Workshops

The Year Is Nearly At an End

Dear Members and Followers,

As we near the end of the year, we take this opportunity to look back over some of the great workshops for 2014. Thank you to everyone for their photos.











2015 Calligraphy Calendar - Is Go

Dear Members and Followers,

Check out the exciting list of calligraphy courses we have planned for 2015, on our Workshops Page.

Make sure you have them marked in your diary!

November Meeting and Calliarts afternoon

Dear Members and Followers,

The November meeting will be held at the Sylvania Community Hall from 10am to 12pm, 8 November 2014, to be then followed by a special meeting to discuss changes to the constitution.
All are invited to the general meeting while only financial members can vote at the Special Meeting.

November's Calliarts afternoon - 1pm to 4pm - Personalised Gift or Christmas Tree Decoration.
Jan Armstrong will lead us through a Christmasy, Crafty afternoon.
Calli Pendants
Pendants range from 1”to 11/2 “ various shaped and coloured metal back
pendants suitable for a gift or to hang on your Christmas tree.
(You should finish all 3 inside an hour)
Kit supplied includes 3 pendants: $12
BYO Tools:
A sheet of your own calligraphy text on a coloured background or book page for fussy cutting
think small! pencil, scissors / blade / cutting mat, glossy magazine pages for gluing on.
Kit comprises: 3 metal backed pendants, chain to match, glass cover, use of fixative & Diamond
glaze glue.

Christmas Pudding - Tree Decoration
Kit supplied: $8 for 1x 45mm pudding
BYO Tools:
Ballpoint or marker pen, tweezers – to pick up sequins
PVA glue, old glossy magazine pages, 3 Jar lids or a muffin tray
darning needle.
Kit supplied comprises: bronze & white sequins, holly, ribbon, pins, poly ball


Special Meeting - Changes to Constitution

Dear Members,

A Special Meeting has been called for Saturday 8 November 2014 to discuss changes to our Constitution. All financial members are requested to attend and vote on these changes.
The meeting will be held after the monthly meeting.

Layout With A Difference

Dear Members and Followers,

Full day workshop : 10 - 4pm tutor: Elaine Witton CODE : 14/FDWO4/EW
This workshop uses a very different and challenging approach to creating a layout for a finished piece. Come and experience a ‘mystery tour’, enjoying some fun on the way, and the end result being a piece you may like to frame.


Copperplate Script

Dear Members and Followers,

Wednesdays 15th Oct – 19th Nov Copperplate Script
tutor: Glenis Sheather 6 week Lettering Workshop CODE: 14LCO4/GS
Wednesday 15/22/29 October, 5/12/19 November
Copperplate is an elegant script developed by the Writing Masters in England following the popularity of the lettering being used by lettering engravers in the 16th Century. Copperplate is a fine cursive hand written with a pointed nib using the pressure on, pressure off technique. This workshop is geared to beginner and intermediate levels.
Materials Required.
Bleedproof or bond layout pad (preferably A4 size), an elbow nib and holder (for beginners)* or an elbow holder and pointed nib of your choice, black non-waterproof Chinese ink, small water jar, HB pencil, ruler, eraser, folder with plastic display sleeves for handouts.
*Glenis will have a small supply of elbow nibs and holders for sale on the first night.





Callig Collaging

Dear Members and Followers,

Saturday 11th October Callig Collaging
Calli Art 1-4pm tutor : Ronda Gaffey
Be inspired by the early 20h Century masters of collage ! In this afternoon of pure play we will be manipulating all those discarded pieces of lettering , textured and decorative paper to create calli
collages & the result will delight & amaze! Equipment :– usual kit as well as PVA glue, blade, tweezers, cutting mat, scissors , leftover bits ‘ n’ pieces & “found objects” – eg.,threads & feathers. Mountboard & cards supplied.

All rights remain with the Artist - Ronda Gaffey

All rights remain with the Artist - Ronda Gaffey



Booked In

Dear Members and Followers,

Tuesday 23 September besides being a beautiful spring day and where better to be than in Sydney, meant it was our visit to the Mitchell Library (State Library N.S.W.) to view some rare manuscripts. 17 members and guests were organised by our publicist and social organiser Mirelle to visit the Mitchell Library.

We were meet by Lynette one of the Librarians in the Rare Books and Manuscripts section and taken into a special room where we were introduced to Rene and a lovely Librarian Technician whose name I missed. All three were extremely helpful and willing to guide us through facsimile copies of The Book of Kells and the Saint John's Bible (Donald Jackson) plus some extremely rare Prayer Books from the 15th and 16th Century. Their patience with our need to know was immense and I'm sure we were there longer than they had anticipated. 
I would suggest that if you are a calligrapher or a calligraphy group this is a must do. It is especially important to support our libraries in the work they do.

Here are some examples from the Saint John's Bible facsimile:




Text as Texture

Dear Members and Followers,

What a great weekend we had with the workshop "Text as Texture" tutored by Deirdre Hassed. All participants had a great time and learnt alot. As a tutor Deirdre was helpful, encouraging and prepared for whatever question we aimed at her.

Here are some of the works to come out of the weekend.
As always the rights remain with the artist and cannot be reproduced without permission.



Roundels

Dear Members and Followers,

A Roundel is a design formed using the circle as its basic shape. It is used in many crafts - garden , wallpaper , architecture and anywhere design is required . Calligraphic letters lend themselves to this shape and we will be looking at some famous and complicated examples then completing some simple designs of our own. Bring your pens, ink, compass, ruler, pencil, eraser, usual bond paper
for practice and a nice piece of A4 paper in case you make a masterpiece.
Helen suggests looking at Sheila Waters’ work – for some beautiful Roundels.
Saturday 13 September 2014 - 1pm to 4pm.

All rights remain with the artist - Helen Warren

Stop Press

Dear Members and Followers,

6 week Lettering Course Roman Lettering with tutor : Patricia Moody Code : 14/LC03/PM
Wednesdays – 20th/27th August – 3rd /10th/17th 24th September 2014
This course is commencing very soon BUT it is not too late to book a spot : contact Meril or Pat asap.

Text As Texture - Tutor : Deirdre Hassed





Dear Members and Followers,

Many well known Calligraphers use a variety of textures within one piece of work. This helps extract the meaning from the text. After studying some examples, we will build our own repertoire of textures exploring how they can be used to good effect on a single page.
On the first day of this 2-day workshop, we will take a more formal approach , devoting the second day looking at more experimental ways of creating texture with text.
Prepare to be surprised as your page takes shape you. We will be working mostly with black ink on
white paper using both conventional as well as freer lettering styles with unusual use of some of our tools, and just a splash of colour or gold.
This workshop is suitable for students of all levels , but participants should have a sound working use of at least one script. Deirdre Hassed.



All rights remain with the artist - Deirdre HAssed




Meeting and Calliarts

Dear Members and Followers,

Saturday 9th August is our next meeting from 10am to 12pm. All input from our members is always greatly appreciated. From 1pm to 4pm is our Calliarts time with this month being quill cutting. Brush up or learn, beginners and more experienced welcomed. Or just practice your calligraphy. All welcome.
 Quill Cutting:
If Vellum is the ultimate surface for a Calligrapher to write on, so a Quill is the ultimate tool to do the writing with. This mini workshop will allow you to cure, cut, and shape your very own writing instrument, straight from the middle ages. I will supply the feathers, but you need to bring:
A small cutting mat. A craft knife with snap off blades (please not a cheap flimsy one, but something a bit more substantial, although not as heavy as a Stanley knife) A crochet hook. Dry & empty aluminium drink can. Tin snips or scissors.

Flora

Dear Members and Followers,

This is an exhibition that looks to be worth noting in your diaries!



What's Lost as Handwriting Fades

Dear Members and Followers,

As the electronic age speeds ahead, one wonders about the future and will we need handwriting.

This NY Times article asks "Does Handwriting Matter?"

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=1

  Michael Mabry


Stop the Presses - Magazine Latest

Dear Members and Followers,

Looking at the latest offerings from the magazines we have received:

Alphabetical Order - Canberra Calligraphy Society - May 2014
There are pictures from the Canberra Show, reviews of workshops; Classic Roman with Marg Peachey, Neuland with Olive Bull, Surface Design and Carolingian with Elaine Whitton and finally Variations on Uncial.

The Colophon - Australian Society of Calligraphiers
A profile on president Bob Howe, From the studio of Deirdre Hassed (a must read for our weekend workshop), the Ditchling Museum (of Art and Craft), the Sydney Royal Easter Show - 2014 Arts & Crafts and Workshop reviews of Olive Bull and Heidi Willis.

The Dancing Pen - Calligraphy Society of Tasmania - Winter 2014
A review of the CLAS 2013 festival (2014 is in August), Workshop Reviews of Christine Farmer's Dry Layering, Luca Barcellona's Making Marks with Natural Objects, finishing with the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts exhibition  'Stuffing the Porcupine - An Exhibition of Tasmanian books and Ephemera.
 

Copperplate Decoration

Dear Members and Followers,

Join us for the Calliarts Afternoon on Saturday 12 July when Glenis will guide us through the finer art of Copperplate Decoration.



There are many variations of Copperplate capital letters, from the basic to the very ornate.  In this workshop we will start with the elegant basic capitals and then start adding flourishing and simple decoration to give us some truly beautiful letters.  A working knowledge of Copperplate is necessary for this workshop.  However, for those members who have not done Copperplate, I will have some exercises for flourishing with a broad edged nib.  This type of flourishing can be used with scripts such as Italic.
Materials required are:  your favourite pointed nib/holder, a 2B or HB pencil, a fine pointed paint brush, ink and/or gouache of your choice, usual calligraphy gear.

Examples of Copperplate Decoration - All rights remain with the artist - Glenis Sheather

Flag Book and Tunnel Book

Dear Members and Followers,

Please join us on Saturday 28 June for an interesting day of book making. Details below:

Flag Book and Tunnel Book, Tutor : Penny Laver

These two books are based on the use of the concertina fold to form the spine of the book.


The Flag Book The flag book was invented by Hedi Kyle in the 1970’s.When pages are added to each of the concertina folds, half are facing one direction and half the other. This is a very versatile format often used to create fragmented imagery, but also lends itself to exploration of colour and form. In this workshop you will be using a basic construction using colours, you will then be able to develop the ideas you wish.


The Tunnel Book During the Renaissance the fascination with perspective and optical experiments led to the exploration of perspective within boxes, where peepholes were used to view layered miniature scenes.
By the 16th & 17th centuries, smaller versions were used by travelling entertainers. It is likely that the concertina sides emerged as a way of making the books more portable, though this development did not come to light until the middle of the 19th century. The modern tunnel book therefore has a rich history and can be adapted in a variety of ways. In this workshop we will be making a basic five panel tunnel book with a case bound cover.
( Notes courtesy of Heather Weston).


An example of a flag book - all rights remain with the Artist - Penny Laver

An example of a tunnel book - all rights remain with the Artist - Penny Laver 
More examples of other artist's flag and tunnel books can be found on the web.

Meeting and Calliarts

Dear Members and Followers,

Saturday 14 June sees this month's meeting at 10am to 12pm with the Calliarts afternoon from 1pm to 4pm. The letter form for this month is Drawn Roman with Pat Moody.
Please come along and participate.

Patricia Moody - Artist retains all rights.

Calligraphy - A Digital Interpretation



Dear Members and Followers,

Everyone has their own take on calligraphy so when a photographer describes it, you just know it will be interesting.

Calligraphy by Brice Challamel http://www.deviantart.com/art/Calligraphy-267122553