"How have you done?" Jack inquired, drawing near. His stomach almost brushed Unas shoulder as he craned over her work. It had taken her over an hour to pen the brief drawings and writing and there were many splotches where the ink had poured out too quickly or chicken scratches where the ink had caught, refusing to come out but overall it was legible and he was quite pleased.
"It's messy and you've damaged the parchment in several places. Perhaps we should begin dressing the parchment we made last time?" He offered noticing her hands shake slightly from the strain. She still held the quill too tightly in her hand, attempting to control it with might would not get her anywhere. It required a soft and firm touch, like any artistic endeavor.
Nodding appreciatively Una closed both of the books and set them aside. She had been so focused on her work she didn't notice the pain in her hand until she had stopped. Having had her hand so tightly fisted about the pen had left raw edges where she had not yet grown callouses.
The sheep skin Jack pulled out from the back of the storage was still flat from being stretched taunt upon the rack. It's hair had been scraped off and as it lay before her, a giant soft rectangle she was thankful for her quiet stomach. The hide resembled an animal so little her body had no immediate reaction to touching the stretched flesh.
However Una was dismayed to see several pock marks that marred the otherwise flat flesh. Jack had explained earlier to her that they had come from scar tissue on the animal. Far weaker than its initial hide the scar tissue would fall away from the animal when it was scraped clean. The hides of animals such as these were far less expensive and perfect paper for her own novice attempts as well as the many other uses for parchment in the library that did not require pristine pages such as lists.
"What did you notice about the parchment in the pages you just looked at?" Una returned his question with a look of dismay. She hadn't been analyzing the pages but rather the illumination, lettering and artwork.
"Uhm...well I wasn't exactly...looking at the parchment, I was looking at the lettering and illumination..." His face revealed his discontent blatantly.
"You will not be doing illumination or calligraphy any time soon m'dear. You must first focus on learning to write properly...beyond your finger writing, and how to create your own tools so you mustn't always purchase them." He added trying to lighten the mood as he wiggled his fingers in the air, resembling her own wiggling fingers when she wrote in Char. Una nodded mutely while silently and internally scowling, I want to learn everything though...It'll take me forever to make manuscripts if I must first perfect everything else. I don't want to make paper or dress my nibs or anything else. I want to learn to make art. She knew she sounded like a petulant child but she simply couldn't help herself, Jack moved far too slowly for her own tastes.
"The parchment in that book had two sides, the hairy side and the flesh side. When you plan a manuscript you want to plan your larger bodies of work on the flesh side as the surface holds the colours for longer and is far more perfect. Once we have folded the skin you will notice a pattern. A hairy side will face another hairy side and the flesh sides will face the flesh side...do you know why this is?"
Thinking about it Una chewed her lip. It didn't make sense, wouldn't they want a hairy side facing a flesh side so at least one of the pages could be heavily illuminated. But then again if one side was wouldn't it throw the balance of the two pages off? Perhaps that was it.
"Because if it were not you could only illuminate one page making it appear heavier than the other. It would throw the balance of the open book off." She stated hopefully.
"Not exactly, though that is an added benefit surely. It is simply because of the folding process." With those words he began to show her the art of folding the skin into what would become the parchment in a manuscript.
"We must first trim the outside of the skin so that it is perfectly straight." He instructed handing her a small knife. Biting her lip as she worked, as was typical of her when focusing she placed the knife just above the edge of the fur and attempted to drag it down and through. It didn't work. The skin curled and warped beneath her fingers, threatening to cut them or the skin at an angle.
Withdrawing she stared at the skin for a moment. Perhaps if I pierce the skin first, I will be able to cut out from the damaged part? Pressing the sharp tip of the knife into the skin until it emerged at the other side. She grinned as it moved relatively easily through the thin skin. Struggling to cut a straight line her hand wavered, still tense and shuddering from the long time spend writing. When she finally exited at the other end she moved back to the place she had pierced the skin and cut away the beginning shred that held the two pieces together. The piece she had cut away was the wavering edge from being stretched and left a beautiful shear line.
Grinning proudly she looked up at Jacks line and then looked back at hers in dismay. His was almost perfect, with wavering only being present at the corners. His steady hand, trained from years of writing and calligraphy, had benefited him tremendously in the endeavor. Her own in comparison was wavering and messy.
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