Messages

31

Introductions / Re: Hi from Switzerland

« on: May 23, 2020, 07:05:49 AM »

Hello everyone
My name is Nicole and I am from the eastern part of Switzerland. Thank you so much for letting me participate in this forum, I am so happy to be here.
I startet a year ago with cursive and just startet with pointed pen. My goal is to write my wedding invitations next year by myself. My main struggle ist where to get all the supplies because local stores are more in letterin and not calligraphy and amazon is not delivering to Switzerland... so if there is anybody from Switzerland, I would be happy to get some tips.

@Nicole Welcome to the Forum! I’m from Germany … But there is actually a wonderful supplier for calligraphy in Basel, I order all my walnut ink from there! They also have a good selection of modern and antique nibs etc.:

https://www.kalligraphie.com/24-0-Online-Shop.html

32

Word of the Day / Re: Professionally chosen words to test combinations

« on: May 23, 2020, 07:00:58 AM »

@Estefa I did see the other lists. There's also the pdf to download with all of them. I figured the all-capital lists were not as realistic for most calligraphers, unless you do Roman incised or something like that.

This article prompted me to look up to find more pangrams and found this German one, I'm sure you're already familiar with, that uses all of the umlauts as well. 

Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich

@AAAndrew Hehe, I do know that. You know what it means? Another one that is as short as possible is:

"Fix, Schwyz!" quäkt Jürgen blöd vom Pass. ("Quickly, Schwyz (a village in Switzerland)!" squawks Jürgen stupidly from the Pass.) Strictly speaking, that's not complete as the F and J are capitals and the ß is missing. You can write "Paß" like this, but then it’s not correct after the new orthographic rules …

33

Tools & Supplies / Re: Light pad recommendations

« on: May 23, 2020, 06:51:16 AM »

I bought a Huion light table in A2 size in 2017 – my son has the same in A3. Both are still fine and work nicely! But I don't use it daily …(The sizes are a bit smaller than actually A2 re A3 though!)

34

Word of the Day / Re: Professionally chosen words to test combinations

« on: May 20, 2020, 04:59:02 AM »

Wow, that’s really faszinating, @AAAndrew ! Did you see that there are even extra lists for caps and small caps? They should be really useful for practising roman majuscules!

I’m tempted to cook up something like that for German, but I think it would be a distraction  …

35

Tools & Supplies / Re: Nib Recommendations, Similar to Brause EF66

« on: May 06, 2020, 07:37:30 AM »

There are lots of similar nibs, have a look here:

https://www.kalligraphie.com/store/index.php/language/en/cat/c36_Spitzfedern-Typ--Alfred-.html/?x92bac=gsksbnsrqioven8svgtsab1f56

I don't know though if they're all similar regarding flexibilty. You could ask the shop owner who is a calligrapher himself !

36

Show & Tell / Re: Seventeenth Century Will

« on: March 31, 2020, 09:13:32 AM »

Oooh I love this, @Ken Fraser ! It's Secretary Hand, right?? It was one of the styles that first drew me to calligraphy. I enjoy this mix of everyday handwriting and calligraphic elements.

37

Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: Can you help me?

« on: March 15, 2020, 03:22:52 PM »

Yeah, that’s right …

38

Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: Can you help me?

« on: March 08, 2020, 05:29:24 AM »

Does sand from a lake count too ? We have here quite a lot of these …

39

Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: Can you help me?

« on: March 03, 2020, 05:37:47 PM »

Like tiny jewels !

40

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Just starting out and slightly struggling

« on: February 28, 2020, 12:28:31 PM »

It's a very nice, smooth modern nib! A steno nib and also called Blue Pumpkin, so I’m sure you know it, @Erica McPhee !

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Just starting out and slightly struggling

« on: February 28, 2020, 04:42:28 AM »

I agree with everything @Erica McPhee said regarding ink and paper! You could also try Pelikan 4001 in blue or blue black (fountain pen ink), which both work nicely straight from the bottle and are maybe easier to find than the more special calligraphy inks.

However, I find nothing speaks against using the Brause 361! You can get more line variation out of it than you think, check the attached sample, that was made with Ziller's Soot Black (an acrylic ink, thinned) and a Brause 361. With walnut ink you’ll get even nicer hairlines with this nib (this was made for reproductions, so I wanted thicker hairlines).

I regularly recommend the Brause 361 as a beginner’s nib, also in my classes, and people get along very well with it. You can press down more than you actually do. But I think your ink is too thick, or just not right for pointed pen, because your hairlines look much too fat.

And I also agree with Erica that you’re off to a very nice start !

42

Guidelines / Re: Need help with creating lettering practice sheets with guidelines and my letters

« on: February 19, 2020, 01:46:54 AM »

@Alma I make guidelines always in InDesign. Command alt U allows you to repeat the same lines (or any object) over and over in the distance you need. Then just add the scanned letters as tiffs and put them over the guidelines. I like to put the pics on a separate layer so I can lock the guidelines layer and don’t accidently change the lines’ position. Or you can put the guidelines on a master page, so they’re securely locked.

43

Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: We are moving to Tennessee!

« on: February 16, 2020, 06:05:53 AM »

Oh, you’re moving again!! Wishing you not too much stress and that you’ll like your new home !

44

Kind Critique / Re: Spencerian with fountain pen - looking for feedback

« on: January 07, 2020, 10:53:10 AM »

@evad As always, @jeanwilson’s advise is spot-on and I want to add that you have something beautiful going there already! I also distrust advice that claims to have the one and only way to learn or do something.

One thing that she also mentioned is the muscle memory if you are already writing many years. I started calligraphy well over forty and have always written lots of normal cursive. Spencerian took me so long to learn to a somehow satisfying degree, because I practiced much too fast in the beginning. The fact that some people can write it very fast doesn’t mean it has to be learned like that. If I wrote it as fast as a lot of advice out there said, my normal handwriting pattern took over.

So, one thing to consider – just slow down a bit and always compare your writing with a good exemplar .

45

Introductions / Re: Hello from Germany/Malaysia

« on: October 23, 2019, 03:17:38 AM »

Welcome, Rachel! We’ve met on IG, you make beautiful work! If you come near Berlin, we could actually meet one day (I live close by – send me a DM if you’re interested .

Have fun here, @Erica McPhee has created a perfect calligraphy hangout place here!!