Learning Copperplate...

[Pietru]

Nice! And it's fun to see how individual everyone's choices and shapes are, even when working with such formal patterns.

[smk]

George, the nibs do wear out. The first sign is that they become scratchy on the upstroke and catch from time to time. You can try and re-align the tines after checking under a strong loupe but I'd rather break out a new nib.

 

Ihtizaz sb., your copperplate looks really nice. You might have struggled with it but the practice sheet sure looks good. What ink did you use?

 

Salman

[DavyJones]

Hello all...

 

Well, I recently got married, and one of my dad's friends found out that I was beginning to get interested in FP's and improving my handwriting. As a wedding gift, they purchased me a bunch of equipment to start learning Copperplate. Equipment included a wonderful wooden oblique holder from a place called Paper & Ink Arts, a Copperplate ruled practicing pad from the same company, a copy of the book Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy by Eleanor winters, a bottle of Iron Gall ink from a place called Old World Inks, a bag of vintage nibs which included several Spencerian nibs, a G NIKKO nib, and a Gillots 1068A. I thought I'd join in the fun and upload my first practice pages. The Iron Gall ink is very interesting to work with compared to the normal FP ink I'm used to. It leaves a wonderful texture on the paper, and dries very black. Here are some scans of my basic shapes and some of the easier letters. I plan on running through this set a few times before I move onto the more complicated letters. Love to hear your input! I've been practicing since Sunday. So far I've been writing the letters fairly small, I think I might try to up the size a bit. Sometimes the ink doesn't have time to dry on a downstroke, and when I run a hairline through it it pools up a bit.

 

I also thought I'd mention that I'm a leftie using an oblique penholder. When I write with a FP I am neither an under- or overwriter, rather, I just write straight across and try to leave time for the ink to dry, maybe keeping the meat of my hand off the paper to avoid smearing. Never really paid attention. The oblique penholder allows me to keep the paper square, and adjust to a more under-writer style so that I really don't have to worry about dragging my hand through the ink, and it helps me maintain the 55 degree angle.

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm317/herrkaleun7/copperplate1001.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm317/herrkaleun7/copperplate2001.jpg

[sniper910]

How do you clean your nibs? I've been using a fine wire brush, but found that the pressure from under the nib causes the tines to separate. So I'm quitting that method. Any suggestions?

[sniper910]

Thanks fuchsia and ihtzaz, finally have some time again so hopefully I can continue my practice. Got a long ways to go!

[Mickey]

How do you clean your nibs? I've been using a fine wire brush, but found that the pressure from under the nib causes the tines to separate. So I'm quitting that method. Any suggestions?

 

I use WIndex and a piece of old dish towel (or well washed flour sack).

[sniper910]

from sunday night and tonight. glad my nibs finally arrived yesterday!!

[fuchsiaprincess]

How do you clean your nibs? I've been using a fine wire brush, but found that the pressure from under the nib causes the tines to separate. So I'm quitting that method. Any suggestions?

 

I use an ultrasonic cleaner.

[fuchsiaprincess]

My today's practice sheet. It was a tough exercise. May be a bad day. I like the ink though.

 

 

Ihtzaz

 

Ihtzaz, that is absolutely beautiful! Your slope is nice and consistent. One small critique though (which you're probably aware of already) is that your letters don't consistently sit on the bottom line.

 

Keep up the good work

 

Regards,

Soki

 

PS - what is the beautiful green ink?

[fuchsiaprincess]

from sunday night and tonight. glad my nibs finally arrived yesterday!!

 

Yippee!!! I got some new nibs today too

[Pietru]

I've finally received my oblique holder! Excited to try it out once I get home, and find out what I've been missing.

 

That ink really is nice (I've only just started appreciating green inks - although the only green I have at my disposal is quink),

[smk]

Hello all...

 

Well, I recently got married, and one of my dad's friends found out that I was beginning to get interested in FP's and improving my handwriting. As a wedding gift, they purchased me a bunch of equipment to start learning Copperplate. Equipment included a wonderful wooden oblique holder from a place called Paper & Ink Arts, a Copperplate ruled practicing pad from the same company, a copy of the book Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy by Eleanor winters, a bottle of Iron Gall ink from a place called Old World Inks, a bag of vintage nibs which included several Spencerian nibs, a G NIKKO nib, and a Gillots 1068A. I thought I'd join in the fun and upload my first practice pages. The Iron Gall ink is very interesting to work with compared to the normal FP ink I'm used to. It leaves a wonderful texture on the paper, and dries very black. Here are some scans of my basic shapes and some of the easier letters. I plan on running through this set a few times before I move onto the more complicated letters. Love to hear your input! I've been practicing since Sunday. So far I've been writing the letters fairly small, I think I might try to up the size a bit. Sometimes the ink doesn't have time to dry on a downstroke, and when I run a hairline through it it pools up a bit.

 

I also thought I'd mention that I'm a leftie using an oblique penholder. When I write with a FP I am neither an under- or overwriter, rather, I just write straight across and try to leave time for the ink to dry, maybe keeping the meat of my hand off the paper to avoid smearing. Never really paid attention. The oblique penholder allows me to keep the paper square, and adjust to a more under-writer style so that I really don't have to worry about dragging my hand through the ink, and it helps me maintain the 55 degree angle.

 

 

Welcome to the fold DavyJones. In the beginning I found that I learned to control the letters much better when I switched from 6mm to 10mm x-height - this might only be me though as some others fare better at the smaller x-heights. I guess its best to experiment at both 5mm and 10mm and see which one you like best.

 

I suggest you try out Caliken's basic exercises that appear higher up on this page. I took a long time learning these basic strokes and it has helped me immensely. The letters are all made up of these strokes so there's no point in spending time on writing letters if you haven't learned these.

 

Your exercise sheet looks good. Don't worry about pulling out the pooled ink. I don't think there's any way around it, I just make my crossbars in two strokes so I don't have to go through the main stroke of the 't' - ditto with the 'f'.

 

I'll be looking forward to finding out how you like writing at larger x-heights.

 

Salman

Edited September 28, 2011 by smk

[smk]

Glad to see all the activity around here. I have been practicing writing at 3 and 4mm x-heights at speed in order to see if I can use this hand for letter writing purposes. I'll post my results in a couple of days.

 

Sniper - your practice looks really good. I'd love to see the results with the new nibs.

 

Soki - which nibs did you get? I love it when I get a new batch of nibs, trying them out is a lot of fun. I have been playing with different nibs to try them out for smaller writing - its fun.

 

Pietru - which oblique holder did you get? It'll be interesting how you like writing with one after using the straight holder in the beginning.

 

Salman

[caliken]

Here's another contribution to this wonderful thread.

This is from the cover of my book.

The original was 5.5" at the widest points.

 

caliken

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd289/caliken_2007/copperplatehandwritingdisplay600.jpg

[Pietru]

Tough act to follow! Beautiful, caliken.

 

Here's the practice I did today, not much (I'm doing some reading before uni starts up next week) but I'll try to do some proper exercises soon. Hadn't worked much and it shows, but the oblique holder has inspired me to work at it again. It's "speedball", very interesting to use. It's funny not having to turn the page horizontal in order to get the slant right (though it didn't stop me being sloppy anyway). Nib is hunt imperial, 101.

Edited September 28, 2011 by Pietru

[ihtzazqamar]

This thread is getting livelier and livelier everyday. Thanks Salman for initiating this. We have created a small little group inside FPN where we freely submit our efforts with all the mistakes hoping to get positive and constructive feedback. And, feedback we get.

 

soki: Yes I know that my letters do not sit on the baseline. I guess it comes from my FP writing. Will overcome it slowly.

 

Ken: Thanks for participating...we take inspiration from you.

 

Ah, the Green Ink. It is simple Pelikan Brilliant Green FP ink with some gum added. I found out an interesting effect and have reported in a thread. Please check

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/205073-aerated-ink/

 

Happy writing

 

Ihtzaz

[Hex]

Ihtzaz, I love that green and just ordered a bottle of it.

 

Now a question.

 

I am having a hard time with my nib picking up a bit of fuzz, making it difficult or impossible to make the hair thin lines.

As an example, when I am practicing say, an ah,ab,ae, etc, by the time I get to the upstroke of the 2nd letter, the fuzz has accumulated on the nib.

Am I pressing too hard on the downstrokes ?

 

The nib is a 404, the paper is HP 32lb, the ink is Higgins Eternal.

It was a new nib but seemed very scratchy. Would it do any good if I took some 2000 grit paper to the nib ?

 

Thanks

[fuchsiaprincess]

Hi George,

 

Have you checked the tines to ensure that they are aligned? Secondly, I would suggest changing paper and finally, changing nibs. You generally don't need to smooth new nibs.

 

Regards,

Soki

[smk]

I agree with Soki - new nibs shouldn't need any smoothing, the tines may have been mis-aligned during shipping. Try another nib if you have any extras and see if it behaves the same.

 

What size are you writing at? The 404 is a fairly stiff nib and you'll probably need to put down a lot of pressure to get the required shading for a 10mm x-height.

 

Salman

[smk]

Here's another contribution to this wonderful thread.

This is from the cover of my book.

The original was 5.5" at the widest points.

 

caliken

 

 

I really like this example, especially the flourishing that is just right and so beautifully balanced. This is another skill that I need to learn. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a method to it so requires a lot of practice for one to understand what works and what doesn't.

 

Salman