Scribal Work Shop - Where scribblers come to play
Scribal (pronounced "skry-ball", not "scribble") Work Shop is a family owned and run business specializing in several products and services related to historic writing, art, calligraphy, and illumination. We started as a company in 2011 and debuted at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in the spring of 2012, where we continue to maintain a shop.
Scribal Work Shop is headed up by Lucas Tucker, scribe, chemist, smith, renaissance man, and chief minion of the work shop. Various creative tasks are carried out by the rest of us here at Scribal Work Shop – Dorcas (Mother of Lucas), David (Father of Lucas), Shane (brother of Lucas), and Bethany (wife of Lucas). Together we bring you everything in our shop.
But what do we bring you?
A great many things; we make ink, quills (traditional and steel nib), pens, paints, ink wells, wax tablets, and original artwork. We have a passion for historical accuracy, and adhere to recipes and techniques from the medieval and renaissance periods in all our Historic Scribe products, which includes our inks, traditional quills, paints, and wax tablets. Our inks are made according to medieval and renaissance recipes and techniques and our traditional quills are prepared according to instructions from the same time periods, as are our wax tablets. Our paints are also made in accordance with recipes and instructions from said periods, but we do veer slightly away from some of the techniques described in our sources for safety’s sake. While we are obsessed with historical accuracy, we draw the line in our quest for it at mixing liquid mercury in the palm of our hands (yes, that is actually an instruction in one of our period sources).
Some of our scribal products are not so historic, such as our wrapped quills (with a steel nib attached), which we make just for fun - and because people like to write with them - and others are historic, but not to the medieval and renaissance eras, such as our wooden dip pens (which hail from the 1800s). So while we do make scribal products that are not accurate to the medieval and renaissance, what we don’t do is tell you that something’s historically accurate when it’s not.
The original art we offer, made exclusively by Lucas, is a collection of original illuminated manuscripts, written and illustrated in accordance with styles from different historical periods. Lucas adheres to the same passion for historic accuracy that guides our Historic Scribe products in his artwork, and carefully researches every hand and illumination style he uses by looking at historic manuscripts that exemplify the style he is reproducing, and by studying collections of historic scribal hands ("hands" being the style of hand writing, not actual human hands - that would yucky). His originals are done on calf skin, sheep skin, or goat skin parchment, in keeping with historical accuracy. All his writing is done with a traditional quill, and the inks and paints he uses are made according to the same recipes and techniques we use for all our inks and paints. In fact, the ink we sell is the same ink Lucas uses, and the same is true for most of the paints we offer (there are a few paints Lucas uses that we do not sell for safety reasons – historical accuracy is not all bunnies and daisies kids). Lucas also offers custom calligraphy services, if you are interested in what he has done, please visit our website, scribalworkshop.com, to see a gallery of custom pieces, and contact us, through Etsy or our website, to talk about what you would like done.
So take a look at what we make, and see what strikes your fancy!
All the best,
Scribal Work Shop.
