Uncial – Pointed Nib – Workshop 18 February 2017

Dear Members and Followers,

Yours truly is taking you through the joy of Uncial but this time time with a pointed nib.

Many calligraphic hands lend themselves to the lightweight texture of the pointed nib and you will also find that pointed nib work has a certain gracefulness about it.

This one day workshop will utilise a pointed nib to create the uncial script instead of a traditional chisel-edged nib (it will not be the modern uncial script previously taught).

Materials List:

·        Usual calligraphy gear (ruler, A3 or A4 bleedproof or bond paper, eraser, ink or gouache, lead pencils, etc.)

·        Straight pen-holder

·        Straight pointed pen nib/s (bring what you have to experiment with. A Gillot 404 is a good start as it is a little stiffer which makes learning how to obtain thicks through pressure easier)

·        Tracing paper

Suitability – All levels.*

 * If you are a beginner to calligraphy and would like to spend the time learning Uncial hand with a chisel nib, please contact us as arrangements can be made to accommodate you on the day.

Kindly supported by Sutherland Shire Council

Calliarts - February 2017 - "Fill the Space"

Dear Members and Followers,

The first Calliarts for the year is with Gloria Scott, one of our wonderful in-house tutors.

Following the February meeting we will have another relaxed

Calliart afternoon playing with pens,pencils, brush and paint.

We will create some useful line endings and fillers to "loosen up"

and then put our talents to a piece of calligraphy.  So if you have

some unfinished layouts or trial pieces, please bring them along.  I will

bring a few short quotes and verses for your use.

Materials required:

 

*  Your usual calligraphy gear:

*  A3 layout pad

*  non permanent ink or guache colours premixed

*  0.4 black fineliners and colours if you have any

*  gel pens, pencils

*  a few gouache colours or water colours with a a good paint brush,

   nylon is good but must have a good point

*  or water colour pencils and paint brush

*  folder for handouts

Forme of Cury: A Medieval English Cookbook

Dear Members and Followers,

Do you want to rethink Christmas in our hetic commercial world then look to the past http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/12/forme-of-cury-a-medieval-english-cookbook.html

‘Chykens in hocchee’ in Forme of Cury, Add MS 5016.

Explore Greek Manuscripts Online

Dear Members and Followers,

The British Library has now digitised and published online more than 900 Greek manuscripts. You can read more about their efforts here http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/12/explore-our-greek-manuscripts-online.html

Depiction of the call of David to be a King by Samuel, in the Theodore Psalter, Constantinople, 1066: Add MS 19352, f. 27v

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses

Dear Members and Followers,

Medieval scribes protected their work by threatening death, or worse. 

Read all about their curses here (but please don't take their books!).

Protect Your Library 

 A 15th century portrait of a scribe. Jean Le Tavernier/Public domain

Calliarts - Word of the Month - Final Edition

Dear Members and Followers,

“Word of the Month” Book

On Saturday 12 Nov 2016 our Calliart was the assembly of our “Word of the Month” pieces into a booklet under the guidance of our tutor Penny Laver.  It was an afternoon of fun with wielding of hammers and awls and needle and thread in our foray once more into the art of basic bookbinding.  We even drew the interest of cricketers in the adjacent field who came to see what all the tapping was about. 

The finished products were diverse and interesting with some very imaginative covers and it was a satisfying completion to our yearlong project.  Penny as always was very patient with our efforts at mastering the crisscrossing of threads in the binding and we all completed our task with a nicely bound little book.  

Meril

Calligraphy Southscribes, Inc. is kindly supported by Sutherland Shire Council 

Batarde Workshop Report

Dear Members and Followers,

29^th October 2016  10 am – 4 pm       Tutor; Val Keeevers

Held at Sylvania Community Centre, Canberra Road, Sylvania

We had a moderately small group attending for this rather complex and demanding subject. It ranged from older members to a completely new member and plenty of variety in-between. 

Val was busy with each and every level of competence receiving clear and helpful information to keep us busy with the intricacies of the lettering, which cover alphabets from 12^th C to 16^th C.

As Batarde is a hand used in England, France, and Germany there are many variations and this allows considerable freedom of form and style.

Val had lots of lovely examples of books, including a “Book of Hours” facsimile, plus a dozen handout exemplars.  Like Val, most of the others and I enjoy having plenty of references to look at and use “at our leisure”.

We worked hard to try writing the many examples of variants, with their many complexities.  At the same time we had interesting and pleasant conversations about the numerous hands and their applications.

Mary, our new participant did amazingly well with Val's intense instruction, and seemed to enjoy calligraphy as much as we all do.  It really was a case of “so much to do, so little time.

Thanks to Val for her knowledge, enthusiasm, and effort.

Kath 

Calligraphy Southscribes, Inc. is kindly supported by Sutherland Shire Council