SCA Scribes have a LOT of leeway, and basically get to choose what to do for every scroll. I'd done 4 glass scrolls, each very different from each other. But when the recipient of the first messaged me, asking me to do a glass scroll for her protege's elevation, I inexplicably felt like I'd been let off a leash. A 14th century Welsh panel. There isn't much art contemporary and local to my own persona, and this is the closest I could get. British-but-not-English 14th century glass-loving cat person solidarity firmly in place, I researched with ferocity. I could find plenty of references to "this church has a stained glass window from 1320/1345" but without pictures to match to the references. I was on the verge of calling around to cathedrals when I found someone who had already wandered Wales, taking pictures of stained glass windows, Martin Crampin. One of his articles on the repair of medieval windows had pictures of a contemporary window, and a later piece with a figure that could be altered to resemble the recipient. I somewhat fell in love with the first - it was simple, bright, with lots of painted details.
The first step, after finding sources, is to draft the pattern. I used an entire piece of 18x24 inch tagboard which, in retrospect, wasn't my best plan, but I was caught up in the art. I used a straight edge in precious few places, as the original wasn't precisely proportioned either. I drew the glass lines in sharpie, and pencilled in places where I couldn't quite envisage what the end piece would look like. This was my first glass scroll with precision painting (not including calligraphy), and a bare face and hands were not cutting it for me.
The figure was based on her role of exchequer, and the knowledge that her cats are important to her. Pictures of the recipient featured a brown tabby being up in her personal space on a regular basis, so of course, this cat would have "helped" while she fulfilled exchequer duties. A tortoiseshell cat was also featured, though less often front and center, and thus took her place at her human's feet. I attempted to illustrate her usual coronet, a lovely painted leather piece with knot work, over a veil and wimple she seems to prefer. I've found plenty of contemporary glass figures from other locations wearing surcoats, but not a contemporary glass depiction of a cotehardie (no doubt at the time still too risque for church windows).
Once the pattern was complete, I copied it onto butcher paper that I water-proofed with contact paper. Then I cut and ground all but the outer clear pieces, assembling them to ensure close fits.
Then came the fun part. I'd just done a few test pieces to see how the Pebeo Vitrea paint set up before starting on the painting. I started on the skirt pieces, which have the most gestural painting of the piece. Next came the lap kitty - a brown tabby. Without having pictures of the back of the cat's head, I couldn't be sure what it looked like, but my own brown tabby is mostly black on the back of her head, and with the mid-value green, detailing was unlikely to show. After that, most of the painting went to plan. Most of the painting was done with the scrafito method of coating the whole piece with paint, then scraping the pattern into to paint with toothpicks and an Xacto knife. Most of the black was fired first. I chose a yellow that most closely resembled the effects of silver stain, though I was disappointed in how thick it had to be in order to achieve a smooth finish.
The last pieces to be painted were the hands and face, after which I started assembly. I started from the bottom right, getting the figure soldered in. After assembling the panel, I realized the piece was too big, and I put in some addition supports across the back. I used black patina on the leading, to less effect than I'd like. The clear glass was thin enough that I will not use it for stained glass again. After the panel was assembled, I made a frame of pine and stained it a walnut color as the best aesthetic match.
Baroness Machteld Cleine came to do a photoshoot of it.
After she left, though, plans changed. The event was no longer to take place in person due to a Covid spike, which meant it wasn't to be presented in court. With consultation with Lady Rohesia, I scrambled to make a quick wooden easel, with foam cored, fairy lights, and silk velvet as a stand.