Birthday Bonanza

After a long and not-so-hot summer, September hits our family with a quadruple-whammy of birthdays in the first week alone. This can get expensive (admittedly one of the birthdays is my own, so I can't complain too much :-)) but it's also a great time to try and get creative. After spotting one of the envelope exchange jobs I'd done for my most recipient, my sister requested a hand-made card for her own birthday and I was happy to get scribbling with a few experiments.

Pencil sketch of the flourish

 After a little consideration of my efforts, I settled for a simple 'Happy Birthday' in gold gouache on front front of the card with a little hand-designed flourish (more of a doodle) underneath (see right).

Final 'rough'

As usual the final practice version of the card turned out to be the best one *sigh*, but I set about making four usable cards, each slightly different for the other.

The finished version sent to my sister looked a little like this:

Final version: Schminke Gold Pearl Gouache on Purple card, done with a Brause 66EF nib

(in fact it looked suspiciously like that!) the final four can be seen here in the gallery.

 

Constable Country...

 Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable weekend on the 'Calligraphy for Beginners and Improvers' course run by the Field Studies Council at their Flatford Mill Centre in Suffolk. Our tutor for the weekend was the wonderful Gaynor Goffe who gave us her undivided attention for several hours each day, and led the more novice of us through several experiments in calligraphic variations and also in the use of colour.


My own efforts were focused on developing my Italics, and one of the very first things Gaynor got me to do was completely change the mechanics of how I write. She got me writing with a far more sweeping gesture moving the whole arm instead of just flexing my fingers. This is wonderful for developing rhythm, but makes you lose most of your control at first (at least that's my excuse).

A new technique (click for bigger)

 Pages of practice ensued (I got through a small rainforest) the one on the right being a better example from when I'd regained a modicum of control. Basic concepts were taught and practised using a relatively large nib (2mm), but as we became more proficient we were encouraged to move on to smaller sizes, and then on to italic variations.

Smaller nib size, and some variations

The main variations included sharpened italic, variations in proportion and spacing,  and finally variations produced by picking certain letters, or groups of letters, and consistently extending them (see left).

Flourishing (paste-up)

Hot on the heels of these Gaynor went through adding some flourishes with me - this was by far the most engaging and enjoyable part for me, and steep learning curve in terms of what works and what doesn't (and which flourishes work in combination with others). To the right is a paste-up of the my favourite piece or work from the weekend. As well as a considerable amount of technical tuition, I also learnt heaps of tips and tricks for ruling up, laying-out and centring pieces of work. As you can see from the picture, all the individual flourishes are pasted on - this allowed to me play around with different combinations of flourishes without having to write the piece out hundreds of times. The finished piece, I think deserves a big picture all of it's own.

Flourishes - final version

The weekend was incredibly intense - every time I felt I'd got a handle on one thing we were whisked on to the next, but it was definitely the best use of the time available;  if you wait until you've perfected one thing before trying something else, you'll basically never get past step one. Gaynor persuaded us to lay aside fears of 'getting it wrong' and got us to just give new things a go. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but I learnt something from everything I tried. The challenge over the next few weeks is to re-visit all the things we covered during the course and try to consolidate it all.

Oh, and Flatford Mill is a beautiful place for a course like this!

I'm on a roll

Just a quick one to show off a page of Copperplate I produced last night:

This was written using an EF Principal nib and Higgins Eternal ink. The top paragraph was copied from the wonderful Universal Penman by George Bickham. An incredible book produced in the 18th Century showcasing engraved Copperplate and Roundhand scripts from seemingly all the Master Penmen of the age. If you don't have a copy go and buy one now - you can spend hours marvelling at it, and it's got lots to copy and experiment with, including some pretty spectacular flourishing.

The other quote on there was just what I happened to be listening to at the time. A prize for anyone who can name the musical!

I have come to the conclusion...

...that Envelope Exchange envelopes are like buses; you wait ages for the first one and then three turn up at once! Two more have arrived since my last post here - both nice examples of Copperplate, the most recent one being an absolutely superb example of what you can achieve in terms of layout and making the most of the space available - it rather raises the bar! (although in my defence I believe they've all been at it a bit longer than I have).

In turn I have sent my second envelope off to:

This one was written using my Brause 66EF nib in Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White. It's actually a dark purple envelope, but seems to have come out more black in the photo.

I also added a little offhand flourish like the feather pictured left (this was one of my practice ones). I'm always slightly terrified of adding things to an envelope that I'm pleased with, just in case I ruin it, but it's no excuse not to try really.


 Having received the set of Brause Bandzug nibs I mentioned here, I embarked on the 8 lines of continuous text needed for the CLAS certificate. I also decided to have a look and see what it looked like using the Schminke Red Pearl gouache watered down to use as ink. The results of my first attempt looked like this:

(apologies for the rather under-exposed photo - click for bigger)

I have to admit that I had huge difficulties getting the ink to flow nicely from the nib, resulting in several severely botched letters (it seemed reluctant to flow from both tines at once). I think it was simply a case of it being too thick ('Sorry Gromit, that was a bit thick!'), but having started I tried to persevere. Layout-wise it's not too bad, apart from needing to be consistently an inch further to the right, and this photo shows the pearl sheen of the ink really well. Unfortunately I don't think it's good enough to send in, so will have to do it again (probably just in black this time), but I was encouraged to see that amongst all the mistakes there's also so really nice lettering in there.
The deadline for entries is the 30th of June, so I'm going to be hard-pushed to get it all done in time, but if I work hard over the weekend I might be lucky!

And finally, here's a picture of the full set of Bandzugs in all their glory:

It's here!

Yesterday I received my first Envelope Exchange envelope! I love getting post anyway, and to arrive home to find a beautifully handmade and embossed envelope addressed to me in elegant, sloping Copperplate really made my day.

You may remember my anticipation in receiving my first envelope way back in this post. I have to admit I'd all but given up hope of getting last month's envelope, believing it to be lost in the post or forgotten about, but the sender celebrated a milestone birthday in May and had been rather rushed of their feet so didn't have a chance to send it until June. The beauty of the envelope and the touching letter it contained more than made up for the delay in receiving it, and I'm looking forward not only to returning the exchange, but also writing to the sender to tell them how much it brightened up my day :-)

Speaking of the exchange scheme, I really must get on with this month's effort as it needs to wing it's way all the way to sunny Australia! I'm not sure I've ever had cause to post something to Oz before, so it's all very exciting. And can anyone enlighten me as to where I can get my sticky paws on some slightly more interesting stamps? I mean, Liz II is all very well and good, but I was hoping to get something a little more... picturesque. Do I just go into a post office and ask for  a book of 'exciting stamps' ?!

Spaced out

Apologies for the recent radio-silence, things have been getting a little hectic of late and suddenly it's more than three weeks since I posted anything!

The eagerly awaited parcel finally turned up, and included a couple of Brause Rose nibs, some Brause 66EF nibs (plus special oblique holder for them), and Brause Bandzug 2.5mm broad-edged nib and some Moon Palace Sumi ink. Of all the contents I was only disappointed with the Brause Rose nib, but I will happily admit that I've hardly given it a chance and perseverance may prove that I'm entirely wrong - it just seemed to give very thick and messy lines :-(

Brause Bandzug 2.5mm nib

The Brause Bandzug (left) I am absolutely in love with. The Bandzug is a far better quality broad-edged nib than the Speedball nibs I have been using. Crisp, clean and smooth lines are consistently produced, and the reservoir holds seemingly no end of ink. It has a right-oblique cut for right-handed calligraphers that helps maintain nib-angle and is an absolute joy to write with. So much so that I've ordered the rest of the set (you can by sets of 9) so that I can have the complete range from 0.5mm right the way through to 5mm. Brilliant. What's more, the numbers assigned to each nib correspond to their width in mm - so no more having to remember which set of numbers is which width (as with almost every other manufacturer)! It's almost as like they thought about it.

Brause 66EF nib

The 66EF (right) is also lovely to write with. Smooth running without being excessively 'sharp' it produces nice hairlines and is particularly good for smaller  x-heights. Used in combination with the fantastically rich black Moon Palace Sumi I've been enjoying the results immensely.
The aforementioned Sumi ink seems to flow well from both of these nibs, but it has needed watering down a touch for use with some of my other copperplate nibs (the EF Principal in particular).


But enough waffle from me about calligraphy tools, what about the actual writing? Well for the last couple of weeks I've been working mainly on my Italics (just because they're easier to pick up and put down if time is tight) and playing with the above nibs. I'm fairly pleased with how my letter forms are coming on, but something was still looking a bit funny about the sheets I was producing. I asked my tutor, and he spotted it straight away:

Brause Bandzug nib, Higgins eternal ink (I think)

Both internal letter spacing and between words (I want to write inter-wordal, but don't think it's allowed really!). I've been working hard on this and it's getting a lot better - the consistency looks miles better and some of the practice sheets I'm really quite proud of, so I'm thinking of having a go at a CLAS Certificate to see what the pros think!

Here's a bit of Copperplate to show I haven't abandoned it! This is the text I'm thinking of using for the continuous prose bit of the certificate. I'm beginning to really prefer the 1:1:1 ratio for Copperplate - I think it always looks much more elegant than the 2:3:2 that I started with, so I'll stick with what I like best :-)









That's about it from me - I'm going to try posting more frequently in the future with the idea of keeping the length a little bit more manageable. Well done if you made it this far!

Taking a break from the pointed pen

This time last week I was wittering on about looking forward to learning the basics of Carolingian minuscule at my evening class. Here's how I got on:

(click for bigger)

We tend to spend the first half of the evening discussing a particular script and practising the basic letter forms, and if we feel we're getting on well enough we can then go on and try using it for a passage of writing. I'm a firm believer in running before I can walk, so like to practice by writing things out rather than just copying out the alphabet ad nauseum.
The rounded bowl-shapes of the m, n and h lean more towards Uncial than Carolingian (as does the rounded ascender of the d), but my Calligrapher's Bible used these and I preferred the more distinctive look it gave over the straighter stems that were more like Foundation hand. A great hand for anything with a slightly Celtic feel to it - especially with a Celtic-knot border. Care needs to be taken over the spacing though, as it really shows up any overly-large white spaces (or any cramped lettering).



In other news, my Italics also seem to be progressing well. Here's a practice page from last week:

Much more consistent than earlier attempts, but this does appear to have been at the detriment of my Copperplate script, which I've been taking a little break from recently.

The lovely blossoming Crab Apple tree that I posted a picture of last time has sadly become a casualty of the building works at home :-( but we do have some lovely roses (see right) to make up for it a little bit. Looking forward to choosing a replacement tree to plant in November though.

And here's an early attempt at some flourishing. Still waiting [im]patiently for my parcel...

Getting distracted

A couple of weeks ago I had every intention of diligently pursuing Dr. Joe Vitolo's videos on IAMPETH on Copperplate majuscules, but I appear to have got distracted by several other things and am yet to find the time to watch them.

First off I received my copy of Ken Fraser's Copperplate Handwriting and spent some time going back to basics and working my way through some pages of exercises. I won't go into too much detail here as I intend to write a proper review of it as soon as I get the chance. Then the builders moved in at home, bringing with them their own special kind of chaos; next I thought I'd try my hand at some offhand flourishing exercises (which is an excellent way of ruining a perfectly serviceable nib, but very satisfying all the same - pictures to follow); and finally I received my list of envelope exchange addresses for the next 6 months :-)

The envelope exchange is run by the CLAS Copperplate Special Interest Group and basically means you complete an envelope design for a different person each month. It's great because not only do you have a small project to focus on, but you get to receive a lovely envelope each month too. Obviously I'm not going to be posting pictures of people's names and addresses, but let's just say that the one I've sent this month is PURPLE with silver ink :-) (and even a small attempt at a flourish in the corner). I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out, but have learnt that Winsor & Newton metallic inks need to be thinned with water before being used for pointed pen work.

Things I'm looking forward to include:

• receiving my fist envelope exchange envelope
• receiving my latest order from John Neal Bookseller, which includes a DVD on flourishing techniques and some nibs to play with
• attending some workshops with renowned local calligrapher Gaynor Goffe
• learning Carolingian at my class tomorrow evening

And because this post would be otherwise entirely devoid of pretty pictures, here's some Crab Apple blossom: