Don't Drink the Ink!

Paper, Scissors, Rock - Calligraphy Exhibition - Gallery on Track Goulburn

2025-08-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Followers,

Come join us for our October 2025 exhibition and various workshops.

Opening 1pm Saturday 4th October 2025

Uncial with Cathy Sayer – Saturday 4 October - 10am to 3pm

Bookings close – 27 September 2025 – Minimum of 6 people for the class to run.

Uncial is a great hand to have in your skill set as the opportunities to use Uncial are endless, cards, wrapping paper, etc.

Participants in this class, will need blank paper (computer paper or a bleed-proof A4 pad), ruler, pencil, eraser, coloured pencils, and a couple of sheets of tracing paper.

Most importantly an Artline Calligraphy Pen 3.0mm (available from Officeworks https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/artline-241-calligraphy-pen-3-0mm-black-pe124301

Weaver Style Writing workshop with Glenis Sheather - Sunday 5 October - 10am to 3pm

Bookings close – 28 September 2025 – Minimum of 6 people for the class to run.

This lettering is my monoline variation of Weaver Script, which is based on the script designed by American calligrapher, the late Gwen Weaver. There are only 26 letters in this script (no capitals) so can be easily learnt in a four-hour workshop and is suitable for all skill levels. The aim of the workshop is to have fun playing with some interesting letters, which can then be used to create a small piece of work.

Participants should bring with them the following:

Fine liner/s, such as Staedtler pigment liner, Stabilo point, Unipin, etc. in sizes between 0.1 - 0.5.

A4 layout pad or A4 computer paper

A sheet of tracing paper

HB pencil

Plastic ruler

Coloured pencils (optional)

Vivacious Versals Workshop with Valerie Keevers - Saturday 25 October - 10am to 4pm

Bookings close – 17 October 2025 – Minimum of 6 people for the class to run.

Versals are the capital letters that were used to begin a new chapter or paragraph in manuscripts. This workshop will show you how to modernise capitals for our time. They can be vibrant, colourful, and fun to do. Come and see where your imagination will take you as we look at many different ways of drawing letters. Class suitable for every skill level, from people who have never drawn a letter to those who have great experience.

Please bring: An A4 plain paper pad OR some A4 Computer paper.

Alternatively bring some A5 size pieces of watercolour type paper.

HB Pencil, eraser and ruler.

Coloured pencils OR watercolour paints.

If using watercolour paints you will need a small pointed brush, mixing brush and water jar.

Black outliner pen.

Back to Basics Tutoring Gig

2023-08-04T19:39:00.005-07:00

Dear Followers,

Having taught Neuland at the beginning of the year for Calligraphy Southscribes, Inc. they have asked me back again to tutor or teach a Back to Basics afternoon. So, if you are in the Sydney region and you would like to dip your toes in calligraphy ink, so to speak, come along and join me and the society for a relaxed but informative afternoon.

This workshop is aimed at our newer members and those wanting to remind themselves of good calligraphic practices.

While we learn a hand or technique each month, many of us have not covered the basics of calligraphy or may like a refresher, so we will be looking at calligraphic terms and what they mean in a practical sense, how to use our pens and inks and everything in-between. We really will be getting back to basics, so think of this as Calligraphy 101. We will also work through a series of exercises to help you understand more about this art form and its associated terms.

It was suggested at our Meeting last month that if any Member who wishes to come on the 12th but do their own Calligraphy work on the day instead of the Back to Basics, catch up with other members and a cup or two of tea/coffee that a fee of $10 to help cover Hall Hire costs would be charged instead of the $20 for this Session.

Materials List:

· Pen holders

· A variety of sizes of nibs – small to large (if possible one brand, if you don’t have one brand, don’t worry but you must have a range of sizes, 5 different size nibs is excellent)

· Ink or gouache – different colours

· Gouache – bring a form of palate to mix them on

· Ink – bring small container/s to decant your ink into

· Water containers

· Brushes to load your gouache with (if you are using gouache)

· Ruler

· Eraser

· Graphite pencil

· Layout pad

· Notebook & Pen to take notes

· 1 quote that means something to you, as you’ll be using it a lot

· If using Artline Calligraphy felt-tip pens please bring a range of sizes

Date: Saturday, 12 August 2023

Time: 1.00pm – 4.00pm

Cost: $20.00 – Members, $25.00 – Non-Members

Place: Sylvania Community Centre - Canberra Road, Sylvania (Near Southgate Shopping Centre)

Bookings Essential: southscribes@yahoo.com.au

Canberra Calligraphy Society's Latest Exhibition

2023-07-11T18:42:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Just letting you know about this great exhibition:

Starring Me - An Exhibition - Rumi

2020-09-13T20:35:00.001-07:00

Dear Followers,

It was on, then it was off, and now it is back on again. The group exhibition I am in is finally up and running.

Our theme was Rumi and how as each of us (three artists - calligraphy, photography and paint) interpret his philosophy.

If you are a local, Sydney Australia, call in and view or otherwise go online and check us out.

Each of us are talented in our own right!

Stay safe everyone.

Alphabettes

2020-02-18T19:04:00.001-08:00

Hello All,

I came across this in my lunch time wanderings across the net.


https://www.alphabettes.org/exhibition-review-the-calligraphy-revival-1906-2016/?fbclid=IwAR0nOasu4MD1Rjh9q0AO2iImFpuvESEgiDJVzBxf332AuZko0LaNwBHskr4

The other art works on the site are great too.

Art and Calligraphy for a Good Cause

2020-01-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Followers,

Do you need some art or calligraphy gear then help Eckersleys raise money for the Salvation Army's Bushfire Disaster Appeal.

End of Year Calligraphic Party

2019-12-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has 2019 gone to?

I know I have had a few mishaps along the way which took time away from calligraphic pursuits but behind the scenes I have been learning lots about social media, tutoring and participating in Wendy Cowley's envelope exchange.

I was voted in as my calligraphy group's workshop organiser plus their social media co-ordinator, this has meant learning Instagram in a hurry which I have now also added to my own account. Their account is Calligraphy Southscribes alternatively southscribes while mine is inkdontdrink.

Next year is looking very busy, I have three exhibitions on one in July with a photographer and a painter then two with our calligraphic group in November/December. Truly, who has time to work. Just joking I need to work to pay for the calligraphy gear I buy and the occasional workshop.

This time last year I was madly packing and getting organised to do a five day workshop with Gemma Black in Mittagong NSW and another great friend and calligrapher. Unfortunately this year there is no calligraphy so it is back to work for the New Year.

I have promised myself three resolutions in 2020, more calligraphy, more writing here and less stress. Hopefully one and two will lead to three.

Have a great New Year! Cathy

Copyrighted Cathy Sayer

A Garden of Letters

2019-09-19T20:45:00.001-07:00

Dear Followers,

Looking for something to do in Canberra during October then visit our fellow calligraphy society's exhibition.

The Canberra Calligraphy Society presents "A Garden of Letters"

Wednesday 2 October to Sunday 27 October

Open to the public 9.30 am – 4.30 pm daily during this period

Exhibition Venue

Visitor Centre, Australian National Botanic Gardens

Clunies Ross Street, Canberra

Double Pencils in February

2019-06-22T23:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Followers,

Life to seems to take over at times and while I have been busy calligraphically, I haven't seemed to be able to find time to write about it. So to remedy that, I am going to copy my posts from Calligraphy Southscribes blog http://calligraphysouthscribes.blogspot.com/ to my own blog as it is still my own writing. So here goes.

The first Calliarts at Southscribes, for the year was Double Pencils with Gloria. Personally I am always perplexed with double pencils as I can never seem able to join the lines together to create that three dimensional affect that you are looking for but judging by the number of people who attended the afternoon it is a popular lettering form. Gloria started the afternoon by explaining the basic knowledge required to create a successful piece of lettering with double pencils; this included how to join the two pencils together, the correct position to hold the pencils in and what techniques to use to enable the creation of larger or smaller letters.

After a quick coffee break it was back to work, at which time Gloria supplied an exemplar of a style of gothic lettering created using double pencils. We worked our way through the alphabet and then some of us chose one letter to work on, allowing us to create a finished piece. I had chosen an ‘M’ to use as a decoration for a card I had created. Gloria had kindly brought in lots of wrapping and handmade paper that was at our disposal to draw our letters onto and some excellent results ensued. What I imagined to be an afternoon of double trouble turned out to be double the fun.

Alive and Kicking

2018-09-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well you would think that I hadn't anything to write about or been doing nothing to interest anyone when in fact the reverse is the truth.
May was interesting with a workshop completed on Modern Calligraphy. The local community college ran a workshop on Modern Calligraphy which seems to be all the craze. Our calligraphy group is always being asked to run workshops on it or is there anyone who will do commissioned work in Calligraphy but they mean Modern Calligraphy. Thus with this in mind I decided to take myself off to the course. Of course being a classically trained calligrapher I would say that the calligraphy was more lettering than calligraphy and because of my training found it difficult to forget all the rules I had learnt. No 'x' height, no interlinear space, no pen angles, etc. which took some getting use to but by the end of the afternoon I was getting use to the concepts. I wouldn't say it was easy and thought it more brush lettering than calligraphy. Lots more practice needed from this calligrapher!

Later in the month a friend and I were off to Menai Library to promote the Art of Calligraphy. The library is keen to promote different types of arts and contacted our group Calligraphy Southscribes to see if anyone was interested in coming along to do hold an informal class. It class was a mixture of ages and there was a great turn out with about twenty people.

Emanuel Phillips Fox

2018-03-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

My favourite artist is Australian Emanuel Phillip Fox. He is classified as being in the impressionist style but whichever period he belonged to his artwork is exquisite.

It is birthday today (being born in 1865) so I just had to share a painting posted by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

https://twitter.com/ArtGalleryofNSW?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Retro Art Deco Workshop - Saturday

2017-10-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

The long weekend in October was spent at my calligraphy society's hall participating in a two day workshop run by Gemma Black called 'Retro Deco'.
We started on the Saturday with a short history of the period and Charles Rennie Mackintosh before Gemma did a demonstration of the lettering inspired by the period and Charles. We were then let loose on pencil and paper so we could learn the bones of the letters and how to build them up. Finally it was on to paper and ink.
After lunch we chose a short piece of writing that we had brought along, sourced from the period, mine was five words in length and from the Australian artist Hilda Rix Nicholas - "We are really truly here". We had to stack the words on top of each other. I did a practice run and then did the real thing on a pieces of rough watercolour paper. Once we were happy with the finished lettering, we then had to do some artwork to match the words.

The owl and the heiress: The life of one book over six centuries

2017-10-06T03:42:00.002-07:00

I subscribe to the State Library of Victoria's newsletter, in which they have some great articles and one of those articles was on a book.
The book in question is an edition of the Liber de vita ac moribus philosophorum poetarum veterum (The lives and manners of the ancient philosophers and poets). It was printed in 1479 by Frederick Creussner in Nuremberg, Germany, one of the first great centres of printing.

The article is very interesting and well worth a read.

https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/the-owl-and-the-heiress-the-life-of-one-book-over-six-centuries/

August Is a Calligraphy Month for Me.

2017-08-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Don't you love it when your month is going to be busy with calligraphic days?

August looks like is going to be one for me, I am off to two workshops and am also having a group of ladies over for my monthly calligraphy get together.

Calligraphy Southscribes, Inc. are presenting the two workshops so I'm sure if you are interested they could squeeze you in. http://calligraphysouthscribes.blogspot.com.au/

The first is Ruling Pens:

Ruling pens are wonderful calligraphic tools to experiment with, this afternoon we will be exploring the various lines and letter forms that be achieved in contemporary calligraphy.
Cost $10.00 with Helen Warren on 12 August 2017.

The second one is Ronde with Pointed Pen:

Ronde, sometimes referred to as French Ronde, was used in France in the 17^th Century.

We will commence the workshop using a traditional broad-edged nib. It is also planned that participants will make a small box, or at least start one, which will be decorated with the script. $45.00 with Glenis Sheather.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to these workshops is because I'm not the tutor, I can sit back and just enjoy pen on paper and creating beautiful letters. I hope.

Kalligraoia - Calligraphy Society of Victoria Exhibition

2017-07-13T23:22:00.000-07:00

As a member of the Calligraphy Society of Victoria I am pleased to promote our exhibition!

Coloured Pencils Afternoon Workshop

2017-07-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been busy doing alot of things some calligraphic some not but one of the calligraphic items is getting ready for an afternoon workshop I am taking. The workshop is based on how to use coloured pencils and all their permutations in calligraphy.
I have created ten exercises based on coloured pencils, water colour pencils, and other variations that can be used. It has taken a little while to come up with the exercises but I think the participants should find them interesting. My main aim is to show that the humble coloured pencil can be a great calligraphic tool and can be used in many different ways.

State Library New South Wales and Carrying Tradition in a Digital World with Denis Brown

2017-04-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

Denis Brown is visiting Australia and amongst the workshops he is conducting he will also be giving a talk in-between. I have been lucky enough to be able to get a seat at his talk at the State Library of New South Wales on 17 May.

More details can be found here http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/carrying-tradition-digital-world-denis-brown

A Very, Very Clever Friend

2017-02-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

While this post is not strictly calligraphy I have some very clever, arty friends. One of these is the very talented photographer Erin Webster who also took the photo that I use for this blog.

This is her latest effort

It has inspired me to create a piece of calligraphy with the poem Sea Limits by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

10 Mysterious Libraries from Around the World

2017-01-22T02:34:00.001-08:00

Pastimers have created a list of the 10 most mysterious libraries from around the world on Youtube.

You should check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HdiSERm30I&feature=youtu.be

Some very interesting places!

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses

2016-11-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

As well as being a part-time calligrapher I am also involved with books and came across this great article that covers both my loves.

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses: Medieval scribes protected their work by threatening death, or worse.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/protect-your-library-the-medieval-way-with-horrifying-book-curses

A 15th century portrait of a scribe. Jean Le Tavernier/Public domain

Exhibition - Flora the Art and Science of the Plant

2016-07-27T00:41:00.001-07:00

Not calligraphy I know but I said I would put this up for an artist friend.

Calligraphy Puzzles

2016-06-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this page with someone else, it is brilliant.https://specialcollectionslearning.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/calligraphy-puzzles/

Termites Trampled by Government Grant

2016-04-23T00:38:00.001-07:00

I have been following the termite trouble that The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Queensland have been having and they have posted this good news:

The Abbey Museum announces the success of a grant application through the federal government’s Stronger Communities Programme.

The Museum applied for funds to assist with the reconstruction of the Manuscript Gallery after termites were discovered in the walls late last year. The Gallery with its internationally significant collection of medieval music dating to the 14th century, pages from Books of Hours and indentures from the 16th and 17th centuries has been closed while funds have been sourced.

The Stronger Communities Programme allocates funds of a dollar for dollar basis, the Museum will also used monies raised at the 2015 Medieval Festival to complete this project. It is hoped that the Manuscript Gallery will re-open in May.

http://abbeymuseum.com.au/

Calligraphy Humour

2016-04-11T20:55:00.001-07:00

Who says calligraphers don't have a sense of humour?

from the Cyberscribes Website

April - It's Art Exhibitions and Art Festivals

2016-03-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

April for me is looking like it will be a busy month, starting off with an exhibition I am involved in and an Arts Festival.

The Arts Festival run by Rockdale City Council - stART is a great way to start a month long celebration of art in the area.

Come along and say hello!

http://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/pages/RAF.aspx#rogap

While the exhibition is being held at the Dragon's Lair Gallery in Hurstville Museum& Gallery.