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October 20, 2006
denis brown: sharpness in writing
by gl. at 11:41 pm
thus begins the calligraphy marathon: a week of calligraphy classes related to the all oregon calligraphers conference. this year it features denis brown, my favorite calligrapher in the world. he's been brilliant since he was 15, and how can i resist anyone with an irish accent?
he's been in town for a couple of days now; i attended my first session yesterday. i was half an hour late even though i had left myself a 15 minute buffer; the traffic and weather were horrible! i seriously thought about turning around because i hate it when i'm so late, and i think it's disrespectful to the teacher. fortunately (well, or not, depending on how you look at it), other people had the same issue. i wasn't even the last one in.
but before we even got to lettering, he spent a long time talking about the basic components: tools, materials, technique. i picked up some notes worth keeping:
you want rag paper, which is cotton, because the fibers are longer -- but more importantly, because cotton doesn't contain acid. even a lot of "acid-free" paper is simply acid-buffered -- or the surface might be acid-free, but the core is normal acidic paper.
press paper distinctions: hot press=smoother; cold-press=rougher; "not pressed"=cold pressed, "rough"=not pressed at all. got that? light-weight paper is automatically smoother than heavier-weight paper.
denis recommends bk rives (rives heavyweight if possible), arches text wove & saunders waterford hot press (though i personally found bk rives to thoroughly suck in any ink -- but i guess i should try w/ sandarac now).
sizing comes in three flavours: waterleaf, internal & external. waterleaf has no additives, internal is sometimes called "soft sizing" and is often used in printmaking. sizing is often simply gelatin: you can make your own sizing from boiling clear jello and brushing it onto the page. i guess this means most papers aren't vegetarian. ironic, isn't it?
the sounds paper makes when you wobble it is called the "crack" and is affected by the type of sizing it contains.
one of the kindest things you can do for yourself as a calligrapher is have a cushion of (cheap!) paper beneath your piece, at least 10-20 sheets. if your tool is hard, it should be used against something soft (and vice versa: that's why you'll use brushes on metal & wood).
he doesn't use ink anymore, he uses winsor/newton lampblack gouache (or sometimes ivory black, but never jet black, which he says feels greasy). he says shminke & holbein are also good gouaches.
gum arabic & gum sandarac are technically edible!
if you write quickly, use thinner ink. if you write slowly, you can use thicker ink.
he called pollock "jack the dripper."
"some people think calligraphy is about copying shapes, but i think it's about allowing a movement."
upon gazing at freshly drawn letter with a pool of ink still glistening in the arch of a flourish: "the only word for that is sexy." and "it is a luxury of ink."
then he walked around and gave feedback on the sharpness and on letterforms. i was intimidated and anxious, no doubt exacerbated by my late arrival, but also because i was using unfamiliar nibs (brause) and ink (black gouache, and the tubes i brought were unfortunately dry so i had to borrow a dab from my neighbor). i am an intermediate calligrapher at best, but most people at an event like this are much, much better than i am. see? i have my issues, too. :)
after lunch he showed us how to use gum sandarac, which was great. gum sandarac is something i've often heard of but had no idea how much trouble it might be to use or what a difference it would make. it turns out gum sandarac repels water: a drop of water on a pile of gum sandarac forms into a little ball, as malleable and adorable as quicksilver. thus, it keeps ink from spreading when brushed on the page. easy peasy!
he also showed us writing on black w/ white ink (more sandarac & the "flooding in" technique; permanent white=opaque, zinc white=lightfast). he also showed us sharpening a nib on an arkansas stone, though he himself has stopped sharpening nibs, prefering his own technique (namely, speed) to create his ethereal hairlines (so fine that apparently herman zapf himself wrote denis a letter asking about his technique).
posted by gl. | October 20, 2006 11:41 PM | categories: calligraphy