PRINCESS KITTEN - MY WORK

This is a review of my calligraphy - it is added to at the top, so you can see the latest texts and experiments first. Scroll down to see earlier stories and pickies.

Even if you don't 'do' God, you will have heard of these blessings, it's the one that goes 'blessed are the poor, for they will inherit the earth' etc.

It makes quite a big, chunky fan, nice to hold and there is a fibre tassel with beads and a cross. I have cut the sections long and short to emphasise the phrases. For example it goes 'Blessed are the poor: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Which divides really well into 2 sections, that's handy because the line is too long to fit in one length and the fan page would have to be 2 lines deep - now that's an idea.

I have persisted with the rotunda hand, and I have got much better at it. I have discovered that the Gothic family (which includes rotunda) is strong, straight lines in the lettering IE. the sides of the 'o' have to be parallel. I do seem to prefer the round hand group (which includes foundation and uncial), I seem to like the flourishes and 'fullness' of the inner spaces. I am now going to go back to my foundation hand and do this same project with double lines on each fan, just to see how it feels.

I tinkered and fiddled with all sorts of text styles and sizes before I had the brain wave. I know I wanted the 'GOD' big enough to fill across the pair of lines that made the couplet. In the end I used a no2 nib to do the 'GOD' and a no3 for the rest. The text - it is all in uncial, with equal line spacing of 4 nib widths of a no2 nib. I measured the beginnings of the lines and set the 'and' a bit forward so the all the following words (which are the same) fell into rows. The rose is a stamp coloured with H2Os, matted onto old gold.

I love uncial hand - it is a lovely 'fat' round hand, with enough dramatic strokes to keep me happy. The down side is that as it's all a similar size with what looks like capitals and lower case mixed it can be a bit difficult hand to read. - I still love it though.

My latest scribed poem. As I live 'just down the road from' Wordsworth's Dove Cottage - it had to happen. It is actually still a wonderful poem and looks super worked up.

I have been learning a new style lately (Roman minuscule) and was really pleased with the way I had adsorbed it and adapted to it. The differences are not strong, but it's a sharper action that Foundation, and you have to remember to 'pull up' at the right moment in the right place - Foundation being more of a curve action.

spent a lot of time on this - and was Sooo chuffed with myself - UNTIL I DISCOVERED THE SPELLING MISTAKE. Oh well, that's life with ink!

Answers by email - winner gets - well I will think of something far more polite than my words when I found it!!!

Have been fiddling about with my favourite carol. Could not decide which hand looked best - the old goat likes the foundation - and I thought the points of the sharpened italic added a sharp winter feel.

Then I experimented with a purple one as that seems to be such an 'in' colour for Christmas lately. Not sure if i am so keen really - I like the feel of sepia colour ink. It adds a lighter touch than black - it is much more forgiving(!) - it adds a 'warmer' over all tone - and other colours seem to mix well with it. The green looks fine in the, but i had to use purple in the other and it was all too much of the same.

Something i have discovered since I started the new site is that putting a piece through the scan really shows if it hangs together. I am well pleased with this piece, and I am itching to get on with some more poems and texts.

I have spent the past couple of days starting with copperplate script. It's not what I expected - I thought that it would be more like joined up writing - but you do still life the pen and have to watch your direction. The other thing - as i am so used to a flat nib where you hold the line - remembering to keep to the slant is a night mare!

I have just bought a pilot parallel pen - gosh do I like it. This is my first project with it. A3 heavy weight cartilage paper (cream),scribed in variegated blues and green ink, style - uncial, flower garland built up in a similar way to the collage Christmas cards.

Calligraphy and lettering have always been a passion of mine. I was hooked at a young age but in those days girls did not become songwriters. I spent a few years indulging myself by doing the huge pub chalkboards that were fashionable for a while. Now I try to study the skill with pen and ink � and the occasional brush.

I have been practising for about 2 years now so am still very new to the game, I know I have many years of learning ahead of me. I am keen to carry on learning and developing so will have a go at what ever you might need. My rates are very reasonable as all I need to do is cover my materials and post costs � and get more practise. We are talking donuts here.

As with all my work � it�s colourful, but I try to keep the focus on the text. I am a practising Christian and my faith is very important to me so you will find that a lot of my work uses text from the Psalms or hymns. Apart from anything else � the words are beautiful and full of poetry. I also like the text to be readable because if the words have moved me enough to make me want to work with them � I want every one else to get the point.

Most of my finished pieces are A3 or A4 because you need to uses a good size nib to see the detail in the lettering, and that dictates the size of the letters and so the size of the paper. Some shorter texts are A4, a couple of words can be done as A5 if you keep it fairly plain.

Depending on the text and decoration involved you are looking at about �15 for A3 - �10 for A4 and �5 for A5. Good quality ink/watercolour/cartridge/card stock is always used (you can�t use ink on poor quality paper anyway!), and the piece is supplied unmounted for you to put in a frame. A lot of the books I make are used to scribe a poem or quote in, and I love to start with a few bits or paper and card and create something that you can hold and turn that has text also.

This site is maintained by Princesskitten - always available for tips, commissions and advise. Don't be shy - just contact me.

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