Glasgow Scribes
@glasgowscribes.bsky.social
Calligraphy hobby group in Glasgow, Scotland, with interests in medieval manuscripts, broad pen & pointed pen scripts, design techniques, and all things lettering-related. https://glasgowscribes.blogspot.com (run by @ergative-abs.bsky.social)
So, a propos of my recent nib haul, I decided to properly orgnanize them, label them, and test them. We're talking buying special bead organizers from hobbycrafts, level of organizing LOOKIT MY NIBS!!! (not shown: two full-gross boxes of vintage nibs, which are perfectly fine as they are.)
Ergative Absolutive@ergative-abs.bsky.social · 2mo agoHoly forking shirtballs, my friends, I just won an ebay auction of vintage pen nibs, and when they arrived in the mail they proved to contain not one, not two, not three, but FOUR (4!!) unused (UNUSED!!) Gillott Principalities. FOUR UNUSED GILLOTT PRINCIPALITIES! LOOK! PICS BECAUSE IT HAPPENED!
As a general rule, I don't believe in gatekeeping art appreciation, but the fact remains that there are right ways and wrong ways to appreciate calligraphy. And one of the absolute wrongest wrong ways is to point out spelling errors.
Guilbneach le Murchadh Dòmhnallach / Curlew by Murdo Macdonald Seann bhothan-fòn, Baile Mòr, Uibhist a Tuath In an old phone box in Balemore, North #Uist #Gaelic #poetry with English translation, #calligraphy in foundational hand
Over on tumblr, some beautiful words moved me to break out the copperplate.
Turns out that lots of what we think we know about manuscript colour preparation might be a Chortlemuffin effect. majnouna.substack.com/p/false-red-...
False Red, Fake Blue
More scrutiny of medieval handbooks
majnouna.substack.com
It is the last Friday of the month, which means the Cathach of Columcille (RIA MS 12 R 33) is on display from 10am - 4.30pm. The Cathach is the oldest extant Irish manuscript of the Psalter and very likely the earliest example of the form of Irish writing known as insular majuscule script.
Got cute about Seddon’s 1695 “Pen-mans Paradis,” which I got to hang out with at the San Francisco Public Library last month
@calligraphyoutside.bsky.social , a follow-up if you ever feel like switching from cephalopods to ungulates.
Suzanne Karr Schmidt@drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 3mo agoSkeptical Moose Face? More likely than you'd think... Münster's 1550s Cosmographia @newberrylibrary.bsky.social (Vault Baskes folio G113 .M75 1550)
I was going through some old photos and found this video I made about using cellugel to treat red rot. Please enjoy. youtube.com/shorts/N8eM0...
Treating old bindings with cellugel to stop red rot
YouTube video by cpccohen
youtube.com
What nicer way to end the day than to spend half an hour at Coffee With a Codex -- a half-hour show-and-tell over zoom at 5pm (UK time), hosted for free by the University of Pennsylvania library, every Thursday! Schedule here, if you want to join in: www.library.upenn.edu/events/coffe...
Coffee with a Codex
An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise ...
library.upenn.edu
The completed pattern, now painted in blue, red, and yellow bister inks. This is Pattern 99 from volume 3 of from Serap Ekizler Sönmez's 3-volume masterpiece, 'The Geometric Language of Anatolian Seljuk Art' (Anadolu Selçuklu Sanatının Geometrik Dili) #IslamicGeometricArt #IslamicArt #humanArt
Ergative Absolutive@ergative-abs.bsky.social · 4mo agoSerap Ekizler Sonmez's books on Islamic geometry are great fun to work through, because they assume a baseline level of familiarity with geometric construction and skip stuff. Usually I can figure out the missing bits. Sometimes, however, it really does feel like 'draw the rest of the fucking owl'.
Recently, FamilySearch digitized and uploaded tons of microfilmed records, including many from 18th-century Massachsuetts. They're using some sort of AI to transcribe/summarize the handwritten documents. I've noticed that the AI strips out references to race and enslavement in 18thc documents.
Next in our #SIMSseries on LJS 26, a 13th century astronomical and mathematical manuscript written in Italy:: How do scribes deal with a hole in the parchment? This 13th century scribe outlined the hole in red on one side, and simply wrote around it. 🔗: https://bit.ly/41EAKFa
The utter beauteousness that is the very small English penitential book, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 482 (eleventh century). Fits in a pocket ready to use at much-needed moments of pastoral care.
I've had this in my 'quotes' folder for a while, but felt inspired tonight. Thank you, @ultragotha.bsky.social.
ULTRAGOTHA@ultragotha.bsky.social · 5mo agoHail, Pterry, full of rage, the muse is with thee. Blessed art thou among authors, and blessed is the fruit of thy brain, Discworld. Hail Pterry, Father of Great A'Tuin, who channeled rage into compassion blessed are thy words.
A propos of the below, if you've ever wondered exactly which muscles ache the next day when a middle-aged person spends an afternoon on her hands and knees cutting mounts and cellophane wraps to prepare lots of calligraphy exhibits for display, I have alllll the excruciating details.
Glasgow Scribes@glasgowscribes.bsky.social · 3mo agoWe put up our annual exhibition in the Mitchell Library foyer yesterday! This thread contains photographs (kindly taken by @calligraphyoutside.bsky.social, one of our members) of the exhibits. If you are bothered by light reflecting off the cellophane, I guess you'll just have to go in person!
We put up our annual exhibition in the Mitchell Library foyer yesterday! This thread contains photographs (kindly taken by @calligraphyoutside.bsky.social, one of our members) of the exhibits. If you are bothered by light reflecting off the cellophane, I guess you'll just have to go in person!
Hello, Bluesky! We are here and posting now, and look forward to telling you about all calligraphic things in #Glasgow (and beyond!)