Scroll 45: Bad Rabbits

This scroll was a ridiculous amount of fun to do. The recipient had run an event with the theme “Bad Rabbits” and included enameled marginalia rabbit pins as prizes for some of the challenges. When I snapped a picture of the pins for reference material, I had no idea how much it would come in handy. When I got the assignment to do this scroll, I knew immediately what it needed to include.

Due to the sheer number of them, making the scroll focused entirely on the marginalia was the logical next step. I played with different ways of laying them out until I found a combination that made the most of their positions, substituting a horn blowing rabbit on a snail for the one riding in a palanquin.

The original concept included that same rabbit blowing letters out of place, but I ended up running out of text before I got that far down the page. I still haven’t figured out the knack of scaling the text so it fits in exactly the amount of space I want. Still, better too short than too long.

Their Excellencies honored me with a metal cutout of a pen nib at the event where this scroll and the previous one were awarded in appreciation of my efforts. I’m not sure to what use it will eventually be put, but the first step was to wrap it and I love how it looks.

Materials: Printer, 8″x10″ pergamenata, ruler, Ames lettering guide, pencil, eraser, 01 micron pen, metal scraper, Finetec gold paint, Winsor & Newton gouache, Princeton heritage 2/0 round paint brush, Speedball Super Black ink, dip pen