Marvellous marbelling in May!

For our May meeting we welcomed Marise Hewitson and Mari Topping from North York Calligraphers, who were demonstrating backgrounds for calligraphy, mainly marbelling techniques. Scribes waited no time in donning natty aprons and gloves in order to get stuck into the reasonably messy business of creating beautiful patterns with the inks and materials that Marise and Mari had bought with them.













A further element to the demonstration was about making and lining envelopes, using some of the patterns we had created and from the many handy templates which the two 'M's had provided. A great time was had by all and we will undoubtedly see the evidence in due course, not only in our summer exhibition, but surely also expressed in our Christmas Cards?!

May Meeting

Our May 15th Workshop will be held at Sunderland University (Sir Tom Cowie Campus). Marise Hewitson and Mari Topping will be visiting us from North York Calligraphers. They will be demonstrating backgrounds for calligraphy, mainly marbling techniques. They are providing the essential materials for each person, but you can bring any papers/card you would like to use, white and any other colours. Black is especially effective.

Part of the day will be about making and lining envelopes; if you have any tissue paper (any colours), it would be useful.

This might be a messy session - involving oily paints, inks etc as well as water - so Marise and Mari will provide plastic aprons and plastic gloves, and will bring table coverings.

This promises to be an unusual and interesting session and we hope you will find the journey to Sunderland worth it!

March meeting of Northumbrian Scribes

In our March workshop we will be looking at text interpretation with Angela Dalleywater.

Scale, letterform, letter-weight, colour, space, texture and contrast - these are all elements available to help interpret your chosen text, so that the piece gives an impression of what it's about, before the viewer even reads the words. We'll be exploring all of these things and more.

Please bring:
Usual calligraphic equipment, in particular a variety of nibs, ink, layout/practice paper, ruler, pencil, a board to lean on, and colour (gouache).

Angela will bring lots of short texts for us to work with, but if you have some favourite words with which you'd like to work, then do bring them.

The Society of Northumbrian Scribes meets on the third Saturday of the month at Bede's World, Jarrow, Tyne & Wear.

The first workshop of 2010

On Saturday, members mainly devoted themselves to drafting pieces for the 2011 calendar which we intend should be published and made available at our May meeting. It was very useful to share ideas not only about our theme, Northumbrian Song, but also about aspects of the calendars so that they were more convenient for users. Dominic brought words for many traditional songs to ensure that everyone had words to write. Thus we all had a starting point for creating a calendar or an exhibition piece. Mike Mavromichaelis co-ordinated our ideas for the 2011 calendar ensuring that we were all using different songs. We agreed that drafts of the calendar entries would be brought to our February meeting and that finished artwork would be ready to hand in at our March meeting. The co-operative nature of the day was encapsulated by agreement that both drafts and finished pieces should be proof read by at least one other scribe before these were collected for publication. It was good to welcome two newcomers Susan and Alan. (Mike Mavromichaelis)

Our January meeting was dedicated to designs for the calendar for 2011 on the theme of traditional Northumbrian songs. Well, not all that traditional because ‘Tunnel of Love’ by Dire Straits and Lindisfarne’s ‘Fog on the Tyne’ may well feature too. Judi Postle’s draft of ‘Tunnel of Love’ with its description of the now gone and much lamented funfair at the Spanish City in Whitley Bay is below. Some folks were able to think up layouts there and then at the meeting, others prefer to work up their ideas at home. Roughs and layouts will be brought in to the February meeting and finished pieces to the March meeting. The production timetable is tight to get the calendar ready for sale earlier this year. All work to be in black and white ready for reproduction. Anyone who missed the meeting and wants to do a layout is welcome to bring in ideas. Please contact Mike Mavromichaelis. (Hazel Abbott)

January 2010 workshop

The Society of Northumbrian Scribes first workshop of 2010 takes place on Saturday 16th January at Bede's World, Jarrow. The workshop will be led by Mike Mavromichaelis and will focus on Northumbrian songs and pieces for the Scribes 2011 calendar, for our exhibition and for pleasure.

As a creative stimulus for the anticipated endeavours this coming year, please take a look at this exquisite paper art. Here's an example...

What Calligraphy is....

A change of venue for the Northumbrian Scribes did not deter the flow of creativity and skill, as we gathered at Sunderland University for our November workshop, in order to learn how to benefit from 'Unlocking our cupboards' with dynamic duo Robert Cooper and Susan Moor. After a minimum of intro, and with texts selected it was straight down to business with lettering and colour flowing in no time at all. With guidance and encouragement to trash our earlier masterpieces for the sake of art, we set about creating all manner of wonderful work, in order to see 'What Calligraphy is.....'

November meeting venue...

The Northumbrian Scribes meeting on Saturday 21st November will be held at St Peter's Campus, Sunderland University, and not at the usual venue Bede's World, Jarrow.

For an interactive map and directions to St Peter's Campus go here.

The November Workshop will be a 'double-hander' from Susan Moor and Robert Cooper. The title is 'Unlock your cupboard...' The plan is to work on a group project with a variety of scripts and styles, to make a kind of 'sampler' to show 'What Calligraphy is'. Please bring with you your usual calligraphy gear, paper, paints, and/or inks.