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Messages - AndyT

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16
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Italic Exemplar Favorites
« on: July 24, 2017, 05:20:43 PM »
The first Italic example which really grabbed my attention was a letter by Bartholomew Dodington, part of which is reproduced here.  I definitely prefer the renaissance style to modern exemplars, and find Arrighi particularly pleasing.

17
K (the Greeks' kappa) predates the Romans and was used in their early inscriptions until they'd figured out a way to phase it out.  Can't say I've ever seen a rustic example from the classical period, however.  Incidentally, this pdf might be of interest.

18
Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy / Re: Foundational Hand
« on: July 20, 2017, 05:51:15 AM »
The Ramsey Psalter (Harley MS 2904) has been digitised by the British Library.

19
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Calligraphy bar brawls
« on: July 18, 2017, 06:16:13 PM »
Pint and banjo pretty much sums it up, and Mr O' Flaherty is a fine exponent when it comes to pulling the former and thrashing the bejaysus out of the latter.  It's one of my personal Moon Under Water pubs, and the only thing to be said against it is that it's a bit out of the way.  Apparently the next place of any significance due West is Boston.

20
"If you require artistic fulfillment, try to begin".

Gnomic, innit?  ;)

21
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Calligraphy bar brawls
« on: July 18, 2017, 03:09:50 PM »
Ireland is awash with comic uncial too, but if you venture far enough into the Gaelic speaking areas you'll occasionally be confronted with the genuine, baffling article.  Here's the door of O'Flaherty's in Dingle, a fine venue for a convivial discussion, but a lousy one for a brawl since it's right opposite the Garda station.   :)

22
Splendid, Ken.  I think there are still some to come - court hand, for instance?

23
Everyday Handwriting | Penmanship / Re: Write Cursive With Schin
« on: July 16, 2017, 04:10:28 PM »
Incidentally, I never heard the term "joined-up writing" until I read Harry Potter when I was in my late 20s which led me to believe that it was a British term.

Joined-up writing is certainly a term in use here, or was in my youth.  It's what you do when you are no longer the tiniest of the tiny in British infant schools.  If an adult uses it, you can be sure that there's a good deal of irony, self-deprecation and possibly wry commentary on calligraphic airs and graces going on - especially if said adult is @Scarlet Blue;)

24
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Exemplars
« on: July 16, 2017, 03:50:45 PM »
That seems like a good solution, Ken.  Minimal work for Erica, if not for you.

25
Show & Tell / Re: Show us your best
« on: July 13, 2017, 01:24:45 PM »
.. see who could make the best faces ...

Ha ha!  We used to do that with sloes.  Ghastly things.   ;D

26
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Exemplars
« on: July 11, 2017, 03:23:16 PM »
There must be a way around this, Ken - another image host or maybe uploading the pics to your website and linking to them there if you still maintain it.  Possibly a Picasa album?  At any rate it would be crying shame to lose the thread.

27
Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Calligraphy bar brawls
« on: July 11, 2017, 03:16:24 PM »
Art or craft?  ;)

28
Here's a sample, taken from W E Dennis' "Studies in Pen Art" book.  It's generally associated with a line and wash technique, often on a tinted background.  More a matter of good drawing and meticulous small brush work than anything else, I guess.

29
It very much depends on the style, but it would be uncommon for the majuscule height to exceed that of a letter with an ascender.  The whole business of litterae notabiliores for Gothic hands is murky, because until the late medieval period they were more than likely versals - which is always an option of course.  From 1400 on, say, writing masters were producing majuscule alphabets but there wasn't anything worth speaking of in the way of standardisation, which leaves you free to plunder whatever roughly contemporaneous manuscripts take your fancy for eyecatching forms.  Or at least, that's the way I see it.

Instead of thinking in terms of x-heights, you might like to consider it a bit differently.  It was common for "blackletter" to be written between rather than on lines, spaced so as to give room for ascenders and descenders, plus a bit of leeway.  The advantage of using this approach from the modern perspective is that you get a bit of life in the base and waistlines, and you can play around with the ascenders, descenders and capitals according to taste as opportunities present themselves.  (From the medieval point of view it's quicker).  This is more suitable for cursive forms than textura precissa or whatever, but getting away from that running on rails look is desirable and historically appropriate.

So much for the book hands of the middle ages, but there are also two other groups of styles which are commonly referred to as black letter.  Firstly the 18th and 19th century confections found in copybooks under names like "Old English", "Church Text" or "German Text" - these you may as well reproduce as accurately as possible with a minimum of brio because they're engrossing hands for embellishing rather than practical writing styles.  The second group is not my area at all, and I hesitate to tread there, but it includes Germanic print styles like Fraktur and Schwabacher, and you could also include typefaces designed by people like Hermann Zapf and Rudolf Koch.  Fraktur is very popular with people working in the "calligraffiti" idiom, and if that appeals there really aren't too many rules as far as I can see and you can cut loose.  To be historically accurate, however, you should probably measure your exemplar as accurately as possible, rule four lines and stick to them as tightly as you can.

Attached is a late 15th century example, which I think demonstrates quite nicely the advantage of using the between the lines approach. 

30
Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: Back to calligraphy
« on: June 24, 2017, 12:50:42 PM »
Welcome back, Elisabeth.  :)

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