So it's the end of week 4 and time's gone completely fluid. Like many of us, I've also begun getting out into the world and seeing people again which has been absolutely lovely!
Lots of reading has happened, lots of ideas formed, and perhaps unironically, finished products are nowhere to be seen thus far! (Except a podcast episode).
Continuing the calligraphy practice, I'm now officially on real letters. It didn't take a full four weeks to get to letters by the way... in committing to radical transparency and a process-led approach, you'll be able to see how few sessions over the 4 weeks I engaged in (I dated each session in the margin)...
I am using the following youtube videos to teach myself:
In traditional Western calligraphy, the aim is perfection. As the teachers say in the videos, "consistency is key". For an inspiring example of non-Western calligraphic practice with a focus on expression, check out this video of Thich Nhat Hanh's calligraphy meditations- I don't think you can get any more different! I enjoy that you can see his hand in the marks. As I find my own way to blend process, mindfulness, body and creative writing together, I look forward to find my own visual calligraphic "voice".
It's definitely an inherently very mindful and focused practice- the ones I concentrate harder on always work out the best and each "mistake" is a record of where my mind wandered or I began to get bored.
I am using the book Make Ink: A Forager's Guide to Natural Inkmaking by Jason Logan. A basic recipe by Jason can be found here:
https://www.marthastewart.com/1516423/natural-ink-colors
For this gorgeous warm grey, I used eucalyptus leaves with an iron mordant, made of rusty nails in white vinegar. You can see that it went much darker after the mordant was added. However it was still brown after brewing, the grey came in the next week or two.
And here is the colour progression over the over 5 hours of boiling which is recorded in my journal (the place where I keep my life):
So many colours are possible, I look forward to experimenting more in future!