My Book of Kells Project

 

Detail Folio124 Book of Kells

About this time I decided to get serious about a Book of Kell's project I wanted to do the previous fall.

Last year I did the Book of Kells Course through Futurelearn.  At the time I hadn’t paid for Unlimited and, while I finished the course, I lost access. Now, because of my Irish studies, I have unlimited and registered again to regain access.

The Book of Kells is a well known national Irish art treasure. Less well known are the materials and methods of that went into it’s construction. It pages are vellum (calves' skin) and use inks and pigments from a variety of natural sources—plants and minerals—to create the stunning illuminations that have survived for centuries. 

 

At the end of the course, there was an invitation to submit material to a yearly competition.  But as this invitation was given a couple days before the deadline, that was never going to be a possibility.

 

I have had an interest in historical uses of herbs and plants for art and medicine for years. After the course, I wanted to make art using these same methods, or as close as a modern person can. My ideal goal was to only use materials used by monks of the time.  But the issue of obtaining vellum and a couple of seriously toxic pigments made that undesirable.

So I settled on using only natural based pigments, and a secondary effort to use as many of the original pigments as possible.  Starting this early, there should be no problem making the deadline.

Tá súil agam go bheith mé críochnaithe faoin am sin.

Ar aghaidh linn!

Links:

Part 1  Indigo Pigment

Part 2  Madder Lake

Part 3 Inks Imagined

Part 4 Iris Green

Part 5 Backup Blue

Part 6  White

Part 7 Gall/Acorn Ink

Part 8 False Orpiment

Part 9 Lichen Dyes and Inks

Part 10  Design and Tracing

Part 11 Inking

Part 12 Grinding and Mixing Pigments

Part 13  Green, Red, Blue

Part 14 Chestnut Ink

Part 15 Finishing Touches

Part 16  Reflections