Puzzled versals

 It is often difficult to find compositions to enhance a short sentence or a single word.

Luckily, there are solutions!

You are a star !

I'm offering a class on puzzle versals and how to use them for small compositions.

It will take place on November 13th & 14th, more information and registration on this page.

And don't forget, we are all stars!

Apocalypse

 It's a bit trendy, isn't it?

In any case, while I was emptying my boxes, I found a version of chapter 12 of the Apocalypse made a few years ago.

There is rustica and uncial for the Latin version, the French version is in carolingian.

And there is colour, too much for my taste, which is why this work sleeps in a cardboard box.

Hello !!

 It's been far too long since I've posted anything. Various contingencies have kept me away from my computer.

For my return, I am delivering a monogram that I made a few weeks ago but that I didn't want to show until it had arrived in Australia, at its addressee's home. It's done and so here is Linda's monogram, LCK, hand-made linen paper, gold leaf gilding and, as far as colours are concerned, a mixture of Payne grey, Prussian blue and cobalt blue.

The circle of filigrees is about 8 centimetres in diameter.

Monogram

Here is one of my last realizations on commission, an AFC monogram with the date of birth of the C integrated in the filigree and in shades of red.

So there are 2 reds, two types of filigree without counting the borders and gold leaf gilding.

Initials, next step

A few more initials & some monograms, things are progressing slowly.

A prayer

In these difficult times, regardless of our faith (I include atheists and agnostics), we all pray for things to get better.
Here is the result of a small commission that a friend made to me some time ago.

Gold leaf on gesso, watercolor, pigments and arabic gum on paper.

Insurrection is a duty

This is, in essence, what article 35 of one of the first versions of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen said in case of government bankruptcy (i.e. when the government violates the rights of the people).
I find that this is a situation that is recurring more and more often, and I deplore, first of all, that this happens, and secondly, that this article was not retained in later versions and written into our constitution.
In short, I am not going to get into political considerations, here is my calligraphic interpretation of this article.

I calligraphed the whole thing with a piece of bevel-cut wood (two edges, one at each end), using Payne grey in watercolour and cadmium red as a pigment with gum arabic. The signature was made with iron gall ink.

And I had to abbreviate by suspension the word "indispensable" twice (ie I removed the N's), with a titulus in order to keep the layout. For the same reasons, I used an ampersand from the Tironian notes in the 5th and 7th lines.

A

A small commission, the letter is 3cm high.
Prussian blue, cobalt blue and gold leaf on paper.

The secret I'm looking for...

End of year, end of composition.
I'm done with the fragment of "L’Été" by Camus.
Partly in NEULAND, partly in Gothic, both scripts being inspired by Rudolf Koch.

Watercolou, iron gall ink and gouache on kraft paper.

And I take this opportunity to wish you a very good New Year's Eve & an excellent year 2020.

More & More

That's no supposed to be the meaning of this monogram but, until the people concerned reveive it, that will be it.
So there is a little MM monogram

blue, grey & 2 M

Monogram

I post relatively little lately, it's because I have other obligations (administrative among others...) and in fact less availability for calligraphy.
Nevertheless, here is the result of a recent commission, an MCC monogram.

Prussian & cobalt blue & gold leaf

Monogram

For a commission, I made this monogram with the initials of both parents and those of their children.
I was only allowed to use black, so I used 3, a black from Mars, a ferro-gallic ink & an ivory black. The difference is subtle and does not really appear in the photos. The main thing is that the patrons are happy, right?

Just a J

Driven by my momentum in my border of filigrees, I composed this J.

Alizarin paint for the letter, a few gilded dots to bring light and a rectangle of filigrees to finish.

Bilingual

After a first course given in French and English (with an Italian translator to complete the picture) in MiroModo, Italy this winter and, in anticipation of other courses of the same type, I decided to compose small panels to identify the preferred language of the trainees I am addressing.
As I only speak French and English, it's not too difficult to do, here are the first copies.

the reproductions (no, I didn't compose each copy manually) are less good but still usable, so that you can better distinguish the patterns, here is a better quality version of each side.

B as Blue

A initial for a little boy, so necessarily blue since his first name begins with a B ;-)

I show you some steps of the realization so that you can follow my progress.

the pencil structure to delimit the spaces

painting of the letter and gilding

some steps of the filigree

and the final version

filigrees

Back to paperwork for an initial with filigrees. This is only a detail first because it isn't finished yet and second because I don't want to spoil the surprise for the person who will receive it.

The dark red circle is approximatively 2cm in diameter and I used a pattern found in the MS Espagnol 33 from the BNF, manuscript that we will study during this summer courses in my workshop.

happy new year

I didn't post a lot lately. Partly because I had no time, partly because I'm lazy and partly because I was busy creating new stuff.
To apologize, I wish you happiness, health and prosperity for this new year.
And, as for a new start, here is a how to create a wish thing with a minimum of material and by recycling daily things.

1- take a lid from a jam pot (or other lid from other pot, beans is also a good choice).

2- draw, calligraph your text, pattern, thing with a marker on the lid.

3- Remove the paint with a nail (like the one that can been seen on the bottom right of the image) or any other tool suitable.

4- Once the pattern totally clean from the paint, use a battery connected to cotton bud to electro-etch the cleaned surfaces.

5- To remove the remaining paint, you can sand the lid or, if you're as lazy as I am, just use a soldering lamp to burn the paint (beware of the fumes, probably very toxic !)

You'll have to end with a bit of sanding with a emery cloth and that's it !

Once you've taken a good pic of your etched lid, everyone will envy you :-)

And if you prefer something more traditionnal, here are Jacques Brel's wishes on January 1978.

Declaration

Work in progress. Little by little, my latest work is coming to its end.

Still have to write the title and its decoration, hope to finish this before the weekend...

Another fail !

Success is not guaranteed... 
Anyway, I have to show you the pictures of my latest failure, I'll restart soon, I already know how to improve it.

some text

I've been quite busy these last ime, preparing my latest exhibition but I didn't work only on this !
I worked very hard on a new project with quite a lot of text and in a much larger shape than what I'm used to. Until now, I spent about 30 hours working on it, I think I've done the most of it. Until I can say it is finished or failed, here is a picture.

Next steps next week if everything goes well.