A Scribe goes to Glasgow

One Northumbrian Scribe recently went to a Manny Ling workshop hosted by Glasgow Scribes and made some intricate folded pieces, shown above. The theme of the workshop was "Greetings Cards" and involved constructing "exploding" boxes with lids, a greetings card based on a piece of origami made up of four intricate squares, and a "gallery book" made by folding and cutting a single piece of paper.

August workshop is a DIY session

Our next workshop on 21 August is a DIY session with scribes Dominic James demonstrating floragrams, Tom Fleming experimenting with 3 or 4 colours and Mike Mavromichaelis exploring writing as texture. It is at Bede's world in Jarrow and will start at the usual time of 10.30. Hope to see you all there.

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

Chris Bowen introduced us to the principles of the golden mean in design and layout by using rabbits as an example of how the Fibonacci sequence of numbers works. The non-mathematical amongst us grasped that the use of the golden mean in layout is pleasing and Chris explained how he uses it in structuring some of his own work, illustrated above, together with colours used in the proportions of two thirds warm colours to one third cool colours.

In the practical part of his workshop he explored the idea of using handwriting as a basis for developing a calligraphic style - but not your own handwriting - instead we had to use another scribe's hand which is very challenging. Not only do you have to make your hand move in a way that is unfamiliar but do it with a broad-edge pen too. Chris is shown above with the group reviewing the work done during the workshop.

"Let Calligraphy Flourish" exhibition opens at Bede's World

The opening of our annual exhibition at Bede's World took place on 5th August. Drinks and nibbles were provided and there was a goodly turnout of Scribes to enjoy the event. As soon as Susan had introduced the exhibition the first non-scribal visitors to Bede's World started to look round and were able to meet with and chat to some of the makers of the pieces on display. Some lucky ones got a glass of wine to take round with them too.

As can be seen from the photographs there are Northumbrian Scribes with very individual ways of viewing exhibitions.

Iranian Calligraphy

Two Northumbrian Scribes went to a class in Iranian calligraphy run by the artist Mehrangiz Modarres Tabatabaei at the Hatton Gallery. The Farsi script is very similar to Arabic letters but with a few extra characters. Like Arabic it is written from right to left and Mehrangiz showed us how to use a reed cut with an oblique nib which, if you are right-handed like we both are, means that you have to do a fair amount of pushing to make the letter shapes. The ink is held in a little pot filled with scraps of silk so that you cannot overfill the pen and if you knock the inkpot over it does not spill which is helpful.

The class was only a brief taster of the wonders of Iranian calligraphy but Mehrangiz had brought in some of her own paintings showing how she combines her calligraphy with images. Demand for the class was so strong that another will be run on 14 August from 10.30-12.30 at the Hatton Gallery. To book a place call the gallery on 0191 222 6059.

AGM and July Workshop

The Society of Northumbrian Scribes AGM will be held at 10am at Bede's World. It will be followed at 11am by a workshop with Chris Bowen. Please bring your usual calligraphy gear and paper plus brushes and paints.

Please note the earlier start time for Saturday's events. There is no fee for members who wish to attend only the AGM, but the normal workshop fee will apply if you want to stay for Chris's session.

Scribal Curses

Professor Richard Gameson of Durham University gave a fascinating talk about the work of medieval scribes. Did you know that there were professional husband and wife lettering and book illustration businesses? Or that a number of mistakes scribes made in their copying were put in deliberately to let illustrations be added? This happened particularly in the Book of Kells and he had several examples of lines that had been purposely finished too soon to allow little paintings to be inserted. How scribes handled their accidental errors was also a test of scribal skill with interesting little devices such as birds flying in with an omitted word in their beaks or a man climbing a ladder with a word in his arms to put it in the correct place.













Some scribes put a colophon with their name and some thoughts about their task at the end of their work, for example 'The book is finished. Praises are rendered to God above all, [also] to the author, but never to the scribe'!

And the scribal curses? Some scribes inserted small curses into the text about incorrect copying.

In the afternoon we had an opportunity to make up some scribal curses of our own as in Susan's workshop we tried our hands at the monastic script of the Bible of Hugh Le Puiset.