All artworks are
copyright Randy Asplund unless otherwise noted. Please contact
the artist for permissions.
The Life of Jeanne
d'Arc
(Saint Joan of Arc)
This 3 inch high miniature book about
the life of Jeanne D'Arc was made for a private client, and was
presented at the September 10, 2006 Annual Conclave of the International
Miniature Book Society in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is made with
authentic 15th century tools, materials, and methods. I bound
the book between beechwood boards covered in blue leather, complete
with gilding, clasps, and bosses.
Hearing The Voices
Folio 2r
Goatskin, 23k gold leaf, 22.75k shell
gold, oak gall ink, madder lake, elderberry juice, woad, malachite,
white lead, lamp black, hematite, red ochre, vermilion, minium,
and iris green.
This picture is of the drawing stage.
The picture was drawn using a lead/tin metalpoint stylus, then
inked with a quill using dilute oak gall ink. The metalpoint lines
were then erased by rubbing with bread. As you can see, with minor
changes, the final painting follows the original drawing quite
closely.
This is a typical text page from the
interior of the book. Each chapter starts with a decorated initial.
The borders sprouting from the initials are acanthus, while the
remaining borders are varied flower and leaf designs.
An illuminated bifolia of the book.
Jeanne recognizes the true Dauphin.
This is the book being sewn onto white
leather supports with linen thread using an integral sewing pattern.
The thongs supporting the text block
are to be laced through piercings and channels cut into the quarter
sawn beech wood boards.
After board attachment the channels
bearing the thong ends are gessoed over to create a smooth surface.
Notice the pegs securing the ends of the thongs.
The pages must be trimmed flat. In
the midle ages a drawknife was used, not the tool known as a plow.
After attaching the wet leather cover
to the spine with wheat paste the book is tied up to set the creases
delineating the raised bands of the sewing supports.
The book is finished with a coat of
arms made of gold tooled vellum, bosses on the back, and a clasp
consisting of a armored arm reaching around and grasping a miniature
sword that sits in a vellum scabbard. The sword has a bone handle,
and the sword tang passes through the handle and pommel to be
peened over, just like a real sword.
To learn more about medieval book illustration
techniques, please visit the link below.
Making
the book
Ecclesiastes
A page about making a real medieval book with all authentic materials
and techniques.