Illuminations
A schema put together by Donald Jackson and the Committee on Illumination and Text tells which passages will be illuminated and designates the size of each illumination. Many illuminations are commissioned to artists or the result of collaboration between Donald Jackson and additional artists.
Quills
All the script is written using quills hand-cut by the scribes.
Only the largest flight feathers, called "primaries," are used: goose quills for the main body of text, turkey and swan quills for heavier letterforms.
Ink
The script is written in lamp black ink from nineteenth-century Chinese ink sticks made from carbon. The ink sticks are ground in an ink stone with distilled water.
Pigments
Vermillion, lapis lazuli, and other cakes and powdered pigments are used for color. The materials are mixed with egg yolk and water to make paint that is thicker than the black ink and loaded onto the quills using brushes.
Gold Leaf
Gold leaf makes the manuscript truly illuminated.
Using the moisture of breath imparted through a bamboo tube, the artist activates the glue binding agent in gesso until it bonds with the gold leaf.
Burnishing tools and brushes finish the gilded image.
Stencils and stamps
Stencils and stamps are used to apply paint and gold powder throughout, creating a rich visual vocabulary. Stencils and stamps are made from computer images and provide recurring elements within and across volumes of The Saint John's Bible.
Marginalia
In addition to the illuminations and special text treatments, the marginalia of the Saint John’s Bible also contains small crosses marking verses quoted in the Rule of St. Benedict, details alluding to major donors funding each volume, small animals inserting forgotten lines into the text, and Chris Tomlin’s nature marginalia.
Calligraphy Script
The calligraphic script was specially designed for The Saint John’s Bible by Donald Jackson with three qualities in mind: The text had to be readable, modern, and appropriately dignified for the Bible.
Jackson sought to design a script that would have “Speed – flexibility – juice.”
Subtle differences in the final script mark the work of the six individual scribes on the project.
Script size
The small letters are about two millimeters tall. The height of the script is directly proportionate to the size of the quill.
Committee on Illumination and Text (CIT)—the group at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, that works with the scriptorium in Wales by providing the exegetical and theological input for the project.
The SJB works with two human senses, hearing and sight: the bible passages are meant to be read aloud, preferably in a community at prayer. This is the Catholic tradition as well as the Benedictine tradition. Images are meant to be seen and the fullness of their interpretation comes from the Christian interpretation.
Lying at the heart of Benedictine spirituality is lectio divina, the silent, prayerful, and meditative reading of sacred Scripture. This method of Scripture study is still part of Benedictine life, and it follows a set pattern: opening prayer, reading the text, studying the text,meditating and ruminating on the text, and a final prayer. Lectio divina allows the reader to critique and judge the religious, theological, and spiritual content of the text without doubting that the words that humans have written on the page are really the word of God.
Donald Jackson is one of the world’s foremost Western calligraphers. As a scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, he was responsible for the creation of official state documents. In 1985, he received the Medal of The Royal Victorian Order (MVO). Jackson is an elected Fellow and past Chairman of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, and in 1997, was named Master of the 600-year-old Guild of Scriveners of the city of London.
In 1998, Saint John's Abbey and University commissioned Jackson to produce the handwritten, hand-illuminated Bible. Under Jackson’s direction, an international team of calligraphers brought together the ancient techniques of calligraphy and illumination with an ecumenical Christian approach to the Bible rooted in Benedictine spirituality.
Chronology of Books completed:
May 2002: Gospels and Acts completed
August 2003: Pentateuch completed
April 2004: Psalms completed
April 2005: Prophets completed
July 2006: Wisdom Books completed
March 2010: Historical Books completed
May 2011: Letters and Revelation completed
Human Resources
Eleven members of the Committee on Illumination and Text advised
Fifteen scribes and illuminators.
Each of the 1,165 pages took 7-13 hours to execute.
Cost
Initial estimates for the project were $3 million
The completed work came to $8 million
The names of all donors are inscribed in a hand-illuminated “Book of Honor” held at Saint John’s University.