Little by little, I've started putting together a sort of "look book" of the various calligraphy hands I do. The idea is that when I consult with a client about their bespoke piece, I can show them this book to give them a sense of the options for their text. Eventually, I'd like to make one for different illumination styles as well, but I've only just finished the first stage of that one. With both books, I've had to start by making the physical objects myself so that I could pick the paper and size that would work best. For calligraphy particularly, it's nearly impossible to find ready-made notebooks that have the right proportions and the right paper. In this case, my calligraphy "look book" measures 12.5 inches wide and 10 inches high and is bound with Arches Text Wove paper. The paper has a lovely off-white color and a bit of texture.
To add an entry to the "look book", the first thing I do is choose a vocabulary word. The premise of the whole book is that it's a collection of my favorite words. I started by just doing definitions, but that generally wasn't giving me enough text, so I've started adding quotes that include the word. Today's word is brobdingnagian. And, trust me, I misspelled it multiple times. There's even a misspelling in the final version, but I'll let you find it.
Generally, I then start by re-familiarizing myself with the hand. In this case, I chose Rotunda. It's one of the Gothic Blackletter hands of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. There is a Germanic version of Rotunda that is a bit "pointier." Personally, I prefer the rounder Italianate version.
Warning: historical note incoming!
Rotunda was used even into the 18th Century, despite the advent of printing. It was popular for large choral books called antiphones because it can be written quite large and is easy to read. And because it was used in Renaissance Italy (unlike other late Gothic hands), it ended up being employed often in Spanish manuscripts as well. The Spanish kings controlled the throne of Sicily for a while and that proved an important pathway for Italian influence on Spanish manuscripts. As a result, you also find this Italianate Rotunda in manuscripts in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Okay, historical note over.
I made a few practice pages to determine the size I wanted to use, the lay-out, etc. I ended up changing my ink early on because the black I had used for the previous entries just wasn't working with this hand.
I'm quite pleased with the end result. I filled the page nicely, which is more than I can say of some of the previous pages. I apologize for the cat fur on the cover visible in the video below. The cloth cover is a fur attractor.
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