Official Notice of Complaint
After completing the church plans, I decided to create the Official Notice of Complaint while the paper-staining and hand-lettering process was still fresh.
I did not base this prop on a genuine twelfth-century notice because the idea of the Buggane issuing a formal complaint is itself a deliberate comic anachronism. I wanted it to resemble an overly serious public notice nailed to the church door, reflecting the Buggane’s clean, controlled and slightly self-important personality.
I selected LTC Goudy Text as a starting point because its blackletter appearance suited the stylised medieval tone of the project. However, the typeface was designed during the twentieth century and is not period-accurate to the setting of the story.
I printed the layout at the required size and traced the lettering by hand onto another sheet of tea-stained paper. At this reduced scale, some of the smaller letters became difficult to read. The surface and irregular ink marks work well visually, but the legibility would need to be tested carefully during close-up photography.
I have included a video of the making process below, along with the complete text written for the notice.
It has come to my attention that you wish to build a church upon this land, due to the extreme level of noise you’re are making, I, the Buggane of Greeba Mountain, officially serve you with this Notice of Complaint and hereby order you to surrender any outstanding work upon this building. If you do not comply with this most official of orders I will have no choice but to report your annoyances to Manannin, Lord of Mann. If as well you do not stop your incessant racket, then you will leave me no choice but to exact my punishment upon you and your colleagues by rendering your place of worship unusable, be this by destruction of property or through legally mandated fear tactics.
Signed, yours ‘faithfully’,
The Buggane of Greeba Mountain
