Art Blog - Calligraphy: A Scribe's Notes

For the past 16 years I have volunteered my artistic services to a fund raising event, The Bright Nights Ball. Every year has a theme, and each year I make elaborate table numbers (45) to mach the color and theme. Additionally, I make matching name tags for the 30 or so student volunteers. This year, like every year the ballroom was magical in shades of teal, and white, beautifully lit and staged. Elaborate floral arrangements were at every turn and the most divine scent of roses. This year I got together all the stock, cut it down, layered two shades of teal with silver and white. I painted the table numbers with pearlescent teal paint and they looked quite nice. The student name tags followed suite lettered with Earth Safe Acrylic gouache with Luminarte Primary Elements added… Continue reading… 3 comments

After many weeks of reading, asking questions, curing quills, scorching quills, cutting, mangling and muttering, I finally got a quill to write. Two of them actually. The aluminum can strip reservoir is a pain as far as I'm concerned. I can't get the thing to sit straight or touch the back of the quill properly so I resorted to holding it in place with masking tape. It worked. I did the entire piece (except the painting of the stones) pictured with a quill and gouache on a very poor choice of laid charcoal paper. Put that on the list of things not to do again. The color was perfect but the surface was frustrating. I need to rework it, I think the stones look like potatoes… Continue reading… 5 comments

Being able to determine the grain direction of a piece of paper, board or book cloth is essential to a successful book binding project. If you have ever had trouble pasting or binding paper together only to have it warp or bow, here are a few pointers for determining paper grain, what it is, and why it is, you need to know. Continue reading… 0 comments

Cutting a piece of glass to fit a frame isn't difficult. You don't have to go to the harware store and have them cut it for you, you can do it at home. Just a few tools and some practice will help you succeed. There are all types of glass for different purposes. The process is the same for cutting any kind of glass, but window glass is too heavy and has too much color to be used in framing. You will want to use framing glass which is much thinner and has no discernable color. Picture frame glass can be bought from frame suppliers, a glass shop or you can ask your local framer. You will need a sturdy metal ruler with a non slip back and a raised edge, a measuring tape, a glass cutter, available at the hardware store, safety glasses and a bath towel or other fabric surface cover… Continue reading… 2 comments

Eco Friendly Acrylic Gouache Acrylic gouache may not be new but this product is new. Manufactured in the US by Earth Safe Finishes . This non toxic, low VOC acrylic gouache comes in a jar as a white base that dries clear with a matte finish. Color is then added to the base in the form of highly pigmented dyes. I really like the delivery method of a colorless base that can be tinted and all the colorants can be cross-used with all the other mediums.… Continue reading… 6 comments

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to work and feeling like you are fighting a battle. Many factors must be considered when "things just aren't working right." Here are a few things you may want to check: Paper Quality and Surface Fluid Posture Pen Nib Temperature Light Pencil Humidity Concentration Paper: High grade, archival, all cotton artist's papers are best. I like, Arches Text Wove, Arches 90lb hot press watercolor paper, Diploma Parchment, Canson Ingres and Mi-Teintes. Fabriano and Twin Rocker both make excellent papers a well. Many papers made for commercial printing are also good. Check the surface to see if there are any bumps or lumps that should be scraped off… Continue reading… 2 comments

There has been some discussion lately on the Cyberscribe's group about breaking in new nibs and I thought it worth a little research. All metal nibs are sprayed with a very fine oil when they are manufactured to prevent rusting in shipping and storage. Before you can use any new nib the oil must be cleaned off or the ink will bead up and not flow. There are many methods for cleaning a new nib, some better than others. You can wipe the nib with a soft cloth and a mild mix of ammonia and water, glass cleaner or saliva. Spit solves just about everything but do not put the nib in your mouth, not because it's unsanitary, but because you run the risk of getting your tongue caught in the slit or stabbing yourself with a pointed nib. Oww… Continue reading… 4 comments

A few years ago I built out part of my attic to serve as a studio space, thereby freeing my living room to be just that. In the process I learned a few things which you may find helpful. The studio is on the third floor, good exercise, not so good for hauling stuff, which I do all the time. It's the attic so the ceilings are pitched, good for me, I'm only 5 foot, not so good for tall people. Very easy to heat in winter, warm air rises, but expensive to cool in the summer. It takes two air conditioners to keep it comfortable and dry, humidity being a big issue with paper. I like things to serve double duty whenever possible, giving me twice as much use out of a small space. My camera put ten pounds on my studio, it looks a lot bigger here than it really is… Continue reading… 7 comments

Although I try very hard not to leave my calligraphy nibs lying around with stuff caked all over them, it happens. Practices for keeping metal nibs clean, range from wiping them off with spit to buying commercially available cleaners. Brushes and pens can get expensive so keeping them clean will extend their performance and save money. I found this "recipe" in a calligraphy guild newsletter, sorry I don't know which one and it works so well I had to share it. This cleaning solution is ideal for cleaning metal pen nibs that are caked with lacquer based permanent ink, waterproof ink, gouache, masking fluid and pretty much anything else. It will also work on fountain pen nibs (not gold plated ones), technical pens and nylon brushes. It will dry out natural bristle brushes so don't try… Continue reading… 9 comments

Mostly sold in tubes, gouache (rhymes with squash) is an opaque form of watercolor known for its brilliance and even matte finish. With the addition of more water it can be used like watercolor for transparent effects or with less water for more opaque applications. There are many manufacturers of gouache, Winsor&Newton being the most popular, Schmincke, Holbein, Talens, all of which are of good grade. Student grade gouache is available too but I have found them not well suited for calligraphy. . Gouache is powdered pigment with Gum Arabic as the binder. Unlike watercolor, gouache has fewer fugitive colors making it more suitable for broadsides… Continue reading… 4 comments

Glair is a by product of egg use as an art material. Glair is added to gouache to make it adhere to the paper and not transfer off onto a facing page or other document. Some Gouache (rhymes with squash) pigments can be very soft when dry. Erasing around it can be a problem and the pigment can transfer off where you don't want it to. The addition of glair, "hardens" the pigment when dry and prevents it from migrating. It's simple and quick (10-15 mins) to make and you don't need very much. Using a hand mixer beat one or two egg whites into a meringue that will hold peaks. Two egg whites will yield a couple of tablespoons. Transfer the lot to a clean plate. Let the plate stand, tipping it up slightly on one side. You will soon see "tears" forming… Continue reading… 2 comments

It's easy to get overlooked among the millions of other artists and their work on the Internet. Search Engines like Google work with words, not pictures, so describing your work accurately will give you an edge. Here are five tips to get found faster: 1. Describe your work as though there were no picture with it: If someone is searching for a "horizontal oil painting+yellow roses+vase and your description is "a recent painting of my garden" then the search engines have nothing to match. Example: Ellen Sullivan Farley described her gorgeous painting of lilies this way: "These are beautiful Casablanca Lilies that I grow in my garden. I love the gestural lines in these flowers and the interesting negative shapes generated between them… Continue reading… 7 comments