

In the SCA context, this is a more common practice between Laurels and their Apprentices because of the artistic nature of that peerage. Creating Indentures under the other peerages is less common, but can also happen. Since I was a scribe and my peer was a wordsmith, we decided to create a formal indenture scroll to seal our relationship/agreement with a document that lays out everything.

Left side of scroll

Right side of scroll

Detail of a miniature of Guillaume de Lorris or Jean de Meun at work writing the text, from the Roman de la Rose, Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1490 – c. 1500, Harley MS 4425, f. 133r

Image from https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2014/06/the-burden-of-writing-scribes-in-medieval-manuscripts.html

Getting Started

Supplies Used:

Vellum purchased from Etsy
Dr.Martin's Blackstar Waterproof Ink (Matte)
Oakgall ink (initially)
Carved quill pen made out of turkey
T-ruler or straight edge
Pencil (they're period, look here for documentation)
An eraser (I used white, the period version is rolled-up bread, see here for more documentation)

Disclaimer: I completed this scroll using a combination of period and modern techniques to obtain the best result that I can get.

Prepare the Vellum

The first step after you receive your vellum is to prepare the surface for your project. See preparing vellum for more information.

Apply the Guidelines - OPTIONAL

After preparing the vellum, apply the guidelines.

I marked out the areas where I was going to apply the cadel and the borders of the vellum using a pencil or silver point.

My spaces for my letters are 5.0 mm apart and a gap of 0.2 mm between each line.

I have this step listed as an optional step because some people prefer not to make guidelines. You can work around this step if you have access to a light table. Just place the lines underneath the vellum and illuminate to see the lines. I prefer to see the lines.

English Indenture - Yorkshire, 1639

We chose this particular design because it closely reflects his period and era, and I thought it was pretty. My Peer's persona is a late-period Romani living in England, and mine is early-period Chinese. The language chosen for the scroll was in period English and used Bastarde, which was the common hand for that era. You can also see examples of that hand in the extant.

For more information on the origins of this scroll, click here.

French Indenture - 1203

I chose to incorporate the "cyrographum" into the middle of my Indenture because I felt that it added a bit more style to the piece. I thought of how it would look on my wall whenever I put it on display, and the lack of ornamentation on top made it feel imbalanced. This extant is from 1203, and would have been in existence and circulation during the time period.

Reference: Arbitration of a quarrel between two Cistercian abbeys, 1203 (classification marks 17 H 21 n°4 and 22 H 11 n°6).

Apply the Text

The calligraphic C came from this extant document labeled "Yorkshire Indenture."

I initially started writing the indenture with special oak gall ink that I received as a prize from a scribal goodie pack. Oak gall ink is the tried and true ink medium for vellum and has been used for centuries.

From what I was told, it was made using the period process and techniques. I started writing and drawing with the ink, but I found it too watery and it bled. If you look carefully at the words "This Indenture," you'll notice the ink bleeding into the surrounding vellum despite being treated to prevent bleeding.

SPOILERS: When I finished applying the calligraphy to this section, I went to erase the guidelines, and the oak gall ink just lifted off.

I also learned I was highly allergic to this ink. This comes as no surprise to me because I'm already allergic to most nuts. After practicing on the spare vellum, I switched the ink to Dr.Martin's ink to continue the rest of the project.

More Progress Photo

I'm part way in applying the text. The most challenging part of this process is the spelling. There were a few moments where I've had to stop and look at the document. There are also other points where I used the modern spelling of words.

At this point, I'm in love with how well the Dr.Martin's ink was flowing on my page. I did have to stop several times to clean off the end of my quill. This ink is prone to clogging a lot.

Half-Way Point

This is a progress photo from the half-way point. I ran into a couple of issues getting to this point:

Spelling mistakes galore- my brain kept correcting the spelling from the period 16th century English into modern English
My pen kept catching on the pores, despite being sanded. Use a lighter touch.
Dr.Martin ink is notorious for clogging, even the non-clogging formula. I had to stop every 2-3 words to wipe my nib clean.
Scraping letters to fix mistakes has been a challenge. We are experiencing one of the worst heat waves the US has seen in over a decade with a relative humidity of 80% or greater every day. I'm suspecting that it's affecting either my vellum, my ink, or both.

More progress

Another progress photo. This application has gone over more smoothly than on the other side. The temperature and humidity over here have evened out and it wasn't so blisteringly hot.

I also noticed that I was smearing my ink a lot less in this weather.

Oops, I dropped a big glop of ink in the middle of the page.
Step 1: Put it down and panic
Step 2: After the panic fades, then start to work on the repair

Step 3: Try to gently blot off as much as you can with a rolled-up piece of paper towel to absorb the ink. TRY NOT TO SMEAR IT.

Step 4: After it is dry, scrape it off with a scalpel. Click here if you want to read more about correcting ink blots with scraping.

Step 5: Sand, sand, sand until the texture is smooth

Step 6: (Not pictured) You'll have some dark smudges on the page from the ink in this stage. It sort of looks like the image on the left. Take a white eraser and erase it gently.

Step 7: Alternate between gentle erasing with your white and pink eraser. The pink eraser is a little abrasive and will help to smooth out your vellum. The white eraser will help rub off the stain.

Repairing the Vellum

I created this side-by-side view so you can see how it all looked from dropping the ink on the vellum to fully treating and removing the stain.

I'm unable to locate any period documentation for the techniques that I have used. I was taught this technique by Duchess Inga the Unfettered of Avacal. Both scraping blades and abrasive materials were available in the period.

I wanted to not have evidence of a blotch so I used a technique I know well to get the result I wanted

Why Use A White Eraser?

I learned of this particular technique from a 2015 study that used white erasers to gently "lift" cells off of parchment for study. The process would use friction to remove a few layers of cells at a time without damaging the parchment underneath. I chose this technique because the particles of ink were just sitting right on top of the vellum, and could be easily removed. There are other approaches to removing it, such as more scraping or sanding, but I found these approaches to be too aggressive. The period technique would be to use a piece of bread as an eraser. In the interest of time and the 'ick' factor of mashing bread around my artwork, I opted to use an eraser instead.

Coincidentally, this study also refuted the belief that fine vellums came from abortive fetal tissue because it found that period sources were from adult specimens. Read more about this study here https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1512264112.

Adding the "Cyrographum"

I took a step back from the project and realized I forgot to add the word "cyrographum" to the middle where it's supposed to be cut in half. Applying designs in the middle over the cut portion was designed as a safety mechanism to guarantee the authenticity of the document.

Applying the Ties

I applied the ties by cutting a rectangle into the vellum itself and then threading the trim through the vellum.

I added ties to this document because I'm anticipating adding wax seals to it. Oftentimes in the period, lengths of braided cord or parchment were added to documents, specifically important legal ones to keep wax seals in place.

A full photo of the Indenture thus Far

After threading the ties through, I went to work pulling apart the ends and brushing them with my daughter's hairbrush. This created a lovely, feathery effect.

I secured the ties in place with stitches to keep them from accidentally being pulled back through the opening, and from shifting when the seals are applied. I did this to keep the ties from moving in the future, which could break/crack the wax seal over top. In period, it would have been common practice to keep important documents like this indenture in a safe place where no one will really notice cracking. In modern times, this will likely be placed in a frame and put on display.

I'm not sure if the ties were stitched in place in the period because I'm unable to locate any references on the topic. I'm able to find photos of the ties being knotted together either above or below the seals. I didn't knot mine because I didn't like how the final product looked. I found it to be too bulky and not symmetrical with the other cord. So I opted to apply a few stitches where the seal would go.

Why Apply Wax Seals?

Since time immemorial, wax seals have been used on documents to ensure their security and secrecy. Over time, the use of wax seals has been used by government officials, royalty, and members of the aristocracy. Each seal has their own characteristics and unique design that can be used to verify the identity of the sender. Think of it as a sort-of ancient signature system. Documents and letters with wax seals would often display the person's personal coat of arms if they had one, an insignia, or another meaningful symbol.

I decided to add my personal name seal and coat of arms to the document. I felt that it made the document look nicer, and added a personal touch.

Applying Cyrus' Seal

His seal is held in place by black and white cording that was left over from my doublet. The black and white are representative of the colors of his personal insignia.

To see more information about the process of creating the seals, see here: https://www.meilan.one/indenture-project/wax-seals-and-tabs

Applying MeiLan's Seal

My seal is on the right side of the page, sitting 1.5 inches from the edge and 1 inch from the bottom of the page. It's held in place by a piece of silver and purple trim. The purple is representative of my personal insignia, the silver is a reference to my mentors who coincidentally have the color silver in all of their personal insignias. That sounded way better than 'it was the only trim left in my trim cabinet that wasn't going to be used for another project, and I was too lazy to weave another one in my own colors.'

To see more information about the process of creating the seals, see here: https://www.meilan.one/indenture-project/wax-seals-and-tabs

The Final Product

Finally!

All done.

My Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a highly rewarding project that really pushed the edges of problem-solving. Here are a couple of things that I would have done differently:

building a website and making a scroll at the same time is challenging
- Why? The bullet point should speak for itself. It's really hard to learn how to, build and create content for a website while actively working on a project. It's like trying to eat dinner while you're still cooking dinner. Conversely, taking periodic breaks from my project to work on my website may have saved me from losing my mind.
deciding on a specific pattern to weave on my loom
- Why? I feel that it would have added a more personal touch if I made the ties on my own loom. It's been a while since I've made anything on my loom, and I thought I'd give it a try.
made more quills
- Why? I went into this project with 2 quills and ended it with none. I wound up using a metal-nibbed dip pen for the last sentence because my quill died, and I didn't have enough time to cure and prep more quills. I've had the same 3 quills for the better part of 3 years after I obtained them from a merchant back in 2020. They've served me well over the numerous scrolls I've used them on. I suspect that the random heat waves and weird weather we've had during this past few weeks pushed my last two quills to die.
commissioned a wax seal for his device
- Why? It was a pain in the backside trying to make a proper impression for a seal out of what I could get 3D printed. This really should have been made out of stone or some other material. I suspect that a big factor in this is that wax is made out of oil, and the print filament used to make the seal is made out of plastic. Both of them are acting in a way that made it really hard to make a good impression in the wax.
had the chance to try different kinds of wax
- Why? The wax I used was nice to use in this project in a pinch, but it didn't quite look right. It has a strange, milky appearance to it, plus particles of mica powder suspended in the wax. While it does make a 'pretty' effect, I'm not sure that I'm a fan of it for period-looking documents. Adding wax seals to important, legal documents with glitter embedded on them carries the same sentiment as signing a deed with a 90s glitter gel pen.
woven my own ties to represent me
- Why? while I'm happy with how this turned out, I don't like how the bottom fringes look on my purple and silver ties. I wish it was more feathery

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