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@Algot ink always tends to pool at the termination of a line. I didnt have a converter so used cheap black cartridge ink here. As such it isnt as dark a black as india/carbon ink so the shading shows up where other inks would hide it
Thanks for sharing the process and progress.
In my 30s and 40s, I experimented a little with calligraphy, but in my 70s now, my hands shake way to much to do it successfully any more.
@Algot Ive only been at it a year now, prior to that you couldnt read my writing (and i never did much writing by hand anyway).
So steading my hand has been most of the journey for me really. I'm far from pro.
As a fourth grader, transferring from one state to another, I found myself half a year behind using cursive instead of print.
For years afterwards, my writing was cribbed and tiny.
When I began to teach at the junior high level, I worked hard to expand my writing and to relax my writing.
Board work with chalk was still done with block letter printing so my cursive didn't get in the way for the kids.
My relatively brief calligraphy practice came later. (1/2)
@Algot Necessity is key to most people improving their hand writing. For me the lack of necessity is why i never did.
(2/2)
I did enjoy doing one particular activity. We made some ink from pokeweed berries, a weed growing locally, and everybody got the chance to use the art room nib pens to try writing a letter using the ink we made.
Fun, if a bit messy.
@Algot ohh that does sound fun! I want to make iron-gall ink sometime
@Algot by the way the leaves are often eaten in the south in the usa despite being poisonous.
I'm not that hungry, I guess.
@Algot I hear its pretty good. they claim the process they use when cooking it removes the toxins. I dont trust it.
Boiling three times for 20 minutes with fresh water each time goes way beyond my patience, too!
@Algot You can see in this example even though the ink similarly pooled at terminators you cant notice it once it dries.
Pigment inks like this one tend to have less shading even though its not a very dark ink.
@freemo
Do you have a sense of why the bottoms of the letters in your photo have darker ink?
Was a second pass with the pen involved?
I'm not a calligrapher.