iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It is such a delicate and proficient drawing and devastating to see someone position a stamp, not even straight (!) over the top. Do you think this was a finished image or the outline of the design to be filled in?

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

So lovely to see sloped supports for this! It’s much more difficult to control ink in a quill when writing flat as it tends to flood out. Pretty impressive results too!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It was absolutely fascinating - I enjoyed every minute!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This looks so good zciting! Can’t wait!!

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Reposted by Patricia Lovett MBE

Elaine Treharne @etreharne.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

If you look closely at the image in CCCC 286, you'll see a later addition of a little handbell in the upper right. It's a sanctus bell, a symbol of the moment of transubstantiation at mass. Cool, eh! I wrote about this in an essay 'Word & Image' mentioned in my 'Perceptions of Medieval MSS' (158)

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

There’s a couple of places left on my British Library ‘Quills and Calligraphy’ course on Saturday 19th, 10am-5pm. Come and learn how to write Gothic Textura, how to cut a quill from a swan’s feather, how to prepare vellum for writing, and write on vellum with your quill. www.tickets.bl.uk/6334/6335

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Elaine Treharne @etreharne.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Manuscript Hunters! My new project, HANDMADE, on Neil Ker & his international network of scholars is running at CESTA. Since June, three fab undergrads have used AI to list, describe, & transcribe 10,000 letters and postcards from 1933-1982. We now have an incredible resource for further analyses.

A large poster showing text and visualizations emerging from the Manuscript Hunters project on Neil Ker.

The key research questions for the Neil Ker correspondence project.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I’m on for supplying the manuscript books!! I can do gold too for those with big pockets!!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Dear Blueskyers, Thank you so much for responses and reposts. It worked! I’ve been in touch with Sylvie and she’s responded. This really is such a lovely, interesting and supportive community.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Just signed up! Really looking forward to it.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Oh wow! This is terrific! Thank you so much - will try and very much appreciate this!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

You are marvellous! Thank you so much - will do! Thank goodness for Bluesky and lovely people!!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

So looking for help from lovely Blueskyers out there. I’m trying to get in touch with Sylvie Neven who translated the Strasburg Manuscript, but have reached a dead end. Can anyone help?? Fingers crossed someone in our lovely community knows where she’s working at the moment. Thanks in advance!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Appreciate that this may be for those with mobility problems, but my goodness, isn’t it easier just to pick up a pen and write!!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Lee Mapley - last Master Parchmenter in the UK with craft skills passed down through generations.Most parchmenters in the world,not all,use machines for some of the processes in making vellum but it’s the hand skills & knowledge of the look, feel and sound of the skin that make his skins the best

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

2. Sadly the government doesn’t understand the importance of traditional craft skills and knowledge with no support at all. This fishing industry, for example, is well supported compared with the numbers involved and its GVA, but pretty much zilch for heritage crafts. Once the skills are gone …

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

1. Oak gall ink bites into the surface of the skin so that it doesn’t rub off as the pages in a codex slide over one another or a scroll is rolled and unrolled. However the ink can be removed by judicious sanding or rubbing with a pumice stone.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Cowley’s is a prime site for development being on the banks of a river.However it’scrucial that the parchmenters continues,it’s one of the very last hand produced vellum using traditional craft skills learned by Lee Mapley who produces the best vellum I’ve used.Really hope against hope it continues

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Oh thank you so much Unhurried Reader - that really is so kind of you and has very much made my weekend! What a lovely thing to say.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Well, I think it’s quite clear! It’s a specially engineered contraption for keeping his hair roller in place so that when he takes it out he has the perfect curled fringe. Well documented in mediaeval times!!!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Dear lovely Bluesky Peeps. I’ve just come across ‘margasitan argenteam’ in Borradails Strasbourg Manuscript translation. It’s obvs to do with silver (!) but does anyone have any idea whether it’s real silver or whether it’s like mosaic gold and the pretend stuff! Huge thanks in advance for any help.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I was there this afternoon and found it fascinating. Not only were there portraits of Elizabeth and courtiers hung so you could really see the details, a great film, but also exquisite miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. Well worth a visit.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Well done the Earl of Clancarty! Yet again standing up for crafts and the arts!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

So not only was the scribe having a fun day - look at those leftward leaning ascenders with a top curve and then a right flick, but whoever did that border wasn’t going to let a full colour shield and crown out do their intricate black and white pattern! It’s a battle between colour and monotone!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Many many years ago when I was training I wrote out, illustrated and bound the poem of the siege of Caerlaverock translated by C W Scott-Giles. Lettering’s not up to much but it was fun to do!

First page of Siege of Caerlaverock poem

Page from Caerlaverock poem written out and illustrated by Patricia Lovett

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I remember many years ago giving a talk on mss at the Grolier Club and it was made even more special as there was an exhibition of Audubon’s birds all around the room! Really memorable.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Oh I recognise this! I painted it for the Book of Hours (well six pages!) for the BBC Production of Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’. It was such fun to paint the hairs and the punk ears! Details on the link www.patricialovett.com/a-new-book-o...

patricialovett.com

A new Book of Hours (well 6 pages!) | Patricia Lovett MBE

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Silver AND white gold are thicker than yellow leaf gold - for clarification.

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Oh now this is interesting. It’s very similar to that in the Ramsey Psalter and I’m a bit foxed by both. I suggest that there could be two reasons. The first is that gold leaf (white gold/silver??) can stick to the substrate after the last hard burnishing. When a brush doesn’t remove it,

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

For goodness sake - bring that ink pot pillar closer you silly man! The floor will be covered in ink spots and it takes so much time reaching out that far just to dip a quill!!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

That is interesting.White gold and silver I’ve used has tarnished round the edges after about 25 years.The solution is to paint glair in tiny strokes over the top. Silver is also thicker than gold and both are tricky to attach to traditional gesso though there’s little problem with modern adhesives

years.is

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Interesting thought but not sure about this;white gold is more difficult to attach to gesso because it’s thicker than gold leaf. White gold has quite a lot of silver to make it white so I would think that it would tarnish as well. Yet another manuscript conundrum - that’s why they’re so fascinating!

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Fabulous Uncials but that silver (?) is amazing - no tarnish at all it seems.

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Paul Williams @paulwilliams207.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

We’re looking for 10 ‘living heritage heroes’ aged 65 and over who have worked in the pottery industry in any capacity - production, decoration, mould-making, packing, gilding or design - to share their experiences with 12 young people aged 16-25 and help co-create a new Clay Manifesto.

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Paul Williams @paulwilliams207.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Traditional craftsmanship and intangible heritage anchors the Potteries’ sense of identity and continuity and remain the real mainspring as we grapple with the challenges of global economics and advances in automation technology which have impacted the local landscape in recent decades.

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Bodleian Libraries @bodleian.ox.ac.uk · 30/05/2026

Your weekend watch! Watch the Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture featuring Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley’s Librarian, as he explores the deliberate destruction of knowledge throughout history and its urgent relevance today. youtu.be/TlKBAYH1KAc?si=whFJTfkNQAi…

youtu.be

Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture // Richard Ovenden: Defending Knowledge: Why Libraries Matter

YouTube video by Bodleian Libraries

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Patricia Lovett MBE @patricialovett.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I’ve seen nesting and flourishes, but this is NESTING and FLOURISHES!!

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