FLEX NIB FOUNTAIN PEN I am currently doing an English calligraphy course with Domestika, and have been using a dip pen with an angled pen holder. The nib has a reservoir which means I don't have to dip so often but the results can be a bit hit and miss. I wondered whether…
A NEW SHELVING UNIT FOR THE STUDIO A big clear-out At the moment I am having a blitz on the studio and getting ruthless. I've got far too much stuff and it's high time I went through everything and got rid of a lot of the excess. I'll do another post about that,…
GILDED BACKGROUND FOR A CALLIGRAPHY PROJECT As part of the Domestika course on English Calligraphy, we are to make an imaginary invitation. In the course, the teacher recommended some calligraphers she admires, for inspiration and to broaden our knowledge. One of these is the Irish calligrapher Denis Brown, who has completely blown me…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ENGLISH CALLIGRAPHY - CAPITAL LETTERS I was too busy and then too tired to do anything in my studio over the past couple of days, but this afternoon I had another session. After practising the strokes for the capital letters and doing some consolidation practice, I was ready to start…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ENGLISH CALLIGRAPHY - JOINED UP WRITING! Great steps forward today in the studio, continuing to work on Unit 3 of the course which deals with lowercase letters. The lesson was called "Union of Lowercase." Not sure if this is a correct technical term - the teacher is Spanish and the…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ENGLISH CALLIGRAPHY - THE LOWERCASE LETTERS We're really getting down to the nitty-gritty now, and beginning to learn how to shape the letters. Lowercase letters These fall into several different groups, according to how they are constructed. The teacher therefore didn't teach them to us in alphabetical order, but in…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ENGLISH CALLIGRAPHY I have decided to stay with the calligraphy theme after recently completing the Hebrew calligraphy course. The new course is on English calligraphy, often called Copperplate. With its flowing lines and flourishes, it is very elegant and beautiful. I have done a little in the past, but am…
FUUMUUI NEEDLE POINT WATERCOLOUR BRUSHES Today I got a new set of watercolour brushes. They are rather special. The beautiful box Such pretty packaging! The brushes There are four brushes in the set. These brushes are made in China, and have smooth wooden handles with minimal varnish. So often, the varnish or paint…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - HEBREW CALLIGRAPHY For this course, we need a flat-ended calligraphy pen. I used to have a calligraphy fountain pen, and also a fibre-tipped Italic marker but they seem to have vanished without trace, so I bought some new ones. New pens Italic markers This set of four range from 1.4…
ISLAMIC ART - FIRST ATTEMPT, AND A NEW COMPASS In advance of the new Domestika course on drawing Islamic art, I decided to have one or two "dry runs" to get my hand in. I have been fascinated by the complex geometric patterns in Islamic art for decades, and have several books on…
