A Letter A Week 2010

Last post for 2010

2011-02-08T14:46:00.003+10:00

Here, at last is my second alphabet assembled as a final piece. I had fun deciding which book structure I would use, but settled on a double-accordion so it would stand up by itself. Also had lots of fun choosing colour backgrounds for each letter! I wanted the colour element to be 'over the top'!
I kept the cover and the background accordion black so that when it is opened you are hit by an explosion of colour. Hope you like it!
Now to move on to 2011 - looking forward to the challenge.
Cheers
Linda U.

Marg's Second Alphabet Finished

2011-01-15T16:01:00.003+10:00

Not sure if this is cheating! I drew the letters in sand and then manipulated them in Photoshop and deposited them on a different beach, also in Photoshop.

Used camera and computer only.

Elaine's second alphabet final piece

2011-01-13T09:13:00.001+10:00

Right from the beginning I had decided on a wall hanging as the finished piece. As you would have noticed from the monthly photos, the squares were attached to a backing fabric which was the base for the hanging. I couldn’t be sure, until the end, that the colours and decoration would work together as a whole, but I am really pleased with the way it turned out

As the work progressed it seemed to assume an Asian influence and not just because of the kimono fabric I had used, but also because of the nature of the triangular-shaped letters. I added the bamboo rod at the top to enhance this feeling. I really enjoyed working with the beautifully patterned fabrics.

Alphabet 2 - Fiona's finished piece

2011-01-08T11:25:00.000+10:00

I have decided that the best way for this project to work for me is to have the finished product in mind before I begin; and to try to build it up gradually as I go along. With the first alphabet I had no idea how to present the letters in a finished piece and took weeks after completion to come up with a solution.

This time I had a purpose - I planned to use the book as an exemplar when teaching my heartbeat script. I knew I wanted to use a concertina form and then set off, gradually adding letters to the book as they were finished.

Once I had attached all the letters, I then pondered for a while how I would complete the book. In the end I chose to maintain the concertina; but to contain the exuberance of the book by creating covers and 'tapes' that could be threaded thru some stitching to hold it together for most of the time. I also thought it needed a slip case, so covered one in nice rusted paper.

The book can be held in the hand and the pages turned; or it can be fanned out as a concertina. I like the flexibility.

Second alphabet presentation

2011-01-04T16:34:00.002+10:00

This alphabet was always going to be on black and in a book form. I am no bookbinder! :-D I am looking forward to ALAW 2011!

Elaine's last letter...

2011-01-03T13:05:00.000+10:00

I had finished the Z and its coloured squares just before my family arrived a week ago from Switzerland for a 2 week stay. Needless to say I haven’t had much time, but here they are now and I hope to finish off the 2nd alphabet, as a wall hanging, soon.

The Z row came together very quickly, the small shells just seemed the right decorations for one square and highlighting the flowers with simple embroidery on the other seemed to be all that was necessary.

A very big thank you Fiona for all that you have done, especially posting my work every month. I appreciate it very much! I am looking forward to continuing, many ideas are racing around in my head!

Fin de l'alphabet

2011-01-02T23:39:00.000+10:00

Bonjour,

Oui, je sais, je suis carrément en retard pour les lettres du mois de décembre... Je vous présente mes excuses pour mon retard mais cela arrive parce que tout ne fonctionne pas toujours comme on voudrait, parfois, dans la vie...

Yes, I know, I'm totally late for letters of December ... I offer my apologies for being late, but it happens because everything does not always work as we want, sometimes in life ...

Donc je vous mets toute la fin de l'alphabet. J'ai continué les petits carrés à l'intérieur des petites pages, avec une grande lettre "dans le carré, et une composition de l'alphabet dans la page...

So I put all the end of the alphabet. I kept the small squares inside the small pages, with a large letter "in the square, and a composition of the alphabet in the page ...

Et voilà, je n'ai plus qu'à relier mes pages pour obtenir un album... C'était un peu long... mais finalement intéressant de mener un projet au long cours...

And now, I can only link my pages to get an album ... It was a little long ... but ultimately interesting to conduct a long-term project ...

Je vous remercie toutes et tous pour avoir partagé et montré tant de merveilles, tant d'idées (j'ai mis de côté des idées à essayer grâce à vous) et un énorme merci à Fiona d'avoir géré ce projet de main de maître. Je vous remercie aussi de votre accueil.

Thank you all for sharing and found so many wonders, both ideas (I put aside ideas to try thanks to you) and a huge thank you to Fiona have managed this project masterfully . I also thank you for your welcome.

Bonne journée
Good day

Wait for me ...

2011-01-02T18:42:00.022+10:00

Hi, I'm still here -although a little late. I had planned to have it all on the blog by December 31 2010, but my husband is a social butterfly and can't resist feeding people. Hence the lack of free time over the Christmas/New Year break.

This has been bubbling away in my mind for months, but with trying to get WordsWork into production, printed and sent to all our contributors and ASC members before Christmas, it has been simmering on the back boiler. Not to mentions Colophon ...

... so, this alphabet is done on the canvas I have been using all 2010 for various projects. The original idea was a 1.8 metre square stretched canvas - but who's got space for one of those!
For this project I have taken some of the bits already painted on, and applied more letters and splatters.

Then cut two strips off the edge, 7cm high. These were sewn together at the end and then the whole strip was concertina folded and sewn like a section sewn book at the spine.

After sewing the spine I then applied the letters using a brush - one to each 'page' of my rag book.

And, voila, here is my second little book!

See you in the next blog! (Hopefully on time.)

Meg

A little bit of information...

2011-01-02T17:38:00.000+10:00

Hi all

This blog will continue to exist into 2011, as we post our final pieces and keep all the work from 2010 here. As we finish our last letters, and finalise our pieces, please continue to post them here.

We have started again for 2011 - and over here is where we'll be posting all our new stuff. So stay connected to the two for a while; interesting bibs and bobs will appear both here and there!

Go well, Fiona

Kim Schoenberger - XYZ

2011-01-01T20:14:00.007+10:00

It was like fast and furious to get all these letters finished today and posted! Seeing the third alphabet for ALaW 2011 starts this Monday. So, simple and sweet to wrap things up.

I chose to use my most favourite piece in this alphabet to finish the last two letters using that technique with clay inlay. It happens to be 'P' -dots created by the pointy end of a stick, well, a pencil really.

XYZ - Techniques...

X - Inlay - with red porcelain slip
Y - Freehand marking - with red porcelain slip inlay
Z - Carving
(The image is a tad small, to see the detail you can enlarge it by clicking on the image.)

X - Inlay with red porcelain slip
Transfered the letter lightly onto the clay tile using the transfer paper, then X marks the spot, dots with the pencil. Filled with red porcelain slip, left to dry a little....

...and once touch dry - fast tracking here (it is usually left to dry then sanded) I've used a turning tool to scrap back the slip to reveal the red porcelain slip clay inlay. I will sand when dry to sharpen up the final result.

Y - Freehand marking with red porcelain slip inlay

All my letters to date have been previously marked onto the clay via transfering paper, this time I've loosened up and drawn the letter Y and border freehand with a pencil deeply imprinting the clay tile. The dots are undertaken the same method as with X; clay slip inlay.

All cleaned up looking like a pink polka dot dress! Although once fired the slip will turn red.

Last but not least Z.... I decided to end my alphabet using the same technique that I started the alphabet with, (with the letter 'A') by method of Carving.

Z - Carving

YAY! All done, now all I have to do is -bisque fire them - glaze them - and fire them to 1300*
Stay posted to see the final result....

Kim Schoenberger - UVW

2011-01-01T19:59:00.006+10:00

Two posts coming up for my last 5 letters for ALaW 2010, somewhat overdue! 5 weeks to be exact, but who's counting. :-/

UVW - Techniques...

U - Woodcut Print - with black underglaze
V - Negative Print - with red porcelain slip
W - Negative carving - with black underglaze (Reverse to V)

Method of making...

U - Woodcut Print with black underglaze
I've been at this one to conquer for sometime now, with each attempt amounting to dissapointment. And you could say that it was U that held up progress (plus xmas, new year etc...) to completing my ALaW in time. Not wanting it to get the better of me, I left it until I had optimine time to devote 100% head space to retry.

My adjustments I needed to re-address were (and many).

The initial carving needed to be deeper, so off to buy real (sharp) woodcut tools!
Always remember to carve your letter backwards, just as well the first attempt was a fizzer (and on a test tile).
Re-adjust the thinking to clay and not paper as in the workshop, of course Kim...this should have been your first thought, huh.
Using black underglaze (not ink) resulted in different tackiness, well no tackiness at all actually. Hence the printing ink roller was not suitable, out with the sponge roller, a test run, and wolla, yay, as easy as that!

The techniques for the next two letters are taken from this idea of the woodcut print process, minus or adding some steps to suit the clay.

V - Negative Print with red porcelain slip
Instead of carving into wood I've carved deeply and directly into the clay with a carving tool. Then with a sponge roller loaded with red porcleain slip, I've rolled over the clay tile to print a negative letter V. Being careful not to get any slip into the carved letter, as in the ink printing method.

W - Negative carving with black underglaze
Reverse to V - Instead of carving the letter first I carved it last. Using the sponge roller again, this time loaded with black underglaze I've rolled over the whole tile completely covering it with black. When touch dry I've transfered the letter W into the clay tile (gently) to make an imprint, then carved the letter and border.

2011-01-01T18:45:00.002+10:00

Well, have seen others saying they were last, but here I am January 1 and posting my final letters. They were created in 2010! I have enjoyed working with this alphabet, and especially playing with the backgrounds. Presentation will be next. Am looking forward to ALAW 2011.

Mieke's finished piece.

2011-01-01T18:34:00.003+10:00

Not very clear, sorry it's better in the real!

Here is my second completed alphabet. Tiles mounted on a piece of white washed pine.
A big thank you to Fiona for keeping it all together and having the courage to do another year, looking forward to see all the new ideas.

Letters in Flight

2011-01-01T17:33:00.000+10:00

At the very start of the second alphabet I decided that I would use the letters to create a flock of birds in flight or for the purposes of ALaW 2010 it would be titled Letters in Flight. So I turned each of the 26 letters into a small bird by creasing the letter on the diagonal and then creating wings and a beak and sometimes a tail. So below are the 26 birds.

So below are a few shots of the finished flock in flight.

Barry Smith© Flight of Letters

It has been quite a hard piece to photograph - in 'the flesh' it does come together better - it needs space and you need to be able to walk around it on a plinth.

Happy New Year 2 all.

2011-01-01T14:13:00.002+10:00

A very happy new year to all and looking forward to my new idea for 2011. These new ideas sit wonderfully in the mind but getting them to work on paper is sometimes a little more difficult. Fingers crossed....
After completing all the letters of my second Alphabet I have assembled them to form a rectangular prism with a lid. 6 pieces down each side and 1 on each end.
I have made it out of picture mounting [found it to be a nice medium to work with] and after scoring the sides to make the corners sharp right angles,I then placed it over a table leg to secure the join. A little tricky and one of those times one needs a third hand.
Do hope you like it. AnnS.

4 more letters

2011-01-01T14:07:00.002+10:00

The following finished piece doesn't show the embossing very clearly so have added 4 more letters. Ann S.

Just Made It ....

2010-12-31T17:43:00.003+10:00

Phew ....
Looks like I might be the last one through the door ....
This is my second lot of letters for the year ....
Small shallow square bowls - made from paperclay and decorated with Cobalt and glazed with a clear crawling glaze .... will think of some way to mount them for display ... but here thay are at last .

and finally - congratulations to all you bloggers for being so creative witth your letters - and to Fiona for coordinating the blog - and putting up with us late-comers !!!!
Looking forward to the 2011 posts ...
Happy New Year everybody ...
cheers - Ken

Jane's final piece - alphabet 2

2010-12-31T17:06:00.000+10:00

I have been slack and forgot to post these photos - apologies Jane!

I wanted to go ahead and send these, along with my thanks for a wonderful challenge! I enjoyed it so much and I'm very excited for the next one!
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and all the best to you and yours in 2011.

Jane

Fiona's December letters

2010-12-31T12:49:00.000+10:00

Well I figure that it still counts if you get your December letters in on the last day of December - phew, that was close!

I finished my last letter for alphabet 2 yesterday and am happy to show you where I've gotten to.

W with silver pen running stitches in three curves.

X has pencil dots outlining the white parts

Y has a couple of silver Xs to mark the beginning and ending of the journey

Z highlights the beautiful swirls in the background paper.

My finished piece is progressing - not finished yet - but this is how it currently looks. Still a fair bit of work to go, thinking through how to present (and contain!) it. The plan is for it to be an exemplar when I teach my heartbeat script.

THANKS, FIONA

2010-12-30T18:30:00.000+10:00

Hi to all ALAW participants. It's Noela here.
I hope the festive season has left everyone happy and contented and ready for new challenges.
Before the year officially ends, I'd like to say a great big sincere and loving THANK YOU to Fiona for organising, motivating, posting, and even publishing to 'hard copy' our efforts and attempts at such a wide range of letters throughout the year.

Here she is, stitching and drawing into her beautiful rust dyed braille paper. I hope we can do her proud and continue this fabulous journey next year.

Love to all, Noela

Sue's second alphabet

2010-12-29T14:56:00.000+10:00

Seasons Greetings to you and all who belong to ALAW. I won't even try to explain why I am SOOO late with this alphabet BUT wish to apologise to you and the others in the Group. At least I finished before the 31 December 2010!!

For these letters I used a Pilot Parallel Pen 3.8mm and black Acrylic Ink and slick thick paper or light-wight card. They are based on the Batarde Capitals with my own variations. Any comments would be welcome. I hope I will be allowed to do the 2011 letters. Warm regards, Sue in South Africa

Last 9 letters for 2010

2010-12-28T18:10:00.000+10:00

Over the last week I have had to do some catch up with ALAW. Today I managed to finish the last five letters. However I did not post my letters for last month so I am posting 9 letters today.

Today I have also managed to bend all the letters into their bird shape so hopefully over the next couple of days I will be able to construct my flight of letters piece. It has been good to see so many people getting their letters in and amazing to see the colours, shapes and variety of approaches to the second alphabet.

Step 1 of my Second Alphabet

2010-12-22T20:54:00.002+10:00

As all my letters are of the same style I will share with you my procedure. I embossed the letter three times then giving the back ground a very pale wash of pink before painting in the flowers. On completion these were then adhered to picture mounting board which I had made into a rectangular prism. "A" on the lid through to "Z" to the base. Do hope you enjoy the finished piece. Ann.

a letter a week 2011

2010-12-20T14:35:00.000+10:00

Well folks we seem to have enough people interested in participating again or in joining in so we have set up another blog for a letter a week 2011.

If you are interested in joining, please let me know and we'll get you started!

There's really only one major rule change for next year...you can do what you like for one alphabet, but ONE alphabet has to meet the criterion "black and white and a touch of..."

Looking forward to seeing what happens next...

last 2 letters

2010-12-17T21:58:00.002+10:00

Well that makes 26. Now to see how they all go together as a whole piece - this is the big challenge!
Have a lovely christmas break and I'll be back for the ALAW 2011!
Cheers
Linda

ALaW - journal publication!

2010-12-17T20:01:00.000+10:00

I recently wrote an article about ALaW for the Australian Society of Calligraphers' journal "Colophon": which they published this month.

Thanks to everybody who sent me thru high quality and high resolution images of their completed, first alphabets, we have received a fabulous four page, colour spread and story about A Letter a Week 2010. We even go the back cover shot as well (congratulations Ken)!!

I was so thrilled when I opened up my copy - the images look so great and there is a real sense of joy in the photos.

Here are some images of the spread and cover shot. A big thank you to Linda and Meg who did a fabulous job produced the article and the journal.

JGR Final Letters

2010-12-17T10:51:00.003+10:00

Ta-Da! Here are my last two letters of alphabet #2. It's hard to believe how fast this year has gone! This one began with a hand painted background which I drew squiggles on, then scanned into PhotoShop and played with the letters, it's a somewhat modern abstract approach.

Believe it or not this one is the same background using the mode settings to give a different look, I overlapped it to get a 'colorful chaos' vibe. I've had a blast and learned so much with this challenge. Many thanks to Fiona and all the other talented calligraphers for your inspiration! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the best to each of you in 2011.

Final three +Melbourne Cup creation as Grand Finale

2010-12-14T10:10:00.003+10:00

The last three are more subtle so you need to search the final creation to find them.
There are more photos of the hat being worn on my blog. The image of this hat was born after the first few letters were made. I want to thank alaw for stretching me this way and that and taking this visual artist on the alphabet journey.

JGR-December

2010-12-13T23:44:00.004+10:00

Here are my letters for December . . .
well four of the six,
I have the last two left to finish but I will use a different technique for those.
The these were done by bleach painting in a 'dry brush' manner on a dyed and rubber stamped background.
Happy December everyone!

Fiona's November letters plus

2010-12-11T18:22:00.000+10:00

I have generally been posting 4 letters for each month and merrily continuing along my way. What I realised last night of course is that 4 letters for every month means only 48 letters; so I need to catch up and post a few where there were 5 weeks in a month or something, so that I can complete my 52 for the year.

I am continuing to stitch my 'heartbeat' script onto rusted braille paper - in readiness for a sampler book that I can use to teach my heartbeat script next year.

So here are my latest 6 letters, leaving me only December's 4 to post at the end of the year. Phew. I still have to 'do' December's letters as well, but one thing at a time I reckon! And then of course, the book to make!

Q: an outline letter, with circles referencing the braille punched out

R: a lovely letter, with groupings of braille dots and general background shapes outlined in pencil

S: such a light and flight letter, I felt it needed grounding with horizontal bars at the bottom

T: a strong letter, with woodburning tool square 'branding' in the background

U: some tiny cut-out triangles folded back as embellishment

V: this is a lovely letter, with off set square and rectangle running stitch in lead pencil as a backdrop

Heather's alphabet complete!

2010-12-09T09:57:00.001+10:00

Heather's Spencerian alphabet in a box...

Elaine's kimono letters continue

2010-12-08T20:42:00.000+10:00

I think I was a few letters behind and now I am a few letters ahead!

Searching through my bag of ‘bits and pieces’, to find embellishments, has been fun too. This time I have added a silk flower, a beads and some fine cord.

Out of the woods!

2010-12-08T02:13:00.002+10:00

The final Woodland letters. Now to put them together nicely.

More characters found in the woods

2010-12-07T14:57:00.003+10:00

Here's P through T. It was challenging to find the letters naturally. A few had to be created. I did not think of photographing the end of a log for "O", but I am happy with the "O" wreath from my earlier post.

Into the woods again

2010-12-07T02:20:00.002+10:00

Time to catch up! And I finally figured out how to put them is the correct order.

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T18:14:00.002+10:00

The last of my alphabet finally!

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T18:10:00.001+10:00

Almost there!!

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T18:08:00.002+10:00

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T17:56:00.002+10:00

It is amazing what can be achieved when I get a few days to myself!!

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T17:51:00.003+10:00

I Love Letters in the Sand by Marg

2010-12-06T17:42:00.002+10:00

I Love Letter in the Sand is the name of my second alphabet. I wrote these letters late in the day in the sand. The shadows were fantastic. Then I played in Photoshop (a first for me!)

Kim Schoenberger - T

2010-12-04T17:58:00.004+10:00

Being totally focused on preparations for my next exhibition and the extremely wet weather, I am now seriously lagging behind. We're already into December and I haven't finished the November letters... eeek, starting to feel a little under pressure. Especially now I am seeing everyone posting the last lot of letters up to Z!!!!

T - Carving

Seeing all the common techniques I am familiar with have been used, I'm starting to use the same techniques in previous letters in a different manner, thinking outside the norm if practically possible.

Here I'm carving the clay out around the letter to create a three dimensional 'T', much more challenging than the A and N, where A I carved directly around the outline and N carved within the outline resulting a negative letter.

Sanded and ready for bisque.

Jeanette's Alphabet 2

2010-12-04T10:14:00.003+10:00

This is my second alphabet, finished in a hurry so I can go on holidays. It is derived from texts from the 7^th and 8^th centuries, the Book of Kells and the Vespasian Psalter. I have really enjoyed this project and hope it can continue next year in some form. Thank you for the opportunity to be involved.

December letters

2010-12-04T07:09:00.003+10:00

Nearly there. Only 2 more to do then alphabet complete. This time the order is X, W, V, U. I love the colours in X.
Have a great Christmas break.
Linda

woops forgot to send in my november letters

2010-12-04T07:01:00.003+10:00

Here, belatedly, are my letters for November. December's will follow shortly. I have to work out how to display them now - a nice project for the Christmas holidays. letter order is R, T S Q. I haven't worked out how to post them alphabetically!
Cheers to all. Linda

The last 5 from Mieke.

2010-12-03T18:52:00.001+10:00

The final 5.

V-Vanilla

W-Watermelon

X-Xiqua (An edible fruit that looks similar to a watermelon, only shorter in size. The word xigua is Chinese.
Y-yellow berry (an alpine or sub-Arctic species of Rubus, known for its amber-colored edible fruit.
Z-zucchini (oops forgot 1c)

interrupted lines:

2010-12-03T09:33:00.003+10:00

Eventhough time has been minimal, creating these silky overlays has given me a small surge of creative energy.... which I need to keep me going these days. Then there is always the catching up with friends and family to take me through to the new year. May all my new alaw friends have a safe and holy Christmas....stay strong in your practice, and may we always create! Christine

HEATHERS LAST SPENCERIAN FLING

2010-12-02T20:15:00.000+10:00

Last letters done in a rush as we are having an exhibition just after Christmas and I will put my finished box on show. Lesson learned from first alphabet - this is a transportable, light, easy -to- photograph affair in a box I found at our local Vinnies. Picture to follow when completed.

ALAW has been such fun and it has been a delight to see how creative everyone is. A very Happy Christmas and New Year fellow letterers. Looking forward to seeing your finished masterpieces.
Heather

Helen's second alphabet

2010-11-26T19:48:00.000+10:00

At long last I am nearing completion of my second alphabet. It is in the form of a concetina book with pop outs and is titled "being other than letters".

Seeing Fiona's braille backgrounds, set me to thinking of all the ways letters/ideas can be transmitted other than by an actual letter of the alphabet. Sorting through a lot of candidates, I settled on 3 of what I thought have been the most commonly used - Braille, Morse Code and Naval pennants. Technology in the future will probably render all of these obsolete.

I hope to overlay the background of these pages with hand-drawn beautiful letters to accentuate the difference between mechanical methods and the beauty and art of shapes drawn by the human hand. As time is going quickly that may have to be another book. As a shortcut, and as I love embossing, I have embossed different styles of letters into the page.

NOELA'S WEEK 21

2010-11-24T20:28:00.000+10:00

...the spine with woven embroidery thread binding and black paper tapes.

JGR November

2010-11-21T00:56:00.006+10:00

Digital lettering again: Painted the background with acrylics using bright colors and bold strokes for texture.

Scanned into PhotoShop and added letters with drop shadow for depth.
Adjusted opacity settings to get some background peeking through. The texture is bold in some places and subtle in others.
Placement of letters is random.
Thank you for viewing! Have a great weekend.

NOVEMBER from Mieke.

2010-11-20T18:58:00.000+10:00

Quince-Rambutan-Oops...Stawberry-Tomato-Ugly fruit.

NOELA'S WEEK 20

2010-11-19T17:18:00.000+10:00

Finished book with front cover

negative and positive

2010-11-16T06:14:00.003+10:00

I could not help mixing up the soy fibres with bleached cotton for added flavour. I can't wait to put the letters together for the final presentation. The hat is shaping up in the mind more clearly now.

2010-11-15T20:38:00.003+10:00

Here are my next two letters. I put a little bit of orange and some yellow in the background colours of the "T" and I really like it! I am finding these letters look better on a dark background.

Behind the Q ball

2010-11-13T18:14:00.000+10:00

I talked to Fiona about where I should be up to in my letters and she said Q - so I was 5 letters behind and so have had to do five letters this week. So there they are below.

Barry Smith © M-Q ALAW

I still have to fold the letters yet into their 'bird form'. I thought I'd test to see how the bird forms would look on the wires and rusted iron wedge. The photo below shows a test run of Letters in Flight.

Barry Smith © Letters in Flight1

I think at the end the flock of 26 letters will look OK.

Woodland F - J

2010-11-11T06:20:00.002+10:00

My husband, our daughter and I spent the afternoon in the mountains. While my husband cut up fallen trees for our wood stove, Jenny and I took a hike. Later Jenny, with Dad's help and hands, used the chainsaw.

Here is F through J.

Woodland Alphabet

2010-11-11T06:08:00.003+10:00

Hello everyone,

I am so behind but I'm finally finishing this alphabet. The letters were "found" or assembled during a July afternoon in the woods in the Rocky Mountain Front, about an hour west from our home in Montana.

NOELA'S WEEK 19

2010-11-10T20:32:00.000+10:00

I made a firm cover from matt board and covered it with nice black Nepalese hand made paper then glued the image on top.

Kim Schoenberger - R S

2010-11-10T20:22:00.003+10:00

R - Sgrafitto - with brushed on red slip

R is transfered onto the leatherhard clay tile in usual manner. Sgrafitto is generally a technique of scraping back into clay covered with slip, as seen with 'J' . I'm challenging logic with this one, letting go of rules and exploring, which some potters may ask "why?" I guess at this stage of the alphabet it's all about experiementing and I say why not! So instead of applying the slip I've just scraped into the clay body direct then brushed the red slip inside the R imprint and painted the border.

S - Imprint - with organic matter

A bit of fun, not sure what the end result will look like, fortunately I can rescue this if need be after the bisque firing. S transfered with a light pencil imprint as a guide, then wax emulsion applied to outline the letter and the border to act as a resist from the pressed in organic matter and to create a negative space with the letter, hopefully! In theory > the organic matter is pressed imprinting the clay and will burn away in the firing resulting inverted spots and the letter S will be revealed by the smooth surface.

Below is a close up for a clearer view - Quinoa grain is used and burnished in with my Tigers Eye polished stone for securing and reassuring a definite imprint.

NOELA'S WEEK 18

2010-11-04T11:23:00.000+10:00

The Cover:

I used a mish mash of all the previous techniques and materials to create an alphabet image for the book cover - blue dyed tissue paper, used teabags, pen, brush and black and white inks, PVA, old book text and paper.

Lettres d'octobre - Letters from october

2010-11-03T19:59:00.000+10:00

Bonjour,
Hello,

Les couleurs commencent à changer. J'avais laissé libre cours à l'imagination de Marmotte Numéro Trois qui a décidé que ce serait mieux dans l'ordre des couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel... Qu'à cela ne tienne ! Voici donc les lettres de ce mois... toujours l'écriture Cursive Gestuelle dans son petit carré rougeoyant (on croirait le nom pompeux d'un plat de restaurant...)

The colors begin to change. I had free rein to the imagination of Groundhog Number Three who decided it would be better in the order of colors in the rainbow ... Never mind! Here are the letters of this month ... Always Cursive Gestures in his small glowing square (you'd think the pompous name of a restaurant dish ...)

Et puis les page dans lesquelles cela s'inscrit...

And then the page in which it fits ...

Au moins on commence à pouvoir constater que je connais mon alphabet ;)

At least we see that I know my alphabet ;)

Passez une bonne journée.
Have a good day.

Fiona's letters for October

2010-11-03T15:16:00.000+10:00

My how time flies! Here is my next instalment of embroidered letters on rusted braille paper. I continue to alternate the outlined letters with the filled in ones, and try to add a a slight embellishment in the background without detracting from the paper or the letter.

M: I worked a few french knots into the background.

N: I outlined some of the braille dots in pencil. Amazing how different light affects the colour of the shot.

O: With such a lovely tide/watermark, I just did tiny silver dot lines around some of the fainter tidemarks

P: A couple of lines of running stitch in pencil

Enjoy!

December alpha letters

2010-11-03T12:08:00.001+10:00

Hooray the alphabet is finished. Just have to work out how to assemble them!

December Letters

2010-11-03T12:02:00.003+10:00

Please note the spelling is wrong. Should be Xanthorrhoea but I have always spelt it with a Z and it fitted this alphabet!!!!!!!!

Alphabet is finished.

November alpha letters

2010-11-03T11:57:00.002+10:00

November Letters

2010-11-03T11:52:00.002+10:00

catching up a bit :-)

2010-11-02T20:46:00.004+10:00

Here are my next letters. Different time of day, different background certainly give a different look to the letters. :-) I like a diagonal in the background. I don't care for the "R" with just horizontal colour in the background as much as the other backgrounds.

Elaine's letters P to T

2010-11-02T20:41:00.001+10:00

I am a few letters ahead again as I find it easier to work across two rows at a time. I really enjoy searching through the beautiful colours of the Japanese silks to find the one that is ‘just right’ in colour, in relation to the surrounding letters, and suitable for the letter’s shape.

Kim Schoenberger - NOPQ

2010-11-01T12:51:00.002+10:00

NOPQ - Techniques...

N - Carving - negative
O - Resist - with shellac & red slip
P - Imprint - with a needle tool
Q - Underglaze - washed back

Alphabet Design competition

2010-10-31T17:10:00.000+10:00

Jean from Montana let us know about this competition over at Design Sponge; a blog about all things creative.

Just in case any of us letter-lovers wanted to enter; here is the link!

Fiona

October Letters

2010-10-31T06:03:00.000+10:00

A little bit of this and that, and a touch of whimsy. I also decided the plain blocks looked well, as the late Harry Chapin said, the work "was pleasant, potentially harmless", but the blocks were lacking. I had some red crochet thread and decided to edge the blocks. I'm happier with the way they look.

Happy Halloween. Blessed Samhain.

Kim Schoenberger - NOPQ

2010-10-30T18:28:00.006+10:00

I've just about got to the pointy end of the stick for the most common techniques, so now time to deviate and explore...

N - Carving negative
I used the carving technique with 'A' and created a positive, this time trying for a negative at the leatherhard stage I carved the clay inside the letter rather than on the outer.

O - Resist with shellac & red slip
With the letter 'I' shellac and sponged back into the clay with water created a raised 3 dimensional letter. Here with 'O' shellac is used to resist the red porcelain slip. Theorically what I am trying to achieve is, in the bisque firing the shellac will burn out resulting an O and border clean of slip.

P - dots
No guessing where this idea came from... getting to the pointy end of the techniques! Very simple really and I like the look.

Q - underglaze washed back

One would ask! Why apply black underglaze to wipe back with a wet sponge on a white bodied porcelain when wanting to create a pure white ground as the final result? I asked myself the same question half way through. Q - proven to be the most challenging one in this set of letters I won't know my verdict until the final firing...

JGR OCTOBER LETTERS

2010-10-30T07:20:00.002+10:00

Hi everyone, this month I worked with scraps of old water color paintings cut into squares.

I left the random lines, globs and other imperfections for a spontaneous effect.

The N above has a computer generated texture, it reminds me of snake-skin.

The O is cropped off the page, letting the ornate (hand-carved/hand stamped background) show through, something like a 'reverse' print.

and finally, the P, very dignified over the splotchy and unevenly painted background. Have a great weekend!

NOELA'S WEEK 17

2010-10-29T12:43:00.000+10:00

I have woven a linen thread through the threads on the spine of my book and added a couple of heavy paper tabs which will be glued down onto the covers.

october letters from Linda

2010-10-25T16:34:00.003+10:00

Back from my holidays and here are my next 4 letters - the more colour the better. They are in order (from top left to bottom right) p, o, n and m.

Sue in South Africa's first alphabet complete

2010-10-21T14:02:00.000+10:00

Here is the first alphabet put together...

Noela's week 16

2010-10-20T15:55:00.001+10:00

I used the same font as the hand drawn alphabet [Gaze condensed], and printed the title page onto an old foxed and yellowed page from a found book. Then I glued it onto the first page in my alphabet book.

Marg's First Alphabet complete!

2010-10-16T07:58:00.004+10:00

Finally finished. It was difficult to photograph.

The second half of the alphabet can be seen from the other direction.

I made two concertina lengths and sewed them together using the Japanese 3 stab hole method.

Noela's week 15

2010-10-14T12:44:00.000+10:00

The book is starting to take shape now. I have made 14 signatures consisting of the pages with the letters glued down on both sides plus a spacer piece [black paper covered with teabags also glued down]. Each signature is pamphlet stitched through five holes with the thread left free in the middle.

October Letters

2010-10-13T15:00:00.004+10:00

October set of four letters

The Stained Glass doodles of T & S

The image letters of T & S.

I like the contrast of red flowers in this one.

Kim Schoenberger - JKLM

2010-10-12T21:18:00.002+10:00

JKLM - Techniques...

J - Sgrafitto - with burnished red porcelain slip
K - Stamping - with foam and underglaze
L - Stamping - with foam and porcleain slip
M - Underglaze - brushed on

Kim Schoenberger - M

2010-10-12T20:36:00.005+10:00

M - Underglaze - brushed on

Firstly, I transfered an imprint of the letter M onto the clay tile and using a very fine brush and a steady hand I've applied three coats of black underglaze. Three coats are necessary to achieve an even colour, if the application is not even a washed out look can result after the final firing.

Finished with a solid colour border, ofcourse.....as it was easier to do three coats solid rather than attempting a fine line! Sanded and ready for bisque.

Thought I'd share an extra image with you.... These are my clay tiles I'm using for each letter. I made (slab rolled) all 26 at once to keep them the same size, thickness etc...and have been stored in plastic since July, with an occassional mist spray to keep them leatherhard. They will eventually dry out and when they do I'll have to bisque fire them and apply my letter to bisqueware.

Kim Schoenberger - K L

2010-10-11T18:08:00.011+10:00

I seem to be creating pairs of letters with two similar techniques.

K - Stamping - with foam and underglaze

Wanting to carve into foam I cut a square with a hacksaw blade. I first tried the dremel to shape a K, not to successful I might add! It just tore and grabbed at the foam. My second and successful attempt I used a hot soldering iron to melt away the foam.

After a few test runs and getting the correct consistency with the underglaze, I felt confident enough to stamp the K. The foam is pressed very lightly into the container of underglaze, a gentle hand is needed in both soaking up the colour to stamp and when stamping, so it doesn't go into the negative space and leave behind a blotchy letter.

Phew! All good, I had to hold my breath while doing this one!

L - Stamping - with foam and porcleain slip

Once again the letter is burnt out in the foam using a hot soldering iron (...carefully and not inhaling the toxic fumes!)* and is cut to make a square.

Reverse to the K tile, a thick and smooth porcelain slip is brushed onto the clay tile first. The foam sponge is gently pressed onto the tile to soak up the excess slip creating a nice texture surrounding and the letter is left smooth and slightly three dimensional. Extremely hard to see in this photo, a close look you can see the shiny bit being smooth.

Almost finished K & L, I intend to sharpen the lines on K with black underglaze in a fine nib bottle and outline the L (now bone dry is almost impossible to see in the photo).

P.S....CAN ANYONE PICK THE MISTAKE IN THIS POST?

*Hot soldering iron and foam is not really an ideal technique and I wouldn't use it again or recommend anyone to use it. As this is an exercise in experiementation was the only reason for attempting. I found it to be very challenging not to over melt the foam and toxic.

More letters from Sue

2010-10-10T17:39:00.000+10:00

Herewith the next set of letters. Next weeks letters are also included. I see my Pug puppy had to get in on the act too! Kind regards, Sue

Mieke's October 4.

2010-10-10T08:17:00.001+10:00

The next four, and I keep going with the fruit theme, The colours on these four didn't come out as bright I think I put the top glaze on a bit to thick.Hopefully the next lot will be better.

JGR September Letters

2010-10-09T04:37:00.002+10:00

Well, I've had these finished for a while, finally had a few minutes to post. They are computer generated letters with portrait bits included since my usual subject for sketching is portraits.

A lovely sideways addition

2010-10-08T21:52:00.000+10:00

In the funny connecting world of blogs and and the 'interweb' Carolyn Barker, a fabulous jeweller found me over at Paperponderings looking for how to fold Japanese temple papers. As you do.

She left a comment and I always like to follow up with folk who comment so I went in search and found her 'in its early stages' website and these!

Can you believe how fabulous these silver alphabet rings are? You can see the full set of rings a-z here.

Carolyn kindly gave me permission to show them here as they match our world so well. In that other weird go around the world with the 'interweb' thing, we discovered we only live about half an hour's drive away from each other!

Christine: Simplicity this month

2010-10-08T19:10:00.002+10:00

No adornments this month....just silk fibre, eventhough there are now pidgeon feathers in my art cupboard. I was a little overexcited getting one beautiful pink pidgeon out of my chook pen this week. Perhaps next months letters.

Une lettre par semaine / september

2010-10-06T16:28:00.000+10:00

Bonjour,
Hello,

Voici la suite de l'alphabet... Encore l'écriture "Gestuelle Cursive", encore le carré tracé...
Here is the continuation of the alphabet ... Even writing "Gestures Cursive," yet the square layout ...

Et voici les "feuillets" complets...
And here are the "layers" complete ...

Je vous souhaite une bonne journée.
I wish you a good day.
Callie

Fiona's four for September

2010-10-06T13:35:00.000+10:00

Here are the next four in my alphabet. Still enjoying stitching on paper and the lovely marks and texture of the rusted braille paper.

I have just been down to the studio to double check my mistake and yep - the 'j' was supposed to be an outline letter, not a filled in one. So the sequence is now busted and the book shall forever have that sense of unique handmade-ness!

In each of these I have just used pencil in the background to add some interest or build on the beautiful marks already there.

PS The 'i' is not as pale as the photo would suggest.

Noela's Week 14

2010-10-06T10:55:00.000+10:00

The letters are finished and I have mounted them onto black pages that will form a simple pamphlet stitched book.

Elaine's first alphabet - finished

2010-10-05T21:47:00.000+10:00

It was exciting to see the whole alphabet come together as I hadn’t originally made the letters in alphabetical order. I knew how I wanted to present the alphabet, but it took me a while to work out how to make the four concertina ‘arms’ fold neatly over each other. The lid of the box holds it closed since I cut the sides of the box to allow it to open out. The concertina letters are attached to the inside base. I chose to use this box as it was made by underprivileged women in Bangladesh.

2010-10-05T20:48:00.003+10:00

The next three letters...still playing around with the back ground colours and shapes. I am enjoying doing this alphabet.

Heather's Spencerian

2010-10-05T13:29:00.000+10:00

Rainy weekend so plenty of time to get going...and going....could not stop so you get 2 months worth in one go. And I finished and mounted my first alphabet (posted Monday 4/10) so am feeling very virtuous.

Heather's finished first ALAw ...at last!

2010-10-04T11:06:00.001+10:00

Have learned that putting concrete on paper and other assorted "heavy" items does not work and my first attempt at mounting this was a disaster as the whole thing collapsed while I was trying to photograph it. This is version 2.

My second ALAW will be a sedate boxed- up affair which will be much easier to transport and store.
We learn!!

Lilo's letters - alphabet 1 finished!

2010-10-04T10:59:00.000+10:00

At last. I have been trying to scan the last of my first alphabet so that I can send it to you. I did what I started out with . . . Yupo paper and water color paper. . . this time I sprayed the water color paper with alcohol.

I am not quite sure how to compile my letters. . . unless I paste them vertically. . . . I think the next alphabet will perhaps try a book. . . .

Lilo

Elaine's next letters...

2010-10-04T09:31:00.000+10:00

Here are my next triangular letters (with the usual addition of an un-cut square) cut again from Japanese Kimono silk off-cuts.

It is a great feeling to be up-to-date. I am even slightly ahead, but I find it easier to work out the colour combinations if I work right across the row.

Rusty letters for September

2010-10-03T18:32:00.004+10:00

Phew! Sometimes one just needs a bit of a reminder about one's letters. Anyway this month I had to do all four in one creative sitting - so not quite a letter a week but still on track with a little catch up.

So here are my four for September - I am still engraving Chiller font letters into rusted iron sheeting.

What I have also managed to do is to source and buy five rusted and beaten timber splitting wedges that will become the base for my letters in flight final piece for this second alphabet. As you can see from the original diagram I have changed it a bit in that I am not going to use a single platform but rather the collective wedges.

Gemma - Alphabet 1

2010-10-01T16:36:00.004+10:00

The codex is a simple Japanese four hole limp bind. The toggle is an oboe reed, nibbed to a square cut edge, dipped in ink and ready for writing! There are always a few spare oboe reeds around here to play around with.