Ketubah (marriage contract), Jerusalem, Israel, 2002. on paper.
This ketubah was created by American born Israeli artist and calligrapher David Moss for the marriage of his son Yonatan. Moss was among the first artists to renew the tradition of hand-written and decorated ketubot. He has served as an inspiration and mentor to many artists who have continued the work that he began and still continues to do.
In contrast to those of the past, modern ketubot are quite personal and designed specifically for a particular bridal couple. This ketubah is no different. Its theme is Creation. It evokes the relationship of God to his creation and the relationship of all beings to their Creator. With this theme the artist has merged the Talmudic background of the groom with the interest of the bride in Jewish ecology. The leaves and flowers that surround the text suggest the Garden of Eden and the bottom blue cartouche contains a quote from one of the 7 blessings recited at a Jewish wedding ceremony that connects the couple to Eden. Framing the entire document is an ancient midrashic text called Perek Shirah. In it all elements of creation from the sun and the moon to all the animals praise God, each in its own words. Written in micrography, Moss also painted a tiny image of each creature placed next to the passage in which it is mentioned. x
With micrography in the shape of the pattern welding on the Damascus blade of the fish knife. Keep reading for process steps and pictures!
The first step to any scroll is the assignment. (The vast majority of the details for the assignment are not actually in this snippet, but it gives a good idea!) This is what one starts out looking like in the East Kingdom.
Recipient: Llewellyn Walsh (He/him)
Award: Order of the Maunche
Court date: November 15, 2025 - AS 60 (LX)
Due: November 15, 2025
Event: St Eligius Arts & Sciences Competition
Royalty: Donovan and Meghanta
SOSN: DM25-046
Assigned to: Cassia Carataca
Blazen: not found - but please feel free to look
Word preference:
Persona:
Lives: Barony of Dragonship Haven
Wiki: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/wiki/Llewellyn_Walsh
I freaked out a little bit because this was only my second time doing a grant-level award from scratch, but I just got my own Maunche so I put my big boy pants on and geared up to do it. (Then I flaked out a little bit and begged Martina Maria de la Rosa for words because whoof I am not a great wordsmith, I can do boilerplate-looking but that's about it, and SHE said, 'yikes, okay, time for a big girl scroll huh' and I agreed a lot.)
Then I flaked out again and started getting alarmed because I hadn't done it yet and didn't even have a plan, so I went to my partner and she said something like "Well he's 16th century, so just do a squashed bug 16th century border of pointy things scroll!" Here's v1 sketch:
Then I got fussy because I didn't want to just make something that looked, on the surface, like Most Impressive SCA Scrolls, I wanted to make something that would stick out on Master Llewellyn's wall, hahaha. I still wanted to do the late period trompe l'œil, and I knew I wanted to showcase the knife with what I felt was the prettiest and most defined patterning on it and traced the patterning from the photo. But I needed room for 200 words. :(
Then I squinted at the lines I had just drawn and realized that they looked A LOT LIKE GUIDELINES. (Note the crossed foils as blort-layout-the-MOD-heraldry-has-swords-right? when I know better than to use foils and only two-- the three-rapier heraldry of the Order of Defense did not make it onto the final scroll composition, alas alack.) So I printed that thing out and went 'weh' and messed with composition more and added the pukka from Ryan's photo and the spear from another of Llewellyn's photos from his wiki, and remembered to flip the arrows back again, printed *that* out, but realized the lines on the blade were darker on the one I crumpled up and didn't want to waste paper, and so I used the crumpled printout to make sure I could fit aLL 200 wOrDs in that knife with my little technical pen.
Time to trace onto and then cut down the pergamenata (a vegetable substitute for animal skin parchment that doesn't act entirely the same, but has a lot of behaviors in common) and do the micrography next! I'm using a lightbox to use the "guidelines" I made on the printout through the perg. Sorry I don't have any photos of the writing in progress, I got in the zone.
Then I got to the scary exciting part. I've done both blend-shading and cel shading in digital art and in pencil many times before, and I've gotten better at shading with watercolor and gouache, but to do the trompe l'œil effect you can't outline stuff in black. I used to do comic art, and a LOT of medieval art is ALSO outlined in black -- but not this, not fool-the-eye. There is no black outline in these photos!
You can see the steps of me fighting with reflections and shadows and highlights in the various process pics below. Gouache used: Daniel Smith Titanium White and Quinacridone Violet, M. Graham Yellow Ochre and Payne's Gray, Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber, and Plakkaatverf Burnt Sienna.
Then I did Damascus patterning on the spear head and the pukka, and I did the wooden knife handle and the shading on the bone handle. But MAN, the REGRETTI SPAGHETTI the second I put the first shadow down. I knew it was going to happen. I knew it! The scroll was absolutely ruined, I hated it, I had messed up all the work I already did, I couldn't just erase it, it would never be good again and I was a fool to fell to my own hubris, to think I could attempt such a difficult technique without doing a jillion years of practice...
...but I have been told over and over, and it's true, that this is only the ugly duckling stage of art. So I steamrolled grimly on through. (Also, it's not technically something I've never attempted before, since I had had the class, and I did have so many years of art experience in other media and it was the class that taught me to translate it into watercolor and gouache! But the brain weasels that tell me 'how dare you try this thing' are clever and persistent.) THEN I thought it was done. But no it was not. I forgot one shadow, hahahaha. (It's there in the second shot.)
Then there's literally my favorite part of any scroll-making, getting to see the award given out and the smiles and the hugs and the delight!
Court photos by Kay Leigh Mac Whyte and Cassia Carataca, knife photos by Llewellyn Walsh and Ryan Mac Whyte, final scroll photo by Llewellyn Walsh.
Gut check: You hear it all the time: Keep your gut healthy! Why? Because it can impact your digestion, immune system, and even your mood. But what exactly is the gut microbiome—and how can you keep it healthy? We let you know. (Above, a bacteria in the gut dividing into daughter cells.)
MICROGRAPH BY MARTIN OEGGERLI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
