Thank you as always to the hospitality crew. The earlier setup seems to be working well. People have a chance to eat before and after the business meeting, and this does seem to provide some extra time for activities during the break and for socializing. If you have any opinions on this arrangement, please let us know.

Our fund raising projects have been very successful -- there were only a few of the eight pocket folders with note cards available, and the paper rolls disappeared in no time. The extra money from the fundraisers has enabled us to replenish the education fund. This fund makes it possible for us to present public lectures like the Marsha Brady lecture last month, and it makes it possible for us to bring more workshop activities to the Guild. Thank you again to Jill Adams for a terrific job and to all who took part in the fund raising activities.

We had two important votes at the last meeting. The first was regarding the Paul Freeman Awards. The membership voted to continue with the awards as we have done in the past. The Awards and Memorials Committee will organize the nomination of recipients when the time comes, and all that are nominated will receive a certificate of nomination. The two awards will be re-framed and will be presented to the two people voted to have served the Guild in a special way this year. If the recipient feels as if he or she has no place at home for the award, the Guild will request that it be passed on to the next nominee who would like to have it for the year. Thank you to everyone for giving this issue some thought and for coming to the meeting to cast your votes.

Our second vote was for the Spring Exhibit theme. Amazingly, "26 Letters" won the vote! Seriously, this is a special theme because it will allow us to use the same artwork in several ways. The "26 Letters" will be a newsletter cover, a poster, a mini-book, and perhaps a Jacob's ladder. The original artwork will be framed and exhibited in the spring along with the actual entries for the show. The Guild will benefit from the fundraisers financially and all those who take part in these various projects will benefit as well. There's a lot of fun to be had and I hope everyone will participate in some part of this project.

Thank you again to Susan Oaks for a fascinating and inspiring program. We have discussed and debated the value of programs that do not deal directly with calligraphy. This program is proof that all artists can inspire us and that we can all learn from each other. We have a number of workshops coming up after New Year's. At least two of these will be very moderately priced and one will be great preparation for the Spring Exhibit. There should be something for everyone. I keep saying this, but I'll say it again - we can't all take part in everything, but we should all try to participate in something. Our Guild is very fortunate to have so much to choose from. Please make an effort to take advantage of the many opportunities we have this year. The education is great; the camaraderie is even better.

And speaking of fun: It is my pleasure and honor to invite you all to the annual Holiday Pot Luck Dinner and Party on the next regular meeting date, December 2, 1999, to be held at my home (see the map on the back cover for directions and feel free to call me if you have any questions). We had a great time last year and I hope this year will be as much fun. We will repeat the sale and exhibit of members' work for members and guests. Since I haven't yet unpacked everything, there's plenty of room for this year's exhibit! There will be room for framed pieces on the walls and for smaller pieces in a display case. Remember that there is no commission to be paid on these sales, so bring your stuff! This was a very successful sale last year. Let's face it -- we love to see each other's work, and others always appreciate our work more than we do. We're all looking forward to a chance to casually view the members' art.

Also, please remember to bring a gift card or bookmark to exchange with other members. You may contribute one or more and will receive as many as you give. And, please also remember to bring a card or bookmark for the patients at Warm Springs Hospital. We hold our mini-workshops there and have donated cards and bookmarks in the past, and these have been very much appreciated. Remember whatever cards or bookmarks you contribute are to be hand made and calligraphed.

If you haven't signed up to bring food; please contact Janice Anabtawi before the meeting/dinner. And last but very definitely not least -- spouses are invited and are welcome. So be sure to have this meeting on you calendar.

Happy Holidays and my best wishes to all for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!

.................................................................................................Leslie

Early Bird

Officially resumes in January - consider yourself a December Early Bird if you come early with artwork/items for the members' sale & exhibit.

December Program

We have discovered over the years that we LOVE letters and calligraphy AND we LOVE to eat. The December meeting "program" is our holiday potluck dinner and gives members an opportunity to bring their favorite dish and socialize.

This is also a good time to brush up on your calligraphy. Make a holiday card or bookmark -- it's your choice -- to exchange. You will leave with a new bookmark or a special holiday card to remember the occasion.

We also like to remember the patients at Warm Springs during the holidays. While you are making your bookmark or card for the exchange, make an extra one or two and we will deliver them to the hospital. The staff members put them on the patient's trays and our handmade treasures are very much appreciated. This is one of the ways we say "thanks" to Warm Springs for sharing their facilities with us for our mini-workshops.

MINI-WORKSHOPS FOR '99-'00
continue in January with Pointed Brush Lettering
by Barbara Gere,

a complete supply list will appear in the January issue of Flourishes.

There are a few openings, sign up with Gayle Venticinque. If you need to cancel let Gayle know so she can contact someone to fill your slot.

December Birthdays

12/4/99 --Mavis Caudill
12/5/99 -- Janice O'Neill
12/5/99 -- Helen Rasplicka
12/11/99 -- Pat Price
12/18/99 -- Donna Livingston
12/19/99 -- Hanni "Jane" Thomas
12/20/99 -- Rose Gonzales
12/28/99 Francene L. Smith

Thinking of Members

Our condolences go to Kaye Yarbrough on the passing of her brother. We continue to remember and pray for B. J. Nichol for a speedy recovery. B.J. sent a thank you via e-mail to everyone at the Textura workshop to express her appreciation for the wonderful card. She also included a rubber stamper holiday poem -- see it below and enjoy. Bonnie Houser is still undergoing her radiation treatments. Donna Livingston is doing better; she was having difficulty with her hand! That is bad news for a calligrapher! She sent an e-mail to Pavasa that she is doing better. Happy, healthy holidays to all!

Rubber stamper holiday poem,
to the tune of "Winter Wonderland."
Happy holidays to all our stampers!

Rubber calls... are you listening?
Glitter falls ... bright and glistening...
We're happy tonight,
Our stamping future's bright...
Wading through our Rubber Wonderland.

In the craft room we can stamp a snow card,
Send it through the mail to a friend;
They'll say did you make it, we'll say "Yeah, man"...
And you can stamp one too, yes, you can!

Later on, we'll conspire,
As we sit by the fire,
To face unafraid the mess that we made
Wading through our Rubber Wonderland.

26 Letters -- April 3 to May 1

Maggie announced some important dates at our November meeting. Write them in your 2000 calendar, put on your creative thinking cap, pull out the tools in your studio and create your interpretation of "26 Letters" for the Spring Exhibit. At the October meeting, Maggie pointed out several possibilities for executing "26 Letters" -- a personal letter written to someone, letters in a collage format or some other multi media combination, or feature a single letter. Any traditional piece submitted with words would qualify under the theme of "26 Letters."

Turn-in date -- Mon., April 3
Reception date -- evening of Fri., April 7
Location: Ventana Gallery
Take-down date -- Mon., May 1

Let's make our creative mark on 2000 with a spectacular exhibit.

DP for Maggie

26 Letters -- The Poster

Bonnie Houser explained the "26 Letters" poster at the November meeting with the assistance of Vanna White aka Shirley Ginn. This is a reminder that your finished artwork/letter is due on Monday, January 10, 2000. Guidelines and considerations were printed on bright yellow paper and given to all the scribes who will be working on this project. Call Bonnie or Darla if you have ANY questions, we're here to help you.

This is a very exciting (and HUGE) project for SACG and I'm looking forward to admiring the finished product.

Darla Peek

M e l t i n g Letterforms into Composition with Maggie Gillikin

Sat. & Sun., January 15 & 16 Discovery School -- 222 Salem Dr.

Maggie is sharing her talent and knowledge with us on Melting Letterforms into Composition for two reasons. This weekend workshop will provide members with an opportunity to get a piece ready for the Spring Exhibit (sneaky isn't she?) and all the tuition will help defray travel expense for Reggie in 2001 (and she's got a generous heart). If you are interested in this special weekend workshop with Maggie, sign up with Joan Schmitz. The cost is $20 each day or a total of $40 for both days. She recommends that you come both days, if you are only available for one day -- come and have fun!

Maggie wants you to be successful; she suggests the following supply list:

Pens & nibs that you like
Also brushes -- so letters can be made small & large Gouache
Watercolors -- colors that you like
2 sheets 90 lb. watercolor paper
Large water container (cottage cheese container or bigger)
Sponge, rags or paper towels (for clean up)
1 large flat (1" or larger) watercolor brush
Watercolor brushes that you like
Any other papers that you like

Bring a poem, quote or passage that you would like to use on your pieces. You may want to bring various coppers, golds, or silvers à gouache, composition, or real.

Special Note: Do NOT buy brushes -- Maggie has tons for you to borrow.

A Call for Holiday Cards

I'm dreaming of a write Christmas and lots of holiday cards. If you design and calligraph your holiday card this year, please bring one to me at the December meeting or send one to me during December. We'll share them with SACG in the February 2000 issue of Flourishes.

Markers, pencils, and pens (be they nibs, be they quills),
Baby-wipes, also towels and rags for the spills,
(Do keep your gouache in a traveling palette You can make when you empty a pocket paint-set),
Film-holders of plastic to keep water in,
And Pigma or two to make lines that are thin,
Scissors, ruler, and glue-stick, erasers also,
And a hard-covered sketchbook among them should go.
Pan-gold, eyedrop-bottle, hand-cleaner, and brush,
And, though on the road, your equipment is plush.
Add a box of the type to hold baubles and beads,
And zip-locks a-plenty should meet all your needs
Add a pen-knife and whetstone, a large make-up case -
And now all of the world is your scribal home-base!

Yours for better letters,
Kate Gladstone - Handwriting Repair

Submitted by Pavasa from Cyberscribes.

Saint John's Bible

The Saint John's Bible will be the first handwritten, illuminated Bible in the modern era. It will be created by scribes in a scriptorium in Wales under the artistic direction of Donald Jackson, one of the world's foremost calligraphers and the Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords.

The Saint John's Bible will incorporate many of the characteristics of its medieval predecessors: it will be written on vellum using quills, natural handmade inks, hand-ground pigments and gild such as gold leaf. And yet, it will employ a modern English translation as well as contemporary scripts and illumination.

This Bible affirms Saint John's commitment to the study of scripture and to the book arts, and will be a source of great spiritual, educational and artistic vitality for the modern world.

A copy of the first page can be seen at the St. John's web site: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org

The 20th International Conference

E X P E R I M E N T

July 29 -- August 5, 2000
Sonoma State University
Rohnert Park, California
A Friends of Calligraphy Event

"Concepts in Calligraphy"

This sounds like an interesting calligraphy conference sponsored by the Friends of Calligraphy. If you visit their website at http://www.calligraph.com/experiment you will get an overview of what they are organizing. The faculty reads like the Who's Who of Calligraphy; you will recognize many of the instructor's names. The registration cost was not posted when I checked the site. DP

Questions? E-mail Marcia Friedman, Director at: visual@microweb.com

GREETINGS to all the Cyberscribes who contacted me for information about pochoir techniques, which I have now prepared as an e-mail file. I have rewritten the information that I had at the PenUltima conference in an attempt to clarify the process for those who were not able to see a demo or examples.

If I come to your guild to give a workshop, I would be happy to do a hands-on demo of this process as an evening presentation. Would your guild like a copy of my teaching brochure? Eight 2-day workshops for calligraphers of all levels. Let's get together!

Posted on Cyberscribes on August 6, 1999. Feel free to contact me with comments & questions.

Lindley McDougall
Arbor Studio Press
arbor@cadvision.com

POCHOIR TECHNIQUES

Pochoir (po-shwar) is a French word meaning stencil. This process can be used either with stencils to make illustration or letters, or without stencils to make a softly brushed background. In either case, the effect is similar to airbrushed inks.

ARTISTS' OIL PAINT STICKS are a solid paint medium in stick form. They are not the same as oil pastels, which remain smeary till Doomsday. Oil paint stick dries to a fadeproof, stable, flexible surface within 24-48 hours after application. No further fixing or sealing is required, and you can easily write over the surface with gouache in pen or brush.

The oil paint sticks I use are Shiva brand, professional quality. I bought a set of 12 colours for about $70 Canadian. There is also a student grade set for about $50, and there is a wider range of colours available in open stock.

The sticks are about 6 inches long, 3/4 inch diameter and partly wrapped, like a crayon, in a paper tube. They are "self-sealing", meaning that the top skins over and must be wiped off before each use. Gently screw the end of each stick into a wad of paper towel and twist back and forth to rub off the scab. You do not want flecks of scab to end up on your palette.

PREPARE THE PALLETTE on a piece of smooth glass or Plexiglas. For each colour that you will be using, smear some paint onto an area of the palette by scribbling the paint stick around and around. Make the colour smear about the size of an egg yolk with clean glass around it the size of the egg white (as in a poached egg). On an 8x8 inch piece of glass, I usually put 4 colours. I put light & dark colours on separate pieces of glass.

PICK UP THE COLOUR on a clean shaving brush, or similar stiffish, voluminous brush. I bought cheap shaving brushes for $1 each and use one for each colour. Scumble the brush around on the colour smear, using short multi-directional strokes and squashing it around and around. For light colours (yellow), pick up the whole smear; for darker colours, load more lightly.

STROKE OFF THE BRUSH by scumbling on a dump sheet to get rid of coarse marks, and check the brush for loose hairs.

APPLY THE COLOUR to your design piece using the same circular, short, random strokes for the subtlest effect. Apply lightest colour first and then layer over and around light areas with darker or more intense shades. Experiment with blending and overlaying. You can create a lovely simple sky effect just with pthalo blue on a white paper, making delicate clouds appear in the negative shapes.

For complex colour layering, you might have to let the work dry (at least 24 hours) between each series of applications to avoid smearing of underlayers.

STENCILS can be cut out of translucent Mylar and taped or held firmly in place. I have made illustrations and letters cut out of Mylar with an X-acto knife. Some designs call for several layers of stencils that can be registered by eye or by registration marks. It is probably a good idea to let the work dry 24 hours between layers, but if you work carefully you can proceed without interruption.

MAKEUP SPONGE BRUSHES, with little plastic handles and sponge tips about the size of your fingernail, are sold in packs of 12 for under $5. These make ideal applicators for the smaller amounts of paint that are needed for most of the stencils I have made. You can manipulate them quite gently into the delicate areas of the stencil. Load them with a circular motion; stroke off until the mark looks smooth & sweet.

If you haven't cut stencils or worked with stencils before, allow yourself some time to get used to the pitfalls of stencil hell. Coloured spaces look smaller, bridges look larger on the finished work than on the template. Leave enough margin around the design area that you don't have paint medium going over the edge. Store uncut Mylar flat, not rolled, as it may never lie flat if it has been rolled too long. Don't hurt yourself with the scalpel.

CLEAN UP the brushes & applicators with good quality laundry soap within 3 or 4 hours of use. I use Sunlight laundry soap; a solid yellow bar that is meant for rubbing on ring-around-the-collar and is effective against many greasy stains. If it is not available where you live, look for a product that claims to break down stubborn oil-based grime.

CANOLA OIL or other vegetable oil will also loosen the oily residue on your tools and you can then wash them with liquid dish detergent. If you forget to clean up within a few hours, you might have to use Varsol or similar solvent instead.

CLEAN THE PALETTE by wiping with dry paper towel or newspaper to get as much residue as you can, then wash like a plate. Clean your Mylar stencils frequently as you work, wiping them with a soft cloth or tissue while the paint is still soft.

HAVE FUN!!!!

(Francene Smith shared this fascinating information with members who had e-mail this summer. I thought other Guild members might find it interesting, too. DP)

Studio Tips

* Make sure you are following the correct ductus ... that means "sequence of the strokes." Have the paper directly in front of you, always move the paper, so you don't have to reach to write. Know the basic structure of the alphabet. Relax; get rid of the death grip on the writing tool. Always pull the letters with arm movements. Don't write with your fingers! You should be able to create each letter of an alphabet without looking at the exemplar.

Marsha Brady's Basic Tips on Writing, SCRITTORE

* Make those "decorated" letters that seem so difficult by simply laying down a strip of correction tape, lettering the name, then pulling up the tape. Fill in the space left in each letter with a design.

Cheryl Adams, SIGNET, Colleagues of Calligraphy

Reminder --

We still have a few of the
Heartstrings Calendars for sale
at $6.50 each (includes tax),
contact Thea Moore at 824-8828.
Great for Christmas gifts and . . .
as a gift to yourself.

Photos on the Web

If you have access to the Internet, go to the Flourishes website and admire the photos of Susan Oaks textile vessels. If you missed the November meeting, this will give you a chance to see a sample of Oaks' artistry in a couple of her pieces.
http://www.axs4u.net/home/inksmith/photos.htm

***

The deadline for January Flourishes is Thursday, December 2 -- the night of the December meeting. If your copy of Flourishes arrives late, damaged or not at all -- please call Mavis Caudill, she has extras until the next meeting, then they go to Jill Adams, Membership Chairperson.

Angels Among Us

Denise Adler has created a collection of angels, unique gifts and doll clothes for 18" American Girl(TM) dolls. For more information, visit her website at http://Homepages.msn.com/commercialst/angelworksrc and see her collection. Denise is also making the rounds of a few holiday bazaars. If you are interested in seeing her collection in person, call Denise or contact her via e-mail at Dusty-Too@msn.com to get the details on her latest schedule. Her new company is called River City Angel Works. It works for me!

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