She Walks In Beauty

January 15, 2013

Another bit of practice. Lamy Joy and Safari, with italic nibs (1.1mm and 1.5mm respectively). Parker Quink black-blue and Winsor and Newton crimson inks. The x-height is about 2mm.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8369/8383924651_2082e9da02_o.png

January 15, 2013

A lovely piece and beautifully written. Well done, my friend!

January 15, 2013

In making your letterforms, do you follow an exemplar and slant guidelines, or do you just make it up as you go?

January 15, 2013

Wauw, beautiful!

January 15, 2013

Nicely done. That was the second poem that I ever committed to memory. The first was;

shake and shake,

the ketchup bottle,

none will come,

and then a lot'll

Edited January 15, 2013 by chris burton

January 16, 2013

Thanks, everyone!

In making your letterforms, do you follow an exemplar and slant guidelines, or do you just make it up as you go?

No, for this type of thing I just play a bit with some ideas (reading the Operina from time to time does that to you, even if one can never hope to produce such well-done lettering!) and flourishes.

As for guidelines, I used 5mm horizontal lines for aligning baseline and top, but no slant lines (it probably shows!)

Edited January 16, 2013 by mvarela

January 16, 2013

Another bit of practice. Lamy Joy and Safari, with italic nibs (1.1mm and 1.5mm respectively). Parker Quink black-blue and Winsor and Newton crimson inks. The x-height is about 2mm.

Oooh, very very nice work. Those Lamy's are remarkable little pens aren't they. I have a Safari and a Joy also...in fact mine are also 1.5 and 1.1 respecitively. Low in cost but fantastic little nibs and ink flow...right out of the box.

Again, beautiful italic piece!

January 16, 2013

Nicely done. That was the second poem that I ever committed to memory. The first was;

shake and shake,
the ketchup bottle,
none will come,
and then a lot'll

This had to be done, then...

(the Lamys again, this time with Diamine Damson)

http://i.imgur.com/mYQMe.png

Another bit of practice. Lamy Joy and Safari, with italic nibs (1.1mm and 1.5mm respectively). Parker Quink black-blue and Winsor and Newton crimson inks. The x-height is about 2mm.

Oooh, very very nice work. Those Lamy's are remarkable little pens aren't they. I have a Safari and a Joy also...in fact mine are also 1.5 and 1.1 respecitively. Low in cost but fantastic little nibs and ink flow...right out of the box.

Again, beautiful italic piece!

Thanks! Indeed, the Lamys are really nice. I don't have much else to compare to (the other FP I have is some unknown model of Waterman with an F nib that writes nicely, but it's no good for italics), but in any case I'm happy with the results they give.

January 16, 2013

Nicely done. That was the second poem that I ever committed to memory. The first was;

shake and shake,
the ketchup bottle,
none will come,
and then a lot'll

This had to be done, then...
(the Lamys again, this time with Diamine Damson)
http://i.imgur.com/mYQMe.png

Another bit of practice. Lamy Joy and Safari, with italic nibs (1.1mm and 1.5mm respectively). Parker Quink black-blue and Winsor and Newton crimson inks. The x-height is about 2mm.

Oooh, very very nice work. Those Lamy's are remarkable little pens aren't they. I have a Safari and a Joy also...in fact mine are also 1.5 and 1.1 respecitively. Low in cost but fantastic little nibs and ink flow...right out of the box.

Again, beautiful italic piece!

Thanks! Indeed, the Lamys are really nice. I don't have much else to compare to (the other FP I have is some unknown model of Waterman with an F nib that writes nicely, but it's no good for italics), but in any case I'm happy with the results they give.

Very nice. Made me chuckle, although to be clear, I'm not the author. When I first read it I don't believe that it was attributed to anyone.

January 16, 2013

Yikes! That is so beautiful, it's scary.

How can I ever do that? I'd certainly like to. I hope, mvarela, you don't mind my saving the image. I'll not share or replicate it anywhere else. Jes use it for my own edification. I love how you have made it your own, with the extended l ascender. I'd also love to learn how you make those blobby little beginning serifs on your ascenders. I've yet to master that stroke. Forget making it uniformly.

Gorgeous work. I look forward to any more examples you post.

January 16, 2013

Yikes! That is so beautiful, it's scary.

How can I ever do that? I'd certainly like to. I hope, mvarela, you don't mind my saving the image. I'll not share or replicate it anywhere else. Jes use it for my own edification. I love how you have made it your own, with the extended l ascender. I'd also love to learn how you make those blobby little beginning serifs on your ascenders. I've yet to master that stroke. Forget making it uniformly.

Gorgeous work. I look forward to any more examples you post.

Wow notbob, you'll make me blush! Thank you, really, for your nice comments!

I actually started playing with this stuff not very long ago, and I'm just a newb... The little blob serifs are just push strokes. I'm not sure I could tell you how to do it other than practice. Taking a look at James Pickering's site is a good start, I think, as well as any italics-related post by Ken. Also, Arrighi's Operina is a great source of inspiration.