Flourishes- am I doing this right?

[SunnyMoni]

I hope this isn't too naive but with flourishing, specifically on a name, can I essentially make something up? I've been playing around with capital letters and names. I practice a "layout" for how I want it to look, sketching it in different forms, until I find balance and unity. Then I go for it. Is this an acceptable method? Is there a rhyme or reason to flourishes? Lastly, should I think about this more methodically or do basic design principles apply here?

Thank you for any advice you can provide!

[Erica McPhee]

Flourishing is really another exercise unto itself. There is a method to its madness though. It may look willy nilly but most flourishes are either carefully planned or well memorized in order to be well executed.

Many people say if you can't flourish, don't prove it. I loathe this saying. You have to start somewhere and practicing and using flourishing is the only way to learn. However, with that said, you will at some point look back on your initial flourishes and cringe.

There is a great thread on FB with some of the best calligraphers in the world responding about Flourishing. You can find a link to it here:

Flourishing Advice

Another great post: Flourishing Help

Hope that is a helpful start. 

[SunnyMoni]

Yes, thank you! The first link you posted doesn't work though I don't have Facebook so I'm not sure I would be able to view it anyways.

I knew there had to be a method though it does/can seem random. I will add this to the list of what I want to practice. It seems the list grows faster than I can practice! But this all makes for some good goals.

[schin]

Hell yea you can flourish however you like! As long as the end result looks beautiful and pleasing. It tends to follow these 'guidelines' though: No thick line should intersect another thick line, cos it'll look messy and gross. There should be ample space between each line so it won't end up noodley. Lines should curve gracefully and naturally rather than forced.

But... those are just guidelines. Show us your method!

[tomcalligraphy]

As I've learned from past works of great penman is OVALS, OVALS and more OVALS!

[dimins]

As I've learned from past works of great penman is OVALS, OVALS and more OVALS!

I try to be as oval-y as I can when I attempt to flourish, but it sometimes run into the problem of looking like a teardrop. I think I read on Jean Wilson's blog somewhere that teardrops are a shape to be avoided. How do I solve this?

[jeanwilson]

the teardrops that i try to avoid are in italic - when your letter is narrow at the top and full at the bottom. italics tend towards more width at the top and less at the bottom, and not oval. more of an almond shape. but there are so many different kinds of italic

in my very simple basic flourishes, i recommend the figure-8 or infinity sign that is somewhat elongated or oval and half of one of those would be a teardrop.

so....i'm getting a little nervous about what i have said anywhere...pig tails, tear drops, fish hooks cinnamon rolls, i am always coming up with word pictures and it will be chaos to apply any one of them to every style of writing.

[dimins]

the teardrops that i try to avoid are in italic - when your letter is narrow at the top and full at the bottom. italics tend towards more width at the top and less at the bottom, and not oval. more of an almond shape. but there are so many different kinds of italic

in my very simple basic flourishes, i recommend the figure-8 or infinity sign that is somewhat elongated or oval and half of one of those would be a teardrop.

so....i'm getting a little nervous about what i have said anywhere...pig tails, tear drops, fish hooks cinnamon rolls, i am always coming up with word pictures and it will be chaos to apply any one of them to every style of writing.

Oh, I see! That is very helpful! I have just started doing the figure-8 flourish exercise that you recommended on your blog, and I find it very useful. I suppose it's because my copperplate curls tend to look like what you call pigtails, and in my mind I somehow associated it with a teardrop shape (which they are as well). I'll keep that in mind, however. Fish hooks are unfortunately common with me as well. I remember your use of 'cinnamon rolls'! I've been trying to get my curls to look like that but not working so far, hahaha.

[Ken Fraser]

I hope this isn't too naive but with flourishing, specifically on a name, can I essentially make something up? I've been playing around with capital letters and names. I practice a "layout" for how I want it to look, sketching it in different forms, until I find balance and unity. Then I go for it. Is this an acceptable method? Is there a rhyme or reason to flourishes? Lastly, should I think about this more methodically or do basic design principles apply here?

This may help.

http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=2112.0