Wax Tablets And Stylus: Reflection

[Titanic9990]

First and foremost-If anyone feels this post ought to be moved do as you please, I thought this would be the best area for this- oh well....For those who don't know, wax tablets are essentially slabs of wood with a recess that is filled with softened wax and a stylus used for scratching letters into the wax. The heat of the sun or one's hand can erase mistakes and thus in ancient times wax tablets were a cheaper alternative to expensive and permanent papyrus or vellum, and some(like mine) have multiple pages that are double sided. For some insane reason I wanted to make some. What an experience....After completing my quest for beeswax, getting free oak-wood because the store could not decide on the price, attempting to chisel out the 2-3mm recesses for the wax by hand (bad idea, and I'm sure anyone in a 5 mile radius of my house would attest to this fact), finding a friend with a router, melting and dying over a pound of beeswax, making beeswax wood finish, and pouring said beeswax (a skill which I still need to perfect) this project is finally completed. I undertook this task as I have been teaching myself Ancient Greek, and have taken Latin for six years now, and what better medium for inspiration while doing my Greek work than what the ancients used. Below are some images of Ancient depictions and examples and then mine. I know this is not "fountain pen related," however it is a major stepping stone in the stationery world that lasted for millennia, but is almost never used today. However wax tablets were made in France up until the 1860's. Now I see why the Ancient Greeks had slaves. Anywho, any questions or comments are appreciated- if anyone else is insane enough to try making this I'd be more than happy to give more info (I'd suggest starting smaller though). (P.S. If you've completed the first few chapters of Athenaze you might recognize the sentences in the wax ) "Sine cera" -D

Edited July 12, 2012 by Titanic9990

[bluemagister]

That is pretty cool! You now trump every hipster at Starbucks. When they try to flaunt their retro, you can whip this baby out and say "time to work on my Aenid...."

[inkstainedruth]

Very neat.

What are the dimensions of the finished tablets?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tess]

Gorgeous. I'm a Classics major with eight years if Latin and four of Ancient Greek and I'm *drooling*! This is a piece of art.

[Tweel]

That is cool, and a great exercise on your part. I hope that it lasts and that you enjoy it!

 

Any problems so far with airborne hair and dust?

 

I know this is not "fountain pen related," however it is a major stepping stone in the stationery world that lasted for millennia, but is almost never used today.

That is because humanity added the acetate sheet, so creating the Magic Slate and leaping into the modern world.

[shaylenwilliams]

That is pretty cool! You now trump every hipster at Starbucks. When they try to flaunt their retro, you can whip this baby out and say "time to work on my Aenid...."

 

:roflmho: Love this reply!!!

[Titanic9990]

As for the dimensions it's 8" 1/2x 11" (it's an "eye-appealing" dimension to the modern eye, I tried a golden rectangle but it seemed too narrow)

 

As for issues with dust and such- when I'm not using they're closed so no dust enters, and I added oil to the wax so it is more pliable and does not lose shavings everywhere, but not enough so it is sticky. Most hairs and dust just wipe right off -I don't see why i could not even just wipe it down with a damp paper towel >.< -however the real problem is erasing the wax, never comes out as smooth as one would expect.

 

Gorgeous. I'm a Classics major with eight years if Latin and four of Ancient Greek and I'm *drooling*! This is a piece of art.

I plan on majoring in the classics as well

 

And Bluemagister, the funny thing about your comment... it's so true However -I've already done my work on the Aeneid last year -excellent piece!

[marcomillions]

Congratulations, Titanic. About as true to life as could be. Bravo.

 

Here, tucked away at the end of your second thread, indulge me in a little pedantry to celebrate your achievement with these tablets--an achievement many may not realize the extent of.

 

Casual viewers may not recognize that the practice you've undertaken is much harder than it even looks. When, like the young man in the painting you've uploaded, they were writing, the Greeks used a number of practices very different from ours. (1) They used only upper-case (as we'd say) letters, which are easier to print, esp. in a medium like wax, but harder to distinguish one letter from another, and therefore to read. (2) They [a] used no spaces between words; and simply put as many letters on a line as would fit, then went to the next line without any indication whether it was to a new word or a continuation of the last word from the previous line (actually, it looks to me like you've broken rule 2b so you can recognize each line of text at least). (3) They did not use any of the complicated system of diacritical marks (accents, "breathings") that often distinguish one word from another composed of the same letters but pronounced differently.

 

Imagine what an English book would look like all in capital letters without being broken into words. (In fact, I'll put the previous paragraph into that form to give a sense what a challenge that poses to the reader. See below.) There's nowhere to hide. You'd in effect have to know the language before you could learn to read or write it. Now, we're pretty much in that position when we learn to read and write English, but pretending to be in that state with a language we don't know--especially a hard language like Greek--is difficult to carry off. Bravo again.

 

One last true-to-life aspect. If you look at the red-figure painting of a writer that you've posted, or any other that I was able to find on the web without too deep a search, you'll notice that all of the writers are young. It's students who do their classwork and homework on wax--because it's expected they'll make mistakes and need erasures. Once you've got your Greek together, you can put in your post-grad project: looking for the paraphernalia of the accomplished Greek writer--making the expensive paper (that is, papyri) and rediscovering ancient inks to use with it. Good luck to you.

 

Marc

 

 

Paragraph 2 (above) as it would appear in a Greek text from 700-200 bc.

 

CASUALVIEWERSMAYNOTRECOGNIZETHATTHEPRA

CTICEYOUVEUNDERTAKENISMUCHHARDERTHANIT

EVENLOOKSWHENLIKETHEYOUNGMANINTHEPAINT

INGYOUVEUPLOADEDTHEYWEREWRITINGTHEGREE

KSUSEDANUMBEROFPRACTICESVERYDIFFERENTF

ROMOURSTHEYUSEDONLYUPPERCASEASWEDSAYLE

TTERSWHICHAREEASIERTOPRINTESPINAMEDIUM

LIKEWAXBUTHARDERTODISTINGUISHONELETTER

FROMANOTHERANDTHEREFORETOREADTHEYAUSED

NOSPACESBETWEENWORDSANDBSIMPLYPUTASMAN

YLETTERSONALINEASWOULDFITTHENWENTTOTHE

NEXTLINEWITHOUTANYINDICATIONWHETHERITW

ASTOANEWWORDORACONTINUATIONOFTHELASTWO

RDFROMTHEPREVIOUSLINEACTUALLYITLOOKSTO

MELIKEYOUVEBROKENRULESOYOUCANRECOGNIZE

EACHLINEOFTEXTATLEASTTHEYDIDNOTUSEANYO

FTHECOMPLICATEDSYSTEMOFDIACRITICALMARK

SACCENTSBREATHINGSTHATOFTENDISTINGUISH

ONEWORDFROMANOTHERCOMPOSEDOFTHESAMELET

TERSBUTPRONOUNCEDDIFFERENTLY[ANDHERETH

EYWOULDJUSTSTARTANEWPARAGRAPHORBOOK]

[Titanic9990]

it looks to me like you've broken rule 2b so you can recognize each line of text at least)

mea culpa - It is true -This happened more out of habit than anything -Soon I want to try writing bloustrophedon, although students even in ancient Greece probably would have shuddered at the task on long assignments, being it was mostly for engravings.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Boustrophedon.png

I also found this on my recent trip to Italy at the Naples Museum, not necessarily boustrophedon but somewhat related

(Orpheus written backwards)

Edited July 16, 2012 by Titanic9990

[raging.dragon]

I don't think the ancients chisled these out of solid planks. The easiest way to make one with hand tools would be to assemble each page from multiple pieces: a frame made from 4 pieces of wood holding a centre composed of one or more thinner pieces of wood. Presumably grooves were cut in the frame pieces (before assembly!) to hold the center pieces in place. The grooves could be cut with a saw or chisel, but a plane would be the easiest way (even a crude one, made from a chisel blade affixed to a wooden wedge).

[Titanic9990]

I don't think the ancients chisled these out of solid planks.

You raise a very good point. From the ancient examples I've seen it seems that many were made just as you said -The ancient example I previously posted shows this on the far left for one can see the joints- However many of the smaller ones and the higher quality large tablets seem to have been made from one single piece of wood. Albeit made from a softer wood than oak, which I used. The ancients probably "wood" have( ) used beech or pine wood.

[fiberdrunk]

Wow, this is amazing! I've read about wax tablets but didn't know what they looked like. Thanks for sharing! This is so interesting!

[Dino Silone]

I don't think the ancients chisled these out of solid planks. The easiest way to make one with hand tools would be to assemble each page from multiple pieces: a frame made from 4 pieces of wood holding a centre composed of one or more thinner pieces of wood. Presumably grooves were cut in the frame pieces (before assembly!) to hold the center pieces in place. The grooves could be cut with a saw or chisel, but a plane would be the easiest way (even a crude one, made from a chisel blade affixed to a wooden wedge).

I spent a little time looking for the earliest records of frame and panel construction of the type you're describing. I saw some references to it as a Classical Chinese furniture construction method, but don't see any references to it being used in Ancient Greece.

 

Without using grooves and panels, it's still not that hard to hollow out a single plank for the wax with hand tools. Oak would definitely NOT have been used - they probably would have used a softer and easier to work wood like - I saw references to poplar, willow and linden being used for panel paintings. Linden is similar to our basswood, which is a great wood for carving - it takes detail well, plus it's soft and easy to work.

 

The initial hollow would have been done with a hand adze, generally across the grain - a matter of a couple of minutes on something this size for someone who knew what he was doing. (An aside - panels like this were usually cut so that the grain ran from side to side, not vertically.)

 

It would have then been cleaned up with a combination of chisels and a "widow's tooth" router plane (or even a similar shaped scraper), with the plane body being wide enough to straddle the borders (basically, a little more than twice as wide as the plank being hollowed).

 

For a writable sized panel, the whole thing (except for the initial roughing out and seasoning of the plank), would have taken about 5 minutes to make with hand tools.

[UncleJoe420]

Titanic9990, you're officially my new hero! Those wax tablets look amazing!

[Titanic9990]

The initial hollow would have been done with a hand adze, generally across the grain - a matter of a couple of minutes on something this size for someone who knew what he was doing. (An aside - panels like this were usually cut so that the grain ran from side to side, not vertically.)

I agree, these were skilled craftsmen with lots of wood and wax to work with, most likely having been apprenticed for many years. The Greeks revered oak wood due to it's connection with Zeus, and most likely would not have "wasted" it on wax tablets. In a way it is like taking planks of nice mahogany wood and churning them up into toilet paper in modern times. The Greeks were quite "green" for they used almost anything they could to write on: ostrakos (pot shards), wood panels, and it would seem that they would make use of whatever wood was leftover (softer than oak :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

Those wax tablets look amazing!

Thanks

 

Now I have to make a more permanent stylus, any ideas -I still can't decide on metal or wood or how to make it in general. It needs a flat end for erasing and a pointed for writing -Sorry no vacumatic, aeromatic, lever, cartridge fillers here

http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/styli.jpg

http://www.vroma.org/images/raia_images/stylus.jpg

[raging.dragon]

I don't think the ancients chisled these out of solid planks.

You raise a very good point. From the ancient examples I've seen it seems that many were made just as you said -The ancient example I previously posted shows this on the far left for one can see the joints- However many of the smaller ones and the higher quality large tablets seem to have been made from one single piece of wood. Albeit made from a softer wood than oak, which I used. The ancients probably "wood" have( ) used beech or pine wood.

 

I'd use a plane for that job. Even putting a chisel in a wooden block to make a crude plane (like this) would make the job alot easier.

 

EDIT: An adze, as suggested by Dino Silone, would work too. It didn't occur to me as it's tool one doesn't see much in modern times.

Edited July 17, 2012 by raging.dragon

[raging.dragon]

The initial hollow would have been done with a hand adze, generally across the grain - a matter of a couple of minutes on something this size for someone who knew what he was doing. (An aside - panels like this were usually cut so that the grain ran from side to side, not vertically.)

I agree, these were skilled craftsmen with lots of wood and wax to work with, most likely having been apprenticed for many years. The Greeks revered oak wood due to it's connection with Zeus, and most likely would not have "wasted" it on wax tablets. In a way it is like taking planks of nice mahogany wood and churning them up into toilet paper in modern times. The Greeks were quite "green" for they used almost anything they could to write on: ostrakos (pot shards), wood panels, and it would seem that they would make use of whatever wood was leftover (softer than oak :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

Not only would softwood be easier to hollow out, it would also be lighter, which would be advantageous for a writing tablet. Especially when several such tablets were bound together into a book.

[Dino Silone]

I don't think the ancients chisled these out of solid planks.

You raise a very good point. From the ancient examples I've seen it seems that many were made just as you said -The ancient example I previously posted shows this on the far left for one can see the joints- However many of the smaller ones and the higher quality large tablets seem to have been made from one single piece of wood. Albeit made from a softer wood than oak, which I used. The ancients probably "wood" have( ) used beech or pine wood.

 

I'd use a plane for that job. Even putting a chisel in a wooden block to make a crude plane (like this) would make the job alot easier.

 

EDIT: An adze, as suggested by Dino Silone, would work too. It didn't occur to me as it's tool one doesn't see much in modern times.

The adze was the weapon of choice for roughing out wood until not that long ago, particularly when the roughing out was done while the wood was still green. Panels were used to paint on, and those were made from seasoned wood. But a writing tablet that was more or less disposable and made to be covered in wax would probably have been worked green. The plane and chisels were mostly used on dry, seasoned wood, so they may not ever have touched these writing tablets.

 

The sequence would have been: axe plus possibly saw to rough size and shape. Adze to smooth and cut out the hollow. You could be done at that point, or if you wanted to get fancy, you'd wait until the wood was dry and then use the chisels, planes, scrapers, etc. Personally, I can't see them doing that for an application like this.

[marcomillions]

Messers Silone, dragon, 9990,

 

Please: not SO enthusiastic about wax tablets. (Or to make a pun parallel to Mr. 9990's: Please don't wax so enthusiastic about tablets. Ouch.) They're a neat technical problem, and Mr. 9990's version is convincing and provocative of further thought, as are the corrections and enhancements all three of you have been advancing. There's further work to be done, and resolving some of the issues you've generated will provide useful knowledge regarding the practices of artisans first of all and then of teachers too.

 

But do remember: wax tablets were a sideshow to the ancient world. Students wrote on them because they make mistakes and need to erase them. They need an ephemeral medium in which to practice their writing. But neither authors nor publishers of the Hellenic and Roman past used them. Plato did not keep notes for his classes or his dialogues on wax tablets, nor did Demosthenes his speeches [and so on and so on]. Like we do, they used paper and pen. And so did Plato's publisher when the time would come to offer the public a new expanded, edition of the dialogues.

 

Production of papyri in sufficient quantity and with the right qualities for ancient writing has problems of its own--likewise the manufacture of ink for the papyri--and it's these issues I'd be very curious to see you address to see the results you produce. So, a little longer on tablets by all means. But not too much longer. There's work to be done regarding the writing of the professionals, not just the students.

 

Good luck.

 

Marc

[Titanic9990]

marcomillions, I agree with your previous statement, and being that I am but a young student it is all the more fitting that I use wax tablets . You have just reminded me of something I was working on a while ago, Thank You! . Reed pens, the kind the ancient Greeks and Medieval Middle-Easterners used(still use for calligraphy). It's really very simple and best of all...free! I use Phragmites australis pictured below which grows in my area (plus it's invasive so people are overjoyed to see it gone). I tried cattails, but they had more of a spiral structure on the inside so they just unraveled. Any who, a few cuts with a knife and Ecce! a reed pen. Here I was writing with some old Herbin perle noir I had never bothered to open before (out of desperation, this pen truly needs a much thicker ink perhaps India ink). Anyone recognize the Greek I wrote? -->

http://www.blog.basilking.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/phragmites_stand_summer.jpg