Script Analysis -Drawing up the Guidelines

From my list of Script Analysis questions :

"Checking the guideline measurements :

Taking the most common x-height, ascender height and descender height measured, rule out a sheet of guidelines with as many lines as counted on the original page of the mss. (This is where the measuremens in mm/inches come in useful).

The measurement between each baseline can be used to provide a rough check of the accuracy of the drawn lines.

You now have a set of guidelines that will help you practise script in the same dimensions, and construct a page using the same measurements, as the script in the original mss."

I had drawn up some guidelines in

Script Analysis - Drawing up the Guidelines

but of course they were incorrect because I had the wrong x-height.

I'd also done something else incorrectly. In that entry, I adjusted the ascender/descender height so that the set of lines would fit onto a page the same size as a full size page from the Bedford Psalter.

But it's more important to have the writing the same size!

I've discovered, after re-sizing the 4 pages I have that they all vary slightly in size. (I'll talk about that in the next post). Page size is definitely not the priority. I had it backwards.

Anyway, so now I've drawn up a set of 18 lines (as per a page of the Bedford Psalter), with an x-height of 5 pen widths, and an ascender/descender height of 2 penwidths - which is 7 mm and 3 mm respectively using a pen nib width of 1.5 mm, which was used in the Bedford Psalter.

I also put in the double margins on the right hand side. I've had the problem before where I practise using plain guidelines on my practise pad and then get to doing a piece in the 'proper' layout with the margins - and have problems dealing with where to end my words, - whether to squish a bit (which the scribes did sometimes) or hyphenate and extend to the next line or what. I want this to be part of my normal practise, so that it doesn't phase me when i come to doing a piece.

My guidelines are longer in length than the pages from the Psalter. That's because I've done all my ascender/descender heights at 3 mm, whereas on the pages they vary between 2 and 3 mm, with 3 mm being the most common measurement.

I am now up to the point where I'd reached before when I realised about my mistake with measuring the pen nib width and hence the x-height. I've done heaps more - I just have to type it all up!