The Art of Italic Calligraphy - Calliarts in June and July 2026

 Dear Members and Followers,

Get your slant on with our June and July Calliarts afternoon as we explore the art of Italic calligraphy.

Suitable for new and continuing students alike.

The Italic hand is probably one of the most versatile scripts available to today’s calligrapher, and although its roots are solidly based in the 16thC it sits very comfortably with us in the 21stC and can be used for any occasion, formal, informal, whether the words are funny, sad, or serious. You name it and Italic will be able to cover it.

For new or beginning students session 1, will focus on correct letter shapes along with correct spacing both between letters and actual words, along with the usual boring stuff you need to know about when starting to learn something new! You will be under no pressure to work faster than you are comfortable with.

For ongoing students wanting to brush up on some rusty skills, in session 1 you will have the added option of trying one or two of the many Italic variations.

Session 2, will see all students putting together a small piece of work suitable to your skill level.

Bring your usual calligraphy kit, along with your favourite chisel edge pens, ink or paint of your choice, paper towel or rag for clean up and reasonable quality practice paper of A3 or A4 size, a small nylon brush for loading ink onto your pen, plus at least 1 or 2 small quotes to work with.

Materials List - 

A3 or A4 layout pad -- or similar for practice work

HB pencil

Eraser

Ruler

 Speedball, Brause or Mitchell nibs.  reasonably large sizes such as SBall 2 or 3. Brause, 2.5 or Mitchell no 2.

Alternatively a Parallel pen 2.4 would work well.   (see note below)

 

Ink of your choice.

Small, cheap nylon brush (#1 or 2) for loading ink into the reservoir.

Water pot, paper towel, or a small hand towel for cleaning up.

A few quotes of at least five / six lines.

NB: we work with larger pen sizes to start with, as these allow us to really see where we might be making mistakes. Smaller nib sizes come after a little practice.

When: 13 June 2026 and 11 July 2026
Where: Sylvania Community Centre - Canberra Road, Sylvania
Time: 12.30pm - 3.30pm
Cost: Members - $20.00, Visitors - $25.00 (per class)
Bookings - email southscribes@yahoo.com.au

Bookings must be made at least 1 week prior to the class commencing.

 

June Calliarts - Italic Capitals

 Dear Members and Followers,

To quote a famous song "I simply must go, baby it's cold outside" is the perfect segway to our June Calliarts. It's cold outside so you simply must go to our afternoon of calligraphy. 

As a follow-up to  previous Italic calliarts, our afternoon this month will be centred on Italic capitals with Gloria Scott.

We will look at:

1) the basic capital letters

2) a subdued flourished entry as an alternate choice. 

Requirements

·       Usual calligraphy equipment (ruler, pencil, water etc)

       but particularly:

·       A3 bleed-proof paper pad.

·       Broad (chisel) edged nib pens either Speedball (or other brand) nib sizes 1, 2 or 3.

·       Ink or gouache, water pot, paper towel.

·       Coloured felt tip pens, felt tip broad edge pens.

·       Most importantly, your slope board (if you don’t have one, they are available at the hall).

Time: 12.30pm – 4.00pm

Date: 14 June 2025

Cost: $20.00 – Members, $25.00 – Non-Members

Place:   Sylvania Community Centre - Canberra Road, Sylvania

(near Southgate Shopping Centre)

 

Bookings Essential: southscribes@yahoo.com.au

 

Payment Options: Direct Deposit, Cash on the day or Cheque.  When booking, please advise which payment option you will be making.

February 2023 Calliarts - Ideal Italic

 Dear Members and Followers,

It is start of a new calligraphy year and we love bringing you Italic as our first script of the year.

The Italic script is one of the most adaptable and useful scripts in your kit bag of calligraphy

knowledge. For those with only a little experience we will look at the basic components that make it

Italic. Those with more experience will work on several extensions including a very spiky version. This

Calliart afternoon in February will get the year off to a good start re-enforcing what you might know

and taking you to areas you are not so familiar with. 

Materials list:

 A3 or A4 practice pad

 Ruler and pencil

 Ink – Black or Walnut

 Gouache or Water colour paint

 Any make of Chisel pen in several sizes. Manuscript, Windsor Newton, Speedball etc

 A5 or A4 piece of watercolour or calligraphy paper

 A Small quote

Date: Saturday, 10 February 2024

Time: 1.00pm – 4.00pm

Cost: $20.00 – Members, $25.00 – Non-Members

Place: Sylvania Community Centre - Canberra Road, Sylvania

(near Southgate Shopping Centre)

Bookings Essential: southscribes@yahoo.com.au

Payment Options: Direct Deposit, Cash on the day or Cheque. When booking, please advise

which payment option you will be making.

Calliarts - Italic Afternoon - Bernadino Cataneo in 1545

 Dear Members and Followers,

We start back in 2022 with Italic for our first Calliarts afternoon.

Come with me as we explore the Italic basics with the beautiful formal Italic written by Bernadino Cataneo in 1545.  This beautiful little “cancellaresca corsiva” script is quite amazing with its multitude of different ampersands and can be adapted to suit your own style and become very contemporary.  Italic is such a useful script that everyone needs to return to the basics every now and again.

With Valerie Keevers

When: February 12th 2022

Time: 1pm to 4pm

Where: Sylvania Community Centre - Canberra Road, Sylvania 

Cost: $15.00 -  direct deposit required due to covid

Bookings: Email southscribes@yahoo.com.au

Materials List:

·       A set of chisel pens.  Windsor Newton, Speedball or Brause.  (Ensure you have one large chisel pen and one very small chisel pen eg.  Size O and Size )

·       A3 size pad of Bond, Cartridge or Layout paper.

·       Ink of your choice in black of Walnut.

·       Usual pencil, eraser, ruler etc.

·       Water jar and rag.

·       Your own mug for coffee or tea.

This script looks beautiful on black paper so a small piece of black paper and Bleedproof white ink is nice to try if we get time.

 

Forget Cooler Days - Italic is All the Go this May

 Dear Members and Followers,

This May we are diving into Italic with Patricia Moody for both a Calliarts and a Workshop. Patricia is renowned for her Italic calligraphy works so take advantage of these days.

Calliart; Getting to grips with Italic - Saturday 8 May 2021

This will not be a structured afternoon dealing with all of the many problems individual scripts can present. Rather it will be a few hours of revision, with maybe a variation or two for those who might want to hone some rusty pen skills. Or, a basic beginners guide to letterform, pen angles, X heights etc for members new to the Italic hand.

There will be no pressure to achieve a finished piece during our 3 hours together, instead it will be a few hours spent among friends while playing with pen and ink.

Materials List: Bring whatever you have, or feel comfortable using. Larger pens, ie Speedball no 2 or even double pencils for the less experienced. A3 layout pad, eraser, ruler, pencil, and either ink or paint of your choice. (If the latter, don’t forget a mixing palette & brushes, water jar and rags/ paper towel) 

When: 8 May 2021

Time: 1pm to 4pm

Where: Sylvania Community Hall, Canberra Road, Sylvania NSW

Cost: $15.00 - payment before the afternoon via direct deposit

Bookings: Essential - email southscribes@yahoo.com.au to book and banking details.