Messages

826

Tools & Supplies / Re: Show us your favorite nib holders!

« on: April 29, 2014, 02:21:53 AM »

Here is one I made for my teacher:



This is carved from Dark Walnut - it is really light and well balanced.



These two are my favorites, they are both made from Walnut. The darker one has a slightly thicker grip. The lighter one is in almost constant use.



And finally - here is a more experimental design. The places where the fingers and the thumb fall are carefully carved to feel the same as a conventional shape would. I'm not sure if it would fit others with a different grip or hand size but it works well for me :-)




- Salman

827

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Gothic Batarde & Italic

« on: April 22, 2014, 02:15:54 PM »

Thank you Lori. It wasn't the best writing experience I had but it did do one thing for me - it forced me to write very slowly which helped a lot with the spacing. I did end up getting something positive from the exercise.

I like the way it looks too. I plan on writing Rudyard Kipling's 'If' on a sheet at some point - the challenging process, the background of a crumpled sheet and the required perseverance seem fitting for the subject.

Salman

828

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: LETTERING : How to engrave your own handwriting

« on: April 21, 2014, 01:07:05 PM »

Jean - many thanks for sharing this. Not only is your work beautiful, your generosity in sharing what you know is commendable.

BTW - did you engrave the flange in that beautiful holder too?

- Salman

829

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Gothic Batarde & Italic

« on: April 20, 2014, 11:19:07 PM »

Thank you for the kind words Erica.

The delicacy of the second line is purely by chance. I had to thin the Gouache a bit to get it to flow well in the thinner nib. I was surprised to see that this caused the ink to bead up ever so slightly causing the resulting lines to be thinner than expected. I learned something new :-)

S.

830

Kind Critique / Re: Opinions on Monogram Stationery

« on: April 19, 2014, 03:17:55 AM »

Lori - what a lovely idea and what a beautiful monogram.

I would suggest tracing over your rendering using bezier curves in a vector drawing program (Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape). This will allow you to iron over any imperfections and play around with the composition a bit more. If you want to stick with the hand rendered version, there is nothing wrong with making a much larger version and then reducing it on the computer.

Keep an eye on the overall size. The proportions you show on your roughs is good for the one without a border, play with a smaller size for the ones with borders as they seem a bit too big for the size of the page.

Please do share your final version if its ok with you.

- Salman

831

Tools & Supplies / Re: Need help deciding on a black ink, please

« on: April 19, 2014, 02:54:24 AM »

Jessica - Winsor & Newton Matt Black is an excellent ink for Calligraphy, especially with broad-edged pens. Their India ink is great for drawing but doesn't flow as freely as I like. The Speedball India ink also requires the nib to be wiped clean from time to time and isn't the best flowing ink in my opinion.

I have no experience with Dr. Martin's ink you mentioned.

Higgins Eternal is a good no-fuss black ink for practice with dip pens. It is well behaved with both pointed and broad pens and cleans up easily. It is not as dark or opaque as the W&N Matt Black ink though.

Interestingly, Noodlers Black, although a fountain pen ink, flows very well in pointed pens for me, it isn't that great with broad-edged pens though.

I hope this info. is of some use to you :-)

-Salman

832

Introductions / Re: Hello from Toronto

« on: April 19, 2014, 02:46:29 AM »

Torrie - Arabic is indeed interesting to look at. The variety of forms resulting from the different ways letters can be joined is lovely to explore and behold. Some scripts (e.g. Diwani) allows for non-standard ligatures making it even more interesting.

I hope it will be ok to upload some Arabic Calligraphy examples as this forum is focused on western calligraphy.

S.

833

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Gothic Batarde & Italic

« on: April 19, 2014, 02:40:35 AM »

From time to time I find that I have taken up something that is more punishment than practice - this was one of those times. Having bought some furniture recently, we were left with a decent amount of Kraft paper. Not one to let any writable surface unexplored, I decided to use it for practice.

As it turns out, Kraft paper is a very challenging surface to write on - it is rough and has fibers that get in the way and is very tough on nibs. On the positive side, it takes a wide variety of inks and paints very well. Here is one of the results - this is done with white Gouache and William Mitchell nibs.



- Salman

834

Introductions / Re: Hello from Toronto

« on: April 16, 2014, 04:52:27 PM »

Thanks for the welcome thistledesignstudio - it is good to be in the company of so many professionals.  I hope to start contributing to the other forums soon.

Salman

835

Introductions / Re: Hello from Toronto

« on: April 15, 2014, 01:26:54 AM »

Thank you Stefanie - it is great to see a familiar face here.

You didn't need much help from what I remember - I look forward to seeing your work on this forum. It must have improved even further.

Many thanks for the welcome.

Salman

836

Introductions / Re: Hi from the UK

« on: April 14, 2014, 01:24:13 AM »

Welcome aboard from another new member.

That is a very nice Roundhand - what a lovely introduction.

Salman

837

Introductions / Re: Hello from Toronto

« on: April 14, 2014, 01:20:53 AM »

Thank you Jean. Please do go ahead and make one. I had absolutely no idea how it was going to turn out when I carved my first one and it has turned out to be very worthwhile. Feel free to ask any questions you might have - the flanges can be a bit tricky at times for the oblique holders.

Please do let us see what you make.

S.
 

838

Introductions / Re: Hello from Toronto

« on: April 13, 2014, 07:38:40 PM »

Thank you for the warm welcome Erica - and thanks for visiting my blog too. I don't get nearly as much time as I would like to practice Calligraphy and carve holders. I remain envious (and in awe :-) of people who are lucky enough to be doing Calligraphy as a job.

I'll be hanging around.

Salman

839

Introductions / Hello from Toronto

« on: April 12, 2014, 04:58:24 PM »

Hi all - my name is Salman and I live in Toronto. I have been a Calligraphy enthusiast for a while. I dabble in both Arabic and Western styles and enjoy combining different hands and languages. Some examples of my work are available on my very infrequently updated blog at: http://salmankhattak.net/blog.

I hope to participate to both learn and share whatever I know.

- Salman