I’m going to take a calligraphy and illumination class in May, which I expect to be fun. Here’s the class description:

Celtic And Historical Calligraphy

During this course you will learn the skills of the masters of European Calligraphy. We’ll cover historical inking colours, their origins and how they are made. Parchments and vellums, various papers, quill types, quill cutting, scripting tables, layout geometry, and related themes will be demonstrated and discussed. Period scripting and styles, including Celtic, Ottonian, Renaissance, and others, will be explained and illustrated. Skill in scripting, design, illustration, and illumination is used in historical reproduction work as well as modern art. The information presented will surprise modern digital graphic ad layout artists, enhancing their knowledge and depth in their own professional fields. Please bring $10 to class for materials.

It’s a two-day workshop taught by Dan Cheatham II, who’s clearly trying to spin it to appeal to modern graphic artists, but his real interests are historical. So more practice making period paints, AND he has genuine lapis and malachite to play with, which will be exciting since there is no freaking way I’m going to buy lapis to grind up myself at the current prices. So this may be my chance to find out how genuine lapis looks and handles differently from synthetic ultramarine.

Dan also teaches a longbow making class, which would really tempt me if I liked shooting longbows, which I don’t. But I am tempted by the leatherwork class, since several people have suggested tooling as an alternative to stamping for the Gothic-lettered motto belts I want to make from Dress Accessories, and Melchior and his boss don’t do tooling at work on account of things like profit margins. So getting some instruction in that might be a good idea. I’ll have to see how finances and time go.

There’s a baronial corset workshop coming up, so I need to do a mockup fitted as far as I can get without help on the modified Dorothea bodies.