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Lettering and Type - part 2 of 1 2

by Mike McNamee Published 01/04/2010

In the example shown, the title is set in Calligraphic 34 point and 60% brightness grey, 'Paul Gallagher' is set in Myriad Pro Regular, 20 point and 75% brightness grey (ie lighter) and 'Limited Edition Print' is set in small caps using Engravers Roman Bold, 20 point and 75% brightness grey. The leading is set to Auto which defaults to 120% of the font size in each case. This is not meant to be the last word on the subject but makes a reasonable harmonious setting of the titling.

Decorative Fonts and Illuminated Lettering

For those of a very creative mind-set the use of decorative fonts and illuminated lettering offers lots of possibilities. Decorative fonts should be used with care and never for more than a heading or short sentence. Many decorative fonts also have glyphs consisting of type decorations and embellishments. Swash characters are also common in the better decorative fonts. These normally reside at the start of words or sentences and, again, should be used sparingly if the set text is to retain a sense of class. An illuminated opening page to a wedding album can look truly fabulous but you need to ensure that you are paid for your labours, setting one out can easily take as long as the remainder of the album!

We wrote on the topic in Professional Imagemaker back in October 2006 but, if the lack of feedback is anything to go by, it did not spawn any sort of a revolution. If anybody took up the idea we would love to hear about it! For our part we got a number of (unpaid) commissions for friends' funeral orders of service but that is about it.

The old-fashioned way of setting out and penning a calligraphic work is skilled and laborious. If you look at the website of Neil Bromley ( www.calligraphyandheraldry.com ) you will find that he does take on commissioned work such as wedding stationery but the quoted costs are £2,500 for original artwork (approx size: 11.5"x4") and printing costs at £4,500 (including scanning, ready for print, and hand-made envelopes). This is not your everyday wedding stationery! His site is worth a visit for inspiration.

Digital calligraphy is a far simpler and quicker affair, but gold leaf work adds a considerable flourish at relatively modest additional cost*. A book of gold leaf costs £12.95 for 25 sheets (about 2x2") the Ormoline media costs £2.05 for a pot that will keep you going for ages. Shell gold costs £24.90. All the gold is 23 carat. Now all you need is a good poem, coat of arms or whatever takes your fancy, set it in a suitable font and get to work with some refined embellishment in pure gold. You can even sign in gold. We did this by loading a calligraphy pen with diluted Ormoline, signing and then gold leafing the signature. Imagine if you tell your client that the top of your range for your wall portraiture is your 'gold signature series' with each print hand-signed in burnished, 23-carat solid gold - impressive or what? We remain convinced that there is a small but lucrative market out there, with the money for such niceties.

Our experiments in signing a name showed the process to be quite tricky and one solution to this might be to use stylised initials, more in the form of a logo.

The Illuminated Capital

This is a traditional flourish at the opening of a manuscript, typically a poem or quotation from one of the holy books (eg the Bible or Koran). The normal practice is to trace the outline, paint in the coloured parts then apply gold leaf. There are two basic methods of applying gold, using 'shell gold' or actual leaf. Shell gold is powdered gold suspended in a gum arabic carrier. It is applied by brush, allowed to dry and then burnished to a high polish using an agate tool.

Gold leaf is most easily applied using transfer gold (which is already supported by a waxed, carrier sheet) onto a dried layer of Ormoline. Ormoline is a mixture of PVA, aqueous adhesive, diluted with water and, usually, coloured with red watercolour paint, to make it visible after application. It requires a deft touch to apply, as it should be left slightly raised and therefore the letter needs to be a little flooded with medium. You can rarely go back and apply a second coat without introducing ugly undulations in the finished work and for beginners it is best to experiment with very dilute Ormoline so that a thin layer is left, enough to adhere the gold but insufficient to create ripples. After the Ormoline is fully dry you breath on it, through a paper tube, using three breaths and then press the gold down. Once the leaf has been applied it is usually burnished gently to bring the finish up to full shine. In our example the lettering was done in Photoshop with the outline of the illuminated capital strok ed in very light, thin grey to act as a guide. This was then covered with gold leaf.

For the Purist

The purist calligrapher will most probably turn their nose up at the orderliness of digital calligraphy, claiming that it lacks the spontaneity of their handwork. This is true, but for a 'quickie' in the front of a wedding album you might not be able to afford, or recoup the cost of, the time. A halfway house is to use the calligraphic brushes in Photoshop and make your own. One step further would be to 'write' the whole page on the computer, using a Wacom pen and a Photoshop calligraphic brush.

The calligraphic brushes are accessed in the Brush Palette drop-down menu and are part of a pre-made set. These can either replace your existing brushes or be 'appended' to them. You may then choose to write freehand or even to trace over a calligraphic font on a separate layer - this will look hand-worked as it will contain the natural variations of your hand strokes. It has the supreme advantage of having an 'undo' button. It also has the advantage of allowing you to see your layout before you commit pen to page (or Wacom to tablet!). A further option is to outline the digital calligraphy in a very faint grey stroke and then use that as a template for hand work. You should not allow a mind-set of 'cheating' to invade your thoughts, the monks preparing illuminated manuscripts had books of templates for tracing their letters and, trust me, if they had had Photoshop they would have used it!

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1st Published 01/04/2010
last update 21/07/2022 08:46:25

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