Steve Husting's Calligraphy

I’m starting on my first illuminated manuscript. I settled on the two verses for the 16 x 20″ piece, and the arrangement of the words. Next, I needed to work on the color and decorations. Here is one of my color samples, after determining the sizes of the letters:

illuminated ms color test

On the left are several ideas for border treatments, but I don’t think I’m going to be using any of them. I’m starting the guilding of the piece today, then on to the lettering. I’ll use Instacoll and gold leaf (patent gold) I’ll post updates when I get further along.

Update: After starting the lettering and adding the gold leaf, I let it all dry. The next day I started the rest of the lettering — and smeared the last word of the third line, brushing my finger to the right. Start over!

My wedding anniversary and Mother’s Day both fell on the same day this year — May 11, 2014. I used the double occasion to practice offhand flourishing around the lettering I that learned in this year’s Letters CA class with Carl Rohrs. Both cards were 8.5″ width by 5.5″ high. I used Fiesta Red ink from Private Reserve on speckled Strathmore Artagain 60lb. drawing paper. I used a Brause nib for the larger lettering and pointed pen for the Copperplate lettering, date, and flourishing. I also added a few gold accents with a Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen. If you compare the offhand flourishing of the two pieces closely, you’ll see I used the same shapes in various configurations. They are part of my practiced repertoire. Continue reading →