Iroise

 I live in the country of Iroise, a small part of Brittany, France.

In Breton, it's written (probably) Hirwazh.

So here is a work in progress and a reminder for this weekend's lettering class (in English).

There are still a few places left, more info and registration here.

And if you don't speak English but are still interested, there will be a French version in September, information here

Work in progress

An excerpt from a poem by Théophile Gautier, using Art Nouveau letter forms.

This is where a light table is useful...

Pangram curtain

The winter sun is sometimes annoying when I work in my workshop, so my wife made me a curtain.
But I can't leave a fabric of this surface untouched! I have to scribble on it!
And as I didn't know which text to use, I fell back on pangrams in several languages.
The advantage is that it will give my trainees ideas when they take calligraphy classes in the workshop and don't know what to write.
I'm only at the beginning, I started with a pangram in English and in NEULAND.

I continued with a German version in Gothic fraktur...

the next one will be a French version, soon...

Mobile

 In order to let pieces I have just varnished dry for a project that will incorporate other elements, I have hung the different parts in the workshop.
I almost feel like leaving them like that, they make very nice motives.

Well, I'll take them down once they're dry but I'm keeping the idea for later and create mobiles using cadels letter elements in metal, it's going to be great !

Slate in progress

From time to time, it is necessary to free yourself from paper to work on other media.
So I take back my faithful butter knife and start the engraving of a small slate.
It's only the first step but I already love it.

Want some more ?

Because there are still some :-)

And I'm currently working on another letter, a bit larger (3cm high), with 2 colors & a bit of gold but you'll only see this "work in progress" version for the time being

Embossing

Work in progress, preparation of a stencil for a Shakespeare quotation.

still have to glue the counterforms back into the letters and find the right paper for the embossing, almost finished in fact ;-)

Still in progress

Well, it's true that I had announced something other than filigrees in this post.
But you know me, I'm a maniac, an obsessed man...
So the further work on this composition includes... filigrees

Until I have finished, you will only be allowed partial views, I hope these will satisfy you enough to wait a little more :-)

Stained glass de-structured

My first version of stained glass engraved in the slate having been very popular (once shown to the public, it was only 3 days in my company before someone bought it), I decided to make another one, more ambitious and this time using the same method as for the backrest of my seat, ie, by de-structuring the stained glass pattern.
Here is a draft in progress on paper, the concept seems valid to me, all that remains is to engrave the slate.

It took me more than a year to make the first one, this one is three times bigger, you will have to wait a long time before you see the outcome :-)

Embossing & stained glass pattern

Finally something other than filigrees on this blog!

I invented a rather unstructured stained glass pattern that I embossed to accompany a text. I'm not saying any more at the moment, the work is far from over.

Series of failures

Well, Guillevic inspires me a lot but I keep screwing up my compositions.
So I started another project with a white vine with autumnal hues.

It's not over yet, but it's taking shape.

On going filigree

 More filigrees, this time a little larger than usual.
It is only the preparatory work, the final result (from a material point of view) will probably be quite different.

A first picture in progress with the marker to give an idea of the size

And the finished pattern before moving on to the next step of the realization

Virgilis - WIP

 I had started to calligraphy Book I of the Aeneid on a door last May... It's still not over, but I've made some progress.

67 lines for the moment, at the rate of 20 minutes per line, I have already spent more than 22 hours there.

works in progress

I regularly complain that I don't have time during the year to work on my calligraphies... It's even worse during the holidays!
I'm nonetheless share a few "in progress" things with you :

To begin, I continue on my stained glass on slate (which I have already had the opportunity to talk about here for example).

I arrive at the end (more than ten hours of work to foresee) of the engraving of the filigrees, it will be time then to pass to the following stage, rust!

Otherwise, I work on several large letters & monograms, I show you here the preparatory works of the first monogram :

maybe more pictures next week if the work in the garden lets me move on my calligraphies:-)

Virgilis Aenidos

I did a lot of things this weekend.
Few of them had anything to do with calligraphy.

I started to calligraph the Aeneid on the inside door of my workshop. At about 20 minutes per line, I'm far from being able to put it back!

T in progress

Failing to be present in Nancy this weekend by default train, I compose a lettrine for a birth.
So it's a T.

But as the weather is fine this weekend, it is likely that the rest will wait because I will spend the rest of the time gardening.

Filigree carpet

I (painfully) advance on my filigree composition.

I must have done about half of it, in 15 hours...
I may have seen a little big, or I may be filling in a little small :-D

And as one has to warm up when taking the pen, I do little things each time before continuing on the big composition.

For example, a flower design that I invented a few years ago but that I'm never tired of reproducing.

Filigrees, the comeback

Long time I haven't told you about filigrees here, I'm sure you miss it ;-)

A little work in progress, on a cardboard that my wife previously used to make frame patinas.

I left the nib to play with an acrylic marker, here is a short video of a part of the process

and I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I am organizing a workshop dedicated to filigree learning in Paris on July 21 & 22. You can find all the information in the agenda.

Above all...

I've started the final (hope so) version of the excerpt from a theater play.
You already saw the draft, it's more or less the same except that I use a different color per character.

End of draft

Or almost the end. I'm not totally satisfied by some words or letters but I feel I'm gonna start the final version without a 4th draft.