Messages

16

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

« on: February 01, 2024, 10:01:44 AM »

@Mark T
Hiya,

Well, my exchanges have been sent, and at first, I thoroughly enjoyed the practise, but by the time it came to writing for sending - everything went,..... ermmm, lets say it all went '.... up'.

Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.

Not to worry. The self imposed pressure is off.
Having a deadline to send these exchanges off is actually a great idea. It encourages one to put to bed a project and send it away in spite of the self assessment that it is not your best work or even "good" work. I've sent many exchanges off that I was not at all satisfied with. If I waited until I thought these were satisfactorily good work, I probably would have sent few if any. One tip I use to lessen any pressure to get these out is to impose upon myself an earlier deadline to send them out, say a day or three or even a week early. That way, you can relax more as you do it, knowing you have time to redo it if you want. Look forward to the next one with the belief it will be better assuming you practice and the desire to improve remains.
Give up the idea of "mastering" any script. I have yet to meet any calligrapher who would say they have "mastered" anything--there will always room for improvement no matter your skill level. Enjoy the improvement over time--it will come.
Troublesome nib? Put it aside. It may be the ink/paper/nib combination is not right. Don't fight on with it but rather take a minute to see if it works with different ink or paper and/or choose another nib of the same kind or a different nib altogether. When no combination works, then maybe you're just having a bad day. Put the pen aside for a few hours or a day, and then resume. If you still want to make progress in the interim, study some--an instruction book, an exemplar, or just cruise through other forms of inspiration here (say, look at the "now and then" thread) or elsewhere in books or on line.

In the end, obey the 7th guideline from our fearless leader--"Have Fun".

17

Copperplate, Engrosser's Script, Roundhand Calligraphy / Re: Looking for an example of a "narrow Italian hand" from the 18th-century

« on: January 17, 2024, 04:28:52 PM »

@AAAndrew

Here's a little more "elegant" example if you will, from "Verharne's Useful Penmandhip, c. 1825, by Thomas Peter Verharne.

18

Copperplate, Engrosser's Script, Roundhand Calligraphy / Re: Looking for an example of a "narrow Italian hand" from the 18th-century

« on: January 17, 2024, 03:54:02 PM »

The writer, an elegant lady who lived from mid-1700s to early 1800s, English born and educated, was said to have an elegant "narrow Italian hand."

I'm trying to get an idea of what that may have looked like. I have read that Italian hands went out of style when roundhand became more popular, but it seems she was still using it, and Shelly included it in some of his books alongside roundhand, so it couldn't have been completely supplanted.

Anyone have an example?

Thanks,
Andrew

Hi @AAAndrew

Might this be what you're looking for?
From "The Universal Penman" by George Bickham, c. 1740.  Joseph Champion, scripcit

19

Introductions / Re: Hallo from HOLLAND

« on: January 17, 2024, 10:39:51 AM »

Hallo .....I m Mike 80 from The Netherlands...Born in Wales UK.....moved in 1990 to Holland to live work and retire...Dutch citizen
Thank you for having me here.....Complete novice and hobbyist....don t have a script so advice or help
or suggestion more than welcome.....I m really not into sloping script as I like writing straight....
perhaps Blackletter if its  suitable for beginners please advice......really look forward to meeting you on my journey here. Thanks for reading my post..

@Mike....Dutch

We visited in 2017. You make great cheese over there, among other things.

Would you prefer to start with pointed pen or broad pen scripts?

20

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Medieval bookplate

« on: January 17, 2024, 09:51:03 AM »

Bookplate

And I thought a 5 cent fine was rough.
Won't be borrowing any of his books.

21

Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: can anyone tell me what font is this ?

« on: January 12, 2024, 09:55:10 AM »

is this french ronde?  any learning resources for this font?

thanks

@Miranda_J

Looks like straightforward Engraver's/Engrosser's (American Roundhand) to me.
Nothing to do with French Roundhand.

If you're looking for an online course, David Grimes offers a good one now and then.
https://masgrimes.com/

22

Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: It hasn't happened yet

« on: January 11, 2024, 04:59:46 PM »

That "I" is just beautiful.

23

2024 Exchanges / Re: An Important Message About Exchanges

« on: January 07, 2024, 04:34:49 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.

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!

I would like to encourage everyone who reads this post--the lurkers who are not members of FF, the members who have never posted here, those who have never participated in an exchange, those who haven't posted in a long time--to  participate in this letter exchange.

Over time, websites and activities they sponsor wax and wane in popularity, this site and activity no exception. There are more "efficient" ways to share your work with others with online sites like Instagram and such, but sending someone a physical piece of your work, to savor and save for as long as they want, is so much superior, made unique by the name you put on the envelope, a little piece of their time, their life, they gave just to you. Such a gift.

And don't believe that "I'm not good enough yet--I'll try this when I'm better at it." That thought occurred to me when I joined FF in May of 2014, but I participated in my first exchange (of more than 60 on FF since) anyway in June of 2014--the Independence Day exchange--despite misgivings it wasn't very good. I sent 36 letters, 16 of which were to outside the country, and received back a beautiful tranche of letters from around the world. Such fun. A few exchanges later was my first Valentines Day exchange in Feb, 2015, my favorite exchange year after year. And the replies came in--from here to Singapore, to The Phillippines, to Italy, to Canada, to Germany. And now, like Erica, nearly 10 years later, I have this amazing collection of letters from around the world to enjoy. For some, it was a one time thing, others I was able to see them progress from beginners to high level professionals, some of whom even teach. It's been wonderful to see.

So do join us on this exchange.

I'm attaching scans to show you don't have to be "good" to participate--one from my first exchange, one from my first Valentines Day exchange (I have scans of all I have sent as well as the original replies).

Mike

24

Show & Tell / Re: Food for thought

« on: January 06, 2024, 05:52:51 PM »

Might be a modernized half-uncial variant.

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Calligraphy Crush Ink Issue

« on: January 05, 2024, 02:31:10 PM »

I would buy this issue for the two aforementioned authors alone, except it is in digital form only.

26

Tools & Supplies / Re: Diamine Inkvent 2023

« on: January 03, 2024, 10:12:04 AM »

(ps - Mike, did you notice that there were no "sheening" inks in this collection? I'm a little dismayed - I love an ink with sheen! But Diamine's fabulous commitment to shimmer may make up for my slight disgruntlement).

@K-2
Yes, but as you say, plenty of shimmer and chameleon inks to make up for it.

Do you know, or know someone who would know, what inks will be available in the large bottles? Fortunes gold is my number one request, and there are several others that are quite desirable.

Also, do you store these little bottles in the original box (calendar) or what? And on your col-o-ring, where do you put chameleon inks?

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Show & Tell / Re: Food for thought

« on: January 03, 2024, 09:56:01 AM »

Food for thought

Sounds about right.

28

Tools & Supplies / Re: Diamine Inkvent 2023

« on: January 02, 2024, 05:07:40 PM »

It’s interesting how the Raise A Glass looks purple on the page but blue on the paper towel. Wonderful share! Thanks so much @AnasaziWrites !

@Erica McPhee
Yes, but there is that bit of red on the bleed-out that turns it purple.

A few observations on this calendar:

I think my favorites are the chameleon inks--quite a nice surprise with each new one.

Posting--K's way of posting the inks on Col-o-ring paper is definitely better than on moistened paper towels. I now have a stack of two dozen +1 paper towels, which I won't save. I do have the photos of them by day in one folder, so I can see all of them at a glance, which is very handy.

I don't think I'll photo the bottles again--it didn't add much, and some could barely be seen, even in strong light.

Most of the inks needed gum arabic to work with a pointed pen, and super sharp nibs, even if flexible, don't lay down enough ink to see the special qualities of the non-standard inks.

It should be interesting to see which of these inks will be released in larger bottles. I have my eye on several of them is so.

Still hoping for a drawing or two from @K-2  as time allows.

Did anyone else get the calendar this year?

29

Show & Tell / Re: Show your holiday greeting...

« on: January 02, 2024, 04:31:38 PM »

My holiday cards have been for many years photo cards of me and my wife in places we've been during the year, whereas the calligraphy is usually on the envelope. This is this year's design, to which I added some details on some of them.

In general, I try to allow room for the stamp to be cancelled such that it does not interfere with the design (worked well this year) and allow some room at the bottom for the inevitable bar code the USPO puts on everything that goes through the machine sorter. That didn't work so well this year. Perhaps the machine misread the zip code, as a double second code was plastered over the original one (and part of the design). It did take two weeks to be delivered. Oh, well.

30

Word of the Day / Mystery word of the day

« on: December 30, 2023, 04:30:06 PM »

A quality necessary for excellent penmanship?
(you'll need to sign in to see)