[Scriptoris] RE: award scrolls and introduction

[Diane Rudin]

--- "Horn, Trisha D." <tdhorn at saintfrancis.com> wrote:

> Being new to scribe work, all I have done is the preprinted scrolls and
> dabbling in calligraphy.  What are some good sources for learning the
> different types of calligraphy (showing examples of styles, etc.)? 

Marc Drogin's *Medieval Calligraphy* is an excellent introduction to the
concept of creating ducti (example alphabets) from extant manuscripts. 
However, his focus is Northern European, and therefore leaves out the
developments in Spain and Italy from the tenth century onward.  In addition,
his book is geared toward the modern calligrapher.  Therefore, the results one
gets from using his ducti are modern (e.g., readable) rather than medieval
(hard to read) in appearance.

As an introductory text, however, it's quite excellent.  Just think, as you're
going through there, *how* he has created the ducti, and as soon as you
possibly can, go to creating your own ducti directly from manuscripts.  A good
book for "moving up" is Stan Knight's *Historical Scripts*--lots of examples
from across Europe, and not just the showy book hands, either.

In addition, at a more advanced level, there are *many* Renaissance handwriting
manuals.  Some are available in reprints, especially through Dover Press.

Please, please, remember to take breaks, or you'll end up with carpal tunnel
syndrome like so many of us.  (Drink lots of water.  Then, you'll have to get
up a lot to go to the 'loo.)

About materials:  practice just getting the very basics down (vertical strokes
vertical, slanted strokes slanted, round strokes round) with a cheap felt-tip
calligraphy pen, writing on graph paper.  

When you're comfortable with up, down, and sideways, move on to learning how to
manipulate liquid ink.  For this, a cartridge pen is acceptable, although I
positively abhor the cheap Speedball things because the nibs are so clunky that
you can't possibly get a good fine line with them, and your work doesn't get
the proper degree of thick-to-thin contrast.  (Besides, the ink in those
cartridges is dye-based, and fades if exposed to any light in just a few
years.)  I use Platignum cartridge pens, the kind you can load with your own
ink.  Practice writing using these pens on non-reproductible blue-grid paper
(not the dark-green-lined stuff, but the light-blue-lined stuff.)  

Finally, you can move to dip pens--again, not Speedball!  I use Mitchell; some
people use Brause, which are stiffer and good for people with "heavier" hands."
 The paper we use to create originals is hot-press (smooth finish).  I prefer
#140; others prefer lighter or heavier papers.  

When you're loaded with money and really want to go for it, get vellum.  Not
that cheap vegetable "parchment", and not that drafter's "vellum" that you can
see through, but real vellum or parchment from a cow, sheep or goat.  If you
don't have to pay a truly outrageous price for it, then it's probably not real.
 And quill pens, from the molted flight feathers of geese or swans.  (The
movies constantly show people using ostrich feathers.  This is not possible. 
The feathers of flightless birds are simply not made strong enough to handle
the "weight" of writing, any more than the weight of the bird.)

Ink:  make sure to get pigmented ink, not dye-based ink.  Dye-based ink will
fade quickly, even if the document it's on never sees the light of day.  (Baron
Edwin has such a document.  Over twenty years old, is stored away from all
light, and the red and blue inks have already faded to near-illegibility.)  I
use Higgins Black Magic and Higgins Eternal.  When I need to write in colors, I
thin gouache to writing consistency and use dip pens.

Texts to practice:  Well, the favorite of Renaissance writing manuals is Bible
verses, and other pious quotes.  *My* personal favorite is "the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog" because it's an "alphabet sentence" (meaning it
includes all of the letters of the alphabet); the first one I learned in
ninth-grade typing class.  For more alphabet sentences, find an old typing
manual at Half-Price Books.  (Online sources probably exist by now, but I
wouldn't know how to find them.)

But most importantly, write words, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than
random strokes and letters.  That's the only way to learn how the letters and
words should be spaced.

> And will there be any classes/guidance in the area on creating an original? 
> And can someone teach me to do the prize scrolls?

If there is no one in your area who can help, there are plenty of people on
this list to give you advice.  Q.E.D.

--Serena

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