Calligraphy and Illumination 101
Session 1: How to do Calligraphy
This course covers broad-nib calligraphy, with an emphasis on medieval calligraphy. In broad-nib calligraphy, the thicks and thins are caused by the shape of the nib and angle at which the pen is held. Pointed nib calligraphy is a different skill set entirely, wherein the thicks and thins are caused by pressure.
Get to Know Your Pen
There are two types of pen that you will be able to use long-term as a calligrapher, the cartridge pen or the dip pen. All illustrations will feature a dip pen. Felt-tip calligraphy markers will work for the first few sessions.
Holders are, naturally, the part of the pen you hold (in cartridge pens, they house the ink cartridge). Nibs are the “business end”. The tip is the portion that touches the page. The tines, slit, and vent hole all affect how your ink flows. The reservoir, or lack thereof, affects how often you will have to refill your pen (you can use a dip pen without a reservoir, but it gets tedious). Each nib should have a maker’s mark and a size marking well behind the vent on the top of the nib.
The first rule of calligraphy is to be patient. Be patient with ink drying, ensuring your pen has the right amount of ink, measuring out lines, being sure your work space is ready, and taking time with each pen stroke. Most of all, be patient with yourself.
Before you sit down, wash your hands, roll up your sleeves, and if applicable, put up your hair. Ensure your nibs are clean and dry - a new nib has a protective coating you will need to wash off. You will need a clean, flat work surface with workable lighting.
Supplies:
Paper
Pencil
Non-Abrasive Eraser (white or kneaded recommended)
Ruler with millimeter markings
Pen and ink
Paper towel
Cleaner
Before starting any project, you must find your line height. In theory, this should be a simple calculation of how wide your nib tip is, but it is also affected by the amount of pressure you put on your pen.
Dipping your pen and getting the appropriate amount of ink is an art form. After dipping your pen, tap it off on the edge of your ink well, and possibly use a blotter to ensure the pen has the right amount of ink.
Clean and dry your pen after each use.
The Checkerboard
Most calligraphy ductus include a diagram showing how many nib-widths tall a letter should be. To find that measurement, you will make a checkered pattern with your pen.
Holding your pen nib parallel to edge of your page, make one square with your nib. Lift your pen. As precisely as possible make a second square with the top left corner barely touching the bottom right corner. Lift your pen, make a third square directly under the first, matching the top right to the bottom left of the second square. Continue until you have 10 squares. Let your ink dry before you measure.
The Anatomy of a Line
Your line has three parts, the minim, the ascender, and the descender. The minim is where the bulk of most letters lie. Small a, c, and e are examples of letters that only extend through the minim. The ascender is where taller letters ascend. Capitals, b, f, and t are some of the letters with ascenders. The descender is, of course, where letters that go below the line descend. Small g, j, and p are examples of letters with descenders.
Blackletter minims tend to be 5 nib widths tall, and the overall line height is twice that. The ascender and descender portions butt against each other. Roundhand minims tend more toward 4 nib widths tall, with ascenders and descenders at about 2 nib widths each, with a full minim between ascender and descender. For now, we will use blackletter proportions.
As you measure, take notes on how many millimeters each section is. For this session, you will measure 10 nib widths (whole line height), 5 nib widths (minim height) and either 2.5 nib widths for your ascender and descender, or 3 and 2 nib widths, respectively. Take notes on your measurements. For me, this was an overall line height of 14 mm, with proportions of 4, 7, and 3.
Plotting Lines
The most efficient way to prepare your page is to draw all your lines to begin with. Using your ruler and and a pencil, draw a line parallel to the top of the page with a bit of margin. This line will be the top of your ascender. Perpendicular to that line, mark your ascender, minim, and descender measurements,. You can either mark in two places (and when preparing a working document, you should), or align your straight edge with the side of your paper. Draw lines for the bottom of your ascender, minim, and descender based on your markings. Your next set of measurements will be from the bottom of the descender line.
Optimally, you will mark all your lines first. A full page will have a thin line, a thick line, two thin lines, thick, two thin, and so on. The thick lines are your minim.
Calligraphy Tips
Hold your pen at the same angle. That angle varies between hands (0 degrees for uncial, 30-45 degrees for blackletter), but aside from flourishes or more advanced hands, the angle remains steady.
Move from your elbow or shoulder, not your wrist and fingers. This assists in keeping a constant pen angle.
Pull your pen - do not push it. The ink is designed to flow when the pen is pulled. Pushing can put undue strain on the tines, flick ink, and scratch your substrate.
Examine the shape of the hand you are working with. A wavy hand like Fraktur pairs with different illumination than a rigid hand like Textura Prescisus. While both are types of blackletter, they look awkward in the wrong context.
Mind the gap between skill and taste. You are probably comparing your work to that of experts. Expert-level work is not required for amateur artists (which describes the majority of SCA scribes.) If your work falls short of your taste, that is just room for growth.
Exercises
1. Zig zags (two lines)
2. Blackletter O (one line)
These two strokes make a blackletter o. An optimal blackletter o will have a
parallelogram in the center, and be 3 nib widths wide.
3. Round O (one line)
A Roundhand O is made with two strokes.
4. S (one line)
An s is either a 3 or 4 stroke letter. Complete the middle, then add the top and bottom
5. Foundational A (one line)
6. X (one line)
7. Diamonds (half line)
8. Blackletter G (One line)
Started like a blackletter o, with bump out at the bottom of the second stroke, and a third stroke of a tail.
9. Play with your pen for half a page
Homework
Select a ductus to work with: blackletter (class ductus or Textura Quadrata), foundational, or half-uncial (Insular Majiscule). Post or message your selection to the group or instructor.
The Art of Calligraphy by David Harris is a wonderful guide for learning calligraphy. A hard copy is strongly recommended, but it can be found online at:
Supply list
⁃ Paper
⁃ Pencil (preferably mechanical)
⁃ Non-abrasive eraser (white or kneaded)
⁃ Ruler with millimeters (I recommend a metal ruler with measurements that align with the end of the ruler, instead of off set)
⁃ Paper towels
⁃ Water dish/cup
⁃ Broad-nib calligraphy pen and ink
⁃ Hair tie if you have long hair
⁃ Toothbrush for pen cleaning
Paper/substrate: Graph paper, pergamenata, or resume parchment paper are recommended. Copy paper should work for the first two lessons, but once paint is involved, it will be a pain. Some scribes swear by Bristol Board, but it does not correct easily and I find it a difficult substrate for calligraphy. Lightweight pergamenata, while not optimal for scrolls, is my preferred practice paper.
Water cup/dish: Make it different from your usual drinking cup. A ramekin can prevent much paint-water drinking.
There are 3 basic options for your pen - nib and holder with ink (dip pen), cartridge pen, or felt-tip calligraphic marker.
I prefer a nib and holder. If you are heavy-handed, I recommend Brause nibs. If you have a light touch, I recommend Mitchel nibs. Leonhardt seems to be somewhere in between. The holder is personal preference - I like the plastic speedball holders for most nibs (and they are cheap). Brause 1.5 or 2 are recommended sizes.
There are many ink options - Sumi ink is a good middle-of-the-road option and can be reconstituted if it dries out. Calli is very nice for learning illumination, as it is mostly waterproof, but it is thick and requires more frequent pen cleaning. Iron gall ink is optimal once you are an established scribe, but it tends to go on extremely pale and dry to black, making it hard to learn with.
Cartridge pens are typically fairly attractive options (Sheaffer is recommended for price and reliability. rOtring cartridge pens were recently recommended to me as well.) However, I have had several pens that I simply could not get to work, and even my Sheaffers will sometimes spit ink unpredictably.
Felt-tip calligraphic markers (even a chisel-tip sharpie) are fine to learn basics with, but they are highly prone to damage, and will not be a good long-term option.
You will also want a toothbrush for nib cleaning and a hair tie if you have long hair.