I Heart Calligraphy!!

Good grief, did I really title this ‘I Heart Calligraphy’? I am getting so cheesy in my old age…

valentine-calligraphy-heart

I Heart Calligraphy!!

close-up-of-calligraphy-in-heart-shape

Up Close and Personal

calligraphy-heart-detail-copperplate-lettering

Emotion V Intellect

Useless lettering fact of the day: Did you know that the dot above the ‘i’ is called a tittle? My tittles are all over the place.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!

SXX

Oops, forgot to mention that the text is from The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, which is an invaluable resource for both calligraphers and people in general.

6 Comments
by on February 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog, Copperplate
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Posted by Scarlet on February 14, 2012

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2012/02/i-heart-calligraphy/

Gothic Calligraphy Place Cards

Best intentions and all that… I know I said I wasn’t going to post any more commissions and client stuff, and that I was going to get stuck into some calligraphy projects of my own…. well, it hasn’t quite worked out that way! So please bear with me whilst I organise myself and whilst I do this, here are some Gothic place cards.

gothic-calligraphy-on-ivory-place-cards

Guess who was the birthday girl?!

Unfortunately with these place cards I did make a callipo, many apologies to Annalese! Which just goes to prove how important it is to carefully read everything before sending it out! Lesson learnt.

close-up-of-gothic-calligraphy

Close up Gothic!

I was asked to make a special place card for Birthday girl Christine, she was having a tudor themed party to celebrate her fiftieth. Thankfully, I still had the prep work from the mottoes I did just before Christmas, so I re-used the capital ‘C’ and gilded it with variegated metal leaf.

specail-gothic-calligraphy-place-card-for-a-birthday-party

Christine's Place Card - Extra Special!

Variegated metal leaf won’t keep it’s shine like 22 carat gold leaf, but as this was for a place card I thought it would be a fun alternative. The colours in this type of leaf add interest and depth… I think, and the effect is possibly more evident in the top photograph.

Right then…. back to the drawing board… and I might have time to work on something I’ve been thinking about!

Oh, and very special thanks to Jessica Gibson.

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by on February 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Gothic, Illuminated lettering, Place Cards
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Posted by Scarlet on February 6, 2012

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2012/02/gothic-calligraphy-place-cards/

Scarlet Blue Calligraphy?

Since blogging about calligraphy and offering my services via the internet I have learnt an awful lot about myself and others. It’s been a very steep learning curve. The thing is I’ve always liked doing calligraphy for myself; if other people saw what I was doing and liked it then all well and good…. BUT…. through doing this calligraphy online malarkey I have gone off it a bit.  I think it’s because I haven’t made time for me just to sit down and play around with what I’ve wanted to do. There was one commission in the middle of last year that I loathed doing…. internally I was gnashing my teeth, but I did do it, and it did look very pretty…. but it wasn’t me; I probably wouldn’t have found a space for it on my wall; so should I have done it? These are the questions I’m asking myself at the moment.

The thing is I’m actually not quite sure where I’m heading. I have turned down a couple of jobs recently because I want to make space for my own ideas – yes I do have a couple… and at least one of these ideas will be time consuming if I want to do it properly. Anyhow, here I am at the beginning of a New Year and slightly later than everyone else I’m doing the New Year, new thing… thingy…[?]. I’m no longer going to put commissions on this blog, there will be no shots of wedding stuff, no invitations, no place cards… just stuff about me floundering around with my pens and supporting other calligraphers. I think this is more me… although there maybe a few nicely addressed envelopes cos that’s part of a personal project I’m doing…. if I stick to this way of doing things I think I will be happier.

Look, no pics!!

8 Comments
by on January 19, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog
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Posted by Scarlet on January 19, 2012

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2012/01/scarlet-blue-calligraphy/

Calligraphy Motto

I was kept busy before Christmas by writing out family mottoes that were going to be given as Christmas presents. Lots of Gothic calligraphy and gilding involved, which made a pleasant change from the pointed pen work that I’d been doing throughout most of 2011. I started out by doing a couple of rough drafts:-

Rough draft

Rough draft, cut and paste

Rough draft of family motto

Another rough draft… slightly less rough.

In the end I didn’t use the capital ‘C’ that I’d sketched out in my rough, as I felt it wasn’t weighty enough. I also felt that the lettering was slightly too small. My client then revised the wording. With these considerations I did a final ‘best rough’ and then turned myself into a mini factory to produce the five family mottoes that my client had requested. Once into the swing of it, I found this project very relaxing. The background to the capital ‘C’ was flat gilded with loose gold leaf.

Five family mottoes

All Five!!

…once again, apologies for the dodgy photography – the artwork looks like it’s square from these pics, but it is rectangular! I used Arches Aquarelle paper for the finished work; expensive, but beautiful to work with and, I received happy feedback from my client, which is always nice.

Close up of family motto

Close Up!

 

Anyhow, that was then…. what’s going on now? Well this project did give me a few interesting ideas…. but before I can play around with those I have more pointed pen work to do, which will probably keep me busy for a couple of weeks and then I am going to devote myself to some italic, as I picked up my broad edged pen the other day and my hand seemed  confused. My italic is now a little bit rusty and I can’t be having that!

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by on January 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog, Gothic, Illuminated lettering
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Posted by Scarlet on January 9, 2012

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2012/01/calligraphy-motto/

Calligraphy Glitter… part 2!!

And now part two of my exciting feature!! Yep this picture is less than perfect too….

Quirky calligraphy in gold ink and glitter glue

Happy New Year!!!

…but you can at least see more of the glitter… I think I’ve got to grips with glittering my writing… with both copperplate and this quirky style… just getting it photographed that’s the problem…
Anyhow, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

P.S I have plenty of calligraphy related resolutions to make… such as clean glitter glue off nib before packing things away for the night….

2 Comments
by on January 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog
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Posted by Scarlet on January 1, 2012

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2012/01/calligraphy-glitter-part-2/

Calligraphy Glitter part one….

I have been experimenting with calligraphy and glitter glue this Christmas, unfortunately the lighting is so poor today it doesn’t show in the photograph very well…. we will have to wait and see if the lighting is better for part two of this exciting feature…

copperplate happy christmas

Happy Christmas

I have been very busy lately… there has been calligraphy -  including my own Christmas cards being written out nicely – heads turned in the local post office and I flushed a shade of crimson. I often leave my Christmas cards to the last moment, which leaves me little time for gratuitous flourishing… but I just about got it done this year…. anyhow…..

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

3 Comments
by on December 21, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog, Copperplate
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Posted by Scarlet on December 21, 2011

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2011/12/calligraphy-glitter-part-one/

Calligraphy in progress

Yes, there is calligraphy in progress, hence I haven’t been updating on a regular basis, plus I have been having a blogging crisis. I can’t really show anything I’ve been working on because my last commission was to do with Christmas and my current project is in its early stages, so this is a quickie post…
I’ve recently realised that most of my commissions this year have been in copperplate and there has also been a steady trickle of requests for Gothic script, but Italic has lagged behind. This is a shame because italic is an elegant and easy to read script, not as glamorous or as in your face as copperplate, but it can have its moments.

Anyhow, to redress the balance, here is a gratuitous shot of italic….

black italic lettering on wedding invitation

More Italic, Please!!!

7 Comments
by on November 26, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy Blog, Calligraphy on Invitations, Calligraphy styles, Italic Calligraphy
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Posted by Scarlet on November 26, 2011

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2011/11/calligraphy-in-progress/

Bottled Calligraphy

My sculpture is finished! Actually I finished it a while ago now but I have been too busy to post, due to one thing or another. This sculpture forms part of an on going project called Bottled Feelings, which I have been working on since 2006… they are exactly what they say they are… bottled feelings…. and as a collection they have been exhibited in spaces other than the traditional gallery. My most recent addition is Bottled Greed; this bottle contains a price tag on red ribbon. One side of the tag has the word ‘Air’ written in italic lettering, the other side reads: Bottled air, £1,000.

Air tag in bottle

Bottled Air

Bottled price tag

BOGOF?

Those who have read and followed my other blog, The Scarlet Blue Archive, will know that I am fond of writing alternative narratives for well known UK commercials and will therefore also be aware that I have an issue with advertising; I do understand that advertising is necessary – how would we know what services and products are available without it? – my real issue is about how products are advertised. Every day I am bombarded with adverts, be it on television, disguised as magazine articles or via blogs and I find most of this advertising to be patronising, condescending and, of course, highly manipulative [duh, as if we don't know that they are dividing us up into our socio-economic groups and preying on our basic vulnerability of wanting to fit in with those around us].  The advertisers are after my cash, they have no personal interest in me, there is no motive behind their flowery and often insipid rhetoric other than a desire to extract money from my purse, they will say and do whatever they can to get it. The bottom line is often profit margin over product quality.

Anyhow, here is my artistic interpretation of how I feel about marketing in general. Bottled Greed which consists of  a bottle of hot air…. a snip at £1,000….  please don’t all rush at once….

Bottled Air

A bottle of air

 

Bottled price tag

Bargain!!

6 Comments
by on November 8, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog, Contemporary Calligraphy
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Posted by Scarlet on November 8, 2011

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2011/11/bottled-calligraphy/

The Lazy Calligrapher….

Apologies, I have done no calligraphy for the past two weeks! I cleared the decks for my wisdom tooth removal [glad I did as I felt wretched] and then last week I had visitors all week, so I imagine my studio space is a little dusty… and perhaps sparkly from flicks of discarded gold leaf. To be honest, I can be a lazy bugger… when I’m working on a commission for a client I tend to have loads of ideas for my own calligraphy practice and I feel desperate to get on with them, but as soon as the commission is finished all my wonderful ideas end up abandoned in my sketchbook! There is nothing like having to do something to make me want to do something else… but then when I do have free time I find myself blogging [not this blog - the other one] and generally being a social animal.
Anyhow, after waffling on to a fellow calligrapher [many apologies Angelo], I feel I am at a crossroads with what I want to do with my calligraphy, I would like to use it for more art based projects. I do have my sculpture to finish off. The tag in my gallery, which says ‘AIR’, is supposed to be part of something else… but have I finished it off… no I haven’t, because it’s for me and no-one else! And the other thing that has stopped me continuing with it is that I have a niggle and I know that this tag won’t look right for what I have in mind, so I’m going to have to experiment with a different style of lettering. These things take time, and if I want it to look the way I want it to, then I’m going to have to do the prep. Simple as that.
Hopefully this blog post will enable me to get on with it, because my next post here IS going to be the finished sculpture!!!! Actually Angelo’s fine copperplate style would work beautifully for one side of this tag…. but I will have to make do with my own efforts.
Hopefully this all sounds very intriguing and everyone will be rushing here for my next post!!!
Meanwhile, here is an unrelated photo opportunity….

P for Pisces

...something else I didn't finish....

My capital ‘P’ for Pisces…. just never got around to doing a best copy with related text!!! Sorry this is so small. I painted this in 2004 and it was inspired by a project in the book The Art of Illuminated Letters by Timothy Noad and Patricia Seligman.

5 Comments
by on October 18, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Calligraphers, Calligraphy, Calligraphy Blog
Tagged , ,
Posted by Scarlet on October 18, 2011

http://www.scarlet-blue.co.uk/calligraphy/2011/10/the-lazy-calligrapher/

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