Monday, January 2, 2012

Ductus

Newsletter of the Royal College & Confraternity of Scribes & Illuminators of the Kingdom of Lochac
Volume 11 Issue 4 December 2011
 
Greetings all and welcome to the December Ductus.

I would like to start this issue of Ductus by wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This has been a big year for the College of Scribes yet again. We have not completed all of the Pelican Scrolls that were on the backlog but there are a lot that have been started, completed or are well under way. It has been amazing to watch the progress of many of the scribes this year. I have been particularly impressed by some of the newer scribes who have been so productive and who have really managed to branch out this year and produce totally wonderful scrolls.

Competitions
The Pelican Scrolls competition end at Canterbury Faire at the end of January 2012. If you have scrolls for the Pelican Competition please let me know and make sure that they get to me either before Canterbury Faire or at Canterbury Faire at the latest. I hope to announce the winners at Festival in 2012.

If anyone would like to see the scrolls that have been done this year please check them out at our Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/48016044@N02/

As a number of scrolls have come to me at events or have arrived directly before events and gone straight out there are a few that I am missing photographs of. If your scroll is not up on the site and should be could you please send me a photo so that I can put the scroll that you have done up on the site.

Next year our focus will move to Knight and Laurel scrolls. Can everyone please complete your Pelican scrolls ASAP so that I can start to assigning Knight and Laurel scrolls as soon as possible. We have lots of them to do this year and it would be wonderful to get through as many of them as we have managed to get through of the Pelican scrolls. We still have a fair way to go but the backlog is looking much better than it has for a very long time.

Scroll Timings
When scrolls are assigned they are not assigned indefinitely. AA and GA scrolls must be completed within six months. Original Scrolls for Peerages must be completed within 1 year. If a scroll goes over this time an extension must be negotiated with the Provost of Scribes. This extension is not automatic and if the Provost of Scribes does not feel that it is warranted it will not be given.

Currently there are a number of outstanding scrolls that have gone over this time. Those scrolls will be removed from the people who are doing them unless they have already contacted me to request an extension or unless they do contact me and ask for an extension.

Seals
The first Scribes seals have been used for the new Writs for Their Royal Highnesses. These have been sent out to Their Royal Highnesses so that they will be available for when they step up. It is very exciting that we have finally go to the point where these seals are available and able to be used. From now on all Writs will be done with the College of Scribes Seals.

I hope to have seals for all the Wardens by Festival 2012 and to be able to give out many of the seals to those Wardens who will be at Festival.

Copies of all Writs that have been done for each Reign will soon be available on the Scribes website. Keep an eye out so that you can see what they look like http://www.sca.org.au/scribe/gallery3.htm


Royal Peerage Scrolls
One of the many changes that has been made while I have been Provost is the completion of scrolls for the Kings and Queens of Lochac as they step down from their roll and receive the award of Duke/ Duchess or Count/ Countess. So far for each Reign the College of Scribes has had at least one if not two of these scrolls to complete. These have all been done and presented on time as the ex-Royalty have received their awards. This has been a tremendous success at these events with many people commenting on the quality of the scrolls that have been done and how wonderful it is to see these scrolls given out at these events.

I would like to congratulate all of those who have contributed to these scrolls to date. They have been very well received and have provided a much needed boost to the College of Scribes visibility.

AoA Scrolls
Even though Pelican Scrolls have been the focus of this years efforts this has not meant that the College of Scribes has lost its focus on continuing to complete AoA scrolls. A large number of AoA scrolls have been completed and handed out this year. In particular I would like to thank the scribes in Queensland for their amazing efforts to catch up and complete so many AoA scrolls this year. They have been an inspiration. To see their efforts please look at the Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/48016044@N02/

Beginners Packs
Thanks to the generosity of the Barony of Rowany through the Rowany Fighter Auction, the College of Scribes has been given some money to make up beginners packs for new scribes. These packs will have enough brushes for five new scribes for each region plus a set of paints for each region. These paints will be made available so that the Wardens in each area can hand them out to new scribes who would like to start doing calligraphy and illumination but may not have enough money to be able to start work on projects.

To keep the equipment in each of these packs the idea is that the local Warden get a commitment from each scribe to complete at least one AoA. As usual any person who has a pack has six months to complete their AoA. If they do not feel up to doing both the calligraphy and illumination then they have that six months to complete either the calligraphy or illumination and to get the scroll to their local Warden who will either complete the remaining section or assign it to another scribe for completion.

This has been trialled in Rowany with success and I hope it will prove to be as useful for the Wardens in other area's. If you find that in your area a different system works better than please let me know.

Packs will be given out between now and Festival depending upon my availability at events and which Wardens will be at what events. At this stage I will be making it to Canterbury Faire and Rowany Festival. If there are going to be representatives from any of the scribal groups at either of those events can you please let me know so that I can take your pack with me. Otherwise packs will be sent out.

Website
The College of Scribes website always needs the links updated, as things change links go out of date and sites disappear. New sites also appear and many of those are really useful for the College of Scribes site to link to. If you find any websites that you think it would be useful to have links to on the College of Scribes website please send those details through to the Upper Warden Kerdwen the Mouse at janelle.heron@gmail.com

Provost
2012 will be my last year as Provost of the College of Scribes. I plan to step down in August. I already have at least one person interested in the position of Provost, however if you think that Provost is a position that you would like to do please contact me so that I can send you a job description and talk to you about the roll.

The roll of Provost can be a very rewarding one but there is quite a lot of paperwork. The Provost is a Kingdom Officer and as such needs to complete a quarterly report amongst the other paperwork that comes with being the head of the College of Scribes. This is not the job for someone who just wants to do wonderful illumination but does not want to do the paperwork. You do not have to be a Laurel in calligraphy and illumination to be Provost, you do not even have to be a Laurel, you do need to be able to do paperwork. I hope to see a few people interested.

The position of Provost will be advertised in Pegasus as is required of any Kingdom Officer. All applications should go to the Crown and to the Kingdom Seneschal. It would also be beneficial if they came to me. As a requirement of the roll of a Kingdom Officer you must have a Drop Dead Deputy in place within six months of moving into the position of Provost of the College of Scribes. For other requirements of a Kingdom Officer please see the Lochac Procedures Manual http://lochac.sca.org/seneschal/docs/LochacProceduresManual.pdf and the Provost job description that I will send out upon request. I will also have the Provost job description place on the website.

Thank you all for your support this year. I look forward to seeing many more wonderful scrolls as we move into 2012.

Caristiona nic Beathain
Provost of Scribes