A “Noteworthy” January Meeting - The Colleagues of Calligraphy

In This Issue
A "Noteworthy" January Meeting
Front
Calendar, Workshop News, President’s Message, 2
January Treats, February Program 2
"Twist of the Pointed Pen" Registration Form 3
Featuring You on Our Web Site 3
November Meeting Highlights 4
Workshop Review 5
Midwest Calligraphy Retreat, Lettering Tool Box 6
The Missing Link, Cabin-Fever Cures 6
Spotlight, One Method to the Madness 7
Demo Corner
Back
Colleagues of Calligraphy
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
A “Noteworthy” January Meeting
January 2011
If you were to select the ideal time of
year to experiment, learn something
new, or try an unfamiliar process,
wouldn’t it be in January? Of course it
would! This is exactly the reason you and
your guests are warmly invited to the
first meeting of the new year on Saturday,
January 15, at 12:30 PM in the Plymouth
Congregational Church.
In a program titled “Note
Cards—Reproducing Original
Artwork,” a team of generous
Colleagues members has
been vigorously preparing to
demonstrate and discuss the
process of preparing artworks
to be reproduced as standardsized
note cards.
Whether you’re familiar with
or curious about this topic,
we predict that everyone who
attends this meeting will learn
something new. Katie Beery
will demonstrate some universal
skills for using a scanner and
computer. Even though most of
us may not have the same scanner
or computer software that Katie
will use, her description of the
process will guide us toward
our own creative thinking and
problem-solving when we “try
this at home.”
Participants for the round-table
discussion are Pat Barrett, Eve
Brown, Karen Eighmy, Joyce Francis,
Ardie Gallant, and Sue Filbin. Each
artist will explain her process for creating
note cards. Adequate time toward the
end of the meeting will accommodate
questions and answers, an opportunity
to visit with the presenters, and plenty of
cards to purchase.
If you would like to sell your
note cards at the meeting,
please contact program
director Louise Rogers by
noon on Friday, January 7:
call (651) 644-5670 or email
her at lrogers_55443@yahoo.
com. If you’d like to purchase
note cards, please bring cash
or your checkbook! We look
forward to seeing you!
-Article by Sue Filbin
Artwork by participants, clockwise from
top: Nasturtium card by Sue Filbin,
monogram by Katie Beery, Artfull Life card
by Joyce Francis, Christmas card by Karen
Eighmy, Origami Ink Well card by Eve
Brown, Gratitude card by Ardie Gallant,
and Tulips card by Pat Barrett.
Editor's Note: since I will not
be able to participate on the
panel as originally planned,
my basic scanning and filesaving
instructions appear on
page 6.

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings
will be at Plymouth Congregational
Church 1900 Nicollet Avenue South,
Minneapolis.
Bus Routes: Nicollet/Franklin
j a n u a r y s c h e d u l e :
Social 12:30 PM
Meeting 1:00 PM
Come early to observe lettering
demonstrations & browse exhibits.
2010 - 2011
Check out our program schedule!
January 15: “Note Cards −
Reproducing Original Artwork”
(panel discussion and presentation)
February 19: Mini Workshops (see
note below)
March 18: Barbara Close
March 19–20: “Twist of the Pointed
Pen” workshop with Barbara Close
April 16: Paul Herrera - Fr. Catich &
Trajans
May 14: Pot Luck Lunch and All-Day
Calligraphy Hands-on Workshop on
the Lombardic alphabet with Harvest
Crittenden
January Treats
Eve Brown, Mary Beth Hinrichs,
Linda Borovansky
February Program
PLEASE NOTE: The Colleagues’
February program information will
be forwarded to all members as
soon as plans have been finalized.
d o n ' t m i s s
t h i s f a n t a s t i c
o p p o r t u n i t y !
❧❧A 2-day workshop with
Barbara Close: "Twist of the
Pointed Pen", on Saturday &
Sunday, March 19 & 20, at the
Edina Art Center. See page 3 for
more information.
c l a s s e s o f f e r e d
b y o u r m e m b e r s
More information on the following
classes is posted on the Resource
Page of our web site:
❧ ❧"Pen-in-Hand" is a year-long
opportunity to study with Jean
Formo. Call Jean at 952.486.2530
or email her at letterdesign@
gmail.com to receive an information
packet.
❧❧Kris MacDonald will be
teaching Beginning Italic
on Wednesdays, February
2 - March 9 at the Eisenhower
Community Center. For
more information, visit www.
HopkinsCommunityEd.org or
call 952-988-4070.
❧❧Judith Michalski will be
offering a Beginning Italic
calligraphy class through both
the St. Paul and Minneapolis
Community Education
programs. Evening classes will
begin in St. Paul on February 8
and in Minneapolis beginning
January 27. For St. Paul information,
contact www.commed.
spps.org or call 651-293-8634;
for Minneapolis, contact www.
commed.mpls.k12.mn.us.
Listening to public radio in the
car today, I learned a new word —
sprezzatura — an Italian word coined
by Castiglione (16th century) in his
descriptions of necessary qualities of
gentlemen. In essence it means the
display of “a kind of graceful restraint,
an effortless elegance”.
I could not help but think of all the
excellent lettering artists and calligraphers
I have the honor of knowing
(and learning from), and how this
word precisely describes the effortless
artistic competence I see in their work,
especially when I am lucky enough to
watch them demonstrate their abilities!
Knowing the many continuing hours
of practice and studied dedication that
underlies and enables this effortlessness
always humbles me. For example,
I had the honor and joy of joining
several Colleagues at November's
workshop with Michael Clark and was
able to watch and be challenged by his
effortless lettering demonstrations —
displaying sprezzatura at its best!
I think that we all strive for this sense
of sprezzatura, and when we reach it in
our own focused areas of work, at least
to some degree, we can justifiably feel a
sense of accomplishment.
Homework (you were expecting this,
right?) — try a thought experiment:
think of your own list of calligraphic
and lettering art heroes and heroines,
then try to remember and identify the
sense of sprezzatura displayed in the
production of their work.
Here's wishing you, your loved ones,
and families peace and blessings this
holiday season and in the new year!
See you at the January
meeting!
Signet is a publication of the Colleagues of Calligraphy. Submission deadlines are 30 days prior to the next monthly meeting. The editor is responsible for final decision on content. Mail
submissions to Signet, Lori Tews, 3200 Inglewood Ave. South #111, St. Louis Park, MN 55416 or write2lori@hotmail.com. Information and products mentioned in articles do not imply
endorsement by the COC or BOD. Copyright 2010 by the Colleagues of Calligraphy. No portion of the Signet may be reproduced without the written permission of the COC. For membership,
see www.colleaguesofcalligraphy.com or write COC, P.O. Box 4024, St. Paul, MN 55104.
2

Saturday & Sunday
March 19 & 20, 2011
9:00AM - 4:00PM
$90 Members
$120 Non-Members
Edina Art Center
We will be taking on a wonderful, new,
playful approach to using the pointed
pen. Drawing and painting in somewhat
realistic, fun caricatures and abstract
forms will be explored as well as a freestyle,
more contemporary copperplate
lettering style.
Introduction to geometric shapes as a
base will begin our increasing confidence
in pen control and building up
marks.
The idea is to be able to use the artist’s
own expressions with the freedom to
Cut & send this portion to Joyce Francis, 12200 E. 100th Street, Northfield, MN 55057.
Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
...A Continuing Adventure That Extends Our Approach To The Pointed Pen
a 2-day workshop With barbara close
PLAY! Barbara likes to call this the “Zen
Pen – revealing your Muse”, too.
Your own intuition has the permission
to play a significant part with pen
and paper—so you can dive into the
mysteries of what the right part of the
brain can do.
Take a peek at more of Barbara's art on
her web site: www.bcdezigns.com.
Registration opens on January 10 and
closes on February 18! Class size is
limited, so act now!
If you have any questions regarding this workshop, please call Dawn Darner at 651.458.3024.
Phone(s):
Email:
I would like to help with (please number your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices):
Digital Photos Instructor’s Lunch Write workshop review
Teacher's Assistant - Saturday
Teacher's Assistant - Sunday
Everyone will be expected to help clean up! Barbara Close 03.19.11
FEATURING YOU ON OUR WEB SITE!
A great benefit of being a Colleagues member is the chance
to market your calligraphic and related services. The
Colleagues would like to help you. In addition, we want to
make it easy for people visiting our web site searching for
calligraphic services to connect with a Colleague member
who can fulfill their needs.
Use our web site to market your services by having your
own COC web page on our web site, a link to your own web
page, or a listing of your contact information.
Visit www.colleaguesofcalligraphy.com/calligraphers.
html to see how a web page can promote you and your
calligraphic and related skills. The web page also has the
necessary PDF links for you to successfully get listed on the
web site.
If you have questions or need additional information please
contact info@colleaguesofcalligraphy.com.
Applications for the web listing are due by January 20,
2011.
-Barb Makela, Communications
3

november
highlights
Those who braved the heavy
Friday evening rush hour
traffic were rewarded with a
thoughtful and entertaining
program by Michael Clark,
calligraphic designer extraordinaire.
Michael was surprised
and happy to see an old
colleague at the meeting—
Charlie Hughes—and told
us how lucky we are to have
someone of Charlie's stature in
our guild.
Michael got started in calligraphy
after buying a book by
Victor Hamel, which inspired
him. German calligraphers and artists
also influenced his work. He started his
career doing utilitarian work, addressing
envelopes etc. When he developed a
bone spur that made this work difficult,
Michael made a career shift toward
design, developing logos, cards, fonts,
etc. He envisioned his career as a funnel,
entering the large end and narrowing
down his preferences and working in
a specific niche. He discovered it was
just the opposite, with many different
work options at the other end. Now he
receives more income from designing
one word than he previously got from
pages of his utilitarian calligraphy.
Michael does most of his
work by hand, but he does
use the computer–"some."
Most of his work for reproduction
is done initially on
a yellow legal-size pad. He
likes to inject some fun into
whatever work he does, but
you have to look for it.
Michael Clark and Charlie Hughes—a designer extraordinaire of our own.
Page illustrating Michael's thought process when
designing a logo..
He first creates a skeleton of
the work, building up the
design around it. He does a
lot of retouching and cut and
paste. If he makes a stroke
or a serif that he particularly
likes he will copy it, cut it out
and use it on other parts of A table full of Michael's lively and elegant lettering.
4
the piece that he is designing.
When developing and
designing Michael goes into a
zen state and lets the creativity
flow. He says that we should
do that also. Doodling with
a ruling pen helps. He thinks
that a lot of modern magazines
are sterile, poorly done, banal.
He tries to stay fresh, do
new stuff. "Every discovery
you make has an impact on
everything else you do".
Some of his favorite tools are
rather non-traditional and/
or used in an unorthodox
manner, yielding amazing results:
❧❧
The ruling pen: "I write with the
point and then fill in the thicks".
❧❧
The Speedball B #5 (round) nib, in
place of a brush: "I'm wanted in three
states for what I do with a Speedball".
❧❧
The Elegant Writer marker: he
makes a custom cut in the felt tip.
Michael has designed several fonts.
He sometimes combines calligraphy
with typefaces in his design. When he
does this, he goes for contrast. When
developing afont, he uses the software
program, Fontographer.
Some of the typefaces
Michael has created are
named after his children:
Pouty, Katytude, Pooper
Black, Sting, Frenzy,
Peanut, Sweepy, Sneaky,
Monumental.
Michael's gift to us is the
permission to be creative
"outside the box" without
being hamstrung by all the
past rules and regulations
that we've learned.
-Article by Joann Schulte
-Photos by Gary Feyen

“a m o m e n t i n t i m e ”
W o r k s h o p R e v i e w
I took this workshop because
I wanted to see Michael Clark
use the ruling pen to make bold,
contemporary letters. I certainly
got my money's worth—and
watching him use the ruling pen
to write each class member's name
was a bonus learning experience!
Michael is a very generous
instructor with his time
for individual help, his
descriptions of how he does
his work, and the many
examples of the cards
he has made over the
years—some of which
became prizes for lucky
winners.
He demonstrated how
he used the round
Speedball B nib rotated
on its edge for fine lines.
He manipulated pen, paper and
hand to get the effect he wanted.
When he worked with the
folded pen, we watched his
slow, carefully planned
downstrokes, followed by
a pause while he looked
where he would go next,
and ending with an
explosively quick upstroke.
He uses a Speedball Elegant
Writer after he has cut the
nib at an angle to give the
effect of brush lettering.
Asked about his work being
done with markers on a
legal pad as to being archival, it
only has to last from his desk to
the scanner. He might write with
dirty water and drop in colors
with a brush or he might just
scan a black and white into the
computer and use Photoshop
effects.
He drew skeleton letters with
the ruling pen and then dots
to fill in the thicks where they
should be. Sometimes his hand
circled above the paper using air
strokes to prepare before putting
the loaded pen to paper. The
splatter created by textured paper,
vibrating pen and vigorous stokes
was all part of the design. The
ruling pen might be on its
point or one of its 4 sides,
from almost vertical to
almost horizontal—it has so
many capabilities when in
the hands of a master.
I learned so much by
watching Michael draw
letters and then experiment,
all the while working
towards a finished piece. His
goal was to show us how
to use non-traditional tools to
create lettering. He achieved
that and so much more with
his humor, his humility and his
family stories that made me feel
that Michael is a person you
want to know.
-Article by Gary Feyen
Photos, top to bottom, left to right:
closeup of Michael lettering with the
cut-off Elegant Writer; closeup of
cut tip of Elegant Writer; closeup of
Michael "noodling" letters, building
up their shapes with a ruling pen;
"Season's Greetings" written with
a cut Elegant Writer; Michael with
ruling pen; "Let heaven...", written
with a Speedball B nib; composite
of names written with a ruling pen;
classmates, back to front: Gary Feyen,
Gary Berosik, Terry Kempfert; Lori
Tews, Pat Barrett, Aleksandra Streeter,
Dawn Darner, Christine Osman,
Phyllis Stratman, JoAnn Almich, and Michael
Clark. Bottom photo by Pat Barrett. Other
photos by Lori Tews.
Editor's Note: One of the goals
of the workshop was to create a
finished piece that will ultimately
become a clock. Photos of the
clocks will be featured in an
upcoming issue of the Signet.
5

MidwesT Caligraphy RetreaT
" t e s t t h e d e p t h s "
“Go into yourself and test the depths in which your life
takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the
question whether you must create.” -Rainer Maria Rilke
Join the Colleagues of Calligraphy at the first annual
Midwest Calligraphy Retreat. The dates are set, the
location is reserved, and teachers have been selected. We
are now at the exciting point of getting the content of the
classes decided!
Registration will open in February when this final piece
is worked out. Following are the specifics that you can
ponder. Be ready to put down a deposit of $100.00 so you
can secure your place.
Class assignments will be given in the order in which the
registrations are received.
WHEN? August 11-14, 2011
WHERE? Carleton College, Northfield, MN
WHO CAN COME? The retreat is open to anyone
interested in participating. Membership in Colleagues of
Lettering Tool Box
a n e w g a d g e t t o t r y
Current CoC President, Gary Berosik, sharing
a laugh with past President, Jackie Davis, at the
November meeting.
Barb Makela shared a useful tool found on the internet—a
Guideline Sheet Generator from the UK-based calligraphy
supplier, Scribblers: www.scribblers.co.uk/cgi/gridlines.pl.
You will have to enter the values you want for ascender,
body, descender, and distance between the lines – all
measured in millimeters. When printing your paper, tell
your browser to print just the first page (“Print Page 1-1”)
and set Copies to the number of sheets you want to print.
(Information reprinted from The Washington Calligraphers Guild
newsletter.)
Calligraphy is not a requirement. Cost will be the same for
all participants.
WHO WILL TEACH? Annie Cicale, Sharon Zeugin,
Laurie Doctor, and Denis Brown
WHAT WILL THEY TEACH? This will be announced in
the next newsletter
WHAT WILL IT COST?
❧ ❧$575.00 (4 full days of class, meals, and a single room)
❧ ❧$554.00 (4 full days of class, meals, and a doubleroom)
All rooms are air-conditioned.
HOW MANY CAN PARTICIPATE? Registration is
limited to 50 participants.
A full description of the retreat and a registration form will
be in the February newsletter. If you have any questions
contact Joyce Francis via email: handwrittenbyjoyce@
gmail.com.
The Missing Link
d i r e c t o r y u p d a t e s
❧❧Judith Michalski has a new email address: jamichalskicalligrapher@gmail.com;
❧❧from January 11– March 3, all contact with your
Editor will be done via email: write2lori@hotmail.com.
Cabin-Fever Cures
p r o g r a m s f o r 2 0 1 1
Exciting programs are scheduled for the New Year!
Join us Saturday, February 19th for the popular Mini
Workshops, hands on classes taught by our talented
members. On Friday, March 18th, our guest will be nationally
known calligrapher, Barbara Close. Saturday, April 16th
features letter carver, Paul Herrera, who will talk about his
studies of the Trajan Romans with Father Catich. Saturday,
May 14th will be an all-day hands-on program with guest
calligrapher, Harvest Crittenden, teaching Lombardic
Capitals.
Mark your calendars now so you don't miss any of these
great programs!
-Louise Rogers, Program Director
6

Congratulations to fellow Colleague,
Marion Greene, as she was elected
to a seat in the Minnesota House of
Representatives, representing District
60A. We are happy for you, Marion,
and wish you the very best!
To learn more about Marion and her
history of public service, you may visit
her official web site at http://www.
mariongreene.org/. Marion also has
a Facebook page that you can become
a fan of at http://www.facebook.com/
pages/Marion-Greene/145938178623.
In a note from Marion, she shared some information that
Newly-elected Representative Marion Greene.
s p o t l i g h t
may be of interest to other Colleagues:
"I just got my committee assignments
- and one of them is the Legacy
Fund Division (which has to do with
the money set aside in Minnesota's
Constitution to be spent on the arts
and the environment). My other two
committee assignments are State
Government Finance and Government
Operations & Elections. The first day of
the session is January 4th."
Kris MacDonald will have a show of
16 pieces of original art hanging at Fairview Ridges Hospital
during the month of January. Congratulations, Kris!
One Method to the Madness
Let me start off by saying that, in my opinion, reproducing
your artwork for personal use vs. reproducing your artwork
for resale purposes are similar, but different, beasts. Beasts?
Yes, "beasts", because the process can
be difficult to tame, to control, to
replicate, to predict, to master.
What I do with my lettering for resale
or design purposes is a much more
involved, technical process involving
professional software and methods
too detailed for this article. The equipment
I use includes my iMac and an
Epson scanner and printer.
Assuming the artwork is done to my .tif file
satisfaction, the first thing I do is
clean the scanner bed. The scan is typically
done at 300 dpi (dots per inch) - rarely do
I scan at a higher resolution. Depending on
the outcome I desire, I choose either color or
black and white. That's the easy part.
The "beast" part comes in now - before you've
.jpg file
done anything else. Decisions, decisions—
does the image need color correction, sharpening,
cropping, etc.? (Some of this can be done at the point
of scanning, but I like to take care of that with Photoshop
and get exactly what I want).
How will you save the image file? The file formats I use
include .tif, .jpg, .pdf, .psd, and .png. Jpg files are known as
"lossy" files, because they tend to lose information—not a
7
good thing! Remember this: photographs = jpgs. An image
with lettering and illustration (most calligraphic projects)
should preferably be saved as a .tif file.
(That being said, I've seen .tif scans that look
terrible, with the calligraphy getting all thick and
globby-looking, where the sharpness of the thicks/
thins has been lost. That's when I step in with my
other software to clean it up and create a vector
image—a mathematical rendering of my lettering
separate from the illustration—that stays precise
no matter how much I resize it).
That's it. Now "place" or "insert" it in your
document. Without explaining all the
technical stuff, it just plain works better
than copying and pasting.
Be aware that resizing your image in your
final document layout (card or other
reprint) will mess with its clarity—what I
call its integrity. It will get fuzzy and blurry
if you keep messing with its size (especially
when enlarging it—so set some guidelines
and keep your resizing to a minimum!!!
Here are a couple of examples of the same image in different
formats. Best wishes with your scanning and remember to
attend the January meeting for more information!
-Lori Tews, Editor
P.S. If you have any questions, email me at write2lori@
hotmail.com.

P.O. Box 4024
St. Paul, MN 55104
Pointed pen decoration by Gary Feyen.
Coming in January...
gary feyen
January 15 at 12:30 p.m.
“pointed pen decorated letters”
Photos, from left to right: Kris MacDonald
demonstrating Insular Minuscule, her example
which describes the hand's characteristics.