The Process: Shakespeare Scroll

Hello! Throughout the next few days, Jen and I will be posting photos and stories of the various processes we used for our Kickstarter artworks. Today's item is the Shakespeare scroll.

Below are some pictures of the sketches Jen made right after we decided to create a scroll of the Saint Crispin's Day speech.

30+ hours of research and brainstorming later, we finalized the designs and layout. On to making the demo!

Jen started the demo by transferring her designs onto the scroll using graphite transfer paper (this took about 10 hours).

Next, I wrote out the speech. This being the first scroll, I penciled in the text and then went over it with a dip pen and ink (no time for mistakes!)

The writing took about five hours.

And now for the good stuff...illumination! We decorated the border designs with paint and gold and silver leaf (which took about 15 hours).

At this point, we had put around 60 hours into this scroll, and had probably consumed 25 or more cups of tea and/or cider (each!) We kept the kettle warm and the pot of cider full 24/7.

And here it is! The completed Shakespeare Scroll demo.