County scroll, part 2

Today was a day of calligraphy mockups and important discoveries. The most important of these was that my text doesn't quite fit my planned text block, so I'll have to try again tomorrow with two different options. One is the same size text block with narrower lines, and the other is the same size lines but a larger text block (narrower border). I'm pretty sure they'll both work, and then it'll just be a matter of deciding which one I like the look of better. 

The block on the right doesn't fit all the text. The second one, on the left, was done with a smaller nib, and the text just barely squeaks into the space, but there's no room at the bottom for signatures from the people who actually authorized the award in the first place.

If you look closely, around the margins you may see notes that I make to myself about what size margins I've used, the setting on my lettering guide, and so forth. It's all useful information to have, once I'm ready to proceed. 

This is the stage of scroll production that is not glamorous. No fancy materials here, no shiny gold or colorful paint. It's drafting and engineering at this stage! "Measure twice, cut once" applies here just as it does in woodworking. But it's a crucial step; in fact, it's fundamental to everything that follows. So I'm showing it to you in case you're a beginning scribe yourself, and want to see how the setup works. 

Feel free to ask me questions in the comments!