Booked In

Dear Members and Followers,

Tuesday 23 September besides being a beautiful spring day and where better to be than in Sydney, meant it was our visit to the Mitchell Library (State Library N.S.W.) to view some rare manuscripts. 17 members and guests were organised by our publicist and social organiser Mirelle to visit the Mitchell Library.

We were meet by Lynette one of the Librarians in the Rare Books and Manuscripts section and taken into a special room where we were introduced to Rene and a lovely Librarian Technician whose name I missed. All three were extremely helpful and willing to guide us through facsimile copies of The Book of Kells and the Saint John's Bible (Donald Jackson) plus some extremely rare Prayer Books from the 15th and 16th Century. Their patience with our need to know was immense and I'm sure we were there longer than they had anticipated. 
I would suggest that if you are a calligrapher or a calligraphy group this is a must do. It is especially important to support our libraries in the work they do.

Here are some examples from the Saint John's Bible facsimile:

Text as Texture

Dear Members and Followers,

What a great weekend we had with the workshop "Text as Texture" tutored by Deirdre Hassed. All participants had a great time and learnt alot. As a tutor Deirdre was helpful, encouraging and prepared for whatever question we aimed at her.

Here are some of the works to come out of the weekend.
As always the rights remain with the artist and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Roundels

Dear Members and Followers,

A Roundel is a design formed using the circle as its basic shape. It is used in many crafts - garden , wallpaper , architecture and anywhere design is required . Calligraphic letters lend themselves to this shape and we will be looking at some famous and complicated examples then completing some simple designs of our own. Bring your pens, ink, compass, ruler, pencil, eraser, usual bond paper
for practice and a nice piece of A4 paper in case you make a masterpiece.
Helen suggests looking at Sheila Waters’ work – for some beautiful Roundels.
Saturday 13 September 2014 - 1pm to 4pm.

All rights remain with the artist - Helen Warren

Stop Press

Dear Members and Followers,

6 week Lettering Course Roman Lettering with tutor : Patricia Moody Code : 14/LC03/PM
Wednesdays – 20th/27th August – 3rd /10th/17th 24th September 2014
This course is commencing very soon BUT it is not too late to book a spot : contact Meril or Pat asap.

Text As Texture - Tutor : Deirdre Hassed

Dear Members and Followers,

Many well known Calligraphers use a variety of textures within one piece of work. This helps extract the meaning from the text. After studying some examples, we will build our own repertoire of textures exploring how they can be used to good effect on a single page.
On the first day of this 2-day workshop, we will take a more formal approach , devoting the second day looking at more experimental ways of creating texture with text.
Prepare to be surprised as your page takes shape you. We will be working mostly with black ink on
white paper using both conventional as well as freer lettering styles with unusual use of some of our tools, and just a splash of colour or gold.
This workshop is suitable for students of all levels , but participants should have a sound working use of at least one script. Deirdre Hassed.

All rights remain with the artist - Deirdre HAssed

Meeting and Calliarts

Dear Members and Followers,

Saturday 9th August is our next meeting from 10am to 12pm. All input from our members is always greatly appreciated. From 1pm to 4pm is our Calliarts time with this month being quill cutting. Brush up or learn, beginners and more experienced welcomed. Or just practice your calligraphy. All welcome.
 Quill Cutting:
If Vellum is the ultimate surface for a Calligrapher to write on, so a Quill is the ultimate tool to do the writing with. This mini workshop will allow you to cure, cut, and shape your very own writing instrument, straight from the middle ages. I will supply the feathers, but you need to bring:
A small cutting mat. A craft knife with snap off blades (please not a cheap flimsy one, but something a bit more substantial, although not as heavy as a Stanley knife) A crochet hook. Dry & empty aluminium drink can. Tin snips or scissors.

Flora

Dear Members and Followers,

This is an exhibition that looks to be worth noting in your diaries!