Scribal Project: Order of the Orca for Eiríkr úlfr Þorisson

This is a holding space for a new scribal project I'm working on. It won't be given to the recipient until May 10, so nothing will be published before then.

The recipient of this award has a Norse persona and a love of viking ships. I searched for exemplars and landed on an image from the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Bayeaux Tapestry

For the text, I knew I wanted to use a Runic hand rather than a Celtic one. I researched how to use a Runic translator and decided that the closest I could get was translating into modern Icelandic, which is the closest to old Norse. I then translated the Icelandic into Runes.

The runic text and pencil outline of the ship.

Underlayer on the ship and start of the Orca.

From here, the ship will get a second layer to add the color that is on the tapestry.

Scroll with the paint complete, pending ink outlines.

Final scroll with outlines! Not as clean as I would have preferred, but not bad for my second scroll ever.

Tomorrow I will erase pencil lines and hand it over to the Baron and Baroness for their signatures. It will be presented on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at Barony of Tir-y-Don's Birthday Event.

The text reads:

A Barony must always be defended from those who would threaten it. One of Tir-y-don’s most staunch defenders is Eiríkr úlfr Þorisson. His prowess and his courtesy make him a true warrior. Thus do We, Jean Claude and Alyna,  create him a companion of Our Order of the Orca. Done by Our hand this 10th day of May at Return to Sherwood, Tir-y-Don’s 50th Anniversary, A.S. LX

To get closer to the runic order, I translated the English text into Icelandic:

Baróníu verður alltaf að verja fyrir þeim sem myndu ógna því. Einn traustasti varnarmaður Tir-y-don er Eiríkr úlfr Þorisson. Hæfni hans og kurteisi hans gera hann að sönnum kappi. Þannig búum við, Jean Claude og Alyna, til hans félaga í Orca Orca. Gert af okkar hendi þennan 10. dag maí í Return to Sherwood, 50 ára afmæli Tir-y-Don, A.S. LX

From the Icelandic text, I used a rune converter to see the Elder Futhark "translation." While not perfect, this gave me the runes in order that (mostly) makes sense, kind of. It's a bit too literal in places, but the concept works.

Once I had the text, I mocked up the layout in photoshop to find the dimensions and font size I wanted for my work. I then printed an outline and traced the image. I wrote out the text using a glass dip pen and ink. Paint is gauche.