Re: VMs: How translucent is vellum? Circular tasks

["CDA" <cda@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You don't need a compass to draw a circle. You maintain the quill in the
same position (in space) and rotate the board holding the page. Small
movements in the quill would imply that, at the end of the rotation, the
lines won't be perfectly aligned, as it happens at the NW quadrant in f71r
in the two circles in the middle (not the innermost and not the outermost
ones), and in f70v2, at the SW quadrant, in the outermost circle. To improve
on this and if you're sophisticated to have a rotating board, you'll have
the sophistication to mechanically hold the quill in a fixed position, which
would explain why one doesn't see more frequent misalignments.

A rotating board (or for the same effect but in a more cumbersome approach,
a scribe that rotates around the vellum), would explain why all the letters
written in a circular fashion are not inclined at all and they all seem to
be written in a vertical position. Possibly, in the same way that the scribe
turned the vellum to write the letters and draw the figures, he drew the
circles.

I never heard of rotating boards, but it's a thought.

However, and to invalidate this theory, I do remember seeing some hole every
now and then at the center of the circles when I looked at the VMs. I don't
think I made note of that detail.

Anyway, if one finds a hole in the center of the drawings (which would
explain the use of a compass), how does one explain the writing and the
drawing of figures?

My point is the Occam's Razor explanation: the simplest arrangement would be
to use the same procedure for the three tasks: writing, drawing the figures,
and drawing the circles. A compass explains one of the tasks, but not the
three of them.

Cheers,

Claudio

PS: Has anybody looked at how well do the center of the different circles
agree? If they agree, then a compass or a rotating board were used. If not,
another procedure would have to be employed.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Latham" <djl@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 1:32 AM
Subject: RE: VMs: How translucent is vellum?


> The quill would have to be held very carefully. As one who nearly flunked
> mechanical drawing in the longago time before CAD programs, I can tell you
> that even a sophisticated device such as the bow-pen compass is, for the
> non-finicky (like the b hand) a hard instrument to master.  That device
> actually works by cutting very fine parallel lines into the paper to keep
> the ink lines constant width (and no whiteout allowed either!).
> Don
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of DANA SCOTT
> Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 7:27 PM
> To: vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: VMs: How translucent is vellum?
>
>
> I should think that a quill tied to the end of a string would work nicely.
> Just hold the other end of the string tightly at the center of the circle
> and draw. The same could be done with a strip of wood I would imagine
(poke
> a nail through one end and attach the quill at the other end, voilà!).
>
> Regards,
> Dana Scott
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "GC" <glenclaston@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 3:11 PM
> Subject: RE: VMs: How translucent is vellum?
>
>
> > Ken wrote:
> >
> >
> > 1. I'm not versed in 15th century drafting and writing implements. I'm
> > simply working from experience.
> >
> >
> > My lay understanding of the circinus, the standard compass of this
period,
> > was that it was widely used as a scribe tool, and I don't know of any
> > examples that were "inkable".  Metal nibs were not in use then, and a
> > writing stilus could have been attached to a circinus, but it's unlikely
> > one
> > was made to hold a quill.  There is some indication that lead plummet
was
> > used in some of these devices, but whether lead plummet or scribe, each
> > would require that the ink be applied by hand over the scribed circle.
> > Depending on the steadiness of the hand, the circle would appear traced
> > instead of mechanically drawn.  This means that the circle was indeed
hand
> > traced, no matter the initial method of drawing the circle as a guide
for
> > the ink.
> >
> > FWIW
> >
> > GC
> >
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