A  month or two ago I joined IAMPETH, which is a calligraphy association that is awesome. They have a yearly conference (for various reasons I can't go this year, but I'm already planning to go to such a thing next summer) and publish a newsletter with lessons on letterforms and decoration and so on. They also run an envelope exchange, in which you ( Read more... )

My grandparents sent me a graduation check. I decided to employ my newly acquired skills to create a thank-you card. As with the previous creation I've posted here, the lettering is not particularly good, but as I think you'll agree, the lettering is not really the point here. (All the same, I need to remind myself to practice the ostensible point ( Read more... )

One script that I have always loved is called Insular Majuscule. It's the main script used in the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, as well as a large variety of manuscripts written in England and Ireland in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries I haven't ever really mastered it, but I think in part that is due in (very small) part to ( Read more... )

 This guy. I'm struck by how many people (like me) seem to enjoy both medieval stuff and sci-fi and fantasy. The combination could be a result of a desire for escapism (to a Type C world), which can be satisfied both by inventing a universe with magic and dragons, or by returning to a period of time so remote that it might just as well be such a ( Read more... )

Since I have last posted, I've bought about ahem $150 of calligraphy supplies. This includes a large number of nibs, some fairly pricey paper, and some gouache (pronounced "gwash"; I asked), which is apparently the authentic material to use for coloring and so on. I also worked through the demo on acanthus leaves that I linked to yesterday, and I ( Read more... )

We take a break from your irregularly scheduled series of calligraphy updates, to notify you of a job posting that has appeared on linguist list, which is a public forum where almost all linguistics jobs are advertised. Apparently, the CIA is looking for translators and languagy operatives, and so, appropriately enough, they advertised the job.  ( Read more... )

 Greetings, world of LJ and DW! Since my last entry over a year ago, I have been doing things like finishing my PhD and graduating! You may now call me Dr. Philena, and please remember: No balloons!


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A long time ago, my mother told me a story about my grandmother. My memory of it is very incomplete, containing only the following three fragments:

1. The story begins When I was fourteen and in love with Ronald Colman . . .
2. The story involves the movie The Prisoner of Zenda (released in September of 1937--when my grandmother was indeed 14)
3. The ( Read more... )

The most recent Star Trek movie was, I confess, a disappointment. It was extremely entertaining, but as
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1. On Monday morning, I get a call from the landlady (not about the rent, yet), saying that there's an alarm going off which she can hear in our bedroom. (She lives in the other half of the house, so it's not creepy or anything that she could hear what was going on in our bedroom, since it's right next to her kids' nursery*). I respond that it's ( Read more... )