A Prize Worth Writing For ~ Penmanship Contest

[KarloT]

  On 6/26/2011 at 8:06 PM, smk said:

Entry No. 1 for me:

 

Manuscript calligraphy pen with MB Toffee Brown on left over Bristol paper from another project. There are some artifacts from the rather poor scanner that I have access to these days.

 

Edited to add: The arabic portion was written with Dollar Qalam with Lamy Black and Pelikan Brilliant Brown inks.

 

I plan on doing three more compositions. One more with an alternate English/Arabic combination, the second in a modified italic hand and the third with a dip pen. I'm not sure I'll get all three in before the deadline so I have at least one in :-)

 

 

Salman

 

Now that is just breathtaking! :notworthy1:

[ninly]

  On 6/26/2011 at 8:06 PM, smk said:

Entry No. 1 for me:

 

This is fantastic, Salman! Wish I knew more Arabic.

[smk]

Thanks for the compliments.

 

There have been a number of very nice contributions in this very lovely thread and I'm sure there are more to come. I'm glad to have participated - this is turning out to be a lot of fun.

 

ninly - Arabic Calligraphy is a lot of fun. Its not always easy to read though. In fact some scripts (like Diwani used here) were designed to be hard to read. I've kept my rendering quite straightforward though.

 

Salman

[CatBookMom]

  On 6/21/2011 at 4:14 AM, Swavey said:

  On 6/21/2011 at 3:13 AM, Ghost Plane said:

Is that a magnolia leaf?

I cant guarantee it, but I do believe so, yes. Ironically I picked them up on Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

 

So many amazing pieces have been posted in this thread! Thank you for starting up this contest. I find it very very inspirational.

 

Very nice JBB, (as to be expected) A very beautiful example indeed. I need to buy some ink that can be used on black paper. (not that I own any anyways) You may be getting a PM about it soon... lol

 

As far as the rules go. I personally think dip pens should be allowed. I wanted to use a dip nib for this, but they would cut through my leaf, so I defaulted to my favorite broad stroke script.

 

Love this thread!!!

Swavey

 

 

Your leaf writing is just beautiful, dry or wet. Waving from just south of Magnolia Blvd in Burbank.

[CatBookMom]

  On 6/26/2011 at 8:06 PM, smk said:

Entry No. 1 for me:

 

Manuscript calligraphy pen with MB Toffee Brown on left over Bristol paper from another project. There are some artifacts from the rather poor scanner that I have access to these days.

 

Edited to add: The Arabic portion was written with Dollar Qalam with Lamy Black and Pelikan Brilliant Brown inks.

 

I plan on doing three more compositions. One more with an alternate English/Arabic combination, the second in a modified italic hand and the third with a dip pen. I'm not sure I'll get all three in before the deadline so I have at least one in :-)

 

 

Salman

 

Lovely, and so ingenious, to craft the English to give the flavor of Arabic.

[Ghost Plane]

Agree. Something about spreading the English balances the compact Arabic, yet mirrors the long strokes. Gives the composition a symmetry.

[ninly]

  On 6/26/2011 at 11:36 PM, smk said:

...

ninly - Arabic Calligraphy is a lot of fun. Its not always easy to read though. In fact some scripts (like Diwani used here) were designed to be hard to read. I've kept my rendering quite straightforward though.

 

Interesting. My knowledge of Arabic script pretty much stops with the alphabet. I've seen exemplars of different calligraphic styles, but I don't know the intricacies at all, or much about actually writing the stuff. And I don't know the language beyond a few words and short phrases. It's always fascinated me, though.

[Rena]

I'm loving this thread. I'm pitying the judge(s)......

[smk]

  On 6/27/2011 at 4:47 AM, CatBookMom said:

 

Lovely, and so ingenious, to craft the English to give the flavor of Arabic.

 

  On 6/27/2011 at 1:08 PM, Ghost Plane said:

Agree. Something about spreading the English balances the compact Arabic, yet mirrors the long strokes. Gives the composition a symmetry.

 

Thanks CBM and GP. I can't take all the credit for the English style though. This style has been influenced firstly by my cousin's handwriting (who is a doctor and prefers to write with stubs) and secondly by another Calligrapher; E.A. Holland. I have modified it a bit to add a gothic flavor borrowing some shapes from the Gothic Batarde. This has been a lot of fun and I got a new script out of it!

 

Here's another composition. Traditionally uncials were written as fairly dense blocks of text. In this composition I try to give the idea of the block in a rough circular shape thats trying to free itself from the binds - indeed you can see where it has separated in the 'to the king' part. The parts written in darker ink don't really signify anything although the pen of a ready scribe _is_ a pleasing theme to me :-)

 

The pens and inks used were Parker Vector Calligraphy pen with an X sized nib filled with Pelikan Brilliant Brown and Manuscript Calligraphy pen with a 3B italic nib filled with MB Toffee Brown (can you see these are my favorite inks?). The paper is Mondi IQ Selection in 160 gsm.

 

 

I have a variation on the Arabic-English composition ready too and was planning on a dip-pen and handwriting entry too but it seems like I'm hogging too much of the thread at this point so I think I'll wait a bit before posting those.

 

Salman

[GClef]

  On 6/19/2011 at 8:53 AM, beak said:

OK, no chance of winning; I'm no calligrapher, but someone's got to be the first, so maybe I'll get half a mark for that!

 

 

Can I have another go later - if I practise a bit more?

PS Lamy Joy, Herbin 1670 and Aurora black inks.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00409.jpg

[GClef]

  On 6/20/2011 at 7:02 PM, Swavey said:

Time for me to chime in. Unfortunately there was a little feathering on some parts of the leaf. I had a better leaf done up, but spelled "swiftly" wrong, so had to trash it.

 

This contest gave me some neat ideas! Wondering if its allowed to have multiple entries? May do up one on actual paper heh.

 

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s79/PoppinSwav/IMG_1026.jpg

 

:ph34r: Swavey

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00410.jpg

[GClef]

  On 6/20/2011 at 6:15 PM, nightwing said:

Here's mine! Thanks to a Latinist friend of mine, I was able to find the correct passage in the Latin Vulgate. It was fun to do calligraphy again after a few months of no practise! I should work on decorating, though - I generally have no idea what to do for decorations!

 

There is some slight feathering, but it was the only blank paper I had that wasn't cheap copier paper.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/5853824410_46e29ff61d_b.jpg

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00411.jpg

[The penner]

GClef, your posts are so much more organic!

[aquariusamethyst]

Here is probably my last entry, but my favorite of the ones I've done, because it is so fun to write.

I used Noodlers flex pen, Parker Quink Black, and Strathmore Parchment paper.

[Ghost Plane]

Salman, keep posting, please. I'm loving seeing the various forms.

[palansil]

I've really been enjoying following this contest. Nice work everyone! I finally got around to making an entry. It is based on the style of the Book of Kells. I've got a long way to go before I master this hand but it's not bad for a first attempt at the style.

 

 

 

 

 

http://home.comcast.net/~palansil/008.jpg

 

 

I used a Lamy Joy 1.5mm with Noodler's Black. The small dots around the "E" are done with a Pilot Penmanship with Levenger Cobalt Blue and the filled in part of the "E" is Waterman Blue-Black from a Parker "51". The paper is Strathmore Calligraphy paper.

[beak]

  On 6/28/2011 at 1:16 AM, palansil said:

....

 

I used a Lamy Joy 1.5mm with Noodler's Black. ...............

 

I like it! I notice that your Lamy 1.5 is producing a much softer line than mine - less pointy and sharp; is that straight off the pen or have you done anything particular to get this nice soft look?

[watch_art]

  On 6/28/2011 at 1:16 AM, palansil said:

I've really been enjoying following this contest. Nice work everyone! I finally got around to making an entry. It is based on the style of the Book of Kells. I've got a long way to go before I master this hand but it's not bad for a first attempt at the style.

 

 

I gotta say that this is my favorite so far, and that's saying a lot b/c some of these are REALLY nice. I just really love the first e and the shapes of the letters throughout...

Edited June 28, 2011 by watch_art

[ninly]

It's been said, but I don't envy the judges in this contest! Fantastic uncial submissions, some bristling blackletter, and I love the Insular interpretation, too!

 

  Quote

Shoot, Sister Mary Alecia wouldn't have smacked you with a ruler, like she did Harley! LOL

 

Who's Harley? Is that the Marine?

[beak]

Okay, I know when I'm outclassed! But here's one more just for fun...

 

It's written on a ground glass slide, and then lightly sprayed with water from an atomizer. Results completely unpredictable, and it never seems to dry! Diamine Graphite ink.