Life Blood of Calligraphy - Scriptorium

Imagine a Scriptorium in the cloisters of an old monastery with the monks each quietly working away at his manuscript, which is why I call on-going practise "Scriptorium". (Did you see "The Name of the Rose" with Sean Connery - the scriptorium and manuscripts were enough to convert anyone to calligraphy?)

Set up your scriptorium and discipline yourself to write for 10 minutes a day, maximum 15; not counting ruling up. If you get carried away and do three hours you won't want to do any tomorrow. This is how school works - 12 years of a little bit of maths every day...

But don't just use a huge piece of layout paper and write any old rubbish. Plan a project that you will love using beautiful prose on good paper. I'll talk about that early next week. For today, set up your calligraphy board and your space to work and have a little warm up, testing your nib.If you don't have a "good space" keep all your equipment into a toolbox or a bag and have your board handy to set up at a moment's notice. Decide on your favourite small nib size and start with that. Wm M #3 or 3.5 is a reasonable smallish size to start with. You can work your way downwards to smaller nibs as you go.

I drew the little monk about 20 years ago but not much has changed!
He has basic equipment:

• board padded with unprinted newspaper or blotting paper
• kitchen roll or a brick to rest the board on;
• layout paper (but we'll use something better) 
• ruler, pencil, eraser, 
• ink bottle in a small bowl so that it won't be knocked over, 
• water jar to rinse nibs, paper to wipe nibs,  
• T-square for ruling lines, 
• pen and nib 
• scrap of paper to try ink flow. 

Make sure your height is right and that your elbow is level with the table top. Sit on a cushion if necessary. Our monk is a bit short for his table!
I'll show you my Scriptorium ruling up etc. in due course.

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