Author Topic: My second piece of Spencerian  (Read 1552 times)

Offline Andrew Davies

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My second piece of Spencerian
« on: October 15, 2020, 03:08:12 PM »
I’ve plucked up the courage to share this piece, which I have done as part of a birthday present for a family member. It’s only my second Spencerian piece of work, the first is winging its way via airmail to Starlee with a small packet of sand (see her post in the Coffee and Nib-bles thread if you don’t understand that!). I’m on Mott copy book 2 of Spencerian but have jumped ahead a little to get the letters I needed for this. It also exercised my layout skills, which mostly worked but I see I have some way to go still. The materials were Bristol Board, Diamine Sepia fountain pen ink mixed 4:1 with Gum Arabic, written with a bog standard J nib in a bog standard straight pen holder. I used a 52° sheet underneath with an iPad as a light box. I used Guided Access to disable the touch screen. It was fun and I have been encouraged by the results. Shade needs a lot of practice and my decoration leaves much to be desired, but it is coming together.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2020, 05:54:12 PM by Andrew Davies »

Offline TeresaS

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Re: My second piece of Spencerian
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2020, 11:35:12 PM »
Very nice!
Teresa

Offline Starlee

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Re: My second piece of Spencerian
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2020, 07:29:44 AM »
Hi Andrew! You are off to a good start. I was lucky to see a sample in person just yesterday ;) Keep practicing and studying....the usual, but it matters! I do want to say though that your ink seems not quite the right combination...either in gum arabic or with this paper....your lines are rather thick and in this case I don't think it is your nib or your hand...I think it's an ink and/or paper issue. The reason I bring this up is that it can interfere with your learning feedback: you might not get the exact look you are hoping to get and it won't necessarily because of your skill with driving the pen.

Unfortunately, I am not an ink expert and would not even know where to guide you on how to fix this particular ink. I typically use Moonpalace Sumi and occasionally iron gall and gouache.
Star

Offline Erica McPhee

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Re: My second piece of Spencerian
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2020, 10:09:26 AM »
Wow Andrew! Impressive! Great feedback from Star. I also think it is great you are already thinking about composition. So many calligraphers just practice letters or words and never put together finished work. This is where it all comes together. Bravo!
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Erica
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Offline Andrew Davies

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Re: My second piece of Spencerian
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2020, 03:53:32 PM »
So this is my second piece of Spencerian as @Starlee has the first  :). Thanks for the useful feedback Star. I hadn’t considered the ink as being a potential cause of the thicker lines. I will experiment further starting with raw ink and adding GA in controlled amounts to see how it reacts. That paper certainly isn’t the easiest to use either. It’s a nice size and colour but not a smooth surface. I have another similar paper which has a hammered finish and is much nicer to use but it is A4, a bit too big, and cutting it to A5 makes it a bit too small (where’s Goldilocks when you need her?). Sadly the shop I used to buy it from closed a couple of years ago now and as I bought it by the sheet I don't actually know who makes it.