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Show & Tell / Re: I Sit Beside the Fire
« on: August 04, 2023, 03:40:45 PM »
I made so many happy noises reading this and seeing the quality of it.
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2
Show & Tell / Re: I got into an art show!
« on: July 19, 2023, 01:24:11 AM »
Thanks! I know it's kinda basic foundational hand, but it was a week's work and I learned so much about layout and spacing just by doing it. I wish I could go back and redo some parts of it, but I was kinda short of time.
Medium is Chinese ink sticks with Mitchell nibs, no reservoir, on Clairfontaine Triomphe.
BTW, I learned that Swingline sells a genuinely great paper cutter for about $30? Yeah, no joke. Genuinely good version of their much larger guillotine and I got it off Amazon and it's been a constant companion with this project.
Medium is Chinese ink sticks with Mitchell nibs, no reservoir, on Clairfontaine Triomphe.
BTW, I learned that Swingline sells a genuinely great paper cutter for about $30? Yeah, no joke. Genuinely good version of their much larger guillotine and I got it off Amazon and it's been a constant companion with this project.
3
Show & Tell / I got into an art show!
« on: July 18, 2023, 02:04:25 PM »
Okay, so, my best friend is a wonderful watercolor artist. She's a total boss. She did a series of sequential images and I wrote a little story + did the calligraphy for that story and we're IN AN ART SHOW!
I wanted to share this because...well, because I am proud of it. I've been doing calligraphy for 8 months and this feels pretty damn good.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNq_X2w6ipHN0UhspH9S5T3aymrGk1FNG6FJsT_PtPNIWw8T84kKZWDKUkyD6vl_A?key=bnJ6RHNhdFdSZ0U2S09pZFdLaUxJSXZUQ3g3RWdn
I wanted to share this because...well, because I am proud of it. I've been doing calligraphy for 8 months and this feels pretty damn good.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNq_X2w6ipHN0UhspH9S5T3aymrGk1FNG6FJsT_PtPNIWw8T84kKZWDKUkyD6vl_A?key=bnJ6RHNhdFdSZ0U2S09pZFdLaUxJSXZUQ3g3RWdn
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Tools & Supplies / Repairing broad-edge metal nibs
« on: July 09, 2023, 08:10:57 AM »
Is it a well established practice to repair nibs in the 1.4mm range if they get bent out of shape? I managed to get one running, again, and I'm big on renewables for crafting, but they're like...a dollar, and you can buy them in bulk for less. If I bust one, should I even bother repairing or am I going to end up with one of the tines snapping off one day soon and splooshing ink all over a project?
A well established fact of knife sharpening is that when the tip of a knife is bent, it will break eventually. I can straighten a knife out and get it functioning properly, but I tell customers 'This will break one day. The internal structure is damaged.' and usually between 6 months and 2 years later they come back and say 'Here, it happened, can you fix it?'
That's not a huge deal, mind. Happens to everyone eventually. Just curious if it's worth the repairs or if I'm risking issues.
A well established fact of knife sharpening is that when the tip of a knife is bent, it will break eventually. I can straighten a knife out and get it functioning properly, but I tell customers 'This will break one day. The internal structure is damaged.' and usually between 6 months and 2 years later they come back and say 'Here, it happened, can you fix it?'
That's not a huge deal, mind. Happens to everyone eventually. Just curious if it's worth the repairs or if I'm risking issues.
5
Tools & Supplies / Yay! I killed another dip pen nib.
« on: June 10, 2023, 10:31:42 PM »
I do most of my calligraphy with a 1.4mm Mitchell nib, no reservoir.
Now, I like to think my 'nib care' is pretty good. I don't leave them wet. I clean them regularly. I use a gentle pen cleaner mixture (1:10 ammonia to water). I haven't gone through a lot of nibs and this one lasted almost two months of daily used, but by god it feels like I kill a lot of nibs. In the six months I've been practicing, I've got a little graveyard that contains 6 nibs of different sizes. The poor things never stood a chance against my clumsy mits.
A couple died to bad preparation - not knowing exactly how to clean them. One died to dropping a pen. The others just gradually stopped working, tending to flood ink onto the page, and it sucks because it's a slow degradation but I suspect it's down to the kind of ink I use. It's Chinese ground ink sticks which are very acidic. I love the control that grinding my own ink gives, but one bad bit of grit seems to just be the end for these Mitchell nibs.
If you're a user of Chinese ink sticks for Western calligraphy, any tips on extending the life of nibs would be great, because I feel like a tosspot right now.
Now, I like to think my 'nib care' is pretty good. I don't leave them wet. I clean them regularly. I use a gentle pen cleaner mixture (1:10 ammonia to water). I haven't gone through a lot of nibs and this one lasted almost two months of daily used, but by god it feels like I kill a lot of nibs. In the six months I've been practicing, I've got a little graveyard that contains 6 nibs of different sizes. The poor things never stood a chance against my clumsy mits.
A couple died to bad preparation - not knowing exactly how to clean them. One died to dropping a pen. The others just gradually stopped working, tending to flood ink onto the page, and it sucks because it's a slow degradation but I suspect it's down to the kind of ink I use. It's Chinese ground ink sticks which are very acidic. I love the control that grinding my own ink gives, but one bad bit of grit seems to just be the end for these Mitchell nibs.
If you're a user of Chinese ink sticks for Western calligraphy, any tips on extending the life of nibs would be great, because I feel like a tosspot right now.
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Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Good advice
« on: June 07, 2023, 10:49:34 AM »
The constant comparison of my work to your work is a bit intimidating, but I can do a pretty good 'e' and that feels good.
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Show & Tell / It's not beautiful, but it's a start and I am proud of it.
« on: June 05, 2023, 03:46:22 PM »
This is a small piece of lore from a table-top game I am involved with that I decided to pen today for a bit of fun. I liked how it came out, for having only been a first draft. The content isn't supremely relevant other than 'It's Warhammer sounding', but it was written in a couple sittings with a broad edge pen and some very thickly ground ink.
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Calligraphy Book Reviews / Re: Foundations of Calligraphy by Shiela Waters
« on: June 05, 2023, 11:55:16 AM »
It's a wonderful book and has a huge amount of useful information, but there is one thing I will say as a new calligrapher just learning broad-pen (6 months experience).
Don't get too attached to Sheila's 'way of doing things'. She was a great calligrapher, but she frequently presents her method as the method. There are many methods, there are many 'right' ways to do calligraphy. While much of what she says is extremely useful, you're going to want to figure out what method works for you. I've found a practice method of attempting to write a sentence, then improve that sentence in the space below worked well for me, doing that over and over.
You WILL develop bad habits. You don't need to take someone as good as Sheila as the last word on calligraphy. There will be days where all you want to do is take a piece of trashy Warhammer 40k lore or a bit of scripture and write a few sentences in some real pretty script.
There is no failure state for calligraphy other than stopping. Even if you are continuing day on day, every day you're still doing calligraphy, you are a calligrapher.
Oh - regarding Sheila's bit on spacing - this is FRUUUSTRATING. While she's extremely right about the importance of spacing, the rules she adds for it are fussy and very precise. I found them discouragingly complex. To that end, I wouldn't even worry about spacing as a concept until you've got at least one hand worth of miniscules and majiscules to the point you don't need an exemplar to pen them consistently.
Don't get too attached to Sheila's 'way of doing things'. She was a great calligrapher, but she frequently presents her method as the method. There are many methods, there are many 'right' ways to do calligraphy. While much of what she says is extremely useful, you're going to want to figure out what method works for you. I've found a practice method of attempting to write a sentence, then improve that sentence in the space below worked well for me, doing that over and over.
You WILL develop bad habits. You don't need to take someone as good as Sheila as the last word on calligraphy. There will be days where all you want to do is take a piece of trashy Warhammer 40k lore or a bit of scripture and write a few sentences in some real pretty script.
There is no failure state for calligraphy other than stopping. Even if you are continuing day on day, every day you're still doing calligraphy, you are a calligrapher.
Oh - regarding Sheila's bit on spacing - this is FRUUUSTRATING. While she's extremely right about the importance of spacing, the rules she adds for it are fussy and very precise. I found them discouragingly complex. To that end, I wouldn't even worry about spacing as a concept until you've got at least one hand worth of miniscules and majiscules to the point you don't need an exemplar to pen them consistently.
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Tools & Supplies / Re: Screaming About Inks
« on: May 29, 2023, 11:20:03 PM »So, my advice to you is to find an ink that you love and that loves you back! 😃. It’s out there, just waiting to be discovered!
I do love a specific brand of middle of the road ink stick. I'm deeply imperfect as an ink grinder, but it can get some lovely, tight little serifs and it keeps pretty comfortably for up to 24 hours without settling straight to the bottom of a dinky dip.
As weird as it might sound, I genuinely enjoy just using broad edge calligraphy to write. It slows me down and necessitates thinking through each word as well as taking breaks very regularly, every few sentences, to stretch my fingers and feet. I can sit and fill a page with words that would take about 5 minutes with keyboard, but forcing it to take a few hours and be pretty is deeply satisfying to some holistic part of the mind.
Using an ink I don't worry about spilling or under-grinding because it's cheap enough I can grind it thick just lets it become an act of creativity without being a practice. I practice enough.
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Tools & Supplies / Screaming About Inks
« on: May 25, 2023, 04:44:09 PM »
I need to vent, briefly, about some of the various inks I've tried lately because...AHHHHH. Please take all of this as my badly informed, only been doing calligraphy for 6 months feelings and opinions. Also feel free to tell me I'm wrong, because having people point out how I'm wrong has been very helpful. P.S. all of these were tested on 32 lbs HP paper and Clairfontaine Triomph, mostly with a Mitchell nib sans reservoir.
Speedball India Ink - I can't tell exactly what this is for, but 'not for calligraphy' appears to be the short answer. On a Mitchell nib without a reservoir it dribbles and flows unpredictably even with a drafting table at 45 degrees. With a reservoir it fusses and clogs. Add even a drop of water? Sploosh. A bit of gum arabic? Solid mass. Gum Sandarac powder? A messy nib tip and uneven distribution.
Pilot Black Refills in a Parallel Pen - Why is this stuff so thin? It feels like using a laser-pointer to write on all but the roughest papers. Pilot Parallel's are great for practice, but the refills I picked up from Michael's feel just plain *weird*. The one that came with the original pen wasn't like this. Maybe I just got a bum batch?
Walnut Ink - I have stained every surface near me and cannot figure out what to clean them with. My family thinks I have been part of a strange genetic experience to cross-breed a person with a dalmatian.
Etsy Chinese grinding inkhttps://www.etsy.com/listing/621898646/chinese-painting-ink-stick-oriental-ink?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=japanese+ink+stick&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&frs=1&organic_search_click=1 - I genuinely thought I'd been delivered a sexual aid by mistake when I opened the box. It's *enormous*. My ink stone was barely big enough to make this worth using and it is rooough ink. When I say rough, grinding it looks like there's dandruff floating on top.
Kuretake Saiboku colored inks - I adore this set of inks, but goodness they're expensive for some very, very small ink-sticks. That said - the sumi-inks included with this set are super, super smooth. No notes, just wish it was bigger and cheaper...kinda like my ex boyfriend.
Hukaiwen off Amazon - This has become my 'go-to' ink. It's not expensive. It's not super smooth. It's not perfectly easy to grind. It just works very consistently and I never get a stick that's cracked half-way up or flaking when it arrives.
Ranjyatai - From John Neal Books. This is, far and away, the best ink I've used so far. It's bizarre how good this stuff is. It flows smoothly, grinds easily, smells great, and if memory serves it's *painfully* expensive. Like 'Ow, my wallet, ow' type expensive.
Shanghai 101 - You ever get a tool and realize suddenly that you are way under-qualified to use it? That was my immediate sensation from Shanghai 101. This stuff feels like some kind of high precision instrument and I'm going to carefully put it back in its box and put it somewhere I can't touch it until I'm a much, much better calligrapher.
Speedball India Ink - I can't tell exactly what this is for, but 'not for calligraphy' appears to be the short answer. On a Mitchell nib without a reservoir it dribbles and flows unpredictably even with a drafting table at 45 degrees. With a reservoir it fusses and clogs. Add even a drop of water? Sploosh. A bit of gum arabic? Solid mass. Gum Sandarac powder? A messy nib tip and uneven distribution.
Pilot Black Refills in a Parallel Pen - Why is this stuff so thin? It feels like using a laser-pointer to write on all but the roughest papers. Pilot Parallel's are great for practice, but the refills I picked up from Michael's feel just plain *weird*. The one that came with the original pen wasn't like this. Maybe I just got a bum batch?
Walnut Ink - I have stained every surface near me and cannot figure out what to clean them with. My family thinks I have been part of a strange genetic experience to cross-breed a person with a dalmatian.
Etsy Chinese grinding inkhttps://www.etsy.com/listing/621898646/chinese-painting-ink-stick-oriental-ink?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=japanese+ink+stick&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&frs=1&organic_search_click=1 - I genuinely thought I'd been delivered a sexual aid by mistake when I opened the box. It's *enormous*. My ink stone was barely big enough to make this worth using and it is rooough ink. When I say rough, grinding it looks like there's dandruff floating on top.
Kuretake Saiboku colored inks - I adore this set of inks, but goodness they're expensive for some very, very small ink-sticks. That said - the sumi-inks included with this set are super, super smooth. No notes, just wish it was bigger and cheaper...kinda like my ex boyfriend.
Hukaiwen off Amazon - This has become my 'go-to' ink. It's not expensive. It's not super smooth. It's not perfectly easy to grind. It just works very consistently and I never get a stick that's cracked half-way up or flaking when it arrives.
Ranjyatai - From John Neal Books. This is, far and away, the best ink I've used so far. It's bizarre how good this stuff is. It flows smoothly, grinds easily, smells great, and if memory serves it's *painfully* expensive. Like 'Ow, my wallet, ow' type expensive.
Shanghai 101 - You ever get a tool and realize suddenly that you are way under-qualified to use it? That was my immediate sensation from Shanghai 101. This stuff feels like some kind of high precision instrument and I'm going to carefully put it back in its box and put it somewhere I can't touch it until I'm a much, much better calligrapher.
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Copperplate, Engrosser's Script, Roundhand Calligraphy / Re: GOLD INK
« on: May 14, 2023, 05:26:46 PM »
Oooohoho, I need to get a burnishing tool. That's an amazing difference.
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Open Flourish | General Discussion / How many fonts to have in my back pocket?
« on: April 30, 2023, 01:59:09 PM »
I'm still an extremely new calligrapher and I feel like I've managed to progress to a place where I'm comfortable with the Foundational hand miniscules. I'm starting on Roman capitals, more or less going back to where I was starting out - daily practice, start in similar letter groups, move to words, write a line and try to improve that line on the next line, practice individual strokes where necessary, etc.
How many fonts do most calligraphers have available that they've fully practiced and prepared and maintain the skills to recreate on the spot? Is it a matter of being able to do *any* font upon request if you've got an example of it? Is it having a healthy collection and offering just those? Should I just be able to use the 'hand finder' in the Calligraphy Bible and whip off any of them?
How many fonts do most calligraphers have available that they've fully practiced and prepared and maintain the skills to recreate on the spot? Is it a matter of being able to do *any* font upon request if you've got an example of it? Is it having a healthy collection and offering just those? Should I just be able to use the 'hand finder' in the Calligraphy Bible and whip off any of them?
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Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Grafitti
« on: April 28, 2023, 12:30:39 PM »
...This person is a genius and we should make graffiti calligraphy a wide-spread thing.
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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Perfection
« on: April 28, 2023, 12:29:50 PM »
It's the reality of what we do. Perfection will always elude, but it is so very worth chasing. Knife sharpeners live under the same shade - we know that steel can only ever *be* so sharp, but there's a madness that keeps you chasing an edge that a human being can only dream of.
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Tools & Supplies / Re: How long are dip pen nibs meant to last?
« on: April 17, 2023, 09:21:08 AM »
Interesting. I wonder if I can make my inks a little less caustic with a bit of sodium bicarbonate. I do love inksticks.