Hippos and Elephants and Plastics, Oh My!
In my constant pursuit for new and challenging things to do on punishing deadlines, I'm hoping to not only write and illuminate this book, but to make the covers and bind it, too. And I'm tremendously taken with the various kinds of treasure bindings that appear throughout the 12th century—wooden gilt covers, enameled metal, inset jewels, carved ivory...okay. Mostly I'm taken with a very specific cover, made in 1140ish Jerusalem: the Melisende Psalter, the entire binding of which has survived and is held by the British Library, which has kindly provided gorgeous high-resolution images of the whole thing.
You should absolutely go to the listing to check out the high-res images. The carving is astonishingly beautiful, and the detail is just to die for. Ivory is fairly unique in being able to take very fine detail in carving without being as prone to breakage as most woods (boxwood, I've learned, is an exception to this general rule). It's also ethically, legally, and financially impossible for me to use, so I've been hunting for suitable alternatives.
So far, the leading option seems to be panels of bone. I sense a lot of beef stock in my future. There are synthetic ivory substitutes, but I don't much want to use plastic—and they're nearly as expensive as real ivory! I suppose by the time I've bought and cleaned enough cow legs to construct book covers, it may be comparable...but I doubt it. Cows have pretty big femurs.
Of course, I've never carved bone. Or anything much, beyond a little bit of basswood. I'll need to clean some bones fairly soon, so I have time to degrease them (did you know there's fatty tissue all through the bone? I did, in a vague sense, but I probably wouldn't have thought of how it might ruin whatever it came in contact with as it migrated through the otherwise-dry bone) and let them dry for test carving. I need to know how fine I can get the detail before I get too invested in a complex design I won't be able to execute—I'm certain bone can take lovely fine work, but my dexterity is a limiting factor.
And then there's setting stones in rigid material—I don't see anything that suggests a metal fitting holding the minute stones in the psalter covers, and there are a number of stones that have been lost. Is it a slightly undercut setting, and the stone popped into place with a little force? I don't know how flexible ivory is, but that seems like a technique with a high potential failure rate, if the rim of the setting were to chip under force. Maybe the stones are just glued in place—with small stones, well-recessed fittings, and gentle use, glue might not be as unstable as it seems at first. I suppose they could also be stone-headed pins helping to hold the ivory covers to a wooden underlayer. That might be a strategy to consider, depending on the sizes of bone panel I can manage.
Another option, rather than making the covers entirely of bone, would be to attach metal plates to wooden covers and inset whatever stones or carved bone plaques I want, which makes the fittings much simpler (I think). But...I have a year. I should definitely go for broke.
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| The front cover, with scenes from the life of David. |
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| The back, with six vices/works of charity, and a number of animals frolicking about. |
Of course, I've never carved bone. Or anything much, beyond a little bit of basswood. I'll need to clean some bones fairly soon, so I have time to degrease them (did you know there's fatty tissue all through the bone? I did, in a vague sense, but I probably wouldn't have thought of how it might ruin whatever it came in contact with as it migrated through the otherwise-dry bone) and let them dry for test carving. I need to know how fine I can get the detail before I get too invested in a complex design I won't be able to execute—I'm certain bone can take lovely fine work, but my dexterity is a limiting factor.
And then there's setting stones in rigid material—I don't see anything that suggests a metal fitting holding the minute stones in the psalter covers, and there are a number of stones that have been lost. Is it a slightly undercut setting, and the stone popped into place with a little force? I don't know how flexible ivory is, but that seems like a technique with a high potential failure rate, if the rim of the setting were to chip under force. Maybe the stones are just glued in place—with small stones, well-recessed fittings, and gentle use, glue might not be as unstable as it seems at first. I suppose they could also be stone-headed pins helping to hold the ivory covers to a wooden underlayer. That might be a strategy to consider, depending on the sizes of bone panel I can manage.
Another option, rather than making the covers entirely of bone, would be to attach metal plates to wooden covers and inset whatever stones or carved bone plaques I want, which makes the fittings much simpler (I think). But...I have a year. I should definitely go for broke.
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