Tip #1

Holding the pen - The pen is held with the index finger on the top of the barrel of the pen and the thumb on the side,

slightly toward the bottom as shown in fig. 1. The little finger, though not shown in the illustration, should be extended

slightly (but not stiffly) up and to the side...not curled under the hand. Imagine "drinking a cup of tea"!

The shaft of the pen should rest across the first nuckle of the hand.... NOT down

in the valley between the thumb and forefinger!!!

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Tip #2

Your Pen Angle:

Imagine a square (which is composed of 90 degree angles )....a 45 angle

would be that square divided in half diagonally. When penning the chancery cursive alphabet,

your pen nib should be held at this constant 45 degree angle. This is what gives your

letters that beautiful thick and thin variation.

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Calligra-Tip #3

Here is a grid for you to print out and practice pin strokes using the 45 degree angle mentioned in Tip #2. Use an onion skin paper or vellum, placing the paper on top of the grid so that you can see the lines beneath. Tracing paper will work, but tends to let the ink from your pen "crawl" a bit Practice straight lines and looping curves. If you are doing the strokes correctly, the beginning and the end of the stroke will show the 45 degree angle. Begin with your nib edge on the diagonal line in the box and stroke downward along the slanted guidlines.

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Some Different Calligraphic Letterstyles: Credit: The Osmiroid Co.

The basic Italic Hand, Obtained with a constant 45 degree angle of the pen nib.

Here, we have the Foundational Hand, obtained with a constant 30 degree angle of the pen and keeping the letters at a more upright attitude.

This is the Gothic Hand, sometimes called Black Letter. It is obtained with a 40 degree angle of the pen nib and the letters should be narrow and compressed.

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Marbled Parchment Technique

Materials needed: turpentine, a large shallow pan (you can use your kitchen sink...but it makes a MESS!), parchment paper, 2 or 3 different colors of oil paints (artist's oils), small mixing cups, paper

towels, clothes pins, a line to hang on.

Squeeze a small amount of your color into a mixing cup....separate cup for each color. Thin with turpentine until it is a pouring consistency (pretty watery). Fill pan about 1" deep with warm, not hot,

water. Pour the colors over the top of the water and swirl with a knife or some other tool. Don't stir too much! While the water is swirling, place the paper flat on top of the water. Gently press it down to make

contact with the water and let remain for about 10 seconds. Lift paper from water slowly and hang to dry. You can dip 2 or 3 papers into one batch of your mixture...each paper will get progressively lighter

and look different.

Have FUN!!!

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HANDY KITCHEN TABLE WRITING BOARD!!

Most cabinet makers when making kitchen counter tops will build a solid counter top from 3/4" plyboard and

top that with formica or some other laminent. To put the kitchen sink in, they then cut a hole the size of the required sink in that counter top. The resulting "scrap" that is removed (usually in one nice piece!)

makes a perfect writing surface! They also usually just throw this scrap away. I once visited a cabinet maker

and he was glad to give me his scrap pieces from a recent job. I left his shop with 12 of the handiest pieces

of material to use for my students. I simply glued a strip of a 1" x 2" board along one of the long edges of

the scrap. This give it a nice tilt which makes writing comfortable. I then taped a piece of poster board to the

formica surface to give a soft area for writing.

Try it!

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