Medieval book art: Great creativity!

In the Middle Ages, the ancients used their versatility and creativity to create beautiful patches on torn or broken leathers.

In the Middle Ages, books were not made of paper like now but made of animal skin . The process of creating a parchment is not simple, is a work full of patience and requires skilled craftsmen.

When a new animal skin is removed, the craftsman will wash it to clean the blood and dirt. The skin is then soaked in a strong alkaline solution for about a week to make the hairs flake off. Next, the skin is stretched on a wooden frame like a drum to dry and start at the most difficult stage.

Patch on books made from leather.

The worker will now use a knife and shave on the face of the skin, remove any residual hair and shave the skin to the right thickness. In this process, if the skin is too strong, it is easy to create long cuts or make the parchment perforated.

Instead of throwing away, people use colored silk threads to patch them up.

For damaged parchment, instead of throwing away, one came up with a perfect way to fix it, which is to use colored silk threads to patch up, creating beautiful works of art. Patching is very common, especially in monastic communities.

Patching is very common.

The hole on the parchment page was beautifully patched.

The above parchment pages were taken from a 14th-century book. The hole on the parchment was beautifully patched after they were purchased by Vadstena monastery in 1417.

The holes are sometimes decorated with a border around or will be a 'picture frame'.

During the preparation of the book, scribes will skillfully write around the hole. The holes are sometimes decorated with a border around or will be a 'frame' for the image of the back page.

Some are cleverly transformed, forming special shapes.

In other cases, the hole is extremely cleverly transformed, forming special shapes. For example, the book on the top, 3 holes close together plus a few strokes made the face of a smiling man.

Book patch with many colors.

For scratches, torn, people use only to fringe the alternating color lines, across the page.

Patching books is a look beyond the immediate imperfections.

The mending of the Middle Ages is like the Japanese art of Kintsugi.

The mending of the Middle Ages is like Kintsugi art , using precious metals to seal the broken, broken ceramics of the Japanese, which is a look beyond the immediate imperfections, using meticulousness. and be patient to turn the throw away into useful, beautiful things.