Thank you for your kind thoughts, everyone.
@gracefulgiftedhands - I specialize in medieval paleography & codicology and the ways that the various medieval scripts transmit the literary tradition. I'm writing a textbook on paleography at the moment, introducing students to the three main forms of medieval scripts: Carolingian, Textura Quadrata, and Batarde. And I've incorporated calligraphy worksheets into the text, because my theory is that you read them much better if you can write them. I'll be giving a paper on it in Durham (UK) this summer!
As far as practical lettering goes: I've done calligraphy work in Insular Majuscule, Carolingian Minuscule, Proto-gothic, a number of variants of Textura Quadrata (cum and sine pedibus), English Secretary, and English & French Batarde. I've also done work in humanist scripts and Italic. I do a credible job at copperplate, but pointed pen isn't my primary expertise, and the slight hand tremor I still have since my concussion isn't making my flourishes any more beautiful.
@cejohnson - thank you so much for your good wishes on my head injury! (which my doctor still insists on calling a "traumatic brain injury" probably to keep me from playing hockey). I recall there's a fantastic thread on Illuminated letters somewhere on the forum... with some how-to videos, maybe. What I've got here doesn't have any gold leaf, so we wouldn't tend to call it "illuminated" (due to the gold or silver leaf reflecting the light) - merely "decorated"; if the decorations have people in them, they're "historiated"; if they have flowers, they're "floriated"! I love my friend very dearly, but I don't put gold leaf on a work unless someone is paying me.
@Bianca M - Someday my spouse is going to stop treating my tattoo as if it might be a deer tick that needs to be slapped at and picked off. When that happens, I might come to accept it as a part of me. And yes - it would make a great teaching story, but it is not on a body-part that my students need to see.
--yours sincerely, K
