Calligraphy Today - the Manuscript Lectures

Where have the quills from Wills Quills gone ...

I am happy to forward this letter on from Derek Amos. Derek has served me very well with excellent service over many many years through Wills Quills.  So I thought I would pass on this new information. Read on ...

Dear Calligrapher,

Calligraphy shop supplies & mail order in Australia.

Will’s Quills established in 1989, has since the end of June 2012 closed. The Australian supplier of Calligraphy equipment has literally run out of a boss, as William Lai has retired from actively running a shop.

While Calligraphy commissions and work on wedding stationery do carry on, along with items such as Chinese seal carving, etc. Now the sale of calligraphy related goods via the shop is finished. Any items sold have been passed on to a new venture, supported by one of the former staff at the store, “Derek”.

He has opened a website at: http://www.ornasonova.com which supports many calligraphy items, which can be bought by mail order through his website. Mostly these are items were found on the Will’s Quills website.

Calligraphy Books,
some Bookbinding/Paper arts Books,
some Chinese painting Books.
Assorted Brause dip nibs
Manga G dip nibs
Hiro / Leonardt dip nibs
Osmiroid dip and fountain pen equipment
Speedball dip nibs
Hunt dip nibs
William Mitchell ranges of dip nibs
Gillott (Copperplate and Drawing/Mapping) dip nibs
Dip Nib Handles
Some Inks
Some Real Goose Feather Writing Quills
Special Pens and other goods
Gilders tools/equipment, Burnishers etc
Paper and Card Embossers

(Please note: A one or two of the above webpages are not yet functioning, they are being installed just as fast as their programming is done. Check them again in a few days to find them updated. Thank you).
If you need local supplies by mail order, just as quickly as they can be paid for & posted. Then give us an order, look up our website and see just how easy it is to get Calligraphy and other goods. We look forward to your visit and any emailed feedback/enquiries. Pricing has remained relatively the same as at the shop, unless items, or shipping fees have increased in cost.

Please advise your friends or students about this update, and we can all get our calligraphy work/practise/play done.

Thank you for your time, we hope to hear from you soon,

Derek Amos
OrnasoNova

P. O. Box 3018
Willoughby North
NSW 2068
Australia
Mob: 0469-895-203
Mob International: +61469-895-203
Email: info@ornasonova.com
Website: http://www.ornasonova.com
Office hours: Monday to Friday 9 to 5pm
Closed Saturday & Sunday

Just off the drawing board ...

This commission came in just last week. It is now on it's way to the client in Canberra. It is exactly as they wished it to be in silvers and purples. I would have changed the placement of the lettering. 

Sweet little piece for a wedding all the same.

A gift from my friend Heather Matthews, a little ceramic crane pen rest, originally used for chop sticks!

McGregor Summer School 2013

These are all tiny works. Some of the small calligraphic objects of desire that I will be using as samples for the 2013 McGregor School at the USQ Toowoomba in January. More to come.


In this ten-day workshop will be creating works that are elegant and small.  There will be an emphasis on very fine flourished Florentine writing with pen and ink along with very tiny-penciled Romans.


When we start our calligraphic journey our intention is to make beautiful letters. We engage in the discipline of mastering formal hands though we may lose the vitality and enthusiasm in our work. As a point of departure we will start with a flourished Italic and move towards creating dynamic lines of writing with teensy Roman capitals.  We will dare to move into unchartered waters and explore ways to invigorate our love for letters both well-structured and newly developed. Specifically our aim will be to gain mastery of our calligraphy & texts through small objects of desire.

Townsville & David Jones

Bookmark mementos for the CSC class participants.

In-class sample - watercolour on an opaque watercolour ground.

(detail)

My in-class demonstration - gouache, graphite and watercolour pencils on clear colourfix & opaque watercolour grounds.

My in-class demonstration - gouache & ink on a clear colourfix ground

The painted inscriptions of David Jones have fascinated me for years.  Creating replicas of the quirky letterforms used by David Jones and employing all his methods of creating grounds to work on in gouache, watercolours and ink.

The Coral Sea Calligraphers in Townsville have just spent the weekend with me, working together to fully understand and recreate these totally off the wall forms.  Many of the letters go against all our formal training in Roman Versals but the strength of his overall abstract design and placement lure me to study further the lettering of David Jones.

At the Textile and Fibre Forum ContextArt workshop in the Blue Mountains NSW, April 2013 I will be running two workshops. The first for two days on Understanding Formal Scripts and the second workshop for four days on Your Personal Calligraphic Journal.


When we start our calligraphic journey our intention is to make beautiful letters. We engage in the discipline of mastering formal hands though we may lose the vitality and enthusiasm in our work. This class will help develop a sound understanding of calligraphy & calligraphic practice.  Explore the tricks of the trade, develop your own personal script then bind your findings into your personal calligraphic reference journal or artists diary.


As a point of departure we will start with a cursive Italic and move towards creating dynamic lines of writing.  In this workshop we will dare to move into unchartered waters and explore ways to invigorate our love for letters both well-structured and newly developed. Specifically our aim will be to gain mastery of our calligraphy & texts and move forward and make our mark!

Gouache & ink on vellum

Josep Batlle replicates knot work and spirals from the Lindisfarne Gospels & the Book of Kells.

Gouache & ink on vellum

Spanish calligrapher and artist Josep Batlle, has devised a theory that the scribes of the high Celtic art manuscripts may have worked with metal coils to create their hundreds upon hundreds of spirals.  An article in the Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Journal, V.12 Issue 5 Summer 2007, introduced by Irish calligrapher Denis Brown, lead me to contact Josep and explore this theory with him.

Josep has kindly created these spirals and knot work for me to share with you.  Recently I gave an evening presentation for the gathering of calligraphers from all around the world at the Calligraphy Northwest Conference in Portland, Oregon.  Over the weeklong conference many people followed up with me to view some of these tiny & incredibly intricate pieces of work Josep produced just for this event. Here are a couple again for those who were unable to be there.

I appreciate Josep's support and thank him for his efforts.  For more information on Josep Batlle please visit his website here.