Topics

16

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Death’s Head Hawkmoth

« on: January 13, 2024, 12:19:49 AM »

This is the first time I have done this kind of flourishing. I haven’t done broad pen in ages but it was my first calligraphy love some 40+ years ago. This was used for the November design in my 2024 calendar.

It was really fun to do this and infinitely easier doing it in ProCreate because I could map out how I wanted the flourishes without having to go to pencil and paper. In retrospect, looking at how/where some of the flourishes cross, I would redo this but at the time, I was running out of time and this was just one small piece of the overall design.

17

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Fabulous Illuminating Resource

« on: January 12, 2024, 04:04:12 PM »

This is an incredible resource if you are into Illumination, botanical illustration, and decorated caps.

Fleurs d'après nature et fleurs ornementales

18

2024 Exchanges / International Cyberscribes 2024 Exchange

« on: January 07, 2024, 04:59:10 PM »

Another great exchange - not hosted by Flourish but from Wendy Cowley on Cyberscribes. This is to send out one envelope once per month for the year.

From Wendy:
For a number of years I have been organizing an envelope exchange for Cyberscribes and a number of calligraphy societies. This invitation is going to Cyberscribes, the four British Columbia calligraphy societies, the three Alberta societies, all members of this year's exchange and anybody who has contacted me in the last year about participating. I have NOT compared the lists, so if you get this notice more than once please accept my apologies. Feel free to pass the invitation on to anyone you know who you think would be interested. People do NOT need to get the invitation directly from me. 

Registration will close on January 20, 2024 at midnight pacific time. Even if you have participated before, please take the time to read the entire e-mail so that you will remember just how to fill in the form. When you put in extra spaces or formatting, it creates a lot of extra work for me and I may just e-mail you to have you correct it yourself.

Cheers,
Wendy

Here are the details:

Send out one envelope a month where calligraphy is the primary component. That is--you will COMMIT to doing one envelope a month from February to December. Remember this is a calligraphic exchange not just a decorated envelope exchange.

After the sign-up period closes, each participant will get an email with a grid showing who they should send to and who they should receive from each month of the rotation. Grids will be mailed by February 1, 2023.

I will try to spread participants out equally from participating countries.

Information entered on the form is subject to the Terms of Service of Google (see the bottom of the page for the link). Participants agree to let the receivers of their envelopes share the envelopes they receive with anyone to whom they will show it in person. The envelopes are NOT to be put up on the web or printed in any journals or newsletters without the express permission of the addressee.

YOUR ENVELOPES CAN BE ANY SIZE YOU LIKE. REMEMBER EXTRA LARGE SIZE ENVELOPES MAY REQUIRE EXTRA POSTAGE.

You do not NEED to put anything calligraphic into your envelope (you certainly can if you wish, but there is absolutely no pressure to do so.) You MUST PUT SOMETHING into your envelope--just a note saying what techniques you used for the envelope or a note or postcard about the beautiful spot you live--empty envelopes are disappointing. You can certainly just type out a brief note on your computer and put the exact same note into each exchange envelope. This is not meant to be onerous, but rather give us a chance to know each other a little better. One suggestion from a participant is to put the month the envelope is for along with the return address on your envelope. A number of you are already doing this. This is NOT a requirement, but is a nice idea that could make organization of your stash a little easier.

Complete all the fields that apply and are required (*). Be sure to proofread your responses before submitting or your info will be incorrect on the exchange. Do NOT leave a blank line between the end of your address and your e-mail address. Do NOT center the information.

For the final question a multi-line answer is required. It should look like this:

Wendy Cowley
1234 Main Street
Anytown, British Columbia
V5W 1A5
Canada
[email protected]

Google documents acknowledge your information has been received and gives you the option to submit another form, so if you are willing to be on more than one list signing up again is simpler. If you would like to be on more than one list, register one time for each list and put #2 at the end of your name the second time you sign up. I do NOT guarantee that you will get more than one list. My first priority is to make sure that everyone who wants to participate can. However, it is helpful for me to have folks who are prepared to do more than one list as it helps me even out numbers. Amazingly the number of people who sign up is not always equally divisible by 12! I will also acknowledge that I have received your information, but that might not occur until after January 20.

I've invited you to fill out the form Wendy's 2024 Envelope Exchange: Info & Sign-up Form. To fill it out, visit:


Wendy's Exchange Form

Cheers,
Wendy
Happy New Year!

19

2024 Exchanges / An Important Message About Exchanges

« on: January 06, 2024, 12:48:18 PM »

I’m sad to say the Love Letters Exchange will be the last formal exchange scheduled for Flourish. I won’t say it’s the last one we will ever do but after 10 years, and dwindling participation, I’ve decided it’s time to focus on other ways to exchange. This doesn’t mean we won’t ever have another exchange, just nothing scheduled as we have in years past.

There are a few exchanges happening in the calligraphy community that have very large participation. I would suggest checking out the following. Please comment if you know of others that are open to anyone. I know Halloween is an absolute favorite and the one mentioned below looks like a lot of fun.

Halloween exchange:

Blackinkletters - hosted by @inkmothcreative @blacktulipcreativestudio & @letterbcalligraphy on Instagram.
RSVP by September 25th
Black Tulip Sign Ups

IAMPETH hosts an annual exchange for its members: IAMPETH

LearnCalligraphy hosts an exchange typically for those who take their classes (which are great) but last year they opened one up to everyone.

Art Cover Exchange hosts some art exchanges and promotes friendly snail mail.

Cyberscribes 2024 Annual Year Long Exchange

I will always treasure the hundreds of envelopes I have received over the years!  And I am very grateful to all of you who participated and made each exchange such a success!

20

2024 Exchanges / Love Letters 2024 Exchange Sign Ups are Now Closed

« on: January 06, 2024, 09:58:47 AM »

Who doesn't love getting a Valentine?! It’s the best part of the new year … our annual Love Letters Exchange sign ups are now open.

[Sign ups are now closed.]

Sign Up Deadline: Mon, Jan 15, 2024
Post Mark: Feb 1, 2024

You must sign up via the form above. You should receive a confirmation email.

NOTE:

1. If you did not complete a past exchange you signed up for, you cannot participate.
2. If you will be busy and cannot meet your obligation, please do not sign up. It is not OK to think, "Life happens" and not fulfill your obligation. It is OK if circumstances require you to send your exchanges late, however, you will still not be able to participate in an exchange until yours are sent.
3. You must be a registered, activated member and you must have made at least one post, introductory or otherwise, in order to participate.

As always, the following guidelines apply:

1. Calligraphy should be used on both your exchange insert and envelope.
2. You will send a card to every member on your list (typically 7-9 members).
3. Must be related to the theme.
4. All skill levels welcome!
5. If you end up not being able to participate, please contact me ASAP. If you don't send your cards after the list has gone out, you will not be able to participate in the next exchange.
6. You must sign up before the deadline. No late sign ups.
7. HAVE FUN!

21

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Calligraphy Crush Ink Issue

« on: January 04, 2024, 12:55:57 PM »

@MaureenV ‘s  latest issue of Calligraphy Crush is all about inks and has an INCREDIBLE article by our own @K-2 !

Check it out: Calligraphy Crush

22

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Christmas Greetings (Spoiler Alert)

« on: December 24, 2023, 03:09:08 PM »

Spoiler Alert if you are in our holiday exchange! Sadly, I couldn’t get these out until this past Thursday so they aren’t showing up before tomorrow! But hopefully before New Years.

This year’s card was a true labor of love. I was inspired by a C.C. Canan bird flourish. But where he saw a bird, I saw a snow globe. I also did a bit more detailed flourishing. Since I had these printed at a local printshop, I could choose the paper size. To capture as much detail as possible, I did a 7 3/4” x 13” trifold. Once printed, I added some flourishing in gold watercolor and some sparkly glue dots for snow. All in, I spent over 96 hours creating these, not including calligraphing the envelopes. I thought I would make it easy this year and not do a family photo card and just use my calligraphy card for both my personal and calligraphy lists. That turned into another timely decision. LOL!

Anyhoo, I am sharing the original design before printing, photos of the printed cards, and the original black and white design which was done in ProCreate.

Merry Christmas!

23

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Moth Wings & Floral Things 2024 Calendar GIVEAWAY (now closed).

« on: November 24, 2023, 06:08:36 PM »

(GIVEAWAY now closed.)
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my new Moth Wings & Floral Things 2024 calendar. I spent over 100 hours creating the designs for this calendar and I am so pleased with the results. I am currently hosting a GIVEAWAY for one free calendar to keep for yourself or to send to a friend (US residents only and must ship to a US address).

You can enter on my Flourish Forum Instagram or you can enter here by leaving a comment below about which month is your favorite design.* Entries close at midnight CST Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

There is a Black Friday 10% off discount code: THANKFUL24 which is good through midnight CST on Tuesday, November 28, 2023. But Flourish members can use discount code: FLOURISH24 which never expires for 10% off.

Purchase directly: Moth Wings & Floral Things 2024 calendar

*See all details on Instagram Post.   Good luck!

24

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Happy Thanksgiving!

« on: November 23, 2023, 11:04:31 AM »

Wishing everyone a day filled with love and abundance. 

25

2023 Exchanges / Holiday 2023 Exchange Sign Ups are Now CLOSED

« on: November 03, 2023, 11:44:57 AM »

If you blinked, you may have missed most of this year as it flew by! It’s time for our final exchange of the year. As always a reminder that we have members from all over the world and many different religions so Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and many others' celebrations will be represented, expected, and welcomed.

Sign Up Deadline: Friday, November 17, 2023
Post Mark Deadline: Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Sign up form: now closed

NOTE:

- If you did not complete a past exchange you signed up for, you cannot participate.
- If you will be busy and cannot meet your obligation, please do not sign up. It is not OK to think, "Life happens" and not fulfill your obligation. It is OK if circumstances require you to send your exchanges late, however, you will still not be able to participate in an exchange until yours are sent.
- You must be a registered, activated member and you must have made at least one post, introductory or otherwise, in order to participate.

As always, the following guidelines apply:

1. Calligraphy should be used on both your exchange insert and envelope.
2. You will send a card to every member on your list (typically 7-9 members).
3. Must be related to the theme.
4. All skill levels welcome!
5. If you end up not being able to participate, please contact me ASAP. If you don't send your cards after the list has gone out, you will not be able to participate in the next exchange.
6. You must sign up before the deadline. No late sign ups.
7. HAVE FUN!

26

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Happy Halloween

« on: October 31, 2023, 01:28:01 PM »

I hope my listmates have received their cards by now. If not, spoiler alert. 

The cards were done in ProCreate. But I handsigned the originals. For the envelopes, I used a style done by E.L Brown which I really love and hope to one day create a class for if there is interest.

Happy Halloween! 

27

Technical Support & Feedback / How To Resize Photos for Web - 3 Methods

« on: October 31, 2023, 12:51:34 PM »

The best practice for scanning your work is to always scan at a minimum of 300 dpi. For even crisper images, 600 or even 1200 dpi work best. But 300 seems to be the agreed upon minimum. Anything lower and you lose resolution.

However, this makes a rather large file size - usually over 1.5 mb. You can then resize for web viewing while retaining the sharpness of your work.

I resize in photoshop for web viewing and keep the size at about 1,000 px wide and then 72 dpi. Following are three other methods if you do not have photoshop.

You can use a free online image resizer like Adobe.

You can use a free app called “Image Size” that has excellent reviews and seems pretty straightforward.
Image Size for Apple
Image size for Android

If you have an iPhone or ipad, there is another great, easy option. This is to use the “shortcut” app to create a shortcut to create the web sized image. Shortcut App on YouTube.

Hope that helps!

28

The Library / Sull’s Manual of Advanced Penmanship

« on: October 28, 2023, 01:50:31 PM »

If you are at all interested in Spencerian Penmanship, you know the name Michael R. Sull, as the two are often spoken of hand-in-hand. The calligraphic community has just received the most incredible gift in Sull’s new book, Sull’s Manual of Advanced Penmanship in which he does a deep dive into his 40 years of experience to share all he has learned. Chapters include American Cursive Handwriting, Ornamental Penmanship, Flourishing, and an extended appendix. What sets it apart from other calligraphy books is the depth and breadth of the experience Sull shares which so few in modern times have encountered.

Sull admits right in the preface that from the beginning of his career, he chose to write with combination muscular movement rather than whole arm movement. This may cause many a modern-day calligrapher to sigh in relief knowing they can openly embrace finger, wrist, and muscular movement. He further explains his reason for writing the advanced book was to preserve all he has learned and created over his extensive career that was not published in any existing text. This includes his Spencerian-styled monogram designs, Masterpiece Flourishing (a technique Sull created to emulate the lavish pen-work seen in The Universal Penman), signature writing, and the complex capital letters affectionately named super twisters. He also includes novelty penmanship styles such as connected, relay, cross, backwards, and puzzle writing.

In Chapter 2: Ornamental Penmanship, Sull explains the foundational elements of advanced penmanship such as curvature, negative space, line quality, shading, balance, and spontaneity & movement. These are the secrets to advanced lettering and composition that so few books address in detail. He further drills it down to ink qualities and condition of the pen point. Every question you’d hope to have answered by a master penman has been captured by the kind gentleman who has shared his knowledge with eager students all over the world.

Perhaps the most delicious part of the book includes tips for flourishing, how to manipulate shaded strokes, and extensive instruction on twister capitals. Included are several examples of ornamental capital variations. Beyond that, Sull explains in-depth how to lay out finished pieces, line breaks, negative space, flourish density, and composition. These are perhaps the most important insights we could hope to have shared with us to study, absorb, and apply in our own work. Very few of the many, many classes I have taken over the years discussed details such as shade control, understanding the use of curves, and the balancing of letters and flourishing in depth. Sull has left no detail out of this generous master class.

Last, but certainly not least, is the section on off-hand and title flourishing which includes instruction for bird flourishing, artistic line work, filigree, and banners. The final pages cover Sull’s self-titled Masterpiece Flourishing which simplifies what appears as complex - the flourishing seen in George Bickham’s The Universal Penman. This is the only instruction of its kind and Sull leaves no stone unturned in sharing his legacy.

Not to be missed is the awe-inspiring story of the Master’s Pen: a pen made from 40-million-year-old amber Sull sourced from Russia and 5,000-year-old bog oak. I’ll save the rest of the story for enticed readers. The manual finishes with handouts, exercises, guide sheets, historical and modern work from many of today’s accomplished calligraphers (all students of Michael R. Sull), and Sull’s “Secret of the Ovals” which I won’t reveal. But I highly recommend you purchase the book to find out!

Erica McPhee
P.S. The images are my practice from the book.

29

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Many, Many Thanks!

« on: October 28, 2023, 01:05:19 AM »

There are so many members who have helped make Flourish a success over the past ten years. A great big thank you to every member who has answered questions, welcomed members, shared their work, calligraphy thoughts, and participated in exchanges. I’d also like to say thank you to those Super Hero Members who have been with us almost since the start and are still here contributing on a regular basis. I could not do it without you! 

@AnsaziWrites - you have been here since early 2014 and have logged almost as many hours as me! Thank you for all of your contributions and for participating in so many exchanges. It has been a true pleasure watching your skill improve over the years and being a part of your journey.

@Ken Fraser  - you also joined in early 2014 and even though I have almost 7,000 posts and you have over 2,000, you have started more topics than me! Thank you for sharing your work with us and inspiring us over the years.

@JanisTX - you have been with us since early 2014 and are one of our top 10 posters. Thank you for giving so much to our community!

@Starlee - you joined us in December 2013 - a SuperHero who rarely misses an exchange. We appreciate all you have done for us!

@jeanwilson - you joined us in 2014. We miss seeing your wisdom and detailed posts but thank you for the in-depth information you have shared with us.

@Estefa - you joined us in November 2013 - almost the very beginning! Your insightful and educational posts have helped us all so many times. Thank you!

Thank you to our past Super Heros and so many others who may not have reached 1,000 posts but still contribute so much! We are so grateful for each and every one of you. As a member once said, “Come for the calligraphy, stay for the people!”

30

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Happy 10 Year Anniversary Flourish!

« on: October 28, 2023, 01:04:24 AM »

Ten years ago today, our first member signed up at Flourish Forum! Happy 10th Anniversary! One thousand, one hundred, and thirty-nine hours. Several times per day, almost every single day for the past ten years. That is how much time I have put in online for Flourish. This does not include the countless hours offline. And I have loved every minute of it! When I started this adventure ten years ago today, I had no idea where it would lead. Today we have thousands of members from all over the world and together we have created a truly incredible resource for calligraphers everywhere.

When we started in 2013, Instagram was just getting started, and there was only one online calligraphy learning site! One! I received a little bit of fuss over creating free tutorials when I launched the forum for fear I would hurt business. LOL – we had no idea what was to come! Today there are a plethora of online calligraphy classes, tutorials, YouTube videos, Insta reels, and more. And we are all better students and artists because of it.

Seeing other calligraphers do calligraphy and studying their work has helped me to grow and improve so much over the past decade. I relearned Engrosser’s Script and have been studying and practicing my Spencerian, as well as many other different hands. Who knew the internet would help calligraphy to grow and thrive over the years!

I would like to thank our many members for always being so willing to answer questions, share their work, and participate in exchanges. We have Super Hero Members (those with over 1,000 posts) who have been with us almost since the beginning. @Ken_Fraser has started more topics than me! @AnasaziWrites has logged almost as many hours as me. And @gloria_dawn is our longest standing member, who participates in almost every exchange. There are so many more who have dedicated so much time to helping us all.

Things have changed so much for me in the past ten years, including moving four times! A change in my husband’s employment has put me back to work and I am currently wrapping up a calligraphic calendar for 2024. I also have plans for a new artistic adventure which I will be announcing shortly. Finally, I have been working for almost 5 years on my Flourishing book. This is a very deep dive into the world of flourishing, Engrosser’s Script, and capital variations. And I seriously cannot wait for it to be ready! I sincerely hope it will go to print in the first part of next year.

As a special thank you for being a part of Flourish and helping us create this amazing calligraphy community, I have used one of the illustrations I created for my upcoming calendar to design a year-at-a-glance calendar PDF that can be downloaded from the forum. You have to be logged in to download. Calendar

P.S. Check out our new logo!