Messages

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Inktober 2023 / Re: Inktober 2023 - Preliminary

« on: September 02, 2023, 09:08:41 AM »

Thank you so much for this post! I’m excited about doing Inktober again!

Last year’s Inktober really pushed me and gave me insights on how to practice. It really set the tone for the rest of my calligraphy year.

Lately I’ve been practicing the italic hand and I believe Italic capitals will be the main focus for me this year. If I am ready, I might also dabble with gothicized italics.

I might share some of my home made watercolors and some gilding, I’m taking à medieval gilding class next weekend, I’m over excited!

I want to add that I am very grateful for last year’s Inktober experience. I was amazed by the group dynamic, the kindness, humor and generosity on the thread. And of course, discovering everyone’s work day after day is awesome.

See you soon!

Lucie

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gilding – which size do you use and why?

« on: May 21, 2023, 01:34:18 PM »

Thank you very much for the encouragement @Erica McPhee !  it means a lot to me!

For whoever trespasses here and is on a similar gilding journey: laying miniatum ink for a thick border may not be the best option. It dries super fast, but is still inky and may not give you the sharp border you're looking for. There is also a tendency to have a "crack" or a wedge in the middle of your line, that you must make disappear with several layers, risking to make the border less sharp and more bulky by doing so.

It may be wishful thinking to believe that instacoll is a better option tho  It may just be me not having enough skill yet.
5 more days till pay day and then depending on my naughtiness, I might have the opportunity to compare the two ^^. Will post here where I do

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gilding – which size do you use and why?

« on: May 20, 2023, 04:03:44 PM »

And poof, there it is. One little step forward I wasn't brave enough this time around to give some white highlights to my versal. Maybe next time

Here's a link to the Instagram post for better resolution (I think): https://www.instagram.com/p/Csdzk02tB_9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

P.S. This was made with many layers of Miniatum Ink, which is very liquid. I know I'm going to give in and order Instacoll next month tho

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gilding – which size do you use and why?

« on: May 17, 2023, 03:16:52 AM »

Thanks for the encouragement Erica 
It didn't turn out quite as I hoped but it's still a step forward.
I'm going to go with the outlined M rather than the solid gold one, and maybe paint the inside.

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gilding – which size do you use and why?

« on: May 16, 2023, 05:32:29 PM »

I have never used miniatum so I’m not any help. But I wanted to say the Mateo looks so beautiful! It will look amazing with the gold.

Thank you so much Erica! Yeah I'm excited to gild that M, but I want to do it right!

New batch of experimental M's drying right now.

I went back to miniatum ink, which I am more accustomed to, but this time I have been building up several layers. We'll see!

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gilding – which size do you use and why?

« on: May 15, 2023, 05:02:52 PM »

Hello friends,

I have been lurking on this thread for a few days. I'm trying to level up my gilding. So far I have only been doing small dots with miniatum ink but now I want to do more complex gilding.

I'm coming here to share my experience thus far (hopefully someone out there will learn from my mistakes!), and to seek your advice.

I bought miniatum and tried it out, essentially not knowing what I'm doing.

I did a small rectangle as well as a versal capital M. I botched the M from the first strokes and made no effort from then forth to make it look even.
I was surprised that the standard miniatum is much less sticky than the ink version, which dries really quickly and is really easy to gild.

In comparison, the regular miniatum did not feel tacky at all (20 hours of drying). I tried "activating" it by blowing on it with a straw. It made it just sticky enough for me to apply my transfer gold, but I had to do it several times over to cover small surfaces, using up a lot of gold in the process.
This never happened with miniatum ink!

I then "burnished" with a q tip, but have no idea if I am anywhere near the "mirror" effect I have heard of (probably not...).

Also, the next thing I want to guild is the M of Mathéo (below), either the whole letter, or just the outline.
Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading 

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Inktober 2022 / Re: End of Inktober PARTYYYYY

« on: November 11, 2022, 08:57:10 AM »

@Zivio I'm late to the party too. And my husband being from French Guyana, I put a lot of that delicious Rhum in the bowl. Ti Punch anyone?

I've been meaning to post here for a while. But for one I'm so darn tired and my one year old won't let me stare at a screen for more than 5 seconds. And then I'm also kind of digesting Inktober. It was a great experience with a creative breakthrough for me (finding out about my personal style), leaving me wondering "where do I go from here?".
It's been great getting to know everyone and following everyone's Inktober journeys. I feel like I just spent a few days with a bunch of friends
I hope everyone is doing well and is having a great month of November.
@K-2 I'll be looking out for your thread!

See you around the forum, friends 

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Want to become an Expert?

« on: November 11, 2022, 08:50:16 AM »

@Zivio Nice to hear from you! I somehow missed your post where you mentioned me but I'm glad I found it anyway
@AnasaziWrites thank you for the link

This video resonates on many levels for me. It's great but it hurts a little, as I see how I made the same learning mistakes over and over in several areas of my life (academic, musical and creative) and crashed and burned a couple of times because of it.
Now I'm a brute force kind of person. When something is difficult I throw myself at it full speed and put hours and hours into it. But I was doing it wrong for years, because I wasn't having deliberate practice.

The missing element for me is that I didn't trust my brain to assimilate the info. I would just do hours and hours of repeating what I was learning, and when there was free time, more hours, no rest. I realize now I was just overwhelming my brain.

It ruined my relationship to the cello @Zivio (this is my nemesis instrument). A couple of years ago I started learning the harp and did the same mistakes, which made me good in the beginning, but then I hit a plateau.

I alse ruined my relationship to calligraphy 5 years ago when learning Italics. I completely overdid it, never stepped back, and ultimately drove myself sick and and tired.

This year I have learned deliberate practice, and one hour of that is better than 10 hours of non deliberate practice. It's also 10 times more exhausting to troubleshoot everything you do.

Becoming a mom a year and a week ago also helped me in a way, because in order to make the most of my free time, I have to set little goals (get those 2-3 measures straight, improve the letter spacing on this script), and move from one mini goal to another from one day to the next, which makes me much more consistent.

I still rage internally because I want to go back to bulldozer mode and go all wrecking ball through the various blocks I encounter.

But it doesn't exactly work that way does it?   

In a way, this is teaching me a lot about life. I am learning to trust that my brain was exposed to the info and will consolidate it if I just leave it alone. Knowing when to stop, realizing my brain won't benefit from any more practice for today and that continuing might actually be counterproductive.
It makes me accept that such things take time, when you want to generate what is beautiful and meaningful. Just like relationships, like healing, and like personal growth.

But darn, it's hard to accept sometimes 

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Inktober 2022 / End of Inktober PARTYYYYY

« on: November 02, 2022, 03:38:18 PM »

I don't know guys, I feel like there needed to be a thread to wrap up this month of awesomeness.
So here it is, post whatever you like 

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Inktober 2022 / Re: Day 31 - 2022: FARM

« on: November 01, 2022, 04:54:13 PM »

Today I printed the Engrosser section of the Zanerian manual, to try to straighten up my script.
The picture hurts my eyes, there's no harmony here. But hey, now I know what to work on.

I loved reading everyone's farm stories, they are so precious!

For me, as a healthcare professional, I have worked mostly in large cities but sometimes way out in the countryside. In the city the very old patients are often frail and ill.
Now, the elderly in the countryside, that was a whole other story. I had a number of huge, broad shouldered, 80 year olds with big strong arms coming in the hospital with chest pain, being like "I can't stay long, I have to return to the farm".
It was a great experience working with them, and food for thought too!

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Inktober 2022 / Re: DAY 30 - 2022: GEAR

« on: October 31, 2022, 04:27:45 AM »

Running one day late but lurking every chance I get!
@Erica McPhee  this is brilliant, it is giving me ideas.
@K-2 I love this, and I'm in awe with how much art you produce on a weekly basis on top of your work and being a dad. You haven't missed one prompt and your work is beautiful. I love the little hermit, your mosquito and jellyfish too!
@AnasaziWrites enjoy your time away!
@Cyril Jayant you are French aren't you? thanks for the encouragement
@tiffany.c.a thank you for the encouragements, I hadn't replied yet but was touched by the kind words.
@Zivio I loved your portrait from the other day! I hope you are having a great time

Cheers everyone!

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Inktober 2022 / Re: DAY 29 - 2022: Uh-Oh

« on: October 30, 2022, 06:56:49 PM »

Lovely work everyone! I feel like I am learning from every post you share, and I love love love following everyone's inktober journey.
Here is my Uh Oh of the day, I set out to do a nice poem, and as I was painting the last details of the vines, and almost finished, with miniatum already laid, a drop of water fell on the text and smudged it.

Admittedly, the word I used was stronger than Uh-Oh.

Still I learned a lot from this one, albeit the hard way.

See you tomorrow friends!

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Inktober 2022 / Re: DAY 28 - 2022: CAMPING

« on: October 28, 2022, 07:09:18 PM »

Hi friends!
I've been missing out because I have many a time fallen asleep in random places in the house, at random hours. However, I have been enjoying your posts and was impatient to come back!

No practice sometimes means more reflection on how to practice.
I have decided to come back to copperplate but this time being less constipated not trying so so hard to do it right, and matching the exemplars exactly, but trusting myself to achieve harmony and actually enjoying the process.
I realize that with Copperplate I constantly beat myself up, and I think it's creating a mental block. Interestingly, I don't feel that block with French Roundhand, or with drawing vines.

This is a wee catch up with no warm up, but it felt much nicer and much more instructive than my previous sessions. Yay for a new season in Copperplate for me!
Thanks for reading 

@Erica McPhee Camping with three kids heh, that's self-denial all right! I love how you have added drawings to your calligraphy, very cheerful!
@AnasaziWrites looking chill!

Have a nice rest of your October 28th, here it is already October 29th
See you tomorrow(ish)! 

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Inktober 2022 / Re: Day 25 - 2022: Tempting

« on: October 25, 2022, 06:28:33 PM »

Last night I got home from work and fell asleep, so I have some catching up to do.
Tonight, some Copperplate practice, and darn I screwed up the ligatures halfway through the word. Will be working on it.
The capital T isn't balanced either. But I have a no-redo rule, so I have to live with it 

I'm off to bed.
See you soon!

P.S.
@AnasaziWrites I love your Spencerian script!

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Inktober 2022 / Re: Day 23 - 2022: BOOGER!

« on: October 23, 2022, 04:50:27 PM »

I was not inspired by this word, so under non-rule 22, section b, paragraph 1 of the Inktober no rules policy, and in celebration of the discovery that my 12 oz. bottle of Sumi ink, sealed and unopened for 23+ years is still good, I've penned (brushed, actually) the word sumi in Japanese below said bottle. I've tossed out the contents of the similarly aged small bottle--it took more that a day to dry--and refilled it with the bigger bottle. Turns out, @K-2  it is Yasutomo sumi, not Kuretake, but should last me years unless I start using a larger brush.

I too rebel against this unesthetic prompt and decide to do my own thing
It started with layout practice on blank watercolor paper and ended up as a finished, gilded piece.

Cheers!