The Calligraphy Lesson : Part One, Italic

Dear, patient Reader,

I have already transgressed the so-called "Rules of the Blog" by NOT blogging daily or at least every-other-daily. But I did get the jobs as promised to my clients last week following The Tulsa Wedding Show, and for that, I am very grateful. I eschew failing to meet deadlines, and it requires no small effort on my procrastinating part. So, barely recovered from nearly fifteen hours of addressing envelopes on Saturday alone, I will begin "The Calligraphy Lesson."

It seems only appropriate to educate the public on a relatively little known subject in today's world. But little known doesn't preclude the worthiness of the subject matter. Calligraphy is clearly a dying art. I know that, in part, because of the fuss that people make over my casual scribbles be it at the bank, the post office or wherever. (However, I have yet to see someone fail to cash the check they claim is too pretty to cash!). So in hopes of stirring up some enthusiasm for one of my passions in life and perhaps a wee bit of inspiration for future scribes, I will discuss the three lettering styles which I use most often in addressing envelopes: italic, script, and "monoline."

Calligraphy and artwork by Victoria Hoke Lane
 Watercolor, gouache, rubber stamps, Mitchell and Brause pens on Arches laid text

The above piece is an example of italic pen-made letters (except for the opening "L" which was "drawn"). Pen-made refers to the fact that those letters resulted from the action of the pen on the paper manipulated by the hand. I say hand because good letters are formed by a firmly, not tightly, held pen that is moved from the wrist rather than the fingers. Italic letters are made with a broad-edged pen vs. a pointed pen and depending upon the relationship of the width of the nib (the part of the pen that is dipped into the ink! with the width measured at the very tip) to the height of the writing line, you can create very bold (heavy) letters to extremely thin (fine) letters. Average letter weight is about 4 or 5 pen widths for the x-height. X-height is exactly what it says: in an alphabet, the height of the lower-case (also called miniscule) "x" measured according to the width of the pen nib used. [Goodness, I hope this is not too daunting. I think I need to create a virtual "blackboard" to make accompanying sketches just like in un-virtual class.]

Italic forms are based upon an oblique (vs. a circular "o") and fit neatly into a parallelogram (vs. a square) shape. The overall texture created by the text (small copy) in this example leans toward light. The text letters are loosely traditional (note the springiness of the forms) while the larger letterforms are more staid. Italic letterforms can be varied and altered in a myriad of ways, lend themselves well to short texts, and for some reason, are many people's definition of calligraphy! But in truth, the word, calligraphy, finds its roots in the Greek, and simply means beautiful writing.

{TBC} to be continued...