Hands up project (Quires)

Deciphering secrets, Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe

Emiliano Ortega Rousset/ UNAM/ 13/07/2021

Hands up project
Making the Quires

Emiliano Ortega Rousset

UNAM

Hi, now I’m submitting the process of

doing the quires o gatherings. To start I
did not choose any size, but instead just
fold the “parchment” paper to see how
looks like & explore visually their
proportions, folding at a first moment in
quaternion. In despite of smaller
differences, the sheet is almost the same
size as the described in the exercise & my
final quire are of 25 x 16.3 cm.
 Hands up project (Quires)
Deciphering secrets, Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe
Emiliano Ortega Rousset/ UNAM/ 13/07/2021

As a next step I bend another sheet it in

octerno (32 pages), using a sharp bone
tool I already had from a lithography
class. For this case I choose the codex
purpureous sheet.

I use the folding method of bend the

“parchment” following the spine & as
result I could appreciate the natural
appearing of the Gregory’s rule. Then I
cut the folds with the bone & therefore the
sheets had a raw irregular edge extra to
the previous cuts & details made in the
previous exercise.

The size of these manuscript quires are

16 x 12 cm (octernos) . & after consider it
a few moments I decide this will be my
project general size, although I keep
some quaternios to do something extra.
 Hands up project (Quires)
Deciphering secrets, Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe
Emiliano Ortega Rousset/ UNAM/ 13/07/2021

Choosed the general size I star folding all

the pieces. At first I keep the “spine”
folding process, but at the middle I
change to fold the sheets at the middle,
cut them & then do the “spine” folding
process. Both methods gave equally
results.

I choose fold the folios with the hairy side

at the exterior of the bifolia. As well I try to
make the quaternios observing the
Gregory’s rule.

To keep my quires in order I choose the

signature system rather than tacketing
them. In every quire I wrote a letter & the
page number (a1, a2, a3, a4, etc. So I
had now eight bifolia each one with 16
pages marked from A to I letters. Also I
maintain the same system in the codex
purpureous.

.
 Hands up project (Quires)
Deciphering secrets, Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe
Emiliano Ortega Rousset/ UNAM/ 13/07/2021

At the end I stick to the quaternios,

making a manuscript of eight fascicles
each one made of a single quaternio. Also
I spare a full sheet just folded to impose
the text if necessary, plus a sheet just
folded in singulion & cut. Just to try to do
something bigger.
 Hands up project (Quires)
Deciphering secrets, Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe
Emiliano Ortega Rousset/ UNAM/ 13/07/2021

Visual references: