Flourishing Examples

[Flourish and Blotts]

Here are some examples of flourishing that I've been developing. I'm not entirely happy with the way all of these turned out; I know that I can do some of them better, and the paper I was using tended to bleed a little. But these may give you some ideas to use in your own work.

 

 

 

 

[Pensee]

Cool! Gives me some examples to imitate for line control & variation (in trying to use the 'shoulder -vs- fingers' approach)

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Time to log off now & go practice practice practice!

 

thx

 

--Bruce

[jbb]

I keep practicing and want to find new variations plus some more figurative forms.

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

They look great! What pen and nib type were you using?

[jbb]

They look great! What pen and nib type were you using?

Thanks. Mine is a dip pen with an Esterbrook Penesco 543 nib.

 

[Flourish and Blotts]

They look great! What pen and nib type were you using?

 

Thanks.

 

Its a Cross XF nib. Perle Noir ink.

[vidalia11]

They look great! What pen and nib type were you using?

Thanks. Mine is a dip pen with an Esterbrook Penesco 543 nib.

 

Are the line shadings all done by the nib, or do you do some thickening afterward?

 

thanks!

Karen

 

[jbb]

They look great! What pen and nib type were you using?

Thanks. Mine is a dip pen with an Esterbrook Penesco 543 nib.

 

Are the line shadings all done by the nib, or do you do some thickening afterward?

 

thanks!

Karen

All the shading is done in one stroke by the nib -- it's a nice flexy nib.

[Flourish and Blotts]

I keep practicing and want to find new variations plus some more figurative forms.

 

 

I noticed some of your work in another thread, and I've played around with using the angular styles that you use. So far, I haven't really come up with any that stand out, but it takes time.

 

Now that I've been flourishing for a while, I've started to incorporate some of the flourishes into my cursive. So with a few more years of practice, I hope to be able to seamlessly write and flourish in a unique style. But I like using the flourishes to separate blocks of text and as a way to add some panache to the end of a letter.

 

I'd love to see more examples of your work. I'm always looking for ideas.

 

 

[Clydesdave]

I feel so inadequate.

 

 

 

[jbb]

I noticed some of your work in another thread, and I've played around with using the angular styles that you use. So far, I haven't really come up with any that stand out, but it takes time.

 

Now that I've been flourishing for a while, I've started to incorporate some of the flourishes into my cursive. So with a few more years of practice, I hope to be able to seamlessly write and flourish in a unique style. But I like using the flourishes to separate blocks of text and as a way to add some panache to the end of a letter.

 

I'd love to see more examples of your work. I'm always looking for ideas.

It sounds like we're thinking along the same lines. I write a lot of letters and use flourishes as dashes between text, in the beginning of a paragraphy and to finish a page. My correspondence may be a bit bizarre to behold.

 

Have you ever heard of/experimented with cadels? Those are the fancy flourished first letters of a paragraph. Another FPN member got me started on those. According to some sources, you're supposed to try to create them without taking your pen off the paper. It's fun. Here's some I did a while back:

Edited January 11, 2009 by jbb

[jbb]

I feel so inadequate.

Take heart, my letters are all flourish and no content.

[Wwillco]

What pen/nib did you use to do those, Jbb?

[jbb]

What pen/nib did you use to do those, Jbb?

Esterbrook Penesco 543 dip nib to which I've added a homemade wax feed (some bees wax smushed on the back) so it holds a bit more ink .

[Wwillco]

"Esterbrook Penesco 543 dip nib to which I've added a homemade wax feed (some bees wax smushed on the back) so it holds a bit more ink ."

 

I've really got to figure out how to do this; the write a couple letters, dip, make the lines line up, pray that the ink will feed right, write, is killing me...

 

Thanks for letting me know about the nib; trying to figure out how you did that to the K......

 

edited cause i messed up the quote button...

Edited January 11, 2009 by Wwillco

[jbb]

I've really got to figure out how to do this; the write a couple letters, dip, make the lines line up, pray that the ink will feed right, write, is killing me...

 

Thanks for letting me know about the nib; trying to figure out how you did that to the K......

 

After I press in a little bees wax for the feed I also press in some ridges in the wax -- so it's more like a fountain pen feed. It seems to help it hold more ink.

 

[Wwillco]

I've really got to figure out how to do this; the write a couple letters, dip, make the lines line up, pray that the ink will feed right, write, is killing me...

 

Thanks for letting me know about the nib; trying to figure out how you did that to the K......

 

After I press in a little bees wax for the feed I also press in some ridges in the wax -- so it's more like a fountain pen feed. It seems to help it hold more ink.

 

roger that; will pick up some next time I remember to go to the craft store (probably when I run out of cheap practice ink). Thanks!

[Flourish and Blotts]

I feel so inadequate.

 

Don't feel inadequate. It would probably make you feel better to see samples of my work when I was just beginning. Many of them are laughable. Believe it or not, a flourish is just like a letter--its a pattern. Once you memorize the pattern, then you can execute it smoothly. The more patterns you learn, the more it seems that you can invent/combine new ones. I started with two and three stroke patterns, and now I can do some that seem more impressive. But the truth is, they are really just combinations of simple patterns.

 

 

It sounds like we're thinking along the same lines. I write a lot of letters and use flourishes as dashes between text, in the beginning of a paragraphy and to finish a page. My correspondence may be a bit bizarre to behold.

 

Have you ever heard of/experimented with cadels? Those are the fancy flourished first letters of a paragraph. Another FPN member got me started on those. According to some sources, you're supposed to try to create them without taking your pen off the paper. It's fun. Here's some I did a while back:

 

I really don't attempt true cadels much, because I only use an XF nib. However, I do have fancy flourished capital letters that I use when I have extra room. Again, they are in my own modern style, and I am constantly looking for new versions. And the only letter I can't come up with a good flourish for is a "U"--but its not a common starter letter. Your cadels look really good. I do love traditional styles like that, but I just don't like using an italic or split nib.

 

[jbb]

I really don't attempt true cadels much, because I only use an XF nib. However, I do have fancy flourished capital letters that I use when I have extra room. Again, they are in my own modern style, and I am constantly looking for new versions. And the only letter I can't come up with a good flourish for is a "U"--but its not a common starter letter. Your cadels look really good. I do love traditional styles like that, but I just don't like using an italic or split nib.

I really like you're style Flourish and Blotts! It has, for me, a lyrical modern feel to it that I really enjoy looking at. As in other art, you can learn technique but our underlying "style" remains one way or another.

 

I keep playing around with my flourishes hoping I'll figure out new ways to approach them. I look forward to seeing your future work.

 

 

 

[Jazzbaby]

Very nice.