Inspired by Christopher de Hamel and in the interests of furthering manuscript research, I decided to see what parchment does indeed taste like #teachingmanuscripts

https://twitter.com/M_Castelletti/status/1578742160878235648

I'm not allowed to use a real medieval manuscript, so I used a small strip of goat parchment that I made myself

Making a medieval paintbrush. It's quite easy! #teachingmanuscripts #medievalstuffwithcats Like everything to do with medieval manuscript production, you have to make or source it yourself - no trips to local art stores for ready-made supplies. So how did they make paintbrushes? Animal hair (as today) was considered the best type of brush

Let's make some medieval lye (la lye, lye la lye la lye la lye 🎵). Lye is also known as potash or lixivium. It's a strong alkali and the basic ingredient of soap. Yes, the medievals washed! #teachingmanuscripts #medievalpigments Lye is completely natural and once again nature is completely AMAZING. A big lovely tree sucks up all the nutrients from the soil through its roots (including potassium). Big lovely tree gets cut down and used for firewood 🙁

I want some alum-tawed thongs for a bookbinding project. Does a search on the internet help? It does not (unless I want a whole animal skin for £££). But I DO have a sheep skin that I salted from last year. So I’m going to make my own #teachingmanuscripts I cut off some strips from the bottom of the skin and give it a bit of a haircut

Time to smash some lapis! #teachingmanuscripts Make sure your pestle is wearing a pretty skirt when grinding the smaller chunks, otherwise you’ll lose some lapis

I made some purple parchment! #teachingmanuscripts #medievalmanuscripts #medievalstuffwithcats @IES_London @LondonRareBooks Tyrian (or imperial) purple was by far the most superior colour in the ancient and medieval world, but is very expensive. Mohammed Ghassen Nouira makes Tyrian purple using traditional Phoenician methods, with fantastic results. I hope to work with him soon facebook.com/Pourpre-de-Car…

It’s time for more #medievalstuffwithcats! I made this zodiac illumination. If you want to know a bit more about the process, read on… The zodiac roundels come from the calendar in British Library, Royal MS 1 D X bl.uk/manuscripts/Vi… (note that some of the roundels are not exactly round)

Making medieval stuff with cats! This time it’s quills! #medievaltwitter #medievalmanuscripts #quills #heritagecrafts 2. Quills were probably used before this - but the earliest reference to them is by Isidore of Seville, from his Etymology in the 7th century. Here he is in the Aberdeen Bestiary, writing with a (surprise!) quill abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/…

This 12th-century manuscript has instructions on various arts and crafts. The section De imponendo auro has advice on illuminating manuscripts with loose gold leaf (BL, Harley MS 3915, fol. 12r-v) bl.uk/manuscripts/Vi… … #illuminatedmanuscripts #medievaltwitter #artsandcrafts It’s from Theophilus’s De diversis artibus, compiled c.1125. This is before gesso was being used, as it instructs to take the clear part of the beaten egg white, and paint it on to the manuscript where the gold is to be applied

Excuse me, Medievals. We made some gesso! #medievaltwitter #heritagecrafts #medievalmanuscripts #catsoftwitter Gesso is the sticky stuff that medieval illuminators used to attach the gold leaf to the parchment. Originally, egg glair or gum arabic was used, which was fine, but very flat. By 13th C, a new chalky mixture was used, raising the gold off the page (BL, Royal MS 1 D X, fol. 3v)

Here's a thread about the iron gall ink I have just made. I’m not artistic, crafty or very in tune with nature, but as someone who researches medieval manuscripts, I wanted to experience the process. And surprisingly, so did my cat #heritagecrafts #irongallink #medievaltwitter 2. There is some open ground behind my house, so I went for a forage for some oak galls. I didn't really know if I would be able to recognise what I was looking for, and it took me a while to find any. But, once I had spotted one, I got my eye in