calligraphy-msg - 2/5/08
Inks, papers, calligraphic styles.
NOTE: See also the files: callig-suppl-msg, inks-msg, parchment-msg, paper-msg, quills-msg, sealing-wax-msg, alphabets-msg, early-books-msg, wax-tablets-msg.
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: DICKSNR%QUCDN.BITNET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU ("Ross M. Dickson")
Date: 17 Nov 89 05:06:00 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Greetings once again from Sarra Graeham, who evidently finds posting to
the Rialto *much* more fun than working on scrolls . . . (sigh)
Most of the books recommended so far are lovely picture books that give
many good ideas about what to do, but say very little about how to do
it. If I were to get someone started on calligraphy with books, these
would be my choices:
Drogin, Marc. _Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique_, Allanheld
and Schram, Montclair, 1980.
Available in most major university libraries, and still in print, this is
the *best* book for our purposes in existence. Gives step-by-step instruc-
tions for each hand so simple a rank novice can follow it, and is chock full
of pictures of actual manuscripts. Accept no substitutes.
Bain, George. _Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction_, Dover Publications
Inc., New York, 19??.
Gives wonderfully clear instructions about how knotwork and all the other
goodies in Celtic art is done. Ignore his instructions on how to do Celtic
calligraphy, though, and use Drogin instead.
Angel, Marie. _Painting for Calligraphers_, ?? (Sorry, don't own the book)
Although this is a modern book, it has some good instructions about painting
technique, tools, media, etc., all with the needs of a calligrapher in mind.
Thompson, Daniel V. _The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting_,
Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1956. ISBN 0-486-20327-1
Not a book for the rank beginner, but an excellent research work on how
exactly the medievals went about painting. The author has done a lot of
research on the actual chemistry of medieval art.
Hope this helps.
Sarra Graeham, Ealdormere Signet | Heather Fraser
Canton of Greyfells, Midrealm | Kingston, Ontario, CANADA
From: joshua at paul.rutgers.edu (Joshua Mittleman)
Date: 17 Nov 89 18:02:06 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
hello there! Long time no post. Some new info on scribe sources for
you:
1) George Braziller publishers has moved. I'll post the new address
on monday. They are now on Madison Ave. in NY city.
2) Marc Drogin's book _Medieval Calligraphy..._ is out of print, but
is due BACK IN PRINT as of November 17 by Dover books in paperback.
Your local bookstore should be able to order it in 1 week. I'll post
their address (they have SUPER catalogs) monday as well.
From: norteman at discvr.enet.dec.com ("My brain is hanging upside-down.")
Date: 22 Nov 89 14:45:18 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Greetings, all, from Ariel.
Thanks to Fionnghuala (and Rayah) for the excellent list of sources for
scribes.
I plan to send for everything that I don't already get!
Here's the address of another bookshop I often visit. Their main business is
in books about books and collectors' editions of certain authors, but their
interests have branched out into bookbinding, calligraphy and illumination,
and the making of books before printing.
The Colophon Bookshop
(Robert and Christine Liska, props.)
117 Water Street
Exeter, NH 03833
Write for their book lists, which come out bimonthly (or more often,
sometimes).
Most of what they sell won't be of interest to the mediaeval scribe, but I've
found some real treasures through them.
William: Thanks for the description of the half-hour scroll. My "quickies"
usually take two hours or more, but I still want to make sure that even those
will survive the ravages of time. I never use marker for anything -- I've seen
ten-year-old scrolls done with markers (or signed in marker) in which the ink
has all but disappeared.
The best SCA publication I've ever seen on scribal stuff is Crossed Quills,
More [Y,n]?
the Midrealm calligraphers' newsletter. Does anyone from the Midrealm
(Sarra?)
have Beryl de Folo's address handy and can post it to this forum? Anyway, I
recommend this newsletter VERY highly for the wealth of useful information
it contains: facsimiles of historical hands, sample layouts in different
styles, illumination techniques and samples... scribes everywhere should find
it fascinating. Best of all, you can barter photocopies or slides of your
work for issues!
Enough from this ink-stained wretch.
--Ariel of Caer Myrddin (Karen J. Norteman)
Shire of Malagentia (Portland, Maine)
East Kingdom
<norteman%discvr.dec at decwrl.dec.com>
The most recent address I have for FoLump Enterprises is: 805 East Green #1,
Urbana IL 61801. It's about six years old, so it may or may not work.
From: norteman at discvr.enet.dec.com (Casting runes on the rooftops)
Date: 16 Jan 90 20:04:31 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Greetings, all, from Ariel.
Marc Drogin's book Mediaeval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique has just
hit the bookshelves again, after a long absence. This time it's been
reprinted
by Dover Books.
You can order it by mail if it's not at your friendly local bookstore. Price
is $10.95, order number 0-486-26142-5. The publisher is:
Dover Publications, Inc.
31 East 2nd Street
Mineola, NY 11501
Yo Carolingians! Barilleri Books, the new bookstore in Harvard Square, has a
whole bunch of copies. They're 10% off, too.
For those of you not familiar with Drogin's book, this is a must-have. Drogin
discusses the history of mediaeval calligraphy from AD 400 till the end of
the 15th century, "after which that instrument of the Devil, the printing
press,
was invented and changed the course of calligraphic history" (quote his).
Drogin also talks about the alphabets, the materials used, the scribes them-
selves, and even the patron demon of calligraphy, Titivullus. There are lots
of writing samples, actual bits of documents to look at, and (of course) a
heavy dose of Drogin's humour.
Go out and get this book, or get the acquisitions librarian or your local
Guild head to order it. Trust me -- this is well worth having.
--Ariel of Caer Myrddin (Karen J. Norteman)
Shire of Malagentia (Portland, Maine)
East Kingdom
<norteman%discvr.dec at decwrl.dec.com>
From: aiden at NCoast.ORG (Steven Otlowski)
Date: 9 Apr 91 23:35:14 GMT
Organization: North Coast Public Access Un*x (ncoast)
Problems with ink bleeding can also be helped by using Gum Sandarac. It
can be mail ordered from a number of calligraphy shops. It is a tree gum
resin. If finely powdered and dusted onto the paper it helps prevent
bleeding. It is also particularly usefull if you have made a correction
and injured the original "sizing" on the paper.
Aiden Elfeadur -
From: amanda at visix.com (Amanda Walker)
Date: 23 Jul 91 15:06:09 GMT
Organization: Visix Software Inc., Reston, VA
DICKSNR at qucdn.queensu.ca ("Ross M. Dickson") writes:
>I hope m'lady will find this a
>happy addition rather than an offensive contradiction,
Just so, m'lord :).
>Goose quills were used, and I don't believe any of the treatments you
>describe were performed -- in particular the heat treatment. The quill
>was carefully cut into the appropriate shape using an Exacto knife.
If the quill is fairly large (and thus has relatively thick walls), the
heat treatment is less necessary. It's mainly a way of improving the
likely results for many quills.
>Her observation was that the flexibility of the quill and the smoothness
>of the parchment made the quality of the lines obtained *immensely*
>superior to anything she could do with a steel nib on paper.
Indeed. Writing with a quill on vellum or parchment is nothing at all
like writing with a steel pen on paper. Utter bliss...
>She would be delighted to hear of other sources dealing with quill-cutting.
I believe that Johnston covered it in "Writing, Illuminating, and Lettering."
I taught myself from The Calligrapher's Handbook (put out by the the
Society of Scribes & Illuminators in England, and I believe out of print).
>Sarra, however, found no advantage whatsoever to cutting a slit in the
>goose quill pen, and indeed it was just a good way to ruin the tip.
The slit is *very* tricky to get right, but it can help a lot in evening
out the ink flow. This is where heat treating helps, as it makes the
quill less likely to splinter when a slit is cut.
>She suspects that the slit-cutting was not described simply because it
>wasn't done.
My sources are at home, but I believe that it was done, albeit not
universally.
I am, however, happy to defer to greater expertise--the first way I tried
worked fine, so I've stuck with it. I know Master Aiden has done quite
a bit with quills (and found a source for quill knives), and might be
able to contribute some experience as well.
--
Arwen <amanda at visix.com>
Scribe at Small
From: cat at fgssu1.sinet.slb.COM (Insignificant Pondscum)
Date: 24 Jul 91 17:07:23 GMT
To quote Amanda:
"I taught myself from The Calligrapher's Handbook (put out by the Society
of Scribes and Illuminators in England, and I believe out of print)."
If you were referring to the blue covered Calligrapher's Handbook which
is editted by Heather Child, then it is still in print. If you can't
find it, you can mail order it from Amsterdam Art on University in
Berkeley CA - they always have it in stock. If someone out there is
doing scribal stuff, I recommend this book highly. It's got really good
stuff in it, like recipes for gum ammoniac, gesso sotile, parchement and
vellum prep, pigments-to-paints, and other gems. In my not so humble
opinion, it's a must-have for anyone of scribal pretensions. (For people
who I have taught scribal stuff to, I usually give them a copy if they
look at all serious about doing scrolls). The mythical Mistress Aldith
Anharad St. George says: "buy this book!"
Tux
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* Meisterin Therasia von Tux, OP * "Imitation is the surest *
* cat at fgssu1.sinet.slb.com * indication of butt sucking" *
* * - the mythical Mistress Aldith *
* * Anharad St. George *
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From: bhw at aifh.ed.ac.uk (Barbara H. Webb (Phd 89))
Date: 24 Jul 91 13:38:49 GMT
Organization: Dept AI, Edinburgh University, Scotland
I'm afraid I missed the first posting (Arwen's) about quills (if someone
would mail me a copy I would be grateful). But the second post didn't
tally at all with my experience with quills so I thought I would add
some comments. I assume the basic shaping methods have been covered
already.
I have been cutting and using quills for about two years now and I find
the vast superiority of the resulting calligraphy makes them well worth
the effort. Unfortunately I still can't cut a perfect quill every time,
but the average is improving.
I use goose feathers, and I find only the larger ones are stiff enough
to be useful. I treat them by soaking in vinegar overnight and then
heating them by putting them in hot sand (heated in the oven) and this
definitely helps by making them stiffer (a quick method that gives
reasonably results is to hold them carefully over a flame for a few
moments, but this sometime results in a smell of burning feathers!).
Turkey feathers seem to be okay as well (treat same way).
I use a curved scalpel blade (easy to get at art shops) to cut the nib
shape, and the blade from a safety razor to cut the slit, then the
scalpel blade to do the essential final shaping - a diagonal shaving of
the top of the tip (gives incredibly fine lines) and a sharp very
straight cut across the top (this is one I haven't yet mastered to my
satisfaction, but it must be a perfectly straight edge for the pen to
behave well, especially using paper (I wish I could afford vellum!)).
I found the critical part in getting working pens was the slit and it
leaves me in some amazement that someone would find the slit
unnecessary. I can only assume that the pen is being used in a completely
different way, with small amounts of ink on the tip being spread across
the paper, rather than the ink being very gradually fed by the slit to
the tip of the pen. By the first method I could only get a few letters
without redipping, whereas with slitted pens you get ten to twenty or more
words from a drop of ink loaded into the pen by a paintbrush. This seems
practical evidence that they did use pens with slits (I'm certain they
didn't write a few letters at a time) but there is also instructions for
making a slit in the pen in several medieval artists handbooks (sorry,
refs not handy, but could be acquired) and illuminations of scribes that
clearly show pens with slits in them.
The problem I had with the slit was that putting pressure on the pen for
writing would make the two sections of the tip part slightly, opening
the slit and stopping the flow of ink (it works by osmosis). Using the
pen upside down over came this but wasn't a satisfactory solution - you
don't get such nice writing (although it's still better than lots of
calligraphy fountain pens). The solution of this problem was three-fold
1. The use of a stiffer quill (see above) which doesn't open under
pressure
2. The use of a very fine blade (see above) to get a very fine and even
slit
3. Cutting the slit shorter and the nib into a more square shape
than the shape of modern steel nibs, which also counteracts the tendency
of the sides to part.
As I mention above, having this sort of pen work requires a very
straight edge, because the ink is drawn onto the width of the tip of the
nib by osmosis when the tip is flat against the paper, so any
irregularites will disturb the flow of ink (yes you do need smooth sorts
of paper but I assume that's what you use). It can be a frustrating
buisness try to trim a nib into shape (and once you've used it a while
it needs retrimming) but the results are WONDERFUL as anyone who has
tried a good nib will know.
I hope these observations will be useful to other scribes: and I would
certainly be interested in hearing how others have fared in their
experiments with quill pens. And I would advise any calligraphers to try
it some time - there are calligraphic strokes in medieval scripts that
you just _can't do_ with a modern pen, but they flow beautifully from a
quill! I'm just sorry this medium doesn't permit me to demonstrate :-)
In service,
Caitlin de Courcy.
23 Jan 92
PTH 1:109/401.0 at FidoNet
From: henwe at sssab.se (Henric Weyde)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Scandinavian System Support AB
FREE THE SCRIBES
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Greetings unto the good people on the Rialto,
My humble suggestion:
The Gutenberg printing was introduced in the 15th century. i know for
certain that by 1470 absolution letters were preprinted forms where
only the place, date, time, name and price was left out to be filled in
by hand.
(What a pity this invention was made for every administration in this
world to follow without any restain).
So, make or find an appropriate original, get hold of an old type handmade
paper and use a modern type of photocopier.
If you want a paper to achieve the appearance of a parchement, oil it with
raw linessed oil and turpentine (50/50).
If you want to add a seal use a jute string and a porcelaineclay that will
harden in an oven.
My facsimile absolution letter, original from 1485 found in the Swedish
national archives is considered good enough to appear at a medieaval
exhibition at the local museum.
Depending on the occasion this might be something to consider?
/Your humble servant
Bartolomeo di Camerino
alias Henric Weyde
Date: 31 Jan 92
From: ddfr at quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
"Perhaps our scribes could improve their visibility in some way."
(Fiacha)
This suggests an interesting way of combining visibility with
appreciation. I believe that period scribes in at least some period
cultures had pen cases--things they wore that held pens, perhaps ink,
etc. I have not checked any details, but I am pretty sure I remember
a pen case as one of the charges described in "Mamluk Heraldry," and
I think there are similar things in Christian Europe. How about a
kingdom project (by the non-scribes) to research what pen cases
looked like, make a lot of recognizably similar ones, and, over time,
present one to every scribe who does award scrolls. That would both
be a thankyou and make it easier to recognize scribes who did award
scrolls.
Cariadoc
31 Jan 92
From: branwen at flipper.ccc.amdahl.com (Karen Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
In article <9201301851.AA27232 at premise.prime.com.> nathan at premise.prime.COM (Nathan Kronenfeld) writes:
>Official scrolls are far from the only possible place to use one's
>calligraphic skill.
Before I assign scrolls to people, I need to see an example of their
calligraphy and illumination. For new people, this is difficult, since
they haven't done anything yet. I have been having them just do a scroll,
but in the few cases were the scroll isn't acceptable but they think it's
just lovely, I have a problem. So recently I've decided that for new
people, as a warrant piece I'll have them illuminate a period poem. That
way, they can take home their work, and if I can't use their first effort,