Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Fraktur Caps

Following is a reposting of my November 13, 2009 Flourish Friday.  I love ornamental Fraktur capitals, and my recent workshop with Reggie Ezell has given me even more ideas...

To view the comments from the original post CLICK HERE.

For this week's Flourish Friday, I tried my hand at Ornamental Fraktur. Believe it or not, this is the letter A.

I used some blue ink that was packaged with the pen my husband bought me in Venice. (You can see that glass pen in an earlier post here.)

I used my 6mm Pilot Parallel Pen. I filled a spent cartridge with a Monojet syringe. I like the Parallel Pen for practice. It is easier for me to get consistent thins from this tool than it is from a broad edge dip pen.

My reference was chapter 6 from Bill Hildebrandt's wonderful book "Calligraphic Flourishing." Some Flourish Friday I'll have to show you the Whopperplate I bought from Bill! :-)

I hope you're all Flourishing out there! Have a great weekend!!

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Australia Follow Up

Many of you have asked about our trip to Australia. It was amazing, and I'll share just a few (of the thousands of!) pictures we took. A friend thought he was stuffed, but the koala above was real. :)

 We started with a week in Sydney. This was taken from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  No, we didn't do the Bridge Climb. (Sorry, Alex!) This was high enough for me, and the view was wonderful.  I added my lettering via Photoshop.

Our first full day in Sydney was Australia Day.  We spent the first half of the day exploring the city, including famous Bondi Beach.  Can you tell it's an Aussie holiday?

We spent the evening at the Sydney Opera House taking in La Boheme. It just so happened that the Sydneysider that took us around the city earlier that day had a son performing in the opera. That made it  even more special.

We took a day to go up to the Blue Mountains -  gorgeous! We definitely could have spent more days hiking there.

The second half of our trip we flew north to Cairns, and then drove north to Port Douglas. (Above is 4 Mile Beach in Port Douglas.) It is nearer the Atherton Tablelands where our son, Matt, is studying this semester.  Please read Matt's latest post about the Warrawee centre:  CLICK HERE

 While up north we visited the Daintree National Park and rainforest. The plants and wildlife were unlike anything we had ever seen.  This is a cassowary.  We saw it while visiting a wildlife park.  Read about the cassowaries that Matt and his fellow students saw in the wild: CLICK HERE

How about this little wallaby?!  Someone is ready for their close-up....haha!

I've added the lettering, since this is suppose to be a blog about my calligraphy...

 This is Cape Tribulation. It is where two World Heritage sites meet - the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

Our last, big adventure was snorkeling/diving at the Great Barrier Reef's Agincourt Ribbon Reef.  We went to three different sites. It was my favorite thing. What an incredible eco-system. 

All the different types of fish and coral were stunning. The hardest part was not being able to talk to each other  - just pointing and looking at each other with "Did you see that?!" expressions through our masks.  (and thank you, Fiona! We did wear stinger suits!)

 On our last full day in Port, we woke up early in order to walk down to the beach for the sunrise.

Soooo pretty.  

Australia isn't quite as big as the USA, but it is huge.  It was difficult to choose which areas we would visit, because me may never get back there. I wish we could have spent several months there.

Thanks for enduring my vacation photos. :)

A little early, but.....

(Original lettering done with a 2.4mm Pilot Parallel Pen.) 

 Have a great weekend.

xo

Jane

 

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Embossing Follow Up

Posting a follow up image of the piece I started in THIS Embossing Tutorial.

The original, Italic lettering of John 16:33 was done with a 1.5mm Pilot Parallel Pen. I loaded the barrel of the pen with Higgins Eternal ink.

Have a great weekend and....

Go forth and Flourish!

xo

Jane

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Resolutions

As the New Year approaches, I think it's good to stop and reflect.  I confess sometimes the Internet feels like a Time Demanding Monster. (I guess with all the snow we got on Wednesday, I see the Internet as the Abominable Snowman. haha!)  Although I must use the Internet, in 2013 I want to be more judicious in how I spend my time.

I love this poem: For A Day of My Life by Samuel F. Pugh (I goofed the title...)  It's a good reminder for me as I prepare for the New Year.  I did the lettering with a 1.5mm Pilot Parallel Pen. I loaded the barrel of the PPP with Higgins Eternal ink.  

Thank you for all the beautiful cards and emails these past few weeks. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Rachel was able to come from Nashville, and we enjoyed having her home for a few days. Matt will soon be heading to Australia to study in Queensland next semester.  We are soaking up all the time with him that we can.  I am excited to make the trip over for a visit, as Australia is a place I've always wanted to explore.

All my best to you for a fun, safe and Happy New Year!

I appreciate your support of A Place to Flourish.

May 2013 be full of contentment and joy.

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Bittersweet

Lettering done with a 2.4mm Pilot Parallel Pen. I filled the barrel with navy gouache.

By the time you're reading this, Rachel will be on her way to begin her new life in the Nashville area. We're happy for her. She's excited to start her new job. She loves Nashville and our family members that live in the area. She'll be only a 5 hour drive away. That's the sweet part. But now I won't be able to participate in the ordinary, everydayness of her life. That's the bitter part. (For me, not for her! haha.)  It's been wonderful that she's been able to do her training in Indy since graduating in May, but now it's time for her to fly.

Parenting.

Both painful and pleasant. 

At times, those two feelings are mixed into the exact SAME moment.

Bittersweet.

Fly, Rach, fly!

Go forth and flourish.

xo

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Table Grace

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

 This table grace commission was done with walnut ink and Pilot Parallel Pens.  I also used a Zebra G on the crosses.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

Back to the mixing board for me.  sigh.  None of my existing metallic inks match the gold I need today. 

Of course!! :)

Flourish Friday - Happy New Year!

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
 The flying cloud, the frosty light;
 The year is dying in the night;
 Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

 Ring out the old, ring in the new,
 Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
 The year is going, let him go;
 Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
 For those that here we see no more,
 Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
 Ring in redress to all mankind.

 Ring out a slowly dying cause,
 And ancient forms of party strife;
 Ring in the nobler modes of life,
 With sweeter manners, purer laws.

 Ring out the want, the care the sin,
 The faithless coldness of the times;
 Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
 But ring the fuller minstrel in.

 Ring out false pride in place and blood,
 The civic slander and the spite;
 Ring in the love of truth and right,
 Ring in the common love of good.

 Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
 Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
 Ring out the thousand wars of old,
 Ring in the thousand years of peace.

 Ring in the valiant man and free,
 The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
 Ring out the darkenss of the land,
 Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Happy New Year Dear Friends!
Here's to new beginnings!
All the best,
Jane

(6.0mm Pilot Parallel Pen, walnut ink, technical pens, schmincke gold powder, watercolor)

Ornamental Fraktur - Flourish Friday

While waiting for some client work to dry, I decided to give Ornamental Fraktur another go.  Two and a half hours later the client's piece was ready for the next stage, but I was still playing! 

iFriend Deborah asked me if Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White works in a parallel pen.  I hadn't tried it before, but I didn't see why it wouldn't work.  So today's Flourish Friday shows ProWhite (which is similar to Dr. Martin's) loaded into the barrel of a 1.5mm Pilot Parallel Pen (PPP).  I bought a jar of ProWhite after hearing several calligraphers say they like it better than Dr. Martin's. I tried it, but just couldn't get the consistency right. I much prefer Dr. Martin's.  I hate to waste anything, so I'm happy that the ProWhite works well in the PPP.  I did keep a little jar of water nearby to dip the tip of the PPP in every once in awhile to keep the ProWhite flowing.

To read my post about loading the barrel of a PPP, click here.

To see more Ornamental Fraktur play click here and here.

Fraktur Calligraphy Flourish for Good Friday

Salvation!

Wishing everyone a Good Friday and the hope that only comes through Jesus Christ.

(Fraktur with 6mm Pilot Parallel Pen.)

My sincere wishes for a Happy Easter!

Jane

Pilot Parallel Pens

I love Pilot Parallel Pens. They come in several sizes and give wonderful, crisp lines. I like the larger sizes especially. Brenda Broadbent, owner of Paper and Ink Arts, gave a nuts and bolts demonstration of the versatility of these pens at the IAMPETH convention.

She first had us dismantle our pens. Assuring us that it was virtually impossible to ruin them. Her main goal was to convince us that these pens are more than cartridge pens. They are easy to disassemble and clean with ammonia water or Windex. Soak the pieces in the ammonia solution, rinse and dry.

The greatest thing is that you can load your fluid directly into the barrel of the pen. You can load them with nearly any fluid....sumi, watercolor, gouache, walnut ink, etc. She was hesitant about using acrylics though. Several people in the class said they've even used bleach successfully.

I used walnut ink. I have given step-by-step directions over on my Flickr account. You can view the tutorial here.

This is Brenda's book Parallel Pen Wizardry. I think it's a must have if you own one of these great pens. You can order it, along with the Parallel Pens, from Paper & Ink Arts here.