Following several weeks of hard work really getting to grips with the basics of the Italic hand I felt as though I needed a bit of a change, and so decided to return to my foray into learning Copperplate. In keeping with my promise not to get ahead of myself, and to really get a handle on one thing before moving on to the next, I hadn't tried any Copperplate for some time. However, my new oblique pen-holder had arrived from
John Neal Booksellers, along with some Leonardt EF Principal nibs from
Scribblers, and I felt the time was ripe to have another go.
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| My new 5/8" Century Oblique Penholder |
Given that my initial attempts in Copperplate were with a straight penholder (necessitating crazy paper-angles) and a not-so-great Leonardt Crown nib, I decided to start again from the beginning to refresh my memory and get used to the new pen and nib. I hadn't been displeased with the start I'd made originally, but the lettering I'm able to produce with my new toys is miles ahead in terms of contrast and elegance (although there's obviously still a long way to go).
In order to learn in the most thorough way I can, I have been following the tuition in Eleanor Winters' 'Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy', which takes you through step-by-step building up the basic strokes before putting them together to form the lower-case letters. Having painstakingly worked through my alphabet, I'm now onto the heady heights of joined up writing! Each combination is practised in turn (even if you'd never usually use it) and this gives you the chance to look again at your letter forms, and also get a feel for spacing. It's hard work, but very satisfying when you get it right :-) Uses a lot of paper though!
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| A couple of practice sheets |
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Some days I can't seem to get it, but most days I find I'm making progress and find it very cathartic. I would recommend it to anyone!
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