The April
Meeting is
Cancelled
Blistering
Hot
Bister
Inks!
Cover art by Janell Wimberly
October 2020
VOLUME 41 NO. 2
Hello everyone!
A special thank you to all those who joined us last month for our first
ZOOM guild meeting of the year. We had 30 members join us for the
business meeting followed by the program presented by four members,
Sherry Barber, Betty Barna, June Leschek and myself. We talked about
different online classes we had taken during the summer months.
I'm guessing many of us have had to get a little creative to stay active and busy during this
pandemic period. If at all possible I recommend taking one of the online classes that are being
offered. For sure it's not like sitting in a live group session but it's really not so bad. Pros: You
can take the class while wearing PJ's, you can turn off your video and no one will be able to see
your messy room (or studio, ahem) behind you, you can do the laundry while participating, you
don't have to run home and feed the cat/dog because they are curled up right beside
you. Cons: You don't get to really BE with your friends in person and chat and eat all the
goodies everybody brought to share. But it can still be a fun learning process and fills that void
of social distancing for such a long time.
Our next meeting is October 10th, again via ZOOM, at 10:00 a.m. You can join the meeting
anytime after 9:30. That gives us 30 minutes to chat with our friends before the meeting
starts. Sherry will send out the Meeting ID# and Password no later than Friday so be looking for
it in your emails. Sherry Barber and Rick Garlington (the curmudgeon) will be presenting a
program on Bister Inks using lettering demonstration. If you have some Bister Inks at home,
grab your pen and work along with Sherry and Rick.
Following the meeting, we will have our first Mini Workshop of the year, Brush Pen
Lettering. The signup sheet is on the website and you'll need to get your registration and
check in asap to be included. Join us in the fun. (The signup sheet is also on the last page of this
newsletter.)
I know we are all anxious for autumn to really show up here in Texas. The hot days are
dwindling - well, we are hoping so. Think cool evenings, autumn colors of gold, russet, yellow
and red, crisp apples, soups on the stove and well, you get my drift. Fall weather cannot get here
too soon!
Keep lettering!
Jeri
President’s Letter
“We Ink „em Up!”
Presidential Seal by Janell Wimberly
General Meetings 2
nd
Saturdays at 10:00am – noon
For the rest of this year, all meetings are temporarily
scheduled to be conducted through the
Zoom platform.
Board Members
Executive Board Chairpersons
Jeri Wright, President Sherry Barber, Web/Communications
Suzanne Levy, Vice President Margaret Mall, Exhibits
June Baty, Treasurer Brenda Burns, Fund Raising
Betty Barna, Secretary Eric Doerr, Membership
Rick Garlington, Newsletter
Jeri Wright, Workshops
June Baty, Workshops
Our scope has enlarged and due to the current world situation, our deadline has been extended to
complete our fundraising project. There is an opportunity for you, yes you, to participate! We are
needing numbers, ampersand signs AND the months of the year (January, February, etc.) written in
any hand on plain white paper and sent to Sherry Barber no later than January 15
th
2021 for
possible inclusion. Please reach out to Sherry Barber or Brenda Burns for more information.
Brenda
Member Submissions
Submitted by Donna Sabolovic
I did this piece for CLAS (Carolina Lettering Arts Society) for a traveling exhibit on Social Justice. The exhibit was
hung at the Oak Street Gallery in Asheville during the month of August. It is now at the YMI Cultural Center in
Asheville through the end of September. It may go further but I do not have that information.
Online Classes During Quarantine (a review of the September meeting by Trish Manche)
For the September program, we had our first ZOOM guild meeting. Four members talked about online
classes they had taken over the last few months during the pandemic and shared their class work. There
is some good stuff out there.
Betty Barna took a class from Heather Martinez. She does lettering with Neuland Markers from Germany.
These markers come in a variety of sizes with brush tips. For the course work, Heather sent a book in
advance with course materials including brush lettering exemplars, a Romans worksheet that had the
proper sized blocks to print on your printer, and a number of exemplars and practice sheets with which to
work. These markers come in an alcohol and water based variety; for the class, they used water based.
Her style is to bring these lettering forms and sketches for use with posters, presentations, and larger
format. The class moved quickly and was interesting. Betty wanted to explore how this instructor
conducted her online classes.
Betty also shared an exemplar for a letter style called Akim Cursive Calligraphy found on Pinterest. From
this exemplar she created her own Akim Italics for use. This hand is great for using a technique taught by
Pamela Paulsrud where you color the counters to give visual interest to your piece.
Sherry Barber shared information on a lettering class using Ben Shahn lettering style. These letters are
wide at the top and the bottom and are more of a drawn letter. Exemplars were sent prior to class so it
was easy to work along.
In addition to this class, Sherry took some water color floral painting classes and has spent quite a lot of
time painting and practicing.
June Leschek took three classes from Heather Held: Enchanted Letter, Enchanted Meadow, and Italian
Lettering. The “enchanted” classes were similar and had a whimsical, romantic feel to them which June
loved. They started the Enchanted Letter course using pencil and letters which were 5-6” in height; the
letters were outlined in pointed pen or micron to cover the pencil for the finished piece. Sepia is also a
good color choice for this style. This lettering has a “ribbon feel’” to it. Once she moved onto the second
course, some whimsical creatures and flowers were added to the letters. There was some crossover
between the two courses. The Enchanted Meadow course used watercolor pencils, but soon moved to a
“two brush” system for the pastel shading effect. These illustrations had a Victorian flavor in the shaping
of the letters and animals. June learned a new skill of adding gold leaf or gold foiling to her piece which
really gave it nice accents.
The Italian Hand workshop featured letters characterized by a tear-drop shaped top and some examples
show the ascenders filled. This hand had a romantic, pointed pen look to it and has a very rhythmic
looking appeal.
June also shared that she is enamored with the new hobby of engraving and had purchased an engraving
machine made for letters from Kestrel Montez. (www.inkmethis.com).
Jeri Wright took a course from Canadian Calligrapher Connie Ferguson called “Bird Nests & Eggs”, using
actual bird nest photos from the internet for inspiration for watercolor renderings. Beginning with a pencil,
they made different sizes and shapes of eggs then moved on to color combinations for their illustrations.
The last step was to create the nest for the background. They worked on darker shading in the center to
give the piece depth. In this course they used pencils, water color pencils, and water color paints and
brushes.
Jeri also took Chunky Caps with Amity Parks. This course used Bister Inks and the Neuland hand with
automatic pens (1/4”). It’s important to note the automatic pen has a smooth side and a side with cut lines;
the cut side is the correct side to use when lettering. Making these letters required a lot of manipulation
and requires a lot of practice to match Amity’s lettering.
The Bister inks are very versatile. Dropping a little water at the top gives each letter a unique look.
Students were encouraged to stack their words/letters to allow a bit of bleeding between the letters.
Another technique used with these chunk caps was to add shadows to the lettering by lightly scribbling
with a pencil then used a paper stump to disburse the lead. A small column of white space was left
between the letter and the shading which added some dimension to the letters.
Amity discovered these inks in Belgium and has contributed to their popularity in the U.S. Bister inks
come in a powder form and are highly pigmented. When mixing the ink, you can vary the volume of water
added to the powder to control the shade of ink. These inks work great with any writing implement but
especially automatic pens, Pilot parallel pens, and ruling pens. In class they used butcher paper and
water color paper for practice.
Jeri recommends when you are learning a hand to number your practice sheets. This helps you to see
progress as you go. She was excited about the shading aspect and learned a bit more about that and
placement of the light source.
It was an educational and fun program. It was wonderful to see so many members join the virtual meeting!
Beverly Stewart Dares to Get Dirty
by Beverly Stewart
9/3/2020
Every July or August (the date varies a bit), I block off a week on my calendar for an online event called “Dare to Get
Dirty.” The name comes from the leadership of the event who call themselves “The Dirty Dozen.” Stampers on
Splitcoaststampers want to be like the “Dirty Girls” who are some of the best stampers online. So the event is a
chance to rub shoulders and chat with the Dirty Dozen (and DD alumni) on splitcoaststampers.com. Membership in
splitcoaststampers is free, but to participate in this event, you have to join the fan club which costs $25 per year.
For a week, 5 or 6 challenges are posted each day. You can participate in only a few or try to finish all of them.
Those who complete one card for each challenge may crown themselves Kings or Queens of the challenge and are
eligible for additional prize drawings. However, I do it because I love the challenges. It brings out my best work and
“washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” (Picasso). Others notice that my card-making improves after a
week of these challenges because the creative side of your brain finds its groove and takes off! Some call it mojo or
flow.
Challenges vary from color combos, sketch layouts, to techniques or occasions. Sometimes you are required to use
a certain item or image on your card. Even if you can’t do all of the challenges, participating in a few of them will
stretch you. You have one week after the final challenge is issued to post your projects. The time limit keeps you
from procrastinating. If you start with a few cards you need to make in mind, it helps focus your productivity. (Hint: I
started my Valentine card for February…)
This year’s event had a social distancing theme. Each post touted: “This is the 16th anniversary of the Dirty Dozen,
and we are proud to have been doing virtual events for that same length of time - we were ready to be stuck at home
before it was cool!” And it’s true. I learned my social media skills on Splitcoaststampers first.
Masking was one of the featured techniques (it doesn’t have anything to do with what we are wearing on our faces)
and one of the challenges had us social distance the items on our cards from each other. I did dare to get inky and
“Dirty” and completed all 41 challenges. Last night, I posted my completion in the Kings and Queens thread. My
hands are dirty, and I’m smiling like a crazy woman! The other similar event that Splitcoaststampers hosts is called
Falliday Fest and usually happens in October. It is meant to be a boost to your holiday creativity. I’m already looking
forward to it.
If “challenge” sounds intimidating, it’s not. You can check out the daily challenges without paying to join the fan club.
Monday is a technique challenge, Tuesday is a color challenge, Wednesday is a sketch/layout challenge, Thursday is
a “Ways to Use It” challenge, and Friday is a Mixed Media challenge. There are more, including some for
scrapbooking, but those are the basic challenges. One of the bonuses of getting into the rhythm of doing the
challenges is that it makes a great starting point if you’ve reached a roadblock in your inspiration. When I don’t know
where to start, I usually go to the color challenge and a stamp set I can envision with those colors. There are no time
limits on the daily challenges. Do them now or five years from now, but if you are looking for the social aspects of the
online community, do it the day it is issued. The technique, color, and sketch challenges could all be useful learning
tools for calligraphers. You don’t have to use stamps—there are a few participants that do freehand work or use
digital images. It would be fun if you calligraphers got on there and mixed it up a bit! You can even make a card for
the challenge and not post it for others to see. That’s what I did when I first started. Eventually I wanted to socially
participate with the others and learned to scan and upload my cards. Today my gallery contains 3,967 cards and the
first one was posted in March, 2006. I was definitely a “lurker” for at least a year before that. You might call me
addicted—or crazy—but my username on Splitcoaststampers.com is ruby-heartedmom. Come find me and play a
challenge or two. Scroll down on the home page to find the challenges listed by the days of the week.
Since the March, April and May meetings were cancelled this year, I didn’t get the chance to
distribute the continuing sample pages of inks. I plan to share one page each month to complete
the collection for anyone who’s interested. If you’d like to print a copy for your collection, email
me and I’ll send you a jpg of the image. And if you missed one or more of the sample pages, I
have similar pictures I’m happy to share. Just send me an email and I’ll send you a link to a Drop
Box folder I set up. (Pages distributed last year were blue, red, yellow and purple samples. Last
month was green.)
Rick Garlington
newsletter@kaligrafos.com
KALIGRAFOS MINI WORKSHOP
BRUSH PEN LETTERING
with Jeri Wright
Saturday, October 10, 2020
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
$25.00
Join us in learning Brush Pen Lettering following our October online meeting, ZOOM style!
Your supplies will be minimal……at least one color of brush pen (plus a light grey for shadows) and several sheets
of smooth paper. Tracing paper is actually a good paper to practice on, it is smooth and allows you to see the
guidelines. Also good is Marker (Pro Layout) paper that comes in a tablet. Copy paper can be used but is harder on
your nibs.
We will be using the ZIG Memory System ‘Brushables’ pen (dual coordinating colors per pen) and/or the Tombow
brush pen (brush on one end, bullet tip on the other end). Both of these pens have felt tip brushes and are available
in a rainbow of colors. Pretty sure both are available at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby as well as Amazon.
No calligraphic experience necessary. This will be a fun and nonintimidating class.
Demo will be done with different size brush pens and talk about some of the options available for you to consider
going forward. You will be encouraged to try any of your personal variations after the basic alphabet is completed.
We will also try some decorative methods to jazz up your lettering.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KALIGRAFOS
Brush Lettering Mini Workshop Registration
October 10, 2020 1-4pm
Please return this completed portion along with your check for $25.00, made out to Kaligrafos, to
the address below:
Jeri Wright
353 McDonnell Street
Lewisville, TX 75057
Name: _________________________________________________________________
Email: _________________________________________________________________