Are you interested? 

Margaret Schmidt is coming over from Australia, possibly May 2014 depending on your interest, and offers a workshop using some of the suggestions below. Gillian Carlsson in Warkworth will be organising it. We are wanting to gauge interest by your response as funding and organising will need to be in place soon.

BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUNDS: 2 or 3 days of creating gorgeous papers you'll be inspired to write on! Covers background washes, special effects, sponging, metallic leaf, lattice cutting, embossing & sculptured letters.

CREATIVE CALLIGRAPHIC CARDS: 1 or 2 days learning lettering with a quirky flavour, and combining different calligraphic styles with colour & simple decorations to create cards with character (2 days is not as rushed and can include techniques for the parallel pen).

TRICKY THINGS: 1 day sharing all my secrets for writing on candles, christmas balls, plates, rocks & other tricky surfaces.

TINY TREASURES: 1 day, any level - how to write small, in books, in boxes to create tiny treasures.

CONTEMPORARY POINTED PEN: 1 day for confident calligraphers, or 2 days for less experienced - pointed nibs are good for more than Copperplate! Learn several contemporary styles, based on Italic & Copperplate, to create lettering with an energetic, modern feel.

FREEFORM VERSALS: 1 day - this could follow on from contemporary pointed pen for more experienced calligraphers.

GOTHICIZED ITALIC: 1 day - an elegant lettering style to suit all student levels.

If you are interested or want to know more please contact  by email, carlssonb@orcon.net.nz

Click here for Margaret's company website.

Please let us know...

Some examples of Margaret's work.

Tuesday – 5 November – Evening Class at Windmill Road, Epsom.

Roselda

Erin and Glenice

 What a wild night we had! For a starter we were downstairs, I have never been there before and we were greeted with this lovely display of shoes as we opened the doors. When we went upstairs to put books and videos back in the library we were greeted with a wonderful display of Embroidery. Believe me it was a mix of beautiful pieces of work, we came back down stairs inspired. As the night progressed the rain set in and the wind was like a howling gale all around us but outside. We were nice and cosy inside with plenty of light to work with and comfortable chairs and of course the odd cup of tea and coffee. Jan inspired us all by bringing along a page of Christmas lettering which could end up as Christmas wrapping paper but like all good things we ran out of time. I spent the evening trying all my paints to get the right red for my Christmas flowers, sorry no work to show you. However, there are some photos of the start of Christmas wrapping paper and then some pieces by other members writing,  Roselda, Rose and Glenice and Erin playing around with designs. It was a good night after getting the depressing news that we will have to move again. So we will have to look for rooms elsewhere and also cupboard space to house the library. It is such a shame as I know we have enjoyed being able to use the space and see the Embroiderer's creative pieces. The next Class is on 3 December and that will be our break up Christmas party. Same place, same time. Please bring a plate to share and make sure you make a Christmas card and then we will have a lucky dip of Christmas Cards and you will be able to take one home - that is if you put one in. Dale-Cormack Pearson.

Left: Jan's exemplar     Right: Rose

Please notice that the November date should be the 5th. 

A somewhat dodgy calendar was used for the handwritten notice for this meeting. 

Christopher Haanes Workshop

A demonstration, for all to watch every move of the pen, body, slope, pressure, relationship, shape, it's a very fulfilling way to learn. Nothing quite beats it. 

Left. Christopher showing Barbara exactly how he does it. Centre. Some of Christopher's work was available for sale. Seeing marks actually on the paper is a good way to analyse  how they were made. Right. Total concentration

Left. Christopher working with a ruling pen. Right. The group. (click on photo to enlarge) minus Bevan and Tom, who had to leave early. There will be a much fuller account with more photos in our next magazine, something to look forward to. I was unfortunately unable to attend this workshop so thanks go to Gill and Dale for the photographs.

Dale explains a little more.  I went along to the last hour of Christopher Haanes workshop to take some photos. When I arrived I was surprise that I could not hear any voices. I was very pleased when I got to the top of the stairs to find everyone hard at work. They had a tea break which gave me the opportunity to go around and take some photos for the next newsletter and to see everyone’s work. Most people said that is was a back to basics for them as they had got into bad habits, and were not looking at their spacing. It seemed that they enjoyed themselves but had to work very hard. Christopher was charming, very tall, handsome and young. He had not quite got his voice back yet and I was very lucky to watch him working on a piece of his work. He had written a piece using a ruling pen which had lots of fine lines to it. I watched and he built up on each letter retouching here and there, it was a fascinating process to watch. It looked a very interesting workshop and I am sure that everyone learnt a lot from him.  More to come in the next newsletter. Dale.

Tuesday Night in Epsom.

Roving reporter Rose Browning

Hilary Lewis gave an excellent 20 minute power point presentation about Calligrams, the definition, historical context and numerous examples which were extremely varied and interesting. We then each drew from a hat two pieces of paper, each one had a different word written on it. It was then our turn to try and interpret that word using letters only. The photos show some of our attempts. It was a fun evening and we left feeling like we'd like to explore the idea further.

Some snapshots from the Gilding Workshop in Warkworth last weekend.

Calligrams

Our monthly meeting in Epsom on tuesday will be about calligrams, and if you want to know more more here is a definition, noun, a word or piece of text in which the design and layout of the letters creates a visual image related to the meaning of the words themselves.

Hilary Lewis who is teaching the class has found some images on the web that may be helpful, at least a jumping off place. You will need your usual calligraphy gear remember your parallel pens or the pens you usually like to work with and a practice pad like Zeta.

Christopher Haanes

Time to sign up for this workshop with

Christopher Haanes.

Christopher is a very highly regarded calligrapher and teacher and we are so lucky that he is able to visit us briefly before heading off to Australia where he will conduct several workshops before heading back home to Norway.

Italic might be the hand that is the most varied of all the scripts. One may ask if there really is a neutral italic. There is much variation even amongst Renaissance scribes, and there is a multitude of modern adaptations, stretching from formal, almost typographic styles to highly individual possibilities.

Advanced techniques like pressure variation, pen angle, manipulation, building-up, and retouching will be explored, as long as the student is ready to embrace them. The workshop will include lectures and demonstrations concerning the history of letters, the relationship between the printed and the written word, and technical solutions.

Skill level: Intermediate (students who can write an italic hand)  -  Advanced students.

A video showing Christopher writing latin letters. Here is his website if you wish more information click here.

A deposit of $120 is to be paid by the end of August with the final payment of a further $120 to be made by the 20th September. Direct payments can be made to:  010288-0137566-00  (NZ Calligraphers ANZ Newmarket). Please include your name and C Haanes in the appropriate  columns.

Date:- 5th and 6th October. Time 9.30am - 4pm. Venue is upstairs at 48 Windmill Road, Epsom. Please bring your lunch. Tea, coffee and juice will be provided.

Workshop participants practise sheets, thank you for sharing.

Peter Gilderdale was our leader for this workshop. A quiet but intense weekend that demanded concentration and the need for us to revisit our analysis skills. We were given several (12th-15th century) excerpts  of cursive every day hands (in latin) to decipher, then we were to develop them into useful useful, readable  hands we could use today.

We just started to find some sort of familiarity when the next alphabet was handed out. Peter was very willing to demonstrate, and was constantly circulating the room to assist with deciphering, and offering helpful suggestions for each one of our problems. 

The calligraphers from Warkworth joined us for the first day of the workshop, our other two travellers were in Auckland for the weekend. Bevan had travelled from Whangarei and Peggy had flown up from Wellington, it was good to see them all again.

Peter showed us how to write one of his favourite letters - 'e'. He covered ground on the basics:- pen grasp, tools, writing positions, hand, arm, shoulder movements and I was reminded how easy it was to let lazy habits take hold.

The last assignment was wicked and playful to arrive in the very last half hour of the weekend, we stared at an extremely intricate document full of cadells, fine decorative pen work and letters made up of oblique squares with the edge of the pen. 

Peter then asked us to select the 3 hands we liked best, all went round and listened to the discussion that followed and the reasons for our choices. Evidence that some of us were still standing. An excellent workshop.

More workshop practise sheets.