Introduction to Copperplate

In this intensive weekend calligraphy workshop, we will examine and practice letterforms in Copperplate, a pointed-pen script hand that was developed in 16th century England. We will work with an oblique pen holder, pointed pen nib, ink, practice pads with grid and slant lines and creating our own guidelines. Our main focus will be on practicing varying amounts of pressure to apply to our pens to produce thick (shaded) and thin (hairline) strokes, letter slant and letter form. We will begin our practice with minuscule and later majuscule letters, which will be grouped according to similar letterforms.

Feel free to bring in your favorite quote and/or project ideas for practice and discussion.

Materials List:

• Oblique pen holder (suggested: Speedball or better)
• Nikko G nib or Zebra G nib
• Black ink (suggested: small 2 oz. bottle of sumi ink)
• Dinky dip and pipette or 1/2 oz. or 1 oz. ink jar (glass or plastic)
• Small 4-6 oz. plastic or glass water container to clean your pen nibs (yogurt cups work)
• 4 sheets of paper towels or rag to clean your pen nibs
• T-square, 12" (John Neal sells a c-thru one for $2.50)
• Marker Layout Paper (semi-transparent) 9" x 12"
• Pencil
• Black ballpoint or rollerball pen