More Calligraphy

More calligraphy, sorry if it's boring. Worked with reed pens again today in class (although none of the ones I made, the teacher carved these and although I modified the two I used a bit, there was quite a difference from those that I had carved myself - interesting? Maybe.) working with uncial letters - apparently the half step from capital script to a lower case script that developed through everyday quick, sloppy writing, which was then perfected by scribes to be used in proper texts.

Anyways, it was fun - I really love this class and working with these pens, I can't wait to see how I like working with metal nibs again when it comes up in class. When I get into it, it's so easy for me to understand how scribes and illuminators could spend the time writing these letters to produce the incredible texts they wrote. At points, I'd draw a letter and it would look like it came off a page of parchment in a book of days or something, and it's like - wow, this isn't impossible! But it is a skill, and it requires time, and thus, I love it.

Here's a bunch of details, sorry they're all so gray, I'm too lazy to scan these things.

And I'm Back...Alphabet Book

I'm back. I got lazy. A little sick, a little tired, a little more lazy.... but i'm back!


Here's the details from my last post.
Started that day off writing practice alphabets with the reed pens from class (and a few more I made that morning) and ended up ten or so hours later with this, a book (but not its' box) start to finish, in one day*:








So, it's just an entire alphabet. You should see the stack of mistakes I've got - they're really not mistakes for the most part, just letters that didn't come out how I want them. I've gotta figure out something fun to do with them, but anyways, I really like this book. It was a total fluff project, just practicing my handwriting, but I like it. Definitely somewhat inspired by Laura Davidson's work, or at least I have to shout her out because she uses a lot of ink writing in her work and it's really beautiful.

The book is SUPER long - the last photo, I think I'm holding the A over my head, and you can see that it hits the floor at only M. Gotta make a box for it, deciding between a slipcase and a box - but i've been playing with transparencies and I think that may come into play with whatever form the box takes...

On crappy strathmore pad medium weight run of the mill watercolor paper, torn down to two and a quarter by three inches. Letters written with handcarved reed pens with dr. Phil Martins peacock blue ink, watered down. Single sheets were bound with strips of decorative paper. The cover is decorated with blown ink.

More posts tonight.



*note: this is the first time i have done that, you know, make an entire book in one day like that, in probably two, maybe three, years.