Messages

346

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Broad Edge Calligraphy on Canvas

« on: July 17, 2019, 05:31:24 PM »

Best wishes finding the right tool!  (sorry I misunderstood how wide a nib you were looking for)

Those automatic pens come with nibs as small as 3mm (or 1/16 inch).  They are really great for textured surfaces.  But the witch pens come even smaller, if you need smaller (down to 2mm).  They're also very good for textured surfaces, because the folded nib won't catch on the texture.

Will you share a picture of it when you're done?  I'd love to see how it turns out!

--yours, K

347

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Broad Edge Calligraphy on Canvas

« on: July 13, 2019, 10:19:36 PM »

Perhaps an automatic pen?  https://www.paperinkarts.com/automaticpens.html

You can use any type of paint or ink or gouache with them - just load it with a brush from the side.  I've never used one on canvass, but it would probably work just fine.  I use them on rough watercolor paper all the time.

This sign was done with a couple different sizes of automatic pens: https://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6723.0

A witch pen would also work, but they don't come in sizes as large as automatic pens - unless you want to do split-nib work.  They produce wider split lines with a little pressure - they are surprisingly flexible and so. much. fun!  https://www.paperinkarts.com/miwipe.html

--yours, K

348

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / The Ramseyer Collection

« on: July 12, 2019, 04:37:56 PM »

The university library asked me to make a sign for a new display case showcasing rare books from the Ramseyer Northern Bible Society Collection.  It contains over 2000 religious texts from the 1230s to the 20th century, in hundreds of languages, including several varieties of Braille.  A first edition KJV, a very rare 4th edition Great Bible, manuscripts of the Koran and the Torah from the 13th and 14th centuries, and facsimiles of both the Gutenberg and the Saint John's Bible!  I get to bring students in to use the collection and curate displays, but the old title sign for the displays was just a piece of paper printed with plain san serif letters taped to the case!

349

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Female scribes through history

« on: June 29, 2019, 05:54:51 PM »

I didn't see Jeanne de Montbaston in the list yet.  She was an illustrator/illuminator who worked with her husband, Richard, at their bookmaking atelier in Paris, around 1320 to 1355.  She outlived him, and kept the business going for a number of years, so I think she must have also done scribal work.  Her illustrations & illuminations appear in some of the world's most beautiful books.  (examples at the Getty: http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/28932/jeanne-de-montbaston-french-active-about-1320-1355/)

She's also famous for the notorious 14th-century edition of the Romance of the Rose with illustrations of nuns harvesting penises off a penis tree (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. Fr. 25526). You can view the entire manuscript online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000369q.r=MS.%20Fr.%2025526?rk=21459;2

--yours, K

350

Show & Tell / Re: Happy 200th Birthday Walt Whitman

« on: June 01, 2019, 12:07:33 AM »

Thanks for all your kind and supportive thoughts, Allison, Bianca, Erica, and Kacy!

I haven't been able to do much pointed pen calligraphy lately.  I had a bit of a traumatic brain injury this winter that has left me with a slight tremor in my hand for four months now, so I've been concentrating on broad edge work, which is my academic focus anyway.  But I think I'm getting some control back.  You can still see the wavering in the hairlines in quite a few of the flourishes though.  And of course, all I can see are the flaws in technique and execution, and practice deficit, so I really appreciate all of your generous words -- you've given me the courage to keep trying.

Who knows - it may never completely go away, but it didn't stop the medieval scribe we call "The Tremulous Hand of Worcester," so I'll carry on.  I penned each of the Whitman poems with a different nib from a sampler I recently got (at least a dozen poems/nibs) - I'm having better results with some than others.  The Hunt 103 and the Hunt 106 have emerged as new favorites, probably because they're a bit firmer than my old standby, the Leonardt EF Principal.

Does anyone have any other nib suggestions?

351

Show & Tell / Re: Happy 200th Birthday Walt Whitman

« on: May 31, 2019, 10:40:43 AM »

Oh, the picture turned out blurry.  Maybe this one is better.

352

Show & Tell / Happy 200th Birthday Walt Whitman

« on: May 31, 2019, 03:35:40 AM »

Walt Whitman was born on 31 May 1819. So I copied some of his short poems to celebrate. Happy Birthday, WW!

Also - this is my first post!  I just joined in April(?) - I hope I'm doing this right.

353

Introductions / Re: Hello from Italy

« on: April 24, 2019, 09:20:19 PM »

Hi, Tricia!  It looks like we joined on the same day! --K

354

Introductions / Re: Hello from Mexico City

« on: April 24, 2019, 09:17:09 PM »

Hi, Cristina -- I'm brand new here too, and I'm kind of shy, so I'm trying to push myself to interact with people on the forum a little bit.  So thank you for being new too!  --K

355

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Bennardino Cataneo revisited..quills and broad edge

« on: April 21, 2019, 02:11:05 AM »

Oh, I'm brand new here, but I'm thrilled I have something to contribute! (but I'm sad this is the first reply to this thread on quills)

I always use turkey quills with my students - they're great, and easier to get where I live.  I don't find them very different from goose.  You can even use pheasant or grouse or any other bird feather, as long as it's one of the three primary flight feathers (the big ones on the outside).  The other feathers are too soft.  Get friendly with some of your local hunters, if you can, for a steady supply.

I'm sure you're tempering them and getting all the fluff out of the shaft after your first cut, but you could adjust the tempering a bit. Sometimes I cook them a little too hard, and then they get a bit brittle, and it's hard to get a really clean edge.

But if you're happy with the tempering, you could try to shave a little more of a bevel at the very end of the nib.  That's usually my last cut.  You have to have a WICKED SHARP knife though; I spend a lot of time honing my pen knives.  (a sharp knife is a safe knife! none of my students have lost a finger yet!)

A little reservoir is a good idea too - the bit of aluminum can you describe is good, but once it's glued on, you can't really recut the quill -well, okay, you can, but it'll chew up more of the shaft that way (I like to get at least 3 recuts on a quill before I throw it away).  Sometimes I shove a tiny spring up part way into the shaft to help regulate ink flow - the ones in cheap retractable ball-point pens work.  You might have to crack open a few of them before you find the right size.  You'll have to crack the housing on the disposable ones with a hammer or something - they're usually glued shut.  When you want to recut your quill, you can pull it out with some tweezers and then reinsert it.  Actually, you'll probably need the tweezers to get it placed right to begin with; make sure it touches the slit that channels the ink down.

--yours, K

356

Show & Tell / Re: Illumination

« on: April 21, 2019, 01:33:35 AM »

I should mention that I used vertical pencil guide lines to keep me on the "straight and narrow"!

Thank you for that helpful note!  I usually use grid lines to keep things straight for textura quadrata, and then I feel like a fraud for it. But if the amazing Ken Fraser uses vertical pencil guide lines to keep things tidy, then I'll consider it bona fide.
--yours, K

357

Introductions / Hello from Minnesota

« on: April 19, 2019, 02:38:56 AM »

Hello and thank you for having me in the forum. I'm a bit shy, so it's taken me a while to join, but I'm looking forward to being a part of it. --sincerely, K