Genevieve's Journeys

I seem to have fallen off the thankfulness wagon, in my excitement about St. Ethelburga's, The Outfit and a new SCA ossifer job (regional signet).

SO: today I'm thankful for having learned calligraphy.

I learned it because I'd started heralding courts, and I saw one exquisite piece of artwork after another going out from the hands of the crown and coronet. And I realised that just a handful of talented people were doing this work, mostly quietly and behind the scenes.

I'm not sure what made me think I could do it - my first thought was more, I wonder if I could help, so the scribes wouldn't have to work so hard. I was also amazed at the range of people who did scribing: from crusty peers to young children (Erick and Tesla's girl was quite young when she started, and she did really astonishing work), hefty fighters to needle jocks. It didn't seem to matter who you were.

As an early teen I'd given it a try, upon learning that my dad had done calligraphy in grammar school, and at 15 had been chosen of all the boys to do the lettering for a major school project. Unfortunately being taught by my dad was a big turnoff, and I promptly packed it in when my thin lines were thick and my thick ones thin. I also didn't like struggling with the workarounds often needed for lefties.

What made it totally possible, and fun in the bargain, was ethnowoman  and her introductory classes, and her weekly and bi-weekly scribing evenings. She has a gift for teaching, and she managed to calm my fears of making a mistake (no small feat for a perfectionist). In fact, one of her clever approaches to teaching was to make a mistake, and then fix it, and see how it works. That was a great great help.

Remembering my early leftie struggles, I decided to learn right handed from the start. When teaching archery, I'd always told other people that learning a new skill did not depend on handedness (I've since amended that to '...short of serious learning disabilities'); so you can be right handed and learn to shoot left-handed if you want.

So here was my chance to learn a new skill, and learn it the way that made the most sense - right handed. And it worked - worked far better than I expected.

I still draft, sketch initials and decoration and paint left handed, but all my lettering is righthanded.

It's been fascinating learning a new skill as an adult: I still have great frustrations when things don't work well, and I'm still not happy with many results. I've learned much about 'how to look' at art by doing calligraphy, and am gradually, very tentatively, dipping my toe in illumination.

There's something deeply satisfying about making things by hand, and that includes making documents.