Metablogging again, and beautiful writing...

It always amazes me how long it's been since I last blogged. *hehe* (oops)

But here I am, back again. I have been thinking fairly intensively about whether or not it's worth the $90 or so that I pay annually for my typepad subscription. Considering this is my only post for August so far, cherish it. Caress every word with your eyes, dear reader, this post is worth... *pause for pulling out of calculator* ...$7.50. That's 2 cups of coffee! Well it is if you live in Canberra. Ye gods. Coffee and other sweet little luxuries are bloody exPENsive here.

But on the up-side, there are always wonderful artsy luxuries to spend your money on. I'm not talking about expensive wool, I'm talking about calligraphy supplies. Mmmm. I've put pen to paper again, I've bought wonderful wonderful things like marbled paper, chinese stick ink, and new tiny paintbrushes, and beautiful things have once again begun to appear underneath my slowly waking fingers. I feel like they've been sleeping for the past few years, and finally they're coming to life again, bringing loveliness with their new liveliness. Long live the pen and the brush. Here are a couple of little play manuscript books I made this weekend.

These are all pictures of the same 8-page booklet, which is lettered on both sides. The pages are canson mi-tientes and the cover is light card covered in black unryushi paper. The ink is white gouache and it's all tied together with red double sided satin ribbon. The lettering on the front is freeform brush lettering, the 2nd pic is carolingian script (a personal favourite) the 3rd is chancery cursive with highlights done in the current script of choice, Neuland (we're studying this at the classes I'm attending Thursday nights), and the 4th is uncial. Words by the one and only Bill Shakespeare. Yay for Bill!

This is a study of the new script that I'm learning (!) at the moment in class, called Neuland. I'm not enormously happy with this little piece - I had a surprisingly difficult time centering the letters. When I put my pen on the paper I always expect them to be so much fatter and wider than they turn out to be. Experience and practice, the scribe's best friends, are all that will improve this. The piece is some sort of old watermarked paper that I've had for years laying around, mounted on cardboard (from the back of my bleedproof paper pad) covered in printed rice paper.

This blog stands in danger of becoming a very calligraphy-focused blog! The green jumper is progressing slowly (about a row per day at the moment) and I'm nearly up to the arm decreases on the front. Not really worth a photo, but with any luck I'll wear it before the weather here turns revoltingly saharan. (Is that a word? It is now, I suppose. Yay the internet! I'm off to add "saharan" to wikipedia!!! *snort*)