Invitation To Show Off Your Stuff...

[mvarela]

 

 

 

Martin, I love the Coca-Cola logo, but Dominic's mention of Madarasz's possible creation of it reminded me of a great story from the book An Elegant Hand (one of my favorite penmanship books, by the way, I highly recommend it). There's a section in the book that addresses the Madarasz/Coca-Cola connection and alleges that W.C. Brownfield told Del Tysdal that Madarasz had told him (Brownfield) that he had, in fact, done the logo. An acquaintance of Madarasz's, Harry L. Darner, was asked if he thought the great penman had created the logo. His response was "If I knew, I wouldn't tell it on him. At best, it's an ugly thing." Classic!

 

Howard

 

Thanks! I actually went looking for some info, and other than an Elegant Hand, there doesn't seem to be many sources for it. I guess we'll never know for sure

 

It's a fun thing to pen, in any case (and regardless of whether it's worthy of being Madarász' work )

[zemof]

http://i.imgur.com/U3sDqlE.jpg

I think this was pretty much the last thing I wrote before I reground my TWSBI 1.1 to a 0.8 cursive italic.

 

lovely work!

 

Time is getting shorter...

 

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2873/12331110114_ac1c5ee892_o.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5497/12330816243_c7f6601c6a_o.jpg

 

Pen control exercise in English Roundhand. X-heights are 10, 6, 4, 2, 1.5 and 1mm. The mis-alignment in the last three is due to the lack of guidelines so small. I used a Brause 66EF for the larger sizes, and an Esterbrook 355 (first one I try, and like all other Esterbrook nibs I've tried, it was love at first sight! Awesome lil' nib!) for the smaller ones. I started losing control at the 2mm mark, in the last three, the 'm' became rather Spencerian-ish at the joins, but overall, I like how the word is still clearly in roundhand.

 

thanks for sharing!

 

I've always had problems with Dr Martin’s taking ages to dry (like days). I’ve also experienced this with other white inks. My hometown is not known for being humid, so I can’t put it down to the weather. I like the white stick ink made by Boku Undo, because it dries quickly and gives good hairlines, but you have to make sure you grind it long enough or it won’t be opaque.

 

PS. Did you know that it has been claimed that Louis Madarasz did the original Coca-Cola logo?

 

me too, i could leave the envelope alone for 3 days and it still smudges when i run my finger over it. my country’s humid, so it is pretty difficult to match the right consistency for it to dry quick yet remains opaque enough. i don’t have much spare bottles for mixing so i just add water to the original bottle itself and dip lightly. if i find it getting thick, i’ll just add a few drops more. here’s a look with what i did with Dr. P.H. Martin’s Bleedproof White:

 

[mvarela]

 

thanks for sharing!

 

 

me too, i could leave the envelope alone for 3 days and it still smudges when i run my finger over it. my country’s humid, so it is pretty difficult to match the right consistency for it to dry quick yet remains opaque enough. i don’t have much spare bottles for mixing so i just add water to the original bottle itself and dip lightly. if i find it getting thick, i’ll just add a few drops more. here’s a look with what i did with Dr. P.H. Martin’s Bleedproof White:

 

1506546_10152540788864338_1527448036_n.jpg

 

Thank you for taking the time to comment

 

Regarding the bleedproof white... you mention you dip? I add a bit of water to the top of the jar, mix it until it flows nicely from the nib, and load it with a brush. I think that if you dip, you might be lifting "heavier" mix from the lower part of the jar. I haven't used much, but I haven't had any issues with smearing either....

[zemof]

Regarding the bleedproof white... you mention you dip? I add a bit of water to the top of the jar, mix it until it flows nicely from the nib, and load it with a brush. I think that if you dip, you might be lifting "heavier" mix from the lower part of the jar. I haven't used much, but I haven't had any issues with smearing either....

 

yeah, I’m too lazy for my own good…! my table’s a mess as well and I’m wary of the brush suddenly finding itself on some other work when my arms move around. I dip lightly, just enough to cover the breather hole, and I usually have one or two a shot glasses containing clean water. >.< I find brushes a bother even though I know it’s for my own good!

[Estefa]

 

me too, i could leave the envelope alone for 3 days and it still smudges when i run my finger over it. my country’s humid, so it is pretty difficult to match the right consistency for it to dry quick yet remains opaque enough. i don’t have much spare bottles for mixing so i just add water to the original bottle itself and dip lightly. if i find it getting thick, i’ll just add a few drops more. here’s a look with what i did with Dr. P.H. Martin’s Bleedproof White:

 

1506546_10152540788864338_1527448036_n.jpg

 

Wow, beautiful flourishing!

 

Regarding the Bleedproof, I also dip, but I put the stuff I mixed for writing (surface + some distilled water) with a plastic pipette in a Dinky Dip, a trick I learned at a Spencerian workshop with Barbara Calzolari last month. That works great!

 

I also did some piece with white on black, it's soapstone on a blackboard which I painted in our kitchen. You can see more about it on my new blog where I show some of my practice!

[zemof]

I also did some piece with white on black, it's soapstone on a blackboard which I painted in our kitchen. You can see more about it on my new blog where I show some of my practice!

 

wow…this looks good too…! so did you do guidelines and rubbed it off? i can never write in straight lines…!

[Estefa]

Thank you very much! Yes, I made guidelines – couldn't have done this without! I made them with thread and tape like this:

 

So I just had to take them down again after I finished, that worked great!

[MusinkMan]

What a great idea! No lines to erase! Was it difficult to maneuver the pen with the thread Stefanie?

[Estefa]

Hi Brian, no, I found it quite comfortable! It was flexible of course and only with the flourishes I had to take a bit care when I went over the guidelines. I only had a guideline for the basis of the x-height (in the Spencerian, in the roman cursive I used the guideline for the height line of the x-height, so to say!). You can see it here:

 

 

Also this was a really slow process, more lettering than calligraphy … and I did a lot of corrections, final ts in But and it etc. …

 

[medicalcpa]

@medicalcpa that is totally totally amazing in just 4 months!!!

 

OMG...I haven't looked in this thread forever, and when I do I find people are still complimenting me on work I did more than a year ago! Thanks a lot.

 

I'm sure my skills have atrophied, though. Life has got in the way and I haven't picked up a pen in forever.

[mvarela]

A little bit of Spencerian... and a nice quote, to boot!

 

http://i.imgur.com/pn5tguh.png

[MusinkMan]

Hi Brian, no, I found it quite comfortable! It was flexible of course and only with the flourishes I had to take a bit care when I went over the guidelines. I only had a guideline for the basis of the x-height (in the Spencerian, in the roman cursive I used the guideline for the height line of the x-height, so to say!). You can see it here:

 

sedfugit-4.jpg

 

Also this was a really slow process, more lettering than calligraphy … and I did a lot of corrections, final ts in But and it etc. …

 

Stef, that is some gorgeous Spencerian script! I thought you told me that you weren't any good at that stuff! Sheeeeeeez Wheeeeez, it's beautiful. Very skilled and masterful application. And I'm not just saying that to make you feel good. Looks absolutely fantastic!

[MusinkMan]

A little bit of Spencerian... and a nice quote, to boot!

 

http://i.imgur.com/pn5tguh.png

 

Hear Hear!!!! That quote has more truth in it than most anything I've read regarding tenacity. Nice writing too, Martin!

Hey, did you get my letter yet bro? The one where I sent you some paper to try? The mail between the U.S. and Finland is a bit fooked as you know. LOL!

[mvarela]

 

Hear Hear!!!! That quote has more truth in it than most anything I've read regarding tenacity. Nice writing too, Martin!

Hey, did you get my letter yet bro? The one where I sent you some paper to try? The mail between the U.S. and Finland is a bit fooked as you know. LOL!

 

Hey Brian! Yes, I got it! I haven't replied yet... there's one for you and one for Schin on the queue

[Estefa]

Stef, that is some gorgeous Spencerian script! I thought you told me that you weren't any good at that stuff! Sheeeeeeez Wheeeeez, it's beautiful. Very skilled and masterful application. And I'm not just saying that to make you feel good. Looks absolutely fantastic!

 

Hey Brian, thanks, makes me feel good anyway ! I practiced A LOT in the last months, I don't know how many ovals I have drawn / written … I was also so lucky to participate in a Spencerian workshop with Barbara Calzolari, she's such a gorgeous calligrapher (studies her Spencerian with Mr. Sull and teaches at IAMPETH – if she will be there this year and if you happen to go to Indianapolis, don't miss her!!), and there I understood some things I had read about, but sometimes I need to see something, actually life, to get it.

 

Still, I think this is probably the best I did so far with Spencerian, and honestly – it's not written. I have been doing handlettering for years, and this is "easier" for me than actual writing. My ink-and-pen Spencerian still doesn't look very convincing (which is why I don't post it, haha). Well, Ms. Calzolari also made it very clear to me that it is normal that it takes years (usually) to become any good at this!

 

So I do a lot of drills, and practice strokes, and hope that one day all of that comes together , and becomes real writing.

 

I appreciate it very much to hear from you. Your Spencerian looks so wow! So fluidly written!

[typophile]

Hey everyone, I gave this it's own thread but I did some touch ups and I thought I'd post it here as well to give it more exposure. I've been teaching myself italic for a couple years now, not too shabby for a lefty, if I do say so myself! This was my first time working with gouache, which was lots of fun! I'll definitely be using more of it in the future.

 

http://mymodernquill.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/edward-hopper-final-1280x989.jpg?w=774&h=597

[hzsimms]

Hi Brian, no, I found it quite comfortable! It was flexible of course and only with the flourishes I had to take a bit care when I went over the guidelines. I only had a guideline for the basis of the x-height (in the Spencerian, in the roman cursive I used the guideline for the height line of the x-height, so to say!). You can see it here:

 

sedfugit-4.jpg

 

Also this was a really slow process, more lettering than calligraphy … and I did a lot of corrections, final ts in But and it etc. …

 

Ingenious, I love it!

 

Howard

[hzsimms]

A little bit of Spencerian... and a nice quote, to boot!

 

http://i.imgur.com/pn5tguh.png

 

I think I'm gonna print this out and hang it up in my shop!

 

Howard

[Estefa]

Ingenious, I love it!

 

Howard

 

Hi Howard, how nice to hear from you – and thank you so much!!

[mvarela]

 

I think I'm gonna print this out and hang it up in my shop!

 

Howard

 

 

No need... I'll mail you the original