The Italian hand is the oldest of what we call the “pointed pen styles”. If you’ve seen it, maybe in one of Heather Victoria Held’s beautiful compositions, you’ve probably found it a little strange but full of charms. Did you know that it originated in Italy around the 1560’s, back when they didn’t have any […]
As I just hit “publish” on my catalogue of Ascenders variations, I thought it may be useful to have a look at the flourishing habits of past writing masters and take the time to explain the few rules of flourishing… I think it is quite clear that calligraphers today are very attracted to flourishing… I […]
I already told you about the various styles within the Round Hand family, and why writing masters needed to distinguish between each of these styles. Before telling you more about the classic Round Hand itself, I feel like it would be interesting to dive into the family tree of this writing style and uncover […]
Well, that title is a lie : Obviously, a pointed nib is what you need to write a “pointed pen style” ? !… All calligraphers spend a lot of time thinking about their nibs, especially when it comes to pointed pen calligraphy, as there are so many different nibs to choose from… But did you know that Copperplate […]
In my previous post, I briefly wrote about what I called the English Round Hand’s “sub-styles”. Today I want to take the time to explain what I meant and show you what those styles are. In the 17th and 18th centuries, professional scribes had to learn a wide variety of hands because different styles were […]
If you are interested in pointed pen calligraphy, you have certainly heard more than one eminent calligrapher state their opinion about the right way to call the various pointed pen styles popular today… The term “Copperplate” is on all the book covers, but it is often pointed out that it may actually be inappropriate. Frankly, […]
