2

Regular monthly meetings are held on the Second Tuesday of each month from

9am to 12:00pm (no meeting in July and August) Exhibition Grounds

Duncan, BC

(Exceptions are Dec. and June)

Executive Meetings are held on the First Tuesday of each month

At Linda Yaychuk’s home from 9am to noon All members are welcome!

Membership in the Warmland Calligraphers guild

includes two newsletters. Annual membership dues are C$30 Canadian residents and US $30 for US/International

Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley (the Guild) is a non-profit group formed to facilitate the exchange of information between calligraphers, and to promote interest in and appreciation of calligraphy as an art form within the community. Membership is open to calligraphers at all levels of expertise as well as those with a love of beautiful writing. Contents of this newsletter are copyrighted by the authors/artists. Requests for permission to reprint any part must be made through the Editor. The views of contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Guild. Members are invited to submit concise pieces for publication as well as to alert the Editor to conferences, papers, speeches and other matters of interest to our readers. The Editor reserves the right to make editorial changes in material accepted for publication. These include such revisions or additions deemed necessary to ensure correctness of grammar and spelling, clarification of obscurities, brevity and conformity to the newsletter style.

Contact us at: P.O. Box 2, Duncan, B C, V9L 3X1 Canada

http://members.shaw.ca/warmlandcalligraphers

Newsletter Issue

#54 January 2013

Editor

Assistant Editors

Photo Editors

Proof Reader

Regular Contributors

Distribution

Covers

Printers

Linda Yaychuk

Jane Taylor

Ria Lewis

Jane Taylor

Alane Lalonde

Barbara Qualley

Lucy Hylkema, Joyce Gammie,

Pat Wheatley

Muriel Heggie

Judy Lowood

Front– Denise Rothney

Back– Leslie Healy

Headings– Times New Roman 26pt

Copycat Printing & Design Ltd.

Newsletter Team

Inside this issue:

2 General Guild Information

3 President’s Message and Front Cover Artist

4 Bamberton Anniversary

5 May Program

6-8 May Galleria

9 St. Francis Xavier Celebration

10/11 Heather Held Workshop

12 Tribute to Judy Matheson

13 September Program

14-16 September Galleria

17 W.O.O.L.

18 Weaver Workshop

!9-22 Christmas Cards

23 October Program

24-27 October Galleria

28/29 Portland Conference

30 Jottings From the Library

31/32 Expose and Editor’s Message

33/34 Carousel Book Workshop

35-38 November Galleria

39 November Program and Back Cover Artist

Logo designed by Judith Lovell

3

President’s Message

Welcome to the first public on-line edition of Warmland Calligraphers’

Newsletter. The Guild’s decision to move in this direction was in

answer to the problem of rising production costs for printed editions

and dwindling income. I hope you enjoy this new format and are

inspired by its content.

The change of venue for our General Meetings implemented in

September seems to be working well. The Meeting Room in Mellor

Hall at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds provides us with a bright,

cheery room at ground level with plenty of parking right outside the door. We owe a big thank you to the

Maple Bay Painters group for offering to meet in the afternoon on the second Tuesday of each month so

we could maintain our regular morning time. For the first time in a few years, we are able to enjoy coffee

during the break.

Looking forward to our next big event, the Loft Show and Sale at Valley Vines to Wines in Mill Bay

Shopping Center, I’m happy to see that Trish Peebles and Marilyn Silver have preparations well in hand.

As 2013 marks the 15th Annual Show and Sale in this venue, the time has been extended by one week

making the dates Saturday, January 26 to Thursday, February 28. As a special anniversary feature, we

are looking forward to some of our members entering one of their favourite pieces exhibited in a

previous show.

As the new year begins, I am thinking about upcoming elections. Please give some serious thought to

how you can help by serving on the Executive. It is a great way to meet Warmland members and help

the Guild at the same time. Let me know if you are interested.

Joyce

Front Cover Artist Denise Rothney

In searching for an idea for the cover of our newsletter, I looked up

the origin of the word January, which comes from the word Janus.

In ancient Roman times, Janus had a dual nature; he was the god of

beginnings as well as endings. I chose to think of his “looking

ahead” aspect, as a chance for us all to move forward. I combined

three of my passions to draw the illustration- a love of miniatures

and illuminated letters and a fascination for the world of birds!

4

On July 8th 2012 Bamberton

Historical Society celebrated 100

years of the cement producing

township. From 1904 – 1982 millions

of tons of cement came from the

Bamberton plant changing skylines,

shorelines, creating airports and

docks. They were the only Western

BC plant from 1920 – 1956.

What has this to do with calligraphy?

Well, our calligraphy group was asked

to attend the celebration as one of the

representatives of the Cowichan

Valley’s artisans. We rubbed

shoulders with the Quilter’s Guild, the

Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers and

The Cobble Hill Farmer’s Institute

and a photography group whose name

I cannot recall, but who did wonderful

work. I think it had been anticipated

that we would make name tags and be

really useful, but it turned out that

most of our time was spent chatting,

promoting ourselves and generally

enjoying the absolutely gorgeous day.

The event took place on the grounds

of the old Managers. The Bamberton

Historic Society has a museum in the

old house. The artifacts are beautifully

displayed, each piece holding its own

story. It was not so long ago when

traversing the Malahat was a huge

adventure, and the rules for the

resident school teachers included

being at home between 6 pm and 8

am!

We set up our display under a

provided tent. Examples of galleria

work using a wide selection of scripts,

cards, envelopes, library books and

signs announcing who we are and

what we do. The event was scheduled

from 11am until 5pm. By 10am we

were set up and ready to go. Joyce and

Marilyn Silver took the first shift and

at noon Lenore joined forces with me

until 2 pm when Ria came to relieve

Lenore. Marilyn Lundstrom who had

also volunteered was unable to be

there due to unforeseen

circumstances. And June, with Hans,

came by to take the photos.

It was a beautiful day; fun things to

see; old friends dropping by while we

enjoyed the goings-on around us in

the beautiful setting. There were lots

of folks interested in what we do, and

they were very impressed by the

calibre of the work. Maureen

Alexander was most appreciative of

our participation and I thanked her for

inviting our group and doing such a

great job of organizing the whole day.

She is part author of a book:

Bamberton: From Dust to Bust and

Back, which was launched as part of

the day’s proceedings

A visit to the old Manager’s House on

Trowse Road is well worth the time.

A fascinating period of not-so-long

ago. I would like to include a big

thank you to the calligraphy members

who helped. I know I can say, with

some certainty, that we enjoyed

ourselves!

Pat Wheatley and Ria Lewis are obviously enjoying the day

Ria demonstrates some calligraphy under Pat’s watchful eye.

A good time was had by all, especially Ria. A good time was had by all, especially Ria.

Bamberton’s 100th Anniversary Submitted by Pat Wheatley

Quick Tips

Before starting to work with

your nib or changing to a

different medium; rub your nib

with gum Arabic.

Gum Arabic added to your

watercolour or gouache enables

you to erase lines with little

damage occurring to your

piece.

Avoid excess ink on the top of

your pen when writing.

5

The May program, led by Marilyn

Lundstrom, was one of those activities

where a picture is worth a thousand

words, so study the photos carefully.

Marilyn introduced us to Funky Let-

tering, a type of drawn letter which

works well for single words or very

short phrases. Prior to the meeting,

she had sent us an email with exem-

plars and a supply list (she does tend

to be one of our more organized mem-

bers!)

This type of lettering has a lot of en-

ergy, and when used with bright col-

ours is a strong focal point. The style

that we concentrated on was one that

Marilyn had learned from our

honourary life member, Judy Mathe-

son. There are other styles of funky

letters as well: Lynn Slevinski's books

on marker lettering have some exam-

ples and ideas of different ways to

decorate them. Connie Furgason also

has an alphabet that she has developed

using drawn letters with lots of fine

lines and dots to give it movement.

Then there is something called

“throughout the window” where each

letter has its own little box, and parts

of it peek through. The take-home

message was that there are different

types of funky letters, and that they

are also called “casual capitals” and

“doodle lettering.” Because they are

drawn letters, they tend to take on the

personality of the calligrapher and

allow a lot of room for artistic expres-

sion.

Marilyn introduced us to the various

styles, and then we worked mainly on

the one that Judy Matheson had taught

her. I will give a basic outline of the

process, and remind you that these

letters should feel as though you are

playing. I also need to remind you to

use your exemplars and to study the

photos. Have fun!

You start by drawing a fairly thick

upper or lower case letter. Draw an

outline around it with a thinner pen, so

that there will be a narrow band of

white space around each letter. With

the same thinner pen, draw double

lines randomly through the drawn

letter. These lines need to extend

beyond the drawn letter, and there

should be two of them, close together

so that there is white space within the

letter as well. In addition to the white

space created by the narrow parallel

lines, you can also add small circles

(or other shapes) within the body of

the letter that will remain white once

the letter is coloured in. This white

space adds sparkle to these funky let-

ters, and keeps them from being too

blocky and solid. Now that your word

is drawn, you get to use your colours.

It is entirely up to you what media you

use to fill in the letter segments.

Marilyn mentioned a workshop where

they used puffy fabric paint to outline

the letters and draw the lines, and then

dropped paint inside to colour the let-

ters. For the May program we came

with pencil crayons, but colour can be

added with any type of media (paint,

pastels, ink, etc.). You can also fill

segments in with zentangles or deco-

rative doodles, and once you start ex-

perimenting, it is hard to stop. As

Shirley Johnson said, “It is quite ad-

dictive.” So consider yourself warned!

May Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

Linda Yaychuk and Pat Wheatley

Marilyn Lundstrom

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May Galleria Submitted by Alane Lalonde

Betty described Marion Craig’s piece as a ‘joy’ with an intricate tea set and different tea pots pasted on. The proportions are not in sync with the sizes, but Marion has lots of guts and can get away with it. Marion used pencil crayons, pigma

pens and watercolour and let the artwork lead her.

Betty stated that this is a very courageous and absolutely beautiful piece by Shirley Johnson. It was styled after the Debbie Thompson Wilson workshop. Shirley told us that the dragon was hard to do but the ‘W’ gave her the most difficulty. It becomes so

lush and begins to lose itself. She had a dilemma in the bottom right corner and wished she had put in some leaves. When doing a

Chaucer quote, you try to keep up with the words and spelling, making it a challenge.

The May galleria was to

create a piece that

expressed an old-

fashioned idea. It was to

be done in tones of sepia

or browns to emulate the

qualities of elderliness.

The submissions were

interesting and there

were some very good

teaching moments with

Betty Locke leading the

way.

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Betty loves Judy Lowood’s piece done in Blackletter - nicely done. She says that it has a formality to it, but also

informality and that she took on a very big task. Judy mixed

black and green teas creating a moldy look. Betty was fond of the little hearts.

Joyce Gammie says that this was a last minute thing. She found a calendar picture, put it into iPhoto, chose the sepia settings, and printed it on Arches text-wove paper.

She didn’t have to add any color. She used the Copperplate hand. Betty says there are

lovely lines and that a muse holds her hand.

Betty says she loves the art quality of Marilyn Boechler’s Girl with Chickens piece

with its lovely lines and realistic chickens. Marilyn used a pen with walnut ink to draw her. The tree was an afterthought stemming from a mistake. Betty says that the

child and tree are beautiful. Her lettering uses an Italic hand. Betty says that the

tree really adds to it. A note about drawing rules: Adult humans are 7 ½ heads high.

Betty Locke created her piece using dirty grays and browns in 17 layers and left some space whiter. When

she was done she stated that she wasn’t happy with it.

She felt that the white made a contrast. This was one of her favourite quotes. She stated that she has redone it.

8

Marilyn Lundstrom did two pieces and this one was a crumpled paper bag. Although the bag was old, she used

paint with gold, but it is dark and not enough contrast.

Betty thinks that it is quite gutsy and that it is very hard to do this. If she went black on brown she could have

had more contrast.

Trudy Kungold Ammann wanted to show us how we can antique paper by taking an old

slightly yellowed piece of sheet music and

crumpling it by pressing it into a tight ball a couple of times to get broken lines. Flatten it

and do a wash of burnt sienna and burnt

umber, and finish by blotting it with burnt umber. Trudy has been asked to share her

wash techniques in a later program.

Anne Atkinson’s galleria piece was about silence. Betty said that it was lovely to have three quotes on the same theme.

Ria Lewis said that she wrote on a brown paper bag and then crumpled it. She glued

it onto paper, used a sponge with walnut ink and then ripped it by hand. Betty says it has an interesting and enticing border around it. Good solid advices from the past.

Betty says that it catches the light well.

9

of the steps a monk went through to

create a book from scraping the skins

to binding the finished product.

Another board explained how the term

“penknife” arose. There was a

photograph and description of Judy

Lowood’s sterling silver penknife

which was used by her great

grandfather to sharpen the quills he

used to keep books for his business in

England. We were also lucky enough

to have a special penknife made for

Betty Locke by a knife maker. Her

name is engraved on the blade. Joyce

Gammie lent us a beautiful chart

which explained the steps to cutting a

quill pen.

The activities were varied. A board

held a number of copies of illuminated

pictures from the Visconti Hours

pertaining to bible stories and

participants were asked to guess the

bible story. The answer was hidden

under a flap under each picture. A

number of calligraphy tools were

provided for people to try out. There

was also a number of letters drawn for

them to copy. Some of the children

did very well-definitely future

calligraphers.

The activity that was the most popular

was writing with feather quills.

Thanks to Betty Locke I was able to

demonstrate how to make one and

then the children used the ones we

provided to write or draw. We had

calligraphy books available for people

to peruse. The Visconti Hours

interested a number of people and we

were asked were it could be

purchased.

A number of members provided

pieces to be displayed. These were

very much admired and our thanks go

out to those who generously provided

materials.

The most unusual and exciting

presentation was a page from a Book

of Hours written in Rouen, France in

1490. Barbara Qualley generously lent

us the document for the day. Needless

to say people were very impressed

with the piece.

Our booth was well received and

enjoyed by the participants of the

celebration. We received many words

of thanks and appreciation for

participating.

St. Francis Xavier Church is a

beautiful, quaint, little church tucked

away just off the highway on Kilmalu

Road, Mill Bay. On September 8th

they celebrated their 125th

anniversary. We were lucky enough to

be asked to man a booth during their

celebration. Jane Taylor and I

answered the call.

Since they were celebrating the

history of their church, we were asked

to link calligraphy to religion. What a

great opportunity for research.

Our booth was made up of a number

of information boards as well as

activities. One information board

consisted of pictures and explanations

The 125th Anniversary of

St. Francis Xavier Church Submitted by Linda Yaychuk

We were quite proud of our booth and received many positive comments.

Some children enjoyed using the feather quills as well as the other tools.

The Anniversary celebration started off with a

parade made up of the church’s priest and the congregation.

Visiting priests also took part in the celebration.

When this class was announced I was

a little apprehensive about signing up

for it. I thought I would be very

frustrated trying to create nice curves

and details; it looked way beyond my

skill level. But Heather presented the

progression of the pieces so well. It

was a bit like taking baby steps to a

very impressive outcome. Thank you

Betty for making me experience

feelings of guilt to sign up so we can

fill up a class. I would have hated to

miss this one.

Heather makes it all look so easy but

she told us in confidence that when

she first started she went through 13

reams (a ream is 500 sheets ), of

paper. By the end of this two-day

workshop, we were creating beautiful

flourished borders, plumes, swags,

scrolls, free and constrained shapes,

Christmas card ideas, flowers, birds

and the list goes on. Each student did

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The Artful Flourish with Heather Victoria Held Submitted by a Charlotte Whiteley

On September 20-21, 2012,

fifteen members of Warmland

Calligraphers were treated to a

fabulous workshop with Heather

Victoria Held. I started to rewrite my

notes when I got home and realized

how much valuable information was

imparted from this talented gal. Each

student received an eighteen page

manual with Heather’s favourite

materials, techniques, exercises, hints,

examples of flourishes and website

references. We enjoyed two very full

days of soulful playing and learning.

Heather started to play (as she likes to

call it) about nine years ago after

receiving a calligraphy pen from her

husband. Today they make beautiful

nib holders out of ancient and exotic

woods. Heather is basically self-taught

and sought out advice from the experts

as she started to master styles. By

2009 Heather was teaching flourishing

techniques. She credits so much to her

mentors and instructors, one of these

being Dr. Joe Vitolo. Today Heather

sits on the executive of “IAMPETH”

and is preparing for the 2013

conference. We suggested to her that

they think about having it in Seattle.

Day One started with tips on proper

posture, pen holding, materials and

why she chose certain nibs and inks.

We warmed up with our pencils just

making ovals and more ovals. From

there we made figure eight designs. As

the day progressed we learned to move

from simple curves to compound

curves. Soon we were adding great

accents and designs. We learned new

vocabulary and how to add interest

with colours and metallic details. The

day practically flew by. There is

something very Zen-like when doing

flourishing.

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no fewer than seven flourishing pieces

with some students being more

productive and some even did

homework after day one. Wait until

you see the Christmas cards this year!

I really could go on and on about all

the neat tools she showed us, the

wonderful techniques and reference

materials she shared with us but there

isn’t enough paper and time to do so.

These websites are worth checking

out and I hope they will inspire you:

www.iampeth.com, and

www.zanerian.com. Heather suggests

you check out the Clinton Scrapbook

for accent strokes and C. C. Canan’s

Collection on Penmanship for

Illustrative Flourishes.

www.pastestudio.ca is a site to order

Dianne Townsend’s Terrages Pastels.

John Decollibus’ site

www.beyondwordsscript.com is truly

inspirational.

http://www.penpeople.org.uk/

groups.htm for more information on

Brian Walker and find out more about

the Spencerian study group and

information for ordering this

newsletter, Spencerian Review for

about £15.00.

And last but not least Heather’s

websites,

www.heathervictoriaheld.com,

www.inkflourishes.blogspot.com and

heather@heathervictoriaheld.com

Reference books: Ornate Pictorial

Calligraphy by E.A.Lupfer.

Spencerian Script and Ornamental

Penmanship Volume II by Michael

Sull, An Elegant Hand by William E.

Henning and The Universal Penman

by George Bickham the Elder.

One of the best tips Heather gave to us

is to not fight with your materials, you

will pay for it! If you are trying out a

new nib, buy three to give it a good

test. Do your work on dark paper as

the details will stand out and you can

critique yourself better. It is all fine to

practise but the key is to study your

work. If your eye begins to see it, your

hand will perceive it better. Study the

masters. Journal your progress and

make notes for yourself.

Another tip was never stir your Dr.

Ph. Marten’s Bleed Proof White ink to

the bottom of the jar. Add only a few

drops of distilled water on the top and

only stir the top 1/8 to 1/4 inch down.

If you stir to the bottom of the jar the

ink will become gummy and you will

want to throw it out or across the

room. An ink such as Indian ink

contains shellac and will not work

well in your pens. Walnut ink is not

waterproof and is not suitable for

flourishing work.

At the end of the day Heather told us

to keep practising, keep playing and to

keep in touch. She would be more

than happy to advise and guide us.

Thank you for a great workshop,

Heather.

Photo Credits: Barbara Qualley.

All artwork (except the Rose border piece done

by Charlotte Whiteley) is by Heather Victoria Held and is reproduced with her permission.

12

Judy joined Warmland Calligraphers

in 1996. During her membership she

edited the newsletter for 3 years,

printed the newsletter for a total of 4

years, and was the Treasurer for 9

years. Judy taught 'kitchen table'

classes and workshops in several

hands.

Judy's calligraphic studies began with

a book and self-teaching. However,

when she discovered the Westcoast

Calligraphy Society in Vancouver, she

had proper teachers, studied a variety

of hands and developed her

recognizable style. Judy was also a

master at intricate Celtic knot work.

Due to arthritic fingers and tricky

eyesight, Judy no longer does

calligraphy. Of course her love of the

written word carries on and

Judy has a Martin Jackson fish print

hanging on her wall.

Look for Judy's work from Galleria's

in newsletters to 2005. There are

articles on Judy in the February 2003

and October 2006 newsletters, and the

May 1999 newsletter cover was

contributed by Judy.

Judy now resides in a seniors' home in

Chilliwack and her address is

in our Roster.

At the November General Meeting, it

was unanimously voted by the

membership that Judy Matheson be

presented with a life membership.

Betty Locke prepared the certificate

and on Saturday, December 8,

2012 Barbara Qualley presented Judy

with her life membership in

Warmland Calligraphers.

Judy Matheson Honorary Life Membership

Submitted by Barb Qualley

Cowichan Library Display

Our beautiful library display impressed many people and convinced two new members to join our Guild.

13

Connie Fur-

gason gave a

presentation for

our September

Program that she

calls “Scrappy

Bits”, although

she said it could

also be subtitled, “The Book of Hour”.

There is no way that one article can

capture the amount of information and

enthusiasm that Connie delivers in an

hour. Our Guild is very lucky that she

lives only an hour away, and the idea

that you can accomplish art in an hour

all seems to tie in with her subtitle…

although it doesn't have to be a book,

you can collage scraps onto canvas

and paper too.

Connie’s presentation deals with what

to do with those pieces of calligraphy

and art that did not work out, those

practice sheets that have really good

bits on them, those bits and pieces

from magazines/brochures/business

cards, and even fabric that you are in

love with. Her main message is “just

start doing,” and this technique of

gluing little bits of stuff into a journal,

or using them as a starting point for

another piece, makes the ‘starting’ and

the ‘doing’ relatively simple.

Artistically, the idea of using left over

bits takes a lot of the pressure off cre-

ating something perfect. Practically,

the idea of just using glue, scissors

and a journal to begin with means that

you do not have to drag out all your

art supplies before you can even get

started. Connie uses a UHU glue stick

for most papers, slightly watered

down white/PVA glue for fabric and

watercolour paper. Her cutting tends

to be a bit random (the scissors move

fairly quickly!) and journals can range

from those cheap small notebooks

from the corner store, up to handmade

ones. Journals are a good starting

point because they are not intimidat-

ing, but this idea of gluing a few little

pieces you really like, onto a bigger

piece of paper, or canvas, can create a

“launching point for a piece.”

Her idea is to interject a bit of ran-

domness into your art, while also pay-

ing attention to white space, contrast,

connection and transition…and she

makes it look like fun. As Connie says

it's a “gluey-in, type of book” so we

don't have to take it too seriously, and

we can play with colour and shape

and texture, and we can start to notice

what works for us. If it is not working,

give it time, put it aside for awhile, try

adding things to it later.

I left the meeting feeling filled with

possibilities and ideas. Connie’s part-

ing words were ones I shall try to take

to heart, “Don't hesitate, that’s it, and

it is okay.”

September Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

Ria Lewis and Lenore Le May

The finished project

The following people provided many

of the photographs in this issue.

Hans van der Werff Pauline Thompson Liz Moss Susan Miller

Barbara Qualley

The following people have recently

joined our guild.

Barb Galeski

Eunice Champion

Mieke van der Vliet

Rocke Wightman

Connie Furgason

From left to right; Jim Wisnia, Barb Galeski, Marilyn Silver and Denise Rothney.

The finished project

Thank You

Welcome

14

September Galleria Submitted by Jane Taylor This month’s galleria was based on a prescribed quote about butterflies. The critique was led by

Betty Locke.

Leslie Healy presented her work as a framed piece. Betty thought it was wonderful. It was done in the upper register and was very

uplifting and beautiful. Betty thought the size of the butterfly suited

the tiny hand. Leslie felt there should be more white around the quote.

Linda Yaychuk produced a beautiful calligraphic piece done in black, red, gold and white. It took Linda as long to do the word

‘butterflies’ as it did to do the rest of the piece. She felt it should

have a larger matte, that it was too close to the piece. Betty suggested that perhaps fewer lettering styles should be used in a

short piece and that Linda could take the flourish on butterflies up

into the text..

Shirley Johnson created her beautiful piece using a simple Roman monoline. Betty suggested that perhaps it should not have quite so

many mattes around it. Shirley would have liked a square frame for

the piece. Betty loved the ‘ou’ in the word ‘would’ and the ‘s’ in butterflies which is similar to Frank Lloyd Wright’s style. The

gorgeous butterfly was from a workshop by Debbie Thompson Wilson..

Betty said Susan Miller’s piece was done in a beautiful copperplate hand.. She used the same beautiful butterfly design as Shirley Johnson. She struggled to

make an uppercase ‘I’ in copperplate. Susan had trouble with her nib catching in

the paper. A change of nib and ink didn’t help. It was suggested that her name be higher up on the page to avoid drawing attention to the corner.

15

Denise Rothney had this idea in her head since last May or June and it grew over the summer. She was pleased with it as it happened the way

she imagined and this rarely occurs. She loves the black and white con-

trast of the zentangles. Illustrations were done using watercolours. Betty said Denise used a wonderful repetition of the quote and that the small

border made the foreground come forward.

Barbara Qualley used zentangles in her piece as well. Betty felt the use of dots on all the ascenders was lovely. Barbara wanted the hand

to look like antennae.

Lenore Le May presented two versions of the same quote with just the colour of the butterflies altered. It was felt that the

orange butterflies were not as well spaced. Lenore had moved

the butterflies down to accommodate a frame. The white butter-flies make the piece feel light. The large ‘B’ was done in such a

manner as to reflect the shape of a butterfly. Lenore says she

achieved the picture that she had in mind when she originally thought of this piece.

16

Bettty Locke wanted to make the word ‘butterflies’ look like what they do. In her second piece she wanted to do the quote without a picture of

a butterfly. It was agreed that lovely results were achieved in both

pieces.

Betty stated that Ria Lewis’ piece had a real intellectual quality, with beautiful perspective. It was noted that both the

text and illustrations increase in size as they go down the

page. The lettering was done after the illustrations using a C4 nib. It was felt that the butterflies had a ‘Mexican’ look.

Betty loved the feeling of Marion Craig’s piece. She felt the butterflies gave it a beautiful feeling. Marion used the French word ‘papillion’,

meaning butterfly to make a connection with the picture of the French girl.

Betty suggested that Marion could pull down, the red word butterfly into the word papillion in order to connect the two. The final line is beautiful.

Marion thought she might use this for a birthday card.

17

Anne Atkinson created a very exciting piece using a card format. She put the quote on the outside and the butterfly art on the inside.

Pat Wheatley created her own quote as she found the suggested quote a little boring. Betty’s eye was drawn to this piece from afar. She liked the sweetness of the butterflies.

Pat used a modern cursive italic which was difficult to write on the paper she chose.

Pat was not really happy with the background placement of the butterflies.

Judy Lowood’s piece reminded Betty of Timothy Botts’ style. Judy used Lisa Engelbrecht’s work for inspiration to ‘free herself up a bit’. She just

‘winged it’. Betty felt you could see the freedom and that it was a lovely

piece which ‘draws your attention’. Friskett was used to maintain the white of the lines.

18

descenders. The letters are also

formed by using heavy-light-heavy

pressure on the strokes. There are no

capitals.

We started by using a pencil and

regular strokes to learn the shape of

each letter. When we came to y, s, g

and j it took a while to master the

huge oval descenders which extend to

the left of the letter. r, k, w and v are

quite attractive with their long

ascending hairline strokes.

On the second morning, after some

practice pieces, Marilyn showed us

how to make the heavy-light-heavy

strokes that make up the letters. After

working with a pencil we moved to a

pointed pen and ink.

It took a bit of practice to get the

strokes down properly but we were

quite pleased with the results.

Marilyn gave us a quote to write and

suddenly we realized the importance

of planning the layout as the huge

descenders require more than the

normal space between the lines. We

also wrote the same quote in a smaller

size which was quite interesting.

This hand is appropriate for cards or

light hearted pieces. It also works well

when emphasizing a word in a text.

Our thanks go to Marilyn for giving

us a chance to learn this whimsical

and unusual hand. Look for it in the

Christmas card section of this

newsletter.

Weaver Writing Workshop

With Marilyn Lundstrom Submitted by Linda Yaychuk

Marilyn was very helpful in getting around to everyone in spite of the huge class size.

Marilyn gives some assistance to Denise Rothney.

Marilyn Silver is practicing the Weaver hand.

Lenore Le May and Liz MacDonald are having a great time.

Four years ago Marilyn Lundstrom

and a number of other Guild members

took a two-day course in Duncan with

Gwen Weaver. Gwen had created a

hand known as Weaver Writing which

has become very popular. Certain

members, such as myself, were anx-

ious to learn this hand and we were

able to persuade Marilyn to give a

two-morning workshop. It was in such

demand that the enrolment went over

the maximum.

The workshop was as informative and

enjoyable as we expected.

Weaver Writing is a fun hand to use. It

is made up of small ovals, used in

about one-third of the alphabet, and

huge

At Station#3, we used an embossing

pen on Stonehenge paper, sprinkled

gold embossing powder on it and

heated it. A raised or embossed letter

resulted which we then washed with

water followed by a wash of walnut

ink.

At Station#4 we embossed a piece of

paper with an embossing machine and

moved on to station #5.

Here we used sticky snowflakes

which we decorated with glitter and

markers. We then attached them to our

embossed papers from Station #4.

All in all a very productive morning

followed by a box lunch and another

class in the afternoon.

19

Westcoast Odyssey Of Letters (W.O.O.L.)

In September, seven of our members

attended the Westcoast Odyssey Of

Letters conference held in Vancouver.

The following are comments and

photographs of their enjoyable

experiences.

Marilyn Silver wrote: Brigitte

Stermann’s Workshop was titled

Visual Chemistry and provided a

hands-on experience using the

principals of design.

Participants combined the basic rules

of design and added their own

creativity to make a visually pleasing

collage from materials supplied by the

instructor. Brigitte is a graphic

designer and member of the Westcoast

Calligraphy Society in Vancouver.

Trudy Kungold Ammann found

Connie Furgason’s workshop on Free

Versals an adventure into a fun

calligraphy form. She felt the very

free, loose versals were a fabulous

addition to many projects. Their

structure allows the addition of

watercolour and experimentation.

They are complimentary to line

drawings and provide contrast to other

alphabets. Connie encouraged them to

introduce colours that reflected the

topic of their text and to limit the free

versals to a title or focus word as

overuse can make a piece busy and

difficult to read. The word itself can

dictate what spacing will look best

and to what degree the design details

are utilized. Have fun and play was

frequently repeated.

Liz Moss wrote: Efficient and

organized, Suzanne Cannon had set up

five stations with all necessary

equipment provided and set up in

sequential order of use. We were also

given two sheets outlining each

technique thoroughly.

We began at “Modern Gilding” where

we used a metal stencil, covered it

with a glue compound, and then

removed the stencil. We waited until

the glue was tacky and then applied

metallic foil. Voila! Ready for letters.

Station #2 was a demonstration of Die

Cutting using Cuttlebug and

Spellbinder equipment.

Submitted by Trudy Kungold Ammann, Liz Moss, and Marilyn Silver

Members who attended are Hans van der Werff, June Maffin, Susan Miller, Liz Moss. Pauline

Thompson and Marilyn Silver

Cards made using Die Cut and Embossing machines.

Connie Furgason and the Versals class

Modern Gilding using metal stencil, glue and transfer foil.

Suzanne demonstrates one of the machines used to emboss or die cut.

20

Christmas Card Exchange by Alane Lalonde

Denise Rothney

Trudy Kungold Ammann

Janet Peters

Mary Nelson

Mieke van der Vliet

Anne Atkinson

21

Marilyn Boechler

Ida Marie Threadkell

Ria Lewis

Trish Peebles

Above picture shows the inside of the card by Hans van der Werff and below shows

the outside of the card by his wife, June

Maffin. June shared with us that the out-side of the card would be decided by the

toss of a coin and she won.

Linda Yaychuk

22

Pat Wheatley

Brigitte French

Marion Craig

Betty Locke

Gillian Mouat

Lenore Le May

23

Judy Lowood

Marilyn Silver

Carolynn Dallaire

Muriel Heggie

Charolotte Whiteley

24

October Galleria Submitted by Jane Taylor

The challenge for October was to do a piece on black paper. Judy Lowood led the

discussion. She began by reading from a booklet that Betty Locke had done on Critique. “The job of a critic is not to say a

work is good or bad or I like it or I hate it. It is his job to say what is available to the eye and to engender conversation from

the artist and the group. In our group, critique is acknowledgement, enjoyment and learning from the

process through which the artist has gone. It is a time when we come together with

pleasure to offer encouragement to those who have bared their artistic souls to produce something intrinsic to themselves.”

Again this month we see beautiful examples of our members’ ‘artistic souls’.

Marilyn Lundstrom’s piece reflects a course taken from Diane Von Arx in pen ver-sals. She used Roman capitals and three colours of gauche white, gold and black..

The effect was achieved by not cleaning your nib between the loading of different

colours. The placement of the dots was thought to be very effective. Pat Wheatley used a Zebra nib, gold gouache and Heather Victoria Held’s technique to create the dandelion. The

lettering was done using a pressure/release technique. It

was felt that highlighting the o’s brought it altogether and that the gold dots in the dandelion were a nice touch.

Marion Kelbrick’s quote is from Robert Service. The piece

had a lovely flow and really conveyed the idea of Northern

Lights. It was felt that it was a good idea to put the colour

down through the text. The piece was done on black

construction paper.

25

Charlotte Whiteley produced a 3 dimensional piece that incorporated cut-out paper techniques as well as some of

the skills she learned in Heather Held’s flourishing

workshop. She tried to use a simple cartouche and gel pens. It was felt that the raw edge on top was very effective.

To achieve the gorgeous colours in her piece Linda Yaychuk used Prang metallic watercolours. The accents were done using pressed leaves. She then went back in, to

add the flourishes. Linda said she struggled with the upstrokes of the copperplate

lettering, for which she used a Zebra nib.

Anne Berens completed a piece on ‘that old black magic’ using jelly roll pens and some touches of gold pen as well. The quote was well placed on

the page.

Joyce Gammie’s piece really ‘pops out’ at you. She used Fine Tec paints for both the background colour

and the gold writing. She used Saral wax-free transfer

paper which is erasable and is available at Scott’s in Duncan. This is going to be a birthday card.

26

Judy Lowood found that using cardstock for her piece was a bad idea. Her pen kept sticking and she found the Dr. Martin’s

Bleed Proof White hard to use.

Betty Locke made excellent use of the knowledge she acquired from the Heather Victoria Held ‘s flourishing workshop. It is a beautiful

piece which incorporates both the roses and some of the flourishes.

Betty used a white pencil crayon to sketch and then Dr. Martin’s Bleed Proof White.

Anne Atkinson produced two pieces for this theme. Her inspiration was ‘that old black

magic’. It must have cast a spell on her because

she did it on white first and then on the black. It was felt that she did an amazing job. The folding

itself was ‘magical’.

27

Barbara Qualley’s piece was done on Canson paper using Dr. Martin’s bleed proof ink. The dots were done with a gel pen. It was felt that her

flourishes and leaves were lovely. Another beautiful example of the skills

learned in Heather Victoria Held’s workshop.

Shirley Johnson did this colourful alphabet in Neuland. Letters were done using a sponge on a brush. She achieved her lovely results using

pastels on top of gouache. She did most of the piece upside down. The

letters were outlined in Dr. Martin’s Bleed Proof White and a Jellyroll pen was used for the small letters.

Goya’s painting entitled ‘The Bewitched Man’ was the inspiration for Marion Craig’s piece. The idea for the scroll came from Heather Victoria Held’s workshop. Marion has

used different hands and colours which blend very well together.

28

October's program was a Powerpoint

presentation given by Barbara

Qualley, who had gone to Calligraphy

Northwest International Conference in

Portland, Oregon this summer. Actu-

ally quite a few of our members

attended, and it sounds as if it was a

very good time, calligraphically and

otherwise!

I have included some of the slides that

Barbara took, because her presenta-

tion is definitely a case of “a picture

is worth a thousand words.”

Barbara spent some time talking about

Lloyd Reynolds who taught at Reed

College, where the conference was

held. He is considered the “father of

West Coast calligraphy”, and it turns

out that Steve Jobs was one of his

students! But he is also known for his

weathergrams, and Barbara had many

slides showing them hanging in the

trees all around the campus. They are

narrow pieces of paper with messages

and quotes that he has written out on

them. The papers are left on the tree to

fall off naturally and biodegrade. Bar-

bara gave me a link to the website that

shows how to make these beautiful

and meaningful pieces of transient

calligraphy: www.popcanpen.com/

how_to/howto_make%

20_weathergram.html.

The two courses that Barbara took

were Lyrical Lombardics with Harvest

Crittenden, and Gilding on Vellum

with Reggie Ezell. The slideshow

showed some of the stunning work

from these courses. Luckily for us,

Barbara also had slides from the many

other workshops being given so we all

got a taste of what was offered at this

conference. These slides made me

appreciate just how much a confer-

ence has to offer participants; you are

exposed to so many possibilities, and

can see professional works alongside

students’ achievements…oh! and you

can shop (and get great goodie bags

when you arrive).

Barbara also included a few slides of

the many, many calligraphy and art

supplies available at Calligraphy

Northwest. Both Paper and Ink Arts,

which specialize in calligraphic and

book makers supplies, and John Neal

Booksellers were at the conference.

The number of supplies and specialty

books that were available were amaz-

ing, and very tempting. I know our

library has some new books from

there, and I am looking forward to

checking them out.

I would like to thank Barb for creating

such an interesting and complete over-

view of the conference. Her enthusi-

asm has me thinking I need to go to

one too…and soon!

October Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

Reed College, Portland, Oregon

Weathergrams

29

Gilding on Vellum with Reggie Ezell

Oh wait! I DID take another class to

reinforce the information. There was a

twist though. Instead of gilding on

140lb Arches Hot Press, we were now

gilding on vellum. Yup. Calf skin. It

has to be prepared by sanding it to a

smooth finish: either by hand, or with

a Random Orbital Palm Sander. I hope

Stew has one! Sanding by hand is

tedious. As the old school scribes

knew: it is beautiful to write on.

Reggie was exceedingly well

prepared, but I was pleased to have

Harvest's technical information to add

to Reggie's practical. When queried,

he said that this 2 1/2 day class was

cramming in about a four day

workshop. He wasn't striving for

perfection, but for the experience. Our

practice would produce 'perfection'.

Don't get me wrong he taught us very

well.

I would take another workshop from

either one in a flash.

Submitted by Barb Qualley

Reggie Ezell Blackletters and Beyond

This inspirational, fast-paced class

introduced several variations to the

formal blackletter hand. Reggie's

Elvis style showed how one could

modernize a very traditional hand. We

experimented with several different

types of paper and ways to treat them

for lettering. The ink jet prints on

watercolour paper. This opened up a

lot of possibilities. We came away

with two samplers incorporating all

the variations.

Submitted by Joyce Gammie and

Marilyn Boechler.

Copperplate Variations with Pat Blair

Pat’s class was very good with lots of

encouragement and demonstrations.

There were fifteen in the class and Pat

tried to get around to each one of us

for a critique but it didn’t always work

out that way.

We learned a lot about nibs, inks and

paper suitable for Copperplate. We

also learned what being a White

House Calligrapher entailed.

Pat has a calm patient manner about

her and as a beginner in this script I

certainly appreciated the pace of her

instructions.

In June, seven of our Guild members

set off for Portland, Oregon to attend a

week long conference. They were

Joyce Gammie, Marilyn Boechler,

Marilyn Lundstrom, Carolynn

Dallaire, Barbara Qualley, Susan

Miller and Gwyneth Evans.

The following are comments the girls

wrote about their experiences.

Lyrical Lombardics with Harvest

Crittenden

This was my first formal class on

laying gold on paper. Harvest was

well prepared and taught us lots of

techniques. I took a ton of photos, but

would love to take another class to

reinforce the information in my mind.

Calligraphy Northwest Conference

This is the letter that Barbara Qualley created in Harvest’s class.

30

down and get it done.

The recommended reading was Blue

and Yellow Don’t Make Green by

Michael Wilcox. It is a wonderful

book which clears up many

misconceptions about colour mixing.

It explains how we can paint more

efficiently and with less waste.

“Among other things, you will

discover that yellow and blue do not

make green, that the artist’s primary

colours, pure red, yellow and blue do

not exist…” (Wilcox)

I was intrigued with Sheila’s stories

and wealth of knowledge.

The Primary Palette with Sheila

Waters

Sheila’s class was chock full of laughs

and stories and if you could walk and

chew gum (paint and listen) there was

a wealth of learning to be had.

I loved her humour. When asked

about the size of ascenders,

descenders and waistlines Sheila

threw up her hands and said “Oh get

me out of this prison!!!” I think she

meant don’t sweat it, get some lines

Barbara Qualley, Joyce Gammie and Marilyn Boechler enjoying the beauty of the school

grounds.

The girls enjoy lunch in the cafeteria.

This was one of the many pieces hung in the halls of the college upon arrival.

You Can’t Stop Betty Submitted by Linda Yaychuk

At a recent Executive meeting a number of plans

for workshops etc. were being put forth. Betty

seemed to be the only one qualified to handle

them and therefore was called upon again and

again to volunteer. “Oh I guess so. I can handle

it.” was her repeated reply. That’s when I

decided that this was the moment to give Betty a

helping hand when it came to volunteering. I

gave her a napkin with the caption “Stop me

before I volunteer again.”

Do you think she’ll get the hint?

at a resort on the Indian Ocean and

went on safari for another week. The

safari covered four game parks. Travel-

ing to Kenya was a lifelong dream

come true. Joyce was able to experi-

ence and see, up close, just about any

African animal you could imagine:

lions lazing in the sun, elephants and

giraffes grazing among the trees, herds

of wildebeest, zebras and countless

gazelles of all types. The flamingos on

Lake Nakuru were countless. A special

highlight was a visit to a Masai village

where Joyce was invited into a mud hut

where a family of six and several ani-

mals lived together.

While living in Europe, Joyce visited

several East Bloc countries. She was

amazed at how gray and drab every-

thing looked; from the people to the

buildings, everything seemed colour-

less. There were very few gardens or

flowers, such a contrast to West

Germany. Line ups were a way of life

where stores limited the number of cus-

tomers allowed to enter the premises.

Berlin was fascinating with its Wall

and surrounding “no man’s land.”

Crossing from west to east Berlin was

an unsettling experience.

Joyce traveled through the Balkan re-

gion, in particular to Albania which had

recently opened its borders to tourists.

However, no Americans were allowed

to enter. They were quite a novelty to

the general population and everything

stopped when their bus drove by. Visit-

ing Albania reminded Joyce of living in

the 1940s with only a ball of string and

brown paper to wrap purchases, and old

style telephones and appliances. There

were virtually no cars on the roads.

Another dream had been to travel to

Egypt. Cruising the Nile was every-

thing Joyce had hoped for and visiting

the pyramids and ancient temples with

all their hieroglyphics was just

amazing.

Joyce started her visit to Russia in Mos-

cow where she saw all of the high-

lights. Red Square and St. Basil’s ca-

thedral made a particular impression.

She cruised the river system from Mos-

cow to St. Petersburg and along the

way stopped at many interesting small

Joyce Gammie was born on

December 4, 1937 in the Duncan Kings

Daughter’s Hospital. For most of her

life she has lived on Vancouver Island,

in Duncan, Chemainus, and

Port Alberni.

Her parents owned various restaurants

in Duncan and Joyce worked as a short

order cook and waitress during her

teenage years and again, part time for

several years during and after her

teacher training.

Joyce’s formal education occurred in

the Duncan area where she graduated

from Cowichan High School in 1955.

She attended one year of Normal

School in Victoria and at age 50 earned

her Bachelor of Education degree after

spending many years of completing

courses at summer and night school.

At age 18, Joyce started her teaching

career in Port Alberni where, in her

first year, she taught 40 children in a

split 2/3 grade. She was a primary

teacher in Port Alberni, Ladysmith,

Chemainus and Duncan.

Joyce met her husband, Sandy while

working at the Greenhaven restaurant

during her high school years. They

started dating at age 15 and were mar-

ried at 21. Sandy passed away in 1975.

Joyce has a son and daughter. Her son,

Dean, lives nearby in Crofton where he

works at the Catalyst paper mill.

Joyce’s daughter, Sandra, with

husband, Rick, and three children live

in Sydney, Australia, where Rick is

employed by Costco.

In 1980 Joyce left Vancouver Island

and moved to southern Germany where

she had been hired by the Canadian

Department of National Defence to

teach at a military school in the town of

Lahr. She stayed 4 years and made

many lifelong friends from all over

Canada. Joyce took advantage of the

opportunity to travel and visited many

countries which gave her some incredi-

ble experiences.

Joyce’s daughter, Sandra, accompanied

her to Lahr where she met her future

husband, also a Canadian. Sandra

ended up staying in Germany for

another ten years. Joyce’s first two

grandchildren were born there which

gave her the opportunity to return often

for a visit. Her daughter with family

returned to Canada in 1994.

Joyce’s travels have taken her across

three continents. She has visited central

Europe, Canada, the United States and

Australia. She also visited Kenya,

Great Britain, Russia, Egypt and New

Zealand. Her favourite trip was to

Kenya where she stayed for one week

Exposé Submitted by Ria Lewis

Beautiful embossing

Calligraphy on a photograph

31

villages. The palaces in and around St.

Petersburg were awe-inspiring. The

stark contrast between the opulence of

St. Petersburg and the simplicity of the

villages was quite obvious.

Her travels through Britain, on the

“wrong” side of the road, took her to

many beautiful sights and gardens. Five

weeks in New Zealand and six weeks

traveling eastern Australia were all

great experiences. Marilyn Boechler

has been a great travel companion ever

since she visited Joyce in Germany in

1981.

When Joyce retired in 1996, she started

to volunteer as a driver for Meals on

Wheels. This continued for 14 years.

Most recently, she has been a volunteer

flower arranger at Government House

in Victoria. In 2006/07 Joyce took an

extensive course in Victoria to become

a qualified Floral Design Judge. She is

called upon regularly to judge at

various flower shows in local fairs and

garden clubs.

Other hobbies include calligraphy, lawn

bowling and curling. Her interest in

calligraphy started in 2000 when she

took a Foundational/B nib course from

Betty Locke. Joyce is a member of the

Warmland Calligraphers’ Guild, where

she presently serves as president. She

also is a member of the Cowichan

Valley Garden Club, the Victoria

Flower Arrangers’ Guild, the Cowichan

Lawn Bowling Club and the Duncan

Seniors’ Curling League.

Her busy life includes a love of books,

good food, theatre, music and dance.

She has been a season’s pass holder for

the Chemainus Theatre since it opened.

Attending the live feeds from the Met

in New York is a particular enjoyment.

Through all her activities and

involvement in several clubs, Joyce

stays very active and enjoys learning

new skills and meeting new people. Her

future plans include a visit to family in

Sydney, Australia and in 2013 she is

planning a trip to Ireland to attend the

World Association of Flower

Arrangers’ Show. While there, she is

planning to explore more of the

Emerald Isle.

I want to thank Joyce for sharing her

many fascinating experiences. No

doubt her many skills and talents

serve her well in her various activities

and volunteer work.

Thank you, Joyce.

Ayer’s Rock, Australia

I wish to extend my thanks again to the wonderful group of women responsible for

organizing and recording all of the guild activities that have taken place over the last six

months. Thanks also to those people who have spent time taking pictures and passing them

on to committee members and to those who wrote up the articles for workshops. We cannot

produce a newsletter without you. A particular thank you goes to Susan Miller who provided

many pictures and articles for this

edition.

Of course, where would we be without Charlotte Whiteley who is still working behind the

scenes getting us out of hot water.

As I suspected, we have experienced problems related to organization and communication which will hopefully be overcome

and dealt with as we prepare for the next Newsletter. We knew this would be a learning experience and it certainly has.

I want to extend my apologies now for any misinformation, names missed in accreditations or articles, unused articles or

pictures etc. Mistakes happen but I'm willing to be forgiven.

Editor’s Message

32

33

( I know I've never given one.) All the

materials were cut to the various sizes

we needed but we still had choices in

colours and patterns.

The Carousel Books are made up of

two hard covers and several special

pages containing three dimensional

scenes or collages. The covers are

opened and tied back to back so that

the scenes are viewed like a carousel

and the book can sit opened on a flat

surface.

Carolynn began by showing us some

of the books she had made. Generally

they were created around a theme. She

showed us the one she had created for

Betty Locke which was based on the

travels of Betty and her husband.

The pages of the book are made into

three dimensional scenes containing

pictures, quotes, comments and

embellishments. Carolynn

demonstrated how to glue decorative

papers onto our covers, how to fold

and arrange the pages and then how to

sew them all together.

We spent the afternoon constructing

the pages of our books.

Betty Locke wanted to do something a

little different so she created

decorative cut outs to go with her

quotes. She said that at first she was a

bit hesitant about taking the course as

she hadn’t made books before but

found it to be absolutely delightful.

Liz MacDonald created a book for her

daughter’s 50th birthday. It contained

photos of milestones in her daughter’s

life as well as peek-a-boos and

embellishments pertaining to her

daughter’s interests. Liz said her

daughter was very moved by the

special gift and daughter #2 is hoping

for one too.

What a fantastic workshop. These

articles are not meant to be written

from a personal point of view but I am

taking liberties. The books we made

became very personal to some of us so

I feel it is appropriate to report on it

this way.

I don't think I have ever attended a

workshop that was so well organized.

Carousel Books with Carolynn Dallaire Submitted by Linda Yaychuk

Carolynn showed us a number of books she had created including one she made for Betty

recording her various trips.

Betty created cut-outs for her book of quotes.

This is a page from Betty’s book showing the cut-outs and flourishes she used.

One of Lenore Le May’s interests is

quilting. For her book she actually

created a tiny quilt to be part of a

scene in her pages.

Liz Moss chose to put a cord at the

top of her binding so it could hang

from the ceiling when opened.

Pauline Thompson had kept pictures

and mementoes of her visit to her

brother’s place in Florida. Her book

became a keepsake gift of that visit to

thank them for the special things they

had done while they were there and to

show how much they had enjoyed the

visit.

For my aunt’s birthday I created a

party with an Asian theme and dressed

her as a Geisha complete with white

make-up. I used the photos to create a

keepsake for my aunt and decorated it

with Asian motifs.

The rest of the books had brilliant

themes and were very beautiful.

Hopefully you were able to see some

of them at our October meeting. They

will be displayed at the Loft Show in

January and February.

What a great day we had. Carolynn is

such a good teacher, explaining the

steps slowly and clearly. If you get a

chance to take a workshop from her

you won’t be disappointed. You can

line up behind me. Thank you so

much Carolynn for a job well done.

Liz MacDonald and Anne Atkinson discuss their books over a wee cup of coffee at break

time.

At the end of the session Carolynn had us display our books on the table so we could all

have a good look at what everyone had done.

Carolynn demonstrated how to use the various tools needed to create the book.

Betty Locke

Cherish your mistakes.

They give you

something to strive for.

34

35

delight—such a contrast in calligraphy

to the previously described additions.

Also purchased, Italic and

Copperplate Calligraphy by Eleanor

Winters, has wide appeal in its subject

matter, and Beyond Paste Papers by

Rosie Kelly will be welcomed by

creative “paper people.”

If anyone finds a library book, or part

of one, particularly helpful or fun, I

would like to invite the member to let

me know and we can share it. By the

time this newsletter appears, I will

have been away for November and

December and, hopefully, newly

returned. I am indebted to Marilyn

Lundstrom who kindly said she would

deal with the library for the November

meeting. In December, of course, the

season is celebrated courtesy of

Barbara.

My aim while in the position of

librarian, and I am tip-toeing behind

some impressive librarians, is to try to

make the labelling more uniform and

to keep the journals and newsletters

current. This may mean having a sale

of back issues—we shall see in 2013!

Just a note on practice pads. We have

about 30 remaining of our old ones

and it has been decided by the

executive that Warmland will not be

buying any more in bulk. Members

will be able to buy locally, but not at

the same wonderful price we have

been enjoying.

On a final note, if anyone would care

to be co-librarian please let me know.

Two brains are always better than

one!

Well, our library has found a new

home in the Cowichan Exhibition

Grounds and is in good company in its

storage room with The Maple Bay

Painters, The Cherry Point Artists and

The Camera Club. My spatial imagery

was definitely challenged trying to

open our library stack and the door to

the storage at the same time. Quite a

bit of jockeying went on, but I won in

the end; it is not a large space. But it

is wonderful to have it located close to

our meeting room and accessible!

The books purchased this summer at

Calligraphy Northwest in Portland

are a wonderful addition to our club.

They have been discussed at our

meetings. The compiling of the St.

John’s Bible, Illuminating the Word

by Christopher Calderhead, is a truly

magnificent work, not the sort of book

you whip through between lunch and

tea. This also could be said about The

Visconti Hours. The vibrant colours

are extraordinary and the presentation

of the illuminations with the stories is

excellent. Take time to read the

introductions by the two authors, and

the accounts of some of the lesser

known biblical characters. Those

members who took Carrie Imai’s

course will be able to hear her talking

through her Dancin’ Pen; she is a

wonderful instructor and the book is a

Jottings From the Library

Submitted by Pat Wheatley

Quotable Quotes

“He is a self-made

man and worships

his creator.

John Bright

Quotable Quotes

36

November Galleria Submitted by Alane Lalonde

November’s galleria was to create a piece

using something from your childhood:

a memory or a toy. The submissions were

varied and interesting. Betty Locke guided us

down this particular memory lane.

Betty loved Anne Berens doll. Childhood memories were evoked for Anne, as her mother

made the lovely dress for her doll.

Betty loved this piece done by Pat Wheatley using stick figure ballerinas. The writing is so nicely done and very powerful at the

top, using quiet verses. There are many little nuances.

This beautiful piece was done by Denise Rothney. Denise says that she wanted to create something for her grandchild to remember their favorite toy. Betty says that this is so well done and that she wants to

laude her. Denise says that she used thick water colour for the blue. Appreciating the softness Betty

wouldn’t mind it if it had some grey going around it. Betty loved the feet.

Betty loved the way the hand goes into the writing

in this piece done by

Marilyn Boechler. Marilyn’s piece which she

drew was done in memory

of a Barbara Ann Scott doll she had as a child. She

used the MacLean’s

method of writing. Betty thought that the sketch of

the doll could have been

darker, but Marilyn thought that it was fine as

is.

Muriel Heggie did this piece after taking the Gwen Weaver and Heather Victoria Held workshops. Betty says that it is absolutely beautiful. Muriel’s

designs are mouthwatering and done very carefully and beautifully.

37

Betty loved this piece by Shirley Johnson and compli-mented the nice looking hand. “B” nib letters are harder

to do than Shirley thought because the letters are on a

curve. A suggestion Betty made is to use your Speedball Handbook, take a letter style and emulate it.

Betty says that you can feel the roller skating in this piece by Ria Lewis and the image shows fun

and excitement. Betty’s suggestion was to move

the ‘R’ in closer.

Betty describes that Marilyn Lundstrom has this all wrapped up. Marilyn had her own playhouse that was built by her Dad. Her

piece looks as if it is filled full of love and warmth. Marilyn speck-

led over the leaves with a toothbrush. Marilyn said she had to use a light box for doing this piece.

Betty comments that this piece by Lenore Le May takes you away on a magical comfortable

carpet and is beautifully done. Colours are well coordinated. This is a lovely example of the Gwen Weaver hand.

Betty enjoyed reading the text on Marion Craig’s piece and the feeling that it brought forth. Betty says that in the puzzle image itself of the cars are almost cartoon-like. Betty commented on the fact that she could

magically disappear into this puzzle on a rainy day.

38

Betty says that this is a beautiful piece done by Leslie Healy. The Gwen Weaver

hand looks nice on the black paper with the

white paws. It looks lovely.

Betty commented on the care that Charlotte Whiteley used in her galleria piece with such beautiful senti-

ments. This piece says it all right down to the clothes

pins, Betty said that it was absolutely lovely. Char-lotte use to design clothes for paper dolls and told us

it brings back many memories. The writing was done

with beautiful Bookhand and bouncing letters.

For Betty Locke’s piece she used subtle cut-outs to create simple pleasant models and combines them

very nicely with her poem about paper dolls.

Betty loved this little Haiku piece done by

Judy Lowood. You can see the shadows

in the art work. Adding the word “red” into the poem is a very nice transition.

39

The November program was taught by

Betty Locke who gave us a lesson on

Bouncing Letters. As always, Betty’s

class was lively, giggly, and full of

information…very, very full of infor-

mation, not all of which I can fit into

this article. Luckily, Betty had in-

cluded an exemplar to help everyone

remember what they had been taught.

According to Betty, a Bouncing Letter

is not exactly a “proper” letter, but

there are rules. Quite a few rules

actually. To start with you do need to

corral your letters somewhat, and each

letter, when seen on its own, should

be calligraphically correct. There is a

foreign word, “Gestalt,” that means

seeing the work as a whole, and this is

an important part of bouncing.

When you are creating a word or

piece of text, the letters need to

“juggle” up and down, as well as

“tilt,” but not too much or too little…

and some letters already have diago-

nals in them and do not need more

tilting. Other letters (like a bookhand

‘g’) just cry out for tilting, bouncing,

and curving. Then there are different

calligraphy hands, some of which mix

well together, some not so much. And

don't forget that you can use both ma-

juscule and miniscule letters…and

serifs too.

Feeling a little overwhelmed? This is

where the “gestalt” comes in, and also

a word I think Betty made up,

“youngerly” (actually I am positive

she made it up). When you are

“elderly” in calligraphic years you can

look at a piece and know if it is work-

ing. If you are elderly and skilled, you

can look at a piece and know how to

make it work (this is what you learn in

our gallerias). When you are

“youngerly” it is helpful to have some

rules, especially if you are going to

bounce.

Betty summed up the rules in a very

simple, and easily remembered

phrase, “Does it look playful and

bouncy in a pleasing way?” If it does-

n't, this would be the time to get out

her exemplar, and review some of the

rules, check your angles, your bottom

and top lines, letter sizes, and pen

widths…and then remind yourself that

this should be fun!

November Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

A very attentive audience

In light of all the tragic things that have happened in this past year, one thing remains: we will

always have heroes no matter the cost. Not super heroes but ordinary people who make a difference

and make this world a good place to be. After the incredible loss in December, I was inspired to

remind us all that good will ultimately triumph over evil. The secondary message; "Believe there is

Good in the World", is highlighted in gold... "BE THE GOOD"

Marilyn practising bouncing letters

Back Cover Artist Leslie Healy

WARMLAND CALLIGRAPHERS OF THE COWICHAN VALLEY ISSUE #54, January 2013