Drawing Lines (and keeping them straight)

Before any writing can be done, the page has to be prepared. The design is called the 'mise-en-page', and it turns out that there are many difficult and complicated ways of doing it. After messing about with harmonious rectangles for some time, I decided that, given the small size of my bifolia (150mm x 200mm), I would need to maximise the text area or it would be too small to contain any writing. I have attempted to apply the 'Recipe of Saint Remi', which lays out a set of proportions for the parts of the page. The upper margin is ⅔  the width of the lower and outer margins, and the inner margin is ⅔ that of the upper. I decided that most pages would have lines ruled straight across, but I've added four pages with columns, where the gap between columns (intercolumn) is the same width as the inner margin. 

Once I had decided on my layout, the next job is to prick guide dots down the edges of the pages. 

I used an awl for pricking, and tried pricking at the outer edges, using a ruler to keep the pricks in a

straight line. After pricking, the holes were ruled with a blind tool (a blunt darning needle, in this case).

The resulting lines are clear enough to see on the front and the back of the page.

I also used in-text pricking and intercolumn pricking on some of the pages. These were ruled with

a pencil, which I found much easier.

Here are the four ruled bifolia of my finished quire, ready for text and decoration!