Letters of Joy conference

Last weekend, I threw myself in the premier Seattle-area calligraphy conference, Letters of Joy.

Friday night featured a slide show by guest of honor Lisa Engelbrecht. Almost as exciting was the silent auction that can really cause me to try to spend too much money. I won some Dover clip-art books for only $10, so I came through relatively unscathed.

Some very good vendors always set up at the show, including a vintage pen/inkwell/nib dealer. To keep my spending in line and to the items I wanted would be shipped, I placed a large order beforehand. I then spent a great deal of willpower staying away from the tables to avoid having my wallet spontaneously combust from all the wonderful supplies and books that I would have wanted to take home.

Class Sessions:
Quills
Saturday opened with a two hour session with one of the D.C. area calligraphers helping us prep and cut our own turkey feather quills. Fun, fun, fun.

Pointed Brush
After that, I had the "good for me" class on pointed brush lettering, which helped internalize many of the hand movements I learned under Carl Rohrs last fall. I have yet to really feel comfortable with brush lettering, and I want to get it under the kind of control and ease I have with the dip pens (both pointed and broad-edged).

Rustics
The final session used a flat brush to letter an old Roman hand, rustics. You can see the hand on the walls of Pompeii -- it was often used for the graffiti.

In Sum:
The many volunteers that work on LoJ deserve only applause. Truly, the only criticism I have of LoJ is that there are too many good classes to take, and not enough sessions to take them in. So, I have to go back again and again and again....

Besides the sessions, it's always wonderful to meet up with all the other calligraphers from around the area, to see the art show, and just to experience the love of paper and pens.