We recently discussed ways of practising your calligraphy. In that post we said it is best to practise frequently and do so in a constructive and methodical way. By setting yourself a target for the practise session you would be more focused and achieve better results.I thought I would follow this up by describing the way I practised Italic Minuscules. I don’t intend to explain how to write that style rather than my approach to practising the style.The characteristics of Italics are different to those of Roman Capitals and Foundational Hand.The nib is held at 45° to the write-line. So, I constructed a 45° line at the top left on my practise paper (I like to use Layout Paper). Next I ruled up the paper. It’s best to write large at first and at a later stage reduce the x-height. So I started with an x-height of about 15mm. The letters are also sloped at 5°, so I constructed a 5° line and then copied it across the page at 20mm intervals.I was ready to begin; after loading the nib with ink, I hovered it over the 45° line to make sure the pen angle was correct. From experience I find that each practise session starts of badly – it takes a while to warm up. Then for a while you write at your best before starting to become tired and the letters become weaker. So at first I produce a few vertical and horizontal lines to get myself in the right frame of mind and to check the ink flow. It is important the nib is correctly inserted in to the penholder and the ink is flowing nicely. When practising, you do not want to be distracted with any nib and ink flow problems.At this stage, the paper is ruled-up ready including your 5° slope lines and 45° pen angle line. Your nib and reservoir are correctly fitted and the ink is flowing nicely from nib. We are now ready to start writing …..Italic Minuscules can be grouped together based upon similar characteristics. In this practise session I had already decided to practise the ‘O’ group of letters. It is difficult to get the consistency of these letters because they are all based on the oval shape. Getting the shape is not so bad, but to get the same width oval shape is hard. In contrast to this if you were studying Roman Capitals or the Foundational Hand you may be finding it really hard to get a perfect round circle, but at least you can visualise the shape. Visualising the correct width of the oval is a lot trickier.Now warmed up and ready to go, I started by writing out a line of the letters c, e, o, l and t to get going. Next a complete line of the o letter was written. Then I looked carefully at my letters comparing them to the alphabet sampler and accompanying notes. Each letter was analysed and if I thought it was acceptable I placed a small tick next to the letter. If the letter was bad a small cross was made against it. At first there would be whole lines of letters with a cross against each of them. Several lines later a few more ticks started to appear.This technique was then used with the other letters of the group.Towards the end of the session I produced a couple of lines writing each letter of the group in turn.By analysing and marking EACH letter written, quite quickly I found my work would improve. This method was used for each group of letters.Finally, It’s a good idea to date your work and keep all the practise sheets for a while so at a later date you can go back through them and see how much progress you have made.

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Learning calligraphy is a bit like learning to play an instrument. You will only achieve results through practise.What is the best way to practise? Well, everybody has their preferred method. It’s a bit like revising for an exam.Set a side time for practising your calligraphy – Firstly, do not sit down and practise for hours at a time. Frequent sessions are better than the odd long practise.Before you start your practise think about what you want to achieve. It is far more productive to have an objective for the session; otherwise, you can easily end up writing loads but not really improving. Objectives for a practise could be; maintain a consistent pen angle, produce consistent straight vertical and horizontal pen strokes.Once you have a good control of the pen you can then start practising the letters. With many styles of writing, letters can be grouped according to their characteristics. It is best to practise a group of letters in one session and a different group another time rather than writing out each letter of the alphabet.If in one session you can see an improvement in one are you will be more satisfied with your progress. If you feel you are making progress you we will become more motivated and will want to practise moreProgress = motivation = progress

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With Copperplate, it is important to have the right equipment and materials.Drawing BoardFor most work, a calligrapher will use a drawing board, which if at the correct angle will help improve ink flow. When writing Copperplate, I personally tend not to use a board. By having the paper flat on the desk, it naturally increases the ink flow because the penholder and nib will be more upright.NibsPointed nibs will not last very long. Typically they will start to scratch after writing only a few A3 pages. Some nibs are better than others. The Leonardt Principal EF nib will normally last longer than the Gillott nibs. Vintage nibs last longer than most of the modern nibs.When the nibs start to scratch, I know some calligraphers have tried to sharpen them – I believe with mixed results. I have never had any success with sharpening pointed nibs.InkThe right ink is important. Many inks are too thick and will not flow well from the nib. Some inks are thin enough to flow, but are still quite thick and give a heavier hairline. Often it is possible to make the ink the correct consistency by adding a little water. For best results I use Walker’s Copperplate Ink. This recipe has been fine tuned by Brian Walker over the years and gives excellent results – a very fine hairline and dark shades.PaperThe paper must be very smooth for Copperplate. If the paper is not smooth enough the nib will catch on it as you try and make it glide over the paper. If the nib is starting to scratch or the paper is not smooth enough, you will be disappointed with your efforts and very quickly become disheartened. Ordinary layout paper can be suitable as can a quality, but very smooth cartridge paper. For final pieces of work use a quality paper, these include some papers designed for ink-jet printers. The most popular paper for Copperplate is Character Paper.

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BooksFew Calligraphy books give instructions on Copperplate writing. In many cases they only give a couple of examples of Copperplate and do not go into any great detail about how the letterforms are constructed.There are a few good Copperplate books around, but be aware of their limitations.

THE UNIVERSAL PENMANDover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20616-5This is a reprint of an 18th century work. There are pages upon pages of Copperplate examples. This is the book for all Copperplaters.

MASTERING COPPERPLATE by Eleanor Winters.Watson-Guptill Publications, NY. ISBN 0-8230-3022-9A very detailed book, with over 190 pages. This book gives good instructions on constructing Copperplate minuscule letters. Examples of bad letterforms are also included to help identify the most common mistakes. This book is not so good for Capital letters.

COPPERPLATE CALLIGRAPHY by Dick JacksonMacmillan Publishing Inc. NY. ISBN 0-02-011710-8This book shows you what not to do as well as what to do. A bit prescriptive, saying you must do it like this.THE TECHNIQUE OF COPPERPLATE CALLIGRAPHY by Gordon Turner.Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-25512-3The whole of this small book (42 pages) is written in Copperplate. Unlike the other books, it does not go through the basic strokes that make up the lower case letters.Scribblers Copperplate books

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The follow posts have been taken from Scribblers Community. You may find them useful if you are new to Copperplate.I’m left handed and want to learn copperplate, will I need left handed nibs or is it immaterial with pointed nibs? This might sound stupid, but I’m only at the “get a dip pen” stage. MartinNo, pointed nibs are all good for left- and righthanded writing. Nonetheless you will need to experiment and find a different way of writing; since while holding the pen in the left hand, it is leaning to the opposite direction than in the right hand. Don’t let this discourage you, I’m lefthanded too, and I don’t find it particularly difficult For example, turn the paper around to fit the strokes. I usually turn the paper 180 degrees, and letter upside-down, that way my hand is before the letters, not behind them. It’s not too difficult to see your letters upside-down. GaborCopperplate is actually EASIER for left-handers than right handers in as much , as you DON’T have to turn the paper at all, just keep writing lines horizontal as usual, and ensure pen holder is aligned in direction of the slope lines ( ie 54 degrees from the horizontal) so nib is in alignment with the slope lines too). Brause EF66 are excellent nibs for copperplate. Gaynor

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Copperplate looks like it is written at speed because the letters are joined (cursive). In fact Copperplate needs to be written very slowly. Although the letters appear joined, the letters are not written as one continuous stroke. They are built up from a series of pen strokes. A good pen control is required to produce the characteristic hairlines and thick strokes.Ruling-UpWith all styles of Calligraphy it is recommended you first practising writing with a larger text height (x-height). Unlike broad-edged calligraphy, the x-height is not measured in terms of nib widths. Typical x-heights are 4, 5 or 6mm. The ‘normal’ ratio of ascender – x-heights – descender is 3:2:3. Therefore if you have an x-height of 4mm, you would have 6mm for ascenders and descenders. However, these are only guidelines.Copperplate writing has a steep slope, typically 54 degrees from the horizontal. It can be hard to write at such a steep angle (especially if you are right-handed). This is why a right-handed calligrapher will typically use an oblique penholder to help ‘point’ the nib in the right direction. A left-handed calligrapher, holding a straight pen holder will automatically have their nib at an angle close to the required 54 degrees. If you are right-handed, rotating the paper in an anti-clockwise direction can help you achieve the correct pen angle. Left handed calligraphers usually they prefer to keep the paper straight. These are only guidelines – experiment to find the combination of pen holder, nib type and paper angle that is most comfortable for you.It is useful to construct the 54 degree line on you guideline sheet. Once you have constructed the first line it can be easily duplicated across the paper by using the width of the ruler to produce a line parallel to the original line. Now slide the ruler over to this second guideline and draw in the third line. This process can be repeated across the whole page.It is worth spending time accurately producing a guide sheet as it can be photocopied at different enlargement settings to produce several guide sheets at various x-heights. If you do this you will need to have heavy but fine lines. You could use a fine biro pen to do this.Scribblers guideline generator can help you with ruling up.Drawing BoardWith most styles of Calligraphy the drawing board is at quite a steep angle. With Copperplate writing the board needs to be at a much flatter angle. This makes the up strokes easier and helps prevent the nib from digging in to the paper. A flatter angle also helps ink flow, because the nib will be at a steeper angle to the paper.

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Specialised equipment is required for Copperplate writing.NibsYou need to use a pointed nib for Copperplate, which does not have a reservoir. The most commonly used nibs in the UK are probably the Leonardt Principal EF, Gillott 170, 303 and 404.Others in fairly common use are the Hunt 101 and the Brause 66EF. The Brause 66EF is extremely flexible and useful for those who have some competence in the hand, but not recommended to those who are just starting. It is also possible to buy a Mitchell Copperplate ‘elbow’ nib.Unlike the broad edged pen, the pointed nib cannot be sharpened and does not last anywhere near as long. Therefore, it is strongly advised to purchase several at a time.PenholderThere are two choices of penholders. You can use a straight penholder that you normally use for other calligraphy styles. However, the majority of right-handed calligraphers use an oblique penholder to help deal with the steep writing angles.A straight penholder with an elbow nib or an oblique penholder with a straight nib gives the same general effect. However with an elbow holder you can try a selection of nibs, whereas with a straight holder you are stuck with the one style of nib.If you are left handed use a straight pen holder with a straight nib. Some right-handed calligraphers also prefer a this combination, but most prefer an oblique penholder with a straight nib.InkNon-waterproof inks like Higgins Eternal are suitable, but they tend to be a bit thick for Copperplate. If you use these types of ink you will probably need to water them down a little.There are two black iron gall inks, which are especially made for Copperplate. These are Walker’s Copperplate Ink and Blot’s Iron Gall Ink. Both these inks are thin and offer fine hairlines. Walker’s Copperplate Ink is a highly researched iron gall ink made to conservation standards. Initially made from a nineteenth century recipe, it is blended still further to achieve a smooth and satisfying ink.For colour work Schmincke Calligraphy Gouache is the best although other gouaches are acceptable. These also need to be mixed thinner than they would be for normal broad pen work. For best results, mix Gouache 24 hours before it is used. This will help the ink flow.PaperFor Copperplate writing, you need a very smooth paper. If the paper is not smooth enough the nib will catch on it. For practice ordinary layout paper can be suitable. For final pieces of work use a quality paper, these include some papers designed for ink-jet printers. The most popular paper for Copperplate is Character Paper.Some ‘Hot’ press papers are good. In general hand-made papers are unsuitable, as are ‘Not’ papers.

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For many years the hand which we know today as ‘Copperplate’ was called ‘Roundhand’. Unfortunately that name is now sometimes used by calligraphers as an alternative for the ‘Foundational Hand’ first developed and popularised by Edward Johnston.It is called Copperplate as in the early days the scribe’s writing was transferred by an engraver, using a pointed tool called a burin, on to a plate made of copper. Printed sheets were then made from this plate.Copperplate is also the name of a style of calligraphic writing, using a sharp pointed nib instead of the flat nib used in most calligraphic writing. Fine hairlines are produced when the pointed nib is just touching the paper and no pressure is applied to the nib. Shades (thick strokes) are produced when the scribe applies pressure to open the nib.Copperlate Materials and EquipmentStarting Copperplate

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To ensure reliable ink flow, it is important to keep your calligraphy pen clean. Dip pens and nibs should be cleaned after each use. The easiest way to do this is to simply rinse the pen in running cold or warm water. Be careful not to loose the reservoirs down the plug hole! – I know Sometimes an old brush can be useful to help clean nibs and dip pens.Nibs and reservoirs must be dry before storing them. You can dry them using a sheet of kitchen roll. Lay the nibs and reservoirs at one end of kitchen roll sheet, and then fold the other end over the nibs. Finally gently squeeze the folded up sheet between your hands. It may be necessary to repeat to make sure everything is dry.If you clean your nib whilst it is still in the penholder you need to be careful not to get the metal ferrule wet as it will soon rust. This then makes it much harder to insert and remove the nib.

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As discussed in the Ruling Up post, accuracy is important. But of course, ruling up accurately can also take a long time. If you only have a spare 30 minutes or so to do some practicing, you don’t want to spend most of that time ruling-up This is when our Guidline Generator can help Simply select the distances between the lines and hit click the create button. Then once one page has been generated you can print it from within your browser. When printing your paper tell your browser to print just the first page (“Print Pages 1-1″). You can set the Copies to the number of sheets you require.Visit the Guidline Generator

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