March - Rotunda Gothic

One of our members had expressed interest in different Gothic lettering styles. Having taken a class many years ago from Vancouver instructor Irene Alexander, I offered to show the group one of the styles we had learned, ROTUNDA. 

Rotunda is one of the formal gothic scripts practiced in Italy, Spain and Southern France in the 13th - 16th centuries. It is far rounder than the gothic in Northern Europe and Britain. It has shorter ascenders and descenders, small interlinear spacing, many joins and few serifs.

We studied the lettering from an original leaf (probably block printed) from:
                "ANTIPHOARIU hmnorem sancte Romane ecclesie copletu
                Impressum Venetijs cu priuilegio...    Md iij  (Venice 1503)"

February - Making a Woven Book

One of our members, Jo, visited us from her home away from home on the Island to lead us through creating a small book.

The book may be small but that doesn't mean small in effort and steps! The supply list alone was daunting but Jo had kits available for anyone who didn't want to cut 56 - ¼" strips of paper!

For the first hour or so we wove the paper strips to make different patterns. This was the most difficult part of the project. You have to make sure your weaving is tight.

We used proper mill board for our covers, Arches text wove for the text block, book cloth for the spine and only cheated by using double sided tape.

It was an entertaining afternoon! Thanks Jo!

January - Having a look at Yukimi Annand's class in Victoria

One of the few times our meeting program has not been hands on!!

We spent some time enjoying examples of work from a recent workshop in Victoria that several of our members  attended.  The workshop         "S E Q U E N C E " included several exercises using balsa wood and sumi ink.

December - Christmas Luncheon and Card Exchange

In December many members enjoyed our annual Christmas Luncheon & Gift and Card Exchange. As with any gathering of calligraphers, we indulged in some wonderful, delicious fare, enjoyed fine company and received some amazing cards and gifts. We tried a new location this year and thank Cyndi very much for everything she did to make us comfortable in the Common Room at her complex. Same time next year?!

November 2014 - Getting into the Christmas Spirit

We were all delightfully surprised with the wonderful kits we were given filled with papers of red and white, some embossed, some printed, others plain. There were tags made from card stock, watercolour paper and bond paper. There were cut outs, and an array of ephemera to use. There were samples to use as guides. The supply list said to bring glue, glue dots, Christmas papers, ribbon and
I M A G I N A T I O N!! 

One of the folded paper techniques that Cyndi demonstrated was a Christmas tree. She used dictionary pages for the samples and many embellished their trees by adding trim or sparkly elements while others incorporated a 2nd layer of coloured or contrast or complimentary paper to make it 'their own'. 

Everyone had a wonderful day, lots of Christmas cheer and goodwill in the room!

Here is the folding instruction page for the trees:

Thank you to Violet for her newsletter article and the instructions! And Thank You to Cyndi and Val for their fun program!

October 2014  - Coloured Pencil Techniques
There are so many different kinds of coloured pencils out there and so many techniques for each type! We explored using both watercolour pencils and regular ones such as Prismacolour. We blended them, we polished some and generally played to see just what we could do with them. There were lots of brands to try..Derwent, Inkstense, Caran d'Ache, Faber Castell, Prismacolour - Verithin and so many more!