2015 April Meeting

Fun, Fabulous Filigree

The April Meeting will be held at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library on April 11, 2015.

Meeting time is 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM.

Please join us a Maria-Helena Hoksch demonstrates using filigree to add decoration to your letters.  We will explore filigree in Medieval manuscripts and in the American Golden Age of Penmanship.  Maria-Helena will show how filigree can be adapted to contemporary  lettering and share some examples of her work.  She will also bring a set of Lombardic capitals that can be decorated or you can draw your own.  Be ready to play, let your creativity flow and have fun with filigree!

2015 February Meeting

Envelope Etiquette

The February Meeting will be held at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library on February 21, 2015.

Meeting time is 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

This month we are privileged to have Alice Labat return to show us the ins and outs of envelope etiquette.

With over 20 years of experience with wedding invitations, Alice is the perfect person to demonstrate addressing envelopes in the Copperplate style.  

2015 January Meeting

Exploring Different Hands

The January meeting will be held at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library on January 10, 2015.

Meeting time is 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

In September Eugenia Uhl reintroduced us to the Foundational hand.  We will begin 2015 by exploring the Carolingian hand, which shares characteristics of Foundational and Uncial.  A demonstration of Legende will follow along with an examination of its structure in comparison to other more familiar hands.

Materials List

Broad edge nib (Brause 2mm or Mitchell 2)

or

2mm chisel edge marker

ink

practice paper

pencil

ruler

2 short quotes

2014 November Meeting

The November meeting will be held on November 8th at

 St. Francis Xavier.

Meeting time is 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

November is upon us and Christmas not far behind.  So to get you in the creative spirit we have planned a glittering program with an emphasis on gilding.

 Lisette Copping and Mary Dawes will discuss and demonstrate techniques used for Medieval illuminations concentrating on the various glues used for gilding illuminated manuscripts.

After Lisette and Mary have shared their expertise, we will have a hands on project using Instacoll and Patent Gold Leaf.  Also bring your favorite gold media, such as gold inks, paints, gouache and pens, so that we can compare them with the real thing.

Please note the change of venue for November’s meeting.  

We will meet at St. Francis Xavier’s parish office building.

444 Metairie Road

Metairie, LA 70005

2014 October Meeting

Rosaryville Retreat:    NOLAA has been invited to attend Write from the Source, a special creative retreat at Rosaryville Spirit Life Center on the north shore the weekend of October 10-12.  The weekend is focused on using letterforms as artistic expression through an open format of art workshops, allowing experienced letter lovers to work and study while newcomers can be introduced to tools and techniques, exploring different styles, or making books, creative envelopes, gilding, block printing with wood type, etc. NOLAA workshop chair LaVerne Parfait, staff member Rosaryville, has organized this weekend of creative play. Participants may register for the whole weekend (meals and accommodations at Rosaryville are included) or may commute for Saturday’s activities.

Visit www.catholicretreatcenter.org/coming-soon.html and scroll down to the  Write from the Source post for registration information

2014 September Meeting

Foundational Hand:    The first meeting of the year will be held on Saturday, September13, at the East Bank Regional Library (4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie) at 10:00 am.  Member Eugenia Uhl will present the basics of the foundational hand, emphasizing weight, pen angle, branching and spacing.  All levels of experience are welcome.

For the second half of the meeting we will write a page based on the layout of a medieval book, then decorate it with an initial letter. Eugenia will provide examples of initial letters and decorative borders. You may bring your own favorite poem or quote to use for the text.

There is no charge for the meeting, but we request that you to register on the website so we can get an idea of how many people will attend.

Materials List:

pencil, ruler, eraser

graph pad/lined practice paper

black calligraphy felt tip pen 3.5 or 2.0 mm OR dip pen and black ink (#2 or #3 mitchell or         Speedball c-3) Really any size can work but these are best for the book page writing. Need to be kind of small to fit and look like book hand.

2/3 sheets good paper, about 8.5 x 11

colored inks OR colored calligraphy felt tips

colored pencils or markers

your favorite long quote or poem