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Topics - Jamie

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16
Coffee & Nib-bles / Scrapbook Expo
« on: June 13, 2015, 08:09:41 PM »
So I found out that there was a scrapbook expo being held about 10min away from where I live now (moved in a month ago). I'm not actually a scrapbooker, but they use A LOT of the same supplies and techniques that we, as calligraphers could use to go along with our calligraphy like making cards and envelopes, so I figured it would be fun to go, and I could pick up some patterned paper at the very least to use with envelopes since I started doing those pretty recently.

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. And I just really wanted to share my experience with you all on here.
 I stayed the entire expo from 8:30a when the workshop I’d paid for started to 5:00p closing. It was the most conversation I have had since I graduated and moved to the new apartment. I learned A LOT since I’ve really only just started to expand into paper-crafting type things and there’s a lot of techniques that I wasn’t even aware about.



Other than the buttons, these are all the things I either made myself or were demoed for me and I was allowed to keep the demo piece. The apon in the bottom left is from the workshop which was about shading with copic markers. The apron itself is actually a vinyl sticker. I also made the cards in the upper left corner and lower right corner, and I made painted water color pot in the center. Other than the apron from my class all of these items were completely free.



These are all the ‘supplies’ that I got for free. The apron card kit, the three copics, and one of the sheets of stickers came with the workshop. The additional sheets and the glitter paper was an extra raffled prize at the end of the workshop that I won. The pencil and stick of glue was given simply as part of going to the expo. The stamps were being given when you did the ‘make-and-take’ for the card I made using two of them above.



This is everything I bought. As you can see I ended up with a lot of paper, haha. Most of those sheets are double-sided too so there are twice as many designs as you can actually see in the image. I more than doubled the amount of washi tape I owned as well. Picked up some adhesive that I never knew was so useful until this event. And some sparkle pens I’d already been eyeing online so I just went ahead and got them.


And finally a picture of my total haul altogether! :D It was just a really wonderful experience altogether.

17
Find a Pen Pal / Penpals please!
« on: May 27, 2015, 05:49:45 PM »
So now that I have officially moved and settled into my new apartment I'm finding that I'm very sad at the lack of mail in my box, so I would looove to acquire a few new penpals!

Especially since I have discovered that I'm 20 minutes away from a papersource store so it makes it a lot harder to resist buying pretty paper from them, so now I need a reason to use it, haha.

18
Tools & Supplies / Paint I can write on with dip pen?
« on: April 26, 2015, 05:09:34 PM »
I'm graduating in a couple of weeks and now that I have my cap, I was thinking about painting the top of it white and writing something in calligraphy on it. I have a few ideas for what to write, but  haven't decided anything yet.

But I have no idea what kind of paint I should get to be able to write on top of it. I really want to be able to write with my dip pens on top of it because my brush pen work just isn't as up to par.

19
Tools & Supplies / Best note cards
« on: March 23, 2015, 06:38:56 PM »
I've gotten into selling various things that I sell in my etsy and attaching a note card with it with a quick thank you note and a listing of what they ordered if appropriate. I've been using just index cards I had lying around not doing anything but lately I've been thinking more about creating more of a... 'feel' to how I package and send out things so I've been hunting around for either some nice thank you cards where the printing/embossing doesn't take up much space or completely blank ones. Especially since what I'm using now isn't dip pen or even fountain pen friendly.

If you print your own thank you cards, having a link to your printer and maybe a quick note about how much it's cost you to print there? Even if just a vague range like "under $50" or something to give me an idea.

20
Tools & Supplies / Recording Calligraphy
« on: March 21, 2015, 03:42:39 AM »
So.. I see lots of people recording themselves, especially on instagram and I wanted to try it, and mostly I'm just wondering where in the world the camera is actually at to allow for a good viewing angle for recording it.

21
Show & Tell / Dragon Flourish
« on: March 04, 2015, 11:44:52 PM »
So I made the attached using the Cocoiro brush pens, both the smaller felt one and the larger actual brush one. I'd say I drew it more than I calligraphed it, so I'm not sure it's really can be considered a flourish, but I used a lot what I learned since I started calligraphy in designing it so I figured it at least kind of counts.

It's made to be the cover for the booklet for a convention I'm in charge of running. :)

22
Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Small italic or stub nibs
« on: March 02, 2015, 11:22:57 PM »
As I've started collecting vintage nibs I've run across a fair number of tiny small stub nibs. Like the Perry & Co Queen Mary, or the Esterbrook 314 Relief. I'm curious what the point of these nibs are, or how you're supposed to use them since it's hard to get good differentiation between thicks and thins in order to do broad edge type scripts.

Any information you all might have for me on this?

23
Tools & Supplies / Question on holding an Oblique Holder
« on: February 20, 2015, 04:22:35 AM »
So I almost feel like this is such a small question it doesn't deserve it's own thread but I would have no idea what thread to put this under so here we go.

I recently got my first oblique holder with a metal adjustable flange. Specifically it is the Speedball Deluxe (Comfort Grip) Oblique Pen Holder.

I've found though that metal flange makes the thing almost unbearably uncomfortable to hold. I've been holding it in a kind of 'tripod' grip, so that my thumb ends up resting partially against the back slant of the flange, but because of it being a thin metal this is intensely uncomfortable especially since I naturally hold my fingers very close to the tip of my writing utensil and so will, as I'm writing, slide my hand farther and father down and all that does when I'm using this is shove my thumb further into the metal and that's just OW.

However I know most people on here write with oblique holders that have a metal flange. Am I simply holding it wrong? Or should I be keeping my hand further up on the holder?

24
Tools & Supplies / Best Monoline nib?
« on: February 15, 2015, 03:34:56 PM »
I like to write my penpal letters with a dip pen, but in order to write a whole letter in the length of time I'd like, it's much much better to write with a nib that has little to no flex to it. But so far the only ones like that, that I've been able to test produce a line to wide for me. (Esterbrook Manifold, and Perry & Co Manifold primarily.)

Does anyone know a good finer lined monoline nib that I could try to get my hands on? Or even just your favorite monoline nib?
The Perry one is just bordering on the finer side for me. On some papers it's use-able on others it's too bold.

25
Tools & Supplies / Cheap Pilot Parallels
« on: February 11, 2015, 04:27:14 PM »
So I wanted to share this with people on here in case there's any interested parties (Like me.)

There's this site called Mass drop that sets it up so that if enough people want to buy a particular item from a company they can all buy it together and then get a discount for it.
They've got one up now that enough people have already joined for Pilot Parallel's so that a full set is only 24.99
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/pilot-parallel-two-pack

26
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Unboxing of a Ton of Dip pen stuff
« on: January 24, 2015, 02:57:26 PM »
So I recently got lucky enough to come across an artist/art supply hoarder selling off a bunch of their stuff including a TON of vintage dip pen items. Most of what I bought is relative to this, plus a few fountain pen things. It's all fascinating enough that I wanted to share some of the unboxing and discovery here with you guys. (especially since I've already confirmed there's some rusty but probably useful Spencerian #1s in this set of stuff.) Also since this stuff is a bit much for me, I'll probably be open to trading some of them off if anyone is interested in that. I'll be sure to clean them all up first, so I won't send out anything rusty.

There will be more pictures to come as I go through and test and clean everything, if there's interest in seeing more of it at any rate.


One picture of everything

Half of the plastic organizer that came with the nibs and has most of the nibs in it as well as some of the holders. (And if anyone can tell me what those little plastic things are in the very middle of all the nibs, they look like little pressure sacs, I'd be grateful.)

More holders


27
Tools & Supplies / How do I use a Berol RapiDesign Lettering Aid?
« on: January 19, 2015, 05:31:59 PM »
So I found this lettering aid in my father's old 'art' stuff (I have no idea why he originally got these things), and I've been using it for a few months without really knowing what I'm doing or what any of the measurements mean. I would love however to understand how to properly use it and what the measurements mean.

Picture below.

28
Show & Tell / Mixed Ink Midnight Sky
« on: January 17, 2015, 03:33:47 AM »


I'm sharing this for the color of the ink that I've mixed together rather than the calligraphy work itself. Because it took me ages to get the right mix of water, water-color, and PearlEx to get the 'star' shine to come through the dark blue, so I'm rather proud now that I finally figured it out.

Also apologies for the blurriness. My camera's pictures haven't been coming out as crisp as normal, especially when I'm trying to keep the whole thing in focus. Not sure what's up.

29
Tools & Supplies / alcohol proof black ink
« on: January 13, 2015, 12:05:07 AM »
So beyond being a beginner calligrapher, I'm a self-taught artist. I like to draw along the lines of the 'manga' style, and when I draw traditionally (not digitally), I like to color using copic markers which are alcohol based.

Recently I've been really interested in doing the line-work for my art with my dip pen, since I think after all the lettering practice I definitely have more control over line thickness with the dip pen then any multiliner ink pen I've ever used, which tend to be one size anyway and I just have to swap between to get the different thicknesses I might want. The problem is any of the typical inks I've looked at don't seem to be alcohol proof, and I'm having a hard time in general getting that kind of specifics on the inks, so I was wondering if maybe any of you knew of inks I could get that are alcohol proof and available in the US.

I will note that I'm aware of the existence of a few alcohol proof inks that are available on the Jetpens site, but aren't really available at any other seller. (except maybe Amazon because they have everything). Personally I don't get any thing else from Jetpens so I'd rather not start shopping there for the one thing.

30
Tools & Supplies / Taking pictures of Calligraphy
« on: December 15, 2014, 12:52:26 AM »
While I know there's been at least one thread on making lighting set-ups for calligraphy, I was more interested on what people's favorite camera settings are for taking the pictures. Especially when you're having to deal with low-light or bad light situations.

I'm currently a college student who lives on campus, which means I don't have a lot of room to be setting anything extravagant up, especially since I have to go home during holidays and be able to take whatever I use with me and set-up there. I recently figured out that the whitest light I own is the flashlight/flash of my iPhone, haha. So I managed to set that up on a box and make my photos have at least usable lighting.

But now I'm more interested in what the best settings on the camera are. I personally own a Canon Rebel T3, and one of the things I have the hardest time with is getting the entirety of the picture to be in-focus, so that all the words are easy and clear to read.

I should note too, that I would be very quick to scan my calligraphy rather than take a picture except that I almost entirely use PearlEx inks, or partially mixed in PearlEx inks because I love the shine, and the shine does make it more difficult to photograph. So if anyone has any tricks relative to that I'd love to hear those too.

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