Gouache, watercolour, raised gold, shell gold, flat gold on calfskin. The miniature is adapted from the embroidered curtains surrounding William Morris’ bed at Kelmscott, in Oxfordshire, England. 2006 NFS

Pigments, gouache and watercolour on calfskin. The image is

of a Minoan dancing woman from a fresco at Knossos in Crete. The passage is by Epikouros and translates: “Friendship dances around the world proclaiming to us all to awake to its many blessings.” 2007 Owned by Yves Leterme.

Gouache and raised gold on marsupial parchment. The second line of text featuring raised gold was charred to create a distressed effect. 2006 Owned by Peter Weinrich

Walnut ink, gouache, watercolour, shell gold and raised gold on calfskin. The design is William Morris’ ‘Larkspur’. The script is meant to emulate that of Poggio Bracciolini. 2006 NFS

Gouache, watercolour, flat and raised gold on goatskin. The image of a maenad  was outlined in watercolour and gently washed over to create a transparent effect where the texture of the goatskin is evident. 2007 NFS

Gouache, watercolour and flat gold on calfskin.  The gold was embossed to create secondary patterns. 2007 NFS

Left: Restoration of the Charter of the Town of Esquimalt, granted in 1956. This is an interesting document on fine calfskin. It was partially printed (the three coat of arms at top and the ‘To All and Singular’) in England; the heraldry was also rendered in England and the remainder of the text was scribed here in Victoria by Esme Davis (a pupil of Edward Johnston’s). The document was restored by a conservator and was then given to me to ‘refresh’. It is very likely that the coats of arms were printed with non-archival inks; the intense reds had faded to pale yellow and orange. All the red letters on the document had also faded and required restoring. I used Ackermann’s vermilion in tablet form - given to one of our members several years ago by Donald Jackson.  This was the same red, prepared for Queen Victoria, that Jackson used in the St. John’s Bible. 2005

Pigments, ink stick, gold on a goatskin off cut.  Sample for Parchment Workshop. 2008

Pigments, Ink stick, Palladium on a calfskin off cut. Sample for Parchment workshop. 2008