September 7th, 2012 "Envelope Book" Penabler Meeting Details

Hello Friends,

Before I tell you about next month's Penabler meeting, remember that Barbara Calzolari's visit to our Penabler meeting this Friday night at 7PM is going to be fabulous! She'll give us a demo and will participate in a riveting interview and Q&A. Our goal here is to get a glimpse of the person behind the artist. Barbara is warm and accessible and has a wicked sense of humor. You will love her! So bring a tasty snack or drink and get ready for enlightenment. Wheee!

 Now for details about our NEXT meeting in September:

 Join us for our next Atlanta Penablers meeting!
 Friday, September 7th, 2012 from 6-8pm at Binders Art School in Buckhead.

  “Stitch an Envelope Book”

 Demonstration and guided activity by penkitten Anne Elser. Stitch your family of envelope samples together just like a book! For the bookbinder looking to add a new feature to their hand bound books or calligrapher looking for a creative way to package your envelope styles, this guided activity is useful and fun as a self-promotional tool or a gift for yourself or a friend.

We'll be using a combination of Coptic and Tape bookbinding techniques and you'll have a handout waiting for you when you arrive.

 Keep in mind that the envelopes you use for the activity can be blank if you like. But it might be more exciting for you if you've got imagery/calligraphy on both the front and back of your envelopes. We'll be using the flaps themselves as signatures to bind the book.

The ribbon really does need to be 1.5 inches wide and your envelopes really do need to be 6.5 x 4.75 because we'll all be using the same template to stitch our books. Binders DOES carry ribbon and envelopes in lots of fantastic colors, if you don't have time to pick them up before you arrive. I will also be bringing a few chunks of beeswax so you can way your thread. But if you don't have any, no sweat. But bring it if you've got it!

You'll walk out the door with a completed project that has many variations and practical uses!

 

 To read more about how and why I came up with the idea for this project, go here to read the original story: Calligraphy Sample Book  

 What to Bring:
 • A snack or drink to share
 • Needle
 • Beeswax (if you've got it already)
 • Scissors
 • Thumbtack
 • Pearl Cotton Thread size 5 or 8
 • Pencil
 • 1.5” wide ribbon
 • 8 or more A-6 Envelopes (6.5” x 4.75”)
 • Your recent work (optional)
 • Your Bad Self

New Calligraphy 2 Copperplate Overflow Class

Hallooooo friends!

My Wednesday night Calligraphy 2: Copperplate class is now full and we're getting requests for an overflow class. We've created one that meets on Tuesday nights.

The class meets on the following Tuesday nights from 6-8:30PM:

August 14, 21, 28

September 4, 11, 18

Want to sign up? Email Jacob Gunter at the Art School at Binders. Once we have at least 3 people, the class is made and likely to make it to 7! Prepare yourselves for 6 weeks of Tuesday night fun!

~Anne

Italic Calligraphy Workshop

REGISTER NOW 

AIGA Italic Calligraphy Workshop with Anne Elser 

Saturday, September 29, 2012 
11:00AM - 4:30PM 
Members: $40 / Student Members: $40 
Non-Members: $65 / Student Non-Members: $65

REGISTER EARLY! SPACE IS LIMITED!*

This is an introductory look at Italic, one of the most widely used and versatile calligraphic hands around. It is highly legible and can easily be dressed up or down. Italic is the perfect hand to learn for the beginning calligrapher yet versatile enough to experiment with for the advanced. 

Discover what it feels like to create drawn letters by dipping a steel pen nib into an ink well. Follow the different rhythmic dances of the Italic hand as your world is simplified through the narrow lens of your hands, ink and paper. 

Calligraphy is less about pretty handwriting, but more about DRAWING each and every letter. Its about establishing a pace and rhythmic motion as you write - giving you a consistency of shapes and letters, and spaces in between words and lines. It is highly relaxing and meditative. Like yoga for the hands. 

Students will be given handouts and guide sheets as we learn the basic construction of all lower case characters. A brief overview and demo (as time allows) will be given of the capitals and of spacing and flow within the construction of a word. 

We'll have time to break for lunch and at the end, you'll be quite proud of your beautiful italic strokes and letterforms.

LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED!

LOCATION 
Binders Art Supplies 
3330 Piedmont Road Suite 18 
Atlanta, GA 30305 

QUESTIONS? 
Write the workshop manager Philip Berwick at philip@aiga-atl.org 

Longstitch Bookbinding Workshop

REGISTER NOW 

AIGA Longstitch Bookbinding Workshop with Anne Elser 

Saturday, August 11, 2012 
11:00AM - 4:30PM
Members: $45 / Student Members: $45 
Non-Members: $65 / Student Non-Members: $65 

REGISTER EARLY! SPACE IS LIMITED!*

Spend a full day making your very own Long Stitch Book with folded pages, sewn together with needle and waxed thread. The cover is cut from one single piece of flexible, yet strong Washi Paper glued back to back. Signatures are then sewn into the spine of the cover through previously pierced holes. This very flexible and semi-visible spine allows it to open completely flat and makes a fabulous sketchbook or journal. Add stitch a strap from the back to the font cover to keep your book closed. This functional, decorative work of art makes a great gift for you or someone who would enjoy filling it! 

We'll take a break to eat lunch and by the end of class, you'll be very proud of your first long stitch bound book.

LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED!

LOCATION 
Binders Art Supplies 
3330 Piedmont Road Suite 18 
Atlanta, GA 30305 


QUESTIONS? 
Write the workshop manager Philip Berwick at philip@aiga-atl.org 

Atlanta Penablers T-Shirt!

Get your very own Atlanta Penablers T-Shirt!

Binders and I are going to design an official Penablers tee shirt, but for now, this one from Zazzle works just great!

Orange Flourished Place Cards

Recently done for a bridesmaids luncheon. Sweet!

Nuptial Getaway Sign

Spent the day on this painting for a soon to be couple.

 This will be tied to a Packard Convertible and I can't wait to see the final shots.

This was done with FW liquid acrylic inks, round sable brushes on Ampersand's 1/8" thick gessobord.  Two holes drilled prior to painting in the upper corners allow for ribbon to be threaded through to temporarily affix to the vehicle.

When the happy couple returns from the honeymoon, this nuptial keepsake can be hung with the same ribbon in their home for years to come.

Meeting Reminder: Atlanta Penablers This Friday, July 6, 2012: 6-8PM

Hello Ink and Paper Lovers, 

Here's a reminder about our first Atlanta Penablers meeting this Friday, July 6th from 6-8:30pm!

Victoria Lansford will present her new demo: Filigree Flourishing with Finetec. She's also just returned from the International Calligraphy Conference out in Portland and will have all kinds of inky thoughts and inspiration to share about the event and how good it feels to rub shoulders with and learn from calligraphic heavies such as, Yves Leterme, Denis Brown, Annie Cicale, Laurie Doctor, Carl Rohrs, and many more.

 What to Bring:
 • A snack or drink to share
 • Your recent work (optional)
 • Your Bad Self

 To participate in the guided activity after the demo, bring: pointed pen and nib, Finetec gouache set or other inks/gouaches, brush to load your nib, pencil, eraser, and dark cover weight paper.

Below is Victoria's yummy description of her presentation during the first Atlanta Penabler meeting July 6th. If reading this doesn't send calligraphic shivers (the good kind) up and down your spine, come to the meeting to see what all the fuss is about!

Filigree Flourishing with Finetec:  "Victoria Lansford will demonstrate her unique style of pointed pen flourishing with Finetec metallic gouaches and share with you her techniques for building dramatic shapes, letter forms, and large cartouches on dark colored papers. She'll also show how she mixes and combines colors to make compositions pop as well as some handy tricks for making Finetecs and other paletted paints easier to work with and take on the go." 

Artist, educator, author, and publisher, Victoria Lansford creates one-of-a-kind wearable art and art objects that evoke the mystery and splendor of ancient masters, yet are infused with her own provocative vision. Her award winning work has appeared in numerous juried and curated exhibits, books, and magazines, and her instructional publications have sold throughout the world. Her artwork is available in galleries in the USA and at VictoriaLansford.com. 

If you'd like to become a Penabler member, you can do so at the meeting by passing your info onto Me, Victoria or Jacob. We'll also have a signup sheet if you'd like to do it by hand. OR, you can simply email me or Jacob your name/email and we'll get you all signed up.

See you this Friday!

~Anne

Calligraphic Strokes Taking Flight

Want to learn how to make one of these beautiful flourished birds?!
Then sign up for Bill Kemp's Flourishing & Birds with Pointed Pen Calligraphy Workshop this September 13-14, 2012! Only 9 seats left!

Flourishing & Birds with Pointed Pen with Bill Kemp
• 2 Evening Sessions
• All Levels
• Price: $130 (includes book)
• Min. 8 / Max. 16
• Thurs. & Fri. Sept. 13 & 14, 6-10pm 


This two session evening workshop covers techniques for using the pointed pen to flourish. Learning basic compound curves and expanding on them to create beautiful flourishes. 


The flourishes are balanced shades of thick and thin lines, building on the contrast of the background and your pen strokes. There is no lettering taught in this class, but examples of combining the flourishes with letters will be demonstrated. A comprehensive workbook is part of the workshop for the students to continue to study this art form.


Please note that there are no refunds after the August 27th registration deadline.


To read more about Bill Kemp, please visit his website at Bill's Calligraphy.

Earthy Flourishes

This piece was done for a good friend's mother, who celebrated her 80th birthday. 

Walnut ink, Finetec metallics, graphite, Sakura gel pen, warm gray Pitt brush pen, Liquitex acrylic inks, and a Zebra Nib all worked together atop Arches Text Wove in this experiment. Happy sigh.