Friday, October 23, 2009
Beverly Hills October 19, 2009
October 19, 2009
Beverly Hills Adult School Class #5: Today DeAnn covered capitals. The handout was an exemplar of Roman (simple serif) capitals.
For warm-up, we continued working with the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib on the text (if chosen already) that will be used for the manuscript project.
TIP: Use a post-it note to keep your place in the text that you’re practicing. Place the post-it underneath the line you’re working on and move it along as you progress. This saves you time and also helps you from mistakenly writing a sentence over again.
DeAnn stressed setting up your work area & your board correctly. Tape down the inkwell to your right, place the board in your lap so that you’ll right at table level, and clip down a few clean sheets of grid paper for padding, but don’t clip down the sheet you’re writing on. You should be able to move this sheet as you write.
Capitals are 7 1/2 – 8 pen widths in general (DeAnn had us write this on the exemplar). For today, we used the lines for the 2 1/2 mm nib that we were already practicing on, which makes the capitals barely 7 pen widths tall. So today, the capitals will go from the base-line to the ascender, but this isn’t always the case (e.g. Italic capitals are shorter than the ascender).
For these Roman capitals, the pen angle is about 30-degrees, steeper than the 22-degree angle for the Carolingian lowercase letters. These capitals have simple serifs.
Individual letters:
I – for better flow, write the stem stroke, then the lower serif, then the top serif last.
O – note the oval counter space (inner space); the outside is round like an orange. Keep your eye on the right side of the nib when making the first stroke, then on the left side of the nib when making the second curved stroke (i.e. watch the counter space you’re making).
H – the crossbar is slightly higher than the waist.
A – think “teepee” for the shape; the crossbar is slightly lower than that of the H.
T – cross the top so that the top side of the pen nib is on the ascender line.
N – steepen the pen angle to 45 – 55 degrees for the stem strokes; pen angle returns to 30-degrees for the diagonal. Be careful to overlap the ends of the diagonal stroke with the stem strokes.
V – for now, write the diagonal strokes first to get a more symmetrical letter before putting on the serifs.
Y – think “martini glass” for the shape. You can write the v-shape first, then the stem, if that’s easier for you to create a symmetrical “martini glass” right now.
Z – if you feel that the diagonal stroke of the Z is too narrow, try flattening the pen angle to thicken that stroke.
K – notice where the lower branch of the K touches the top branch. Don’t curve the lower branch stroke.
E – the middle cross stroke is slightly above the halfway mark.
F – the lower stroke is slightly below the halfway mark. If you were to imagine the stem stroke with a line at the halfway point, the lower side of the nib would be on the line for the E; the top side of the nib would be at the line for the F.
L – the lower stroke has a very tiny exit stroke (don’t curve up).
B – start like an L. After the top curve, start the lower curve and look at the left side of the nib to meet the slight exit stroke of the base.
R – start like a P. Look carefully at the exemplar for the placement of the leg – it shouldn’t curve.
G – pull the first stroke (lower curve) a tiny bit straight, keeping it close to the base line. From the halfway point, make a sturdy connection for the vertical stroke.
D – start like an L. Keep an eye on the left side of the nib so the curve of the D will meet the base stroke smoothly.
M – think of its shape like a V with slightly splayed legs attached. All the strokes can be written as down strokes or as down-down-up-down.
W – Think of the shape as 2 sets of diagonal strokes. All strokes can be written as down strokes or as down-up-down-up.
U – once you make the first stroke, look at where the curve ends & go up. The left side of the nib should meet the curved line as you write the stroke.
DeAnn’s TIP: When making the connections for the capitals: Look where you’re going, not where you’ve been. Also study the counter space (white space) of the letters.
DeAnn will e-mail us the stroke sequence (= ductus) for the capitals.
HOMEWORK: Practice writing your text with the capitals. If you haven’t decided on one piece yet, try different ones you’re interested in.
Illuminated manuscript project: dimensions are 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet with generous margins. Text written with 1 1/2 mm Brause nib. Decorative capital to start. Text should be 50 – 100 words.
Book Signing Party Nov 1, 2009 12-3pm
Please come to a Book Signing Party for Hand Lettering by Marci Donley
and DeAnn Singh
It will be held Sunday, Nov. 1st 2009 at Stampin From the Heart 11720 Washington Place, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310.391.0466 From 12-3pm
There will be food and drinks, Give Aways, Door Prizes. Carrie Imai, Lisa Engelbrecht, and Jane Shibata will do some fabulous demonstrations. There will be “Make and Takes” by Marci Donley and Karen Hutchinson (from Stampin from the Heart). Stampin’ From the Heart is a wonderful store with rubber stamping supplies, classes and scrapbooking supplies. This book was written for the casual craft artist who is looking for easy ways to put lettering on cards, scrapbooks and other craft projects. Artists scheduled to appear are: Jane Shibata, Lisa Engelbrect, Carrie Imai, Sylvia Kowal, Nancy Campbell, Helen Chu, Gayle Hatton, Renee Troy, Marci Donley, DeAnn Singh.
Other artist work included in the book are: Susy Ratto, Carol Pallesen, Patti Peterson, Karin Gable, Joan Hawks, & Melissa Dinwiddie.
You may buy signed books at the party or you can bring your own book to have it signed. Either way, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Oct 12, 2009 Carolingian at Beverly Hills
October 12, 2009 by Judy Shibata
Beverly Hills Adult School Class #4: We continued working with the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib. DeAnn had 2 color copy handouts, the Carolingian exemplar and the “quick brown fox…” alphabet sentence, both written with the 5mm Brause nib. She also brought illuminated manuscript samples and photo albums with more samples.
For warm-up, we wrote sentences with the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib, paying close attention to the homework DeAnn corrected and returned to us.
The class made name tags on red paper. DeAnn showed us to bend the paper lightly to figure out in which direction the grain ran. The direction with less resistance when you try to fold it is the direction of the grain & the direction that you should fold the paper for a cleaner fold.
DeAnn demo’d Zig calligraphy markers, Pilot parallel pens, and using watercolors with a brush to feed the nib. DeAnn doesn’t recommend learning or practicing calligraphy with markers or fountain pens because the student will not be able to use the nib successfully and become too used to the ease of markers/fountain pens. Learning calligraphy with the chisel-tip nib will enable one to use any type of medium and have the most flexibility. Once you learn how to write with the chisel-tip nib, you’ll be able to use any type of pen.
DeAnn likes using the Pilot parallel pens for Society for Calligraphy events and demos. Because the 6mm size uses up the ink in the cartridge very quickly, DeAnn dips the pen in ink (she likes Pelikan 4001). You can refill an empty cartridge with watercolor and gouache. Just don’t use waterproof inks. The nib section can be removed & cleaned if it clogs up.
There was a demonstration where we "pounced" the paper to help with the "bleeding" of the ink. It did help a little bit. Just lightly dust the paper with Pounce and rub it in with the felt ring then either blow excess off or wipe it off with your hand.
HOMEWORK: Continue practicing with the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib. Remember: 3-2-3 boxes for the lining. Look for text that you want to use for the illuminated manuscript project. If you’ve already chosen some text, practice that.
Intermediates: try putting the slant in (see the handout for exact angle).
Next week we’ll put the slant into the Carolingian.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Copperplate construction Lesson
Wed. Night class Sept. 30th( This is for Kali in the Stampin from the Hand class. )
We took the strokes # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and combined them to create all the letters.
If we look at a, we see that if we combine #7 + 8+ 3= a . Look at the exemplar that says Copperplate Stroke Sequence.
Follow each letter to combine the strokes you have be practicing to create the finished letter. There are no strokes that you've practiced for: k, r, s, z. X is like a #4 that the first stroke is diagonal rather than parallel then you can do the 2nd stroke from bottom to top. Just look at the exemplar and follow each letter. Don't combine into words yet. Use whichever nib you want and label your paper so you know what you've used. Be sure to label your nib identification chart after you've used each nib so you can teach yourself which nib is good for what. You will need to learn and remember this as you work on envelopes and other papers.
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writing carolingian with 5mm & 2.5mm nib. Spacing
October 5, 2009
Beverly Hills Adult School Class #3:
Warm-Up:
1. Come in and set up your work area
2. Tape down your ink well
3. Line your paper if needed
4. Put your drawing board into your lap
5. Write at the right level on the Board
6. Practice the pen angle & letters
7. Rehearse for the performance!
Today DeAnn discussed spacing for Carolingian. Unlike Italic or Copperplate, Carolingian does not have picket-fence spacing because the letters are so wide. Curved letters can be quite close together – think of Carolingian spacing as a pearl necklace. The overall look of the writing is round shapes placed close together running along the horizontal lines. Don’t place the stem strokes of the letters too close together; you don’t want to create dark spots.
For spacing between words, only put enough space to distinguish each word from one another. Too much space will make the sentence look like individual words in a list.
Archaic = old or ancient. In old manuscripts, the “long s” was used – it looks like a modern f but without the cross-bar. To create an archaic-looking manuscript, calligraphers will use the long s.
We began using the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib. For this width, line the grid paper with 3-2-3 boxes: 3 boxes from ascender to waist, 2 boxes for the x-height (waist to base), 3 boxes from base to descender; then repeat. Cut the 17” x 22” grid paper in half vertically (11 x 17) and line it as a landscape page (lines along the 17” length).
For practice, it’s OK not to put the beak serif in, so you can concentrate on the flow of the words and letters.
Pay close attention to the white-space of each letter form; this is called the “counter space.” Really examine and think about the counter space this week while practicing; this will help you form the letter correctly. Color in the counter space with colored pencils/markers and compare the colored shapes to the exemplar.
Tip: Let the left side of the nib slightly pierce through the base-line so that the strokes look the same length (e.g. the “i” or the 2nd stroke of the “n” where it meets the baseline).
Illumination Project
Start thinking about what text you want to use in the illuminated manuscript project for this semester. It should be about 50 – 100 words and can be from scriptures, classic poetry, or just pretty poetry that you like. Even if the poem or original text is too long, you can choose an excerpt for your project.
HOMEWORK: Practice writing text with the 2 1/2 mm Brause nib. X-height = 1/4 inch. Ascender/descender = 3/8”.
Interlinear space will have the descender meet the ascender. We will increase this in later assignments.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Westchester Adult School beginning class
We finished the alphabet today. Everyone worked letter by letter and we were sure to get each letter just right. We are still working with a pencil at 1 inch x-height. Then we worked on spacing between letters.
Vertical + vertical = farthest apart = the inside space of n
Vertical + curve = closer
Curve + curve = closest
Spacing is more important than the construction and accuracy of the individual letters. Overall good spacing will let the writing have a good rhythm and texture. We need to remember that each letter is basically the same size. We are going for "picket fence" spacing. Even space throughout. The assignment is to make up words to write keeping the spacing even. No dark spots of light areas. Practice and after writing some words, turn the paper upside down and see if it has even texture and "color". Look at it in the mirror. I like to squint my eyes down tight so all I can see is the "color" of the writing and it will show you if some are too dark or too light. When you practice, put in margin lines, be deliberate with every stroke. You are REHEARSING for the performance....don't take practice lightly! Here are some pictures of the demonstration in class.
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