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 Calligraphy Introduction
Calligraphy,
the art of fine writing, has been practised for many centuries. It is a
highly decorative art which also has many practical uses and has become
popular once again as people rediscover the calligrapher’s scope for
artistic expression.
Origins
Calligraphy means simply ‘beautiful writing’, but is
usually understood to mean writing as an art form. Before the advent of
printing processes, all books were hand written by calligraphers. While
the development of printed type almost killed calligraphy after the 15th
century, the introduction of new colour reproduction methods and printing
processes actually revived the idea of the book as a work of art. William
Morris and John Ruskin became particularly interested in creating
illustrated manuscripts which could be reproduced as part of the revival
of interests in arts and crafts in Britain at the end of the 19th
century. Their work inspired Edward Johnstone, who produced the book which
is now widely known as the calligraphers bible. ‘Writing and
Illuminating Letters’, published in 1906.
 Basic techniques
Calligraphy today is used in various ways; graphic shapes for
poetry, wall hangings, rustic woodcuts, greetings cards, hand drawn
illustrations, family trees, town maps, posters and certificates.
Many calligraphers like to experiment, developing new and
exciting techniques with colour, another idea is to use a piece of
calligraphy as a guide for cutting out a stencil, which can then be used
to make repeated patterns on fabric or paper.
The main tools of the calligrapher are pens, inks and paper.
Other equipment used includes; a drawing board or adjustable desk top
which can be tipped up to a convenient angle to save bending, a smooth
cutting surface, craft knife and steel rule for trimming sheets of paper
accurately and cutting mounts; good lighting; a ruler and set square;
scissors and tape; and masses of A3 layout paper (a translucent light
weight paper) for planning out the designs.
Pens – most calligraphers use penholders with
interchangeable steel nibs, which are available from good art shops. Other
professionals prefer to cut their own nibs from quills, using a special
knife. Pens can also be cut, as ancient calligraphers used to, from bamboo
cane or reed; and for Japanese calligraphy, special brushes have to be
used to create the sweeping strokes.
Most amateurs, however, start with ready bought pens and
nibs.
Paints and inks – The pen is used to apply the inks, or
colours, as professionals call them, to the paper.
In fact, most calligraphers do not use ordinary inks, since
they contain shellac to make them waterproof, and this tends to clog the
nib. Tubes of water colour, designer’s gouache or cakes of water colour
paint, mixed with water to an ink like consistency, give better results.
Every artist has his or her own preference.
Paper – the selection of paper will affect the final
results. Ordinary writing paper, which is now available in a marvellous
range of colours, can be used, or larger sheets of cartridge and other
types of paper available from art shops.
Different pens and different thicknesses of colour, combined
with the texture of the paper, all affect the result.
Traditionally, parchment (from sheepskin) and vellum (from
calf skin) were used, but these are rather expensive and require special
preparation.
The art of calligraphy involves an appreciation of the
direction and thickness of writing strokes, the proportion of the letters,
the significance of serif and sans serif styles, the spacing of letters
and words, and the arrangement of the lines of writing.
There are a great many formalized styles of handwriting used
by calligraphers, but the styles do not have to be strictly adhered to.
Skilled calligraphers will invariably introduce characteristic personal
touches to their lettering.
A decorative element can be added to calligraphic work
through the use of borders; simple rules, alternating dots and waves, and
so on. Many calligraphers illuminate letters – usually the first letter
of a poem or a chapter of a book – in much the same way as medieval
manuscripts were decorated. These letters are known as versals.
Courses
If you offer calligraphy courses / evening classes /
demonstrations - please contact us to advertise your details
here.
There are lots of books available to learn the skills from
home.
To
learn proper calligraphy techniques the best starting point is to contact
polytechnics / colleges to see if they have any organized courses.
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