Building a Calligrapher's Writing Slope

Image of a scribe at work.
Estoire del Saint Graal, La Queste del Saint Graal, Morte Artu.
British Library, Royal 14 E III   f. 6v
Image originally found at http://www.larsdatter.com/scribaltools.htm

I've mentioned on occasion that I prefer to work on inclined writing slope. It has a number of benefits such as improving my comfort, allowing for more consistent pen control, and keeping my work piece where I can see what I'm doing more easily. Working on a slope also for better control of the ink flow from some types of pens, allowing for cleaner, crisper lines.

Medieval manuscripts contain many images of scribes at work like the one above. In almost every one, the scribe is working on an angled writing desk. Given the effort and materials to build such a specific piece of furniture, they must have been necessary for the scribe's work. I believe there are two main reasons that a slope was important to medieval calligraphers, both of which are also relevant to modern calligraphers.

1. Body Mechanics - Calligraphy is written best with whole-arm movements. It's much easier to get the correct movement and control it with your elbow hanging straight down in front of your shoulder. Working flat usually brings your elbow up against your body, forcing you to create letters by moving your wrist, resulting in a loss of control.
2. Ink flow control - Feather quills and reed pens hold their ink through the physics of surface tension. If you try to use them on a flat surface, gravity overcomes much of that tension resulting in a lot of ink flowing onto the page. This makes crisp lines, especially hairlines, difficult or impossible to achieve. By working on an angled writing surface, gravity pulls less ink from the pen, resulting in crisper lines. This is also true of metal dip nibs, especially when used without a reservoir. It's less true of dip nibs used with a reservoir, cartridge pens, or felt pens.

As not everyone has the money or space for a large adjustable drafting table or a period style writing desk, here are some tips on how to create a writing slope for minimal cost. 

SCA Calligraphy Boot Camp

Some wonderful SCA scribes just started a Facebook group called the SCA Calligraphy Boot Camp. [Added 8/18:] For those of you who aren't on Facebook, they created a website as well.

Each month, they are going to select a calligraphic hand or skill to focus on. Each participant is asked to keep a notebook of the projects they complete.

If you want to work on your calligraphy, please join me in participating.

I've added a link to this and other Facebook groups to my Resources page.

Guidelines & the AMES Lettering Guide

The Medieval and Renaissance calligraphy I emulate was penned by monks and professional scribes who spent a good portion of their lives perfecting their art. I on the other hand have mundane commitments that come first, and do calligraphy as a hobby in (a portion of) my spare time.

What does this have to do with guidelines? As an amateur calligrapher, pencil guidelines help my calligraphy look better. They are erased when I'm done, leaving straight, evenly-spaced text that matches the appearance of the work of professional period scribes. This article is about the modern tools and shortcuts I use to help me get my projects done, not the medieval methods.

Because of the length of this article, I've divided it into sections to allow you to skip ahead to the subject that interests you, or to more easily take it a bit at a time and return to where you left off.

• Important Terms
• Recommended tools
• The scales of the AMES guide explained
• How to determine line spacing for your script
• Guideline & text spacing examples
• Lining with a ruler
• Using a T-square & drafting board
• Drawing guidelines with the AMES lettering guide (with video!)
• Dealing with Versals (with video!)
• Vertical guidelines
• Final thoughts

Technique - Copying a Period Hand

When I started making scrolls, I used the ductus in my calligraphy books for whichever script I needed. As I got more and more comfortable with each of the scripts, I wanted to expand my knowledge and skill by attempting to replicate period scribes' hands.

I would suggest trying this after you have some experience with a few different scripts, and working at a few different sizes. It helps to be comfortable with the pen and forming letter shapes that you can figure out how to make the letters on your own. That said, it can also be a good exercise to train your eye and hand by spending quality time with period calligraphy.

Step 1 - Get a good copy of your example

You want the highest quality version of the original you can get to start. I like digital best, as you can zoom in very close, and adjust the contrast and brightness of the image if needed. For my examples in this post, I'm using a contrast adjusted version of the Magna Carta as inspiration, taken from Wikipedia. I was trying to learn this hand for the making of the Serjeanty for Master Phillip Reed.

If the final piece has illumination done by a different artist, work with them to make sure the hand you choose goes with the illumination style of the finished piece. I'm fortunate to work with many illuminators who know my interests, and they provide me with a specific example that includes calligraphy they are using as inspiration.

Technique - Gothic Textura Quadrata: An Alternate Ductus

Gothic Textura Quadrata is an absolutely gorgeous script, dense and architectural it is a wonderful example of how letters can be art in their own right. It's also very difficult to write well, especially for a beginner. There are two details about this variant of gothic that are extremely important to get right: perfectly vertical strokes and precise spacing between those strokes. Oddly, the calligraphy books I've read focus on how to draw each letter with the minimum number of strokes. Their method helps write faster, but it is harder to be precise and get those critical details right.

For a beginner, that can make this script extremely frustrating. So I'd like to present alternate instructions for drawing Gothic lettering, hopefully making this script easier to learn for the beginning calligrapher.

Technique - Practicing with the Pen

A Rotring 2.3 mm ArtPen held flat against
10 square per inch graph paper with a 45° twist.

So you've picked up your first calligraphy pen. Before you start trying to learn to write a specific calligraphic script, get comfortable with the pen. I'm going to start this post by discussing how and why using these pens is different from modern round-tipped pens, and then suggest some practice exercises that will help prepare you for calligraphic scripts.

Getting used to the pen

Using a calligraphy pen is very different than using most modern pens. In many ways, the techniques you use are more like using a wide paintbrush. While getting used to the pen, concentrate on:

1. keeping the writing edge of the nib flat on the paper.
2. moving the pen from your shoulder and elbow, not your wrist and fingers.
3. keeping the angle of the nib consistent.
4. getting crisp lines.

Calligraphy Books

UPDATE!

November 11, 2014

I've created a new Bookshelf section for the blog. The books listed in this post have updated reviews there, and additional books will be added to that page over time. The remainder of this page has been left as it was posted on October 9th, 2013.

I've written about some of the tools and materials that I use in my projects. Before I get to work on posts about technique, I'd like to write about and review my favorite calligraphy books. As verbose as I know I am, I'm not planning on writing enough to replace a good book on calligraphy. I started with calligraphy books to learn the basics, and I recommend anyone else do the same because of the history, practice techniques and script ductus (or is that ducti?) they contain. My musings in this blog are an attempt to share what I've learned from experience, experimentation, mentors and other artists, and are intended to add to what the books teach.

Please note that when I talk about calligraphy books I mean books that include instruction on how to pen each script. I have many other books in my library that contain only images and history of manuscripts and other period documents. I would recommend that any SCA scribe expand their library to include such reference books as well, as they will help you learn more history and a Medieval aesthetic. It is quite possible to be an SCA calligrapher without doing so, instead using the "generic" versions of each Medieval or Renaissance script as detailed in a good calligraphy book.

If you are starting as an East Kingdom scribe in the SCA, make sure to first visit the Signet's website and download a copy of the EK Scribes Handbook. While it primarily focuses on wording, artwork and specific award information, it does have details on tools, inks, paper, books, and other resources. Besides the fact that it's free, it also includes a wealth of knowledge you need to be an EK scribe.

And now, on to the books...

Tools & Materials - Pens & Inks

So I've talked about paper and miscellaneous tools, it's finally time to talk about pens and ink!

This photo is not mine, and was sourced from a Google image search.

 

Medieval & Renaissance calligraphy was penned with a quill (a cured feather) or reed pen. Both were cut such that the writing tip had a width to it. Unlike (most) modern pens, the width of the line these pens left on the page varied based on a combination of the angle the pen was held at and the direction of the pen stroke. While fine point quill pens were used to add details and flourishes, almost all writing was done with a wide nib.

Reed & quill pens were in common use up through the American Civil War despite the availability of metal nibs at that time. Quill pens are still available, but are relatively expensive unless you have a source of cheap feathers and are able to cure and cut them yourself. They also wear out as they are used, and have to be re-cut to maintain a sharp edge. I have yet to experiment with reed or quill pens because of the time & expense involved, instead opting to use modern calligraphy pens.

What is an SCA Scribe?

I jumped into this blog from a very SCA/East Kingdom-centric point of view and level of knowledge, and I realize I haven't done much to explain a few of the basics for those not already ensconced in those worlds. Let me take a step back and help explain scribal art in the East Kingdom, and define a few terms.

If there's ever anything I write about that you want clarification on, please leave me a comment.

-AP

Tools - Miscellaneous

Before I talk about pens & ink, I want to talk about the other tools I use.

A lot of these are very modern, and you know what? I don't care! ... Okay, I do care... but I'm making a deliberate choice to use modern shortcuts so I can focus on the calligraphy itself. While I want to learn and experiment with the period way of doing everything, I can't afford to take the time to do things the medieval way for every project and still get them done when they are due.

Materials - Paper

I want to start my lessons with the foundation of any calligraphy project: the paper.


What they used...

Most of the works I copy from were produced on parchment or vellum (not the modern papers of the same names); a specially prepared animal skin. You can get parchment today, but you will pay for it. ($10+ per sheet, depending on size and quality.) Parchment acts differently than most papers, and has both advantages and disadvantages (which I can hopefully discuss after I've had more experience with it). I've only experimented with a small piece so far. It's on my scribal to-do list for now.

Unlike most papers, parchment often requires additional preparation before you can begin writing and painting on it. This can include sanding, degreasing and the use of a surface treatment like gum sandarac powder to help ink stay crisp on the surface. I'll dedicate a post to my first experiments with parchment when that time comes.