Welcome!

I grew up in Raleigh at a time when the nuns taught at Our Lady Of Lourdes. They lived out back of the school and wore those imposing yet Holy Habits that commanded your adoration, attention, and, quite frankly, your fear. So, when they asked you to "sit up straight" with your "feet flat on the floor" and compose your letters properly according to the Palmer Method of Handwriting, you did just that! I believe it was at that impressionable age that I became infatuated with the formation of letters. When I was introduced to calligraphy in 1978, it was no wonder I fell in love with this beautiful art form. My first taste of the calligraphic world lasted no longer than one hour. The instructor turned a piece of chalk on its edge to form calligraphic works of art from A to Z on the chalkboard. That was that! But it was all I needed to fire the embers that had been sparked in elementary school. Watching the slow, rhythmical shaping of those letters was like listening to classical music. It was not until 1997 that I enrolled in my first formal calligraphy class. Boy, were my eyes opened! I knew I had a lifelong road of learning ahead of me. It's been 38 years since that white piece of chalk was laid on its side. I am still learning. Come learn with me!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Practicing Uncial


I wanted to show you this worksheet that I used today while teaching my Online Uncial Class. I was using the 5.0mm nib end of a Zig Marker (the pink lettering) to show differing X-heights.

Normally, Uncial is lettered at 4 nib widths high and at a 30 degree pen angle. You can see the example of that with the first "IT."

The other "ITs" use different X-heights, the one on bottom left is 6 nib widths high, the bottom right is 3.

All of them are lettered with a 30 degree pen angle, with the same strokes.

Result: They all look the same, structure-wise. But the height will give a different feeling to whatever it is you are lettering.

This was fun!

Oh, and the other stuff at the top - a Pilot Parallel Pen was used to letter different Uncial A's, T's, etc. 



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