Writing paper

[James Pickering]

http://www.jp29.org/cal79.jpg

[James Pickering]

http://www.jp29.org/cal80.jpg

[Free Citizen]

Sir,

 

Can you tell us a little bit about character size in relation to nib size? I am sure this has a bearing on line spacing.

[James Pickering]

Can you tell us a little bit about character size in relation to nib size? I am sure this has a bearing on line spacing.

 

http://www.jp29.org/cal88.jpg

 

Yes, Lim, there is a definite relationship. Traditionally, calligraphers use three or four nib widths for foundational hand body forms and five nib widths for Italic letter body forms. I use five nib widths for my italic letter forms. Line spacing should be such that, in general, minuscule ascenders and descenders do not clash.

 

James

Edited November 20, 2004 by James Pickering

[Free Citizen]

Thank you Sir. Now I can determine which nib size is suitable for various writing pads that I have. They come in various line spacings. But what about the ascenders and descenders for italic writing. How many nib widths are required for those?

[James Pickering]

Thank you Sir. Now I can determine which nib size is suitable for various writing pads that I have. They come in various line spacings. But what about the ascenders and descenders for italic writing. How many nib widths are required for those?

Dear Lim,

 

I know your intentions are noble, good friend, but your calling me "Sir" makes me nervous. It makes me feel pontifical (or something like that) -- like I should have a ring to kiss! . I really wish you would call me James -- or Mr. Pickering if that makes you comfortable. Of course, I will not really be offended by whatever salutation you use.

 

Now to your question, Lim:

 

There is no set rule or prescription for ascender/descender length. An examination of renaissance copy books and exemplars shows many different lengths being used by Italic writing masters with variability in different documents by the same scribe. In general, they should not be too long -- the same length or just a little longer than the letter body height seems to be a good length. I make my ascenders a little longer than that -- and I add a generous swash descender to my minuscule k's.

 

Of course, Majuscule letters are swashed and flourished to the writer's fancy.

 

James

Edited November 19, 2004 by James Pickering

[Free Citizen]

Thank you James I thought I was being respectful. I call all my Teachers and Instructors, Sir. I had on several occasions being taught by people my age or younger and I still have to address them as Sir. Oh, old habits die hard And thank you for your guidance here

[James Pickering]

I thought I was being respectful. I call all my Teachers and Instructors, Sir. I had on several occasions being taught by people my age or younger and I still have to address them as Sir. Oh, old habits die hard ..........

I certainly appreciate that, Lim, for I was brought up the same way. I called my calligraphy teacher and mentor "Mr. Barton" or "Sir" when I was in my fifties.

 

James

[James Pickering]

I have found the plain, ubiquitous, manila envelopes quite suitable for use with out-of-the-box edged nibbed fountain pens such as Rotring, Filcao, Manuscript, Osmiroid, etc. I whipped this address exemplar out using Rotring Art pens with 1.5 mm nibs and Rotring red and black ink cartridges. The writing is free form -- without base guidelines -- which is the way I address all my envelopes.

 

The return address block is a "cheater" -- cut out from a reproduced sheet of them and glued on. A Manuscript pen with a fine nib and Waterman black ink was used for the originals.

 

James

 

http://www.jp29.org/File0181.jpg

Edited November 20, 2004 by James Pickering

[Free Citizen]

Now, that is an envelope no one will throw away.

[James Pickering]

http://www.jp29.org/cal84.jpg

 

Rotring Art Pens (1.5 mm & .8 mm nibs) with Waterman black and red ink on unprepared (not treated with powdered pumice and sandarac pounce) manuscript calf skin vellum (a little rough).

 

Addenda:

 

I left an "e" out of Clairefontaine

 

The exemplar should read .......... as close to prepared real Parchment & Vellum as one can get ..........

 

Metal nibs do not perform as well on skins as do prepared quills or reeds.

 

JP

Edited November 22, 2004 by James Pickering

[Free Citizen]

unprepared (not treated with powdered pumice and sandarac pounce)

Can you elaborate on this. What does this do to the writing media?

[James Pickering]

unprepared (not treated with powdered pumice and sandarac pounce)

Can you elaborate on this. What does this do to the writing media?

"As bought" manuscript or bookbinding Vellum (calf or goatskin) and Parchment (split sheepskin) is supple and smooth as a result of the manufacturing process. However, the surface hardens to a somewhat slick and "grainy in patches" condition.

 

The time honored methodology for rendering the skins suitable for writing is to first rub the surface with fine sandpaper (I use 320 grit) in order to smooth out the surface and produce a very fine velvety nap. Next, finely powdered pumice is used to absorb any greasiness. Finally, the surface is lightly dusted with powdered sandarac gum (a product of the African Alerce tree) which enhances the intensity of the ink and sharpens the letter form lines (including serifs and hairline ligatures). Some calligraphers combine the pumice and sandarac into a pounce that they sprinkle on the surface and then rub it in (shaking or brushing off the excess) -- I make up my own pounce and use this methodology. Calligraphers often spend as much time and care preparing vellum and parchment as they do their quills -- well prepared skins afford a marvelous writing surface that takes the ink perfectly and facilitates crisp, well formed letters .

 

Slick surface writing papers can be prepared in the same manner -- I often pounce such papers.

Edited November 20, 2004 by James Pickering

[Hank]

Hi Mr. Pickering,

 

Personally I like "Sir James." You are royalty to us.

 

Where do you get your lined Clairefontaine and/or Rhodia Pads? I'd like to try them.

 

Regards,

Hank Field

[James Pickering]

Hi Mr. Pickering,

 

Personally I like "Sir James." You are royalty to us.

 

Where do you get your lined Clairefontaine and/or Rhodia Pads? I'd like to try them.

 

Regards,

Hank Field

Hello, Hank, nice to see you jump in on this discussion.

 

A group within one calligraphy class I taught used to address me in such reverential terms that I threatened to require them to genuflect and kiss my ring whenever I entered the room! -- (I really do not take myself too seriously ) Anyway, one of the group whipped up this icon that they asked me to affix to their exemplars that I accepted http://www.jp29.org/Jamesicus.gif as gentle humor (I did) -- I used to use Jamesicus as my e-mail handle at that time.

 

My local Arts & Crafts store stocks both makes of paper, Hank. I haven't Google'd them but I have a feeling there are cheaper sources online. My grandchildren provided me with a bountiful supply as Christmas presents last year -- that is what really got me started using these papers so much.

 

James

Edited November 22, 2004 by James Pickering

[KendallJ]

Pendemonium carries both.

 

Pendemonium

[James Pickering]

Pendemonium carries both.

Thank you for the link, Kendall. I was not aware that these papers are available from general online suppliers in so many forms. My local Arts & Crafts store only carries the Clairefontaine paper in the regular and Triomphe lined & unlined tablets and the Rhodia in the lined and unlined tablets -- and so these are the papers from these makers that I have been using. I don't know if my store carries any of the journals or notebooks -- I will check the next time I visit.

 

James

Edited November 22, 2004 by James Pickering

[James Pickering]

R. K. Burt & Company Ltd. of London carries a vast array of fine papers including papyrus and Japanese papers. When you visit their home page, click on the Site Map link for a comprehensive listing that includes the complete line of Clairefontaine and Fabriano papers.

 

http://www.rkburt.co.uk/

 

James

Edited November 22, 2004 by James Pickering

[James Pickering]

Vellum and Parchment is exorbitantly expensive these days. I built up a large stock of a variety of skins many years ago in anticipation of this. Whenever I visited England I always used to stop in at William Cowley's Parchment Works in Newport Pagnell and purchase skins. Here is a collage of their colorful, traditional letterheads, price list and an invoice of a purchase of mine of cut skins for a folio book I was preparing to write and bind.

 

James

 

http://www.jp29.org/File0039.jpg

[Free Citizen]

James, have you ever tried synthetic vellum?

 

http://www.compesssupplies.com/D.HTML

Edited November 22, 2004 by Free Citizen