The background of all the images is soft pastels rubbed into the calligraphy paper. It’s a fairly common brand of paper but i’ve lost the cover.
The colored inks are the “French School” gouache applied with C-5 Speedball nib. The large text is Higgin’s non-waterproof black ink with a C-2 nib, highlit with Winsor & Newton ink in gold (C-5).
I’ve done a little research into the words depicted, and have some notes about Carolingian manuscripts.
The individual editions:
JEB-ATC2003.03.01: W is for Word
2003/10/25
The monk is inspired by an illumination of “Primat writing his book.” X made the suggestion i add another layer to the design. I like it, but i’m not sure it works post-calligraphy. The other three words from today have more intensely colored backgrounds; I don’t think they need another design element as much.
Word and the next four have the different spellings and related words from older and other Germanic languages and a few proto-Germanic roots in different shades off gouache.
JEB-ATC2003.03.02: W is for Wise
2003/10/25
(not scanned)
JEB-ATC2003.03.03: W is for Wisdom
2003/10/25
JEB-ATC2003.03.04: W is for Wit
2003/10/25
JEB-ATC2003.03.05: W is for Wax
2003/11/15
weaxan: to grow
The border is meant to imply spring leaves. I put in the moon’s change reading right to left instead of left to right (as one reads). This flaw annoys me. The purple illuminated letter is inspired by the last research i did. Apparently, one of the Carolingian schools made much use of regal purple and gold. Poking around descriptions of manuscripts i ran acroos descriptions of miniatures pained on purple paper.
JEB-ATC2003.03.06: W is for Wane
2003/11/15
wanian: to decrease
The border is meant to imply autumn leaves. See JEB-ATC2003.03.05 for more notes.
JEB-ATC2003.03.07: W is for Waggle (For Tolkein)
2003/11/15
Different spellings and related words from older and other Germanic languages in vermillion gouache.
JEB-ATC2003.03.08: Warp Meets Weft
2003/11/15
JEB-ATC2003.03.09: W is for Weave
2003/11/15
JEB-ATC2003.03.10: Wave & Weave
2003/11/15
“whether water, thread, or ink, side to side, up or down”
The motion of writing W reminds me of waves and weaving.