Workshops 2024

To book a place, email Meg, our workshop coordinator.

For zoom workshops, tickets will be available on Eventbrite.

We can often throw everything at a piece of work not always knowing when to stop so we will look at a number of pieces to work out what’s there, why it’s there and if it’s necessary. We will look at some original pieces and books by Anne Hechle, Alison Urwick and Joan Pilsbury. Everyone will select one particular script to focus on and develop a design using only that. The intention is for everyone to complete a modest piece of work – simple but charming.

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In this workshop we take a close look at the fabulous Foundational hand, the gift of Edward Johnson, father of modern calligraphy.
An absolutely classic, timeless and beautiful hand, equally at home in either a completely formal or ‘fun’ setting … we explore its potential and whether you are familiar or quite new to this style, there is always a way to move forward and enjoy it to the full. There will be plenty of help on hand, projects using exciting ideas, so come and enjoy the fun.

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Rachel developed this style as a fun way to write humorous quotes, or for light-hearted applications like birthday cards. This playful script is generally written upright, but letters can be tilted right or left and moved up and down. In this workshop we will practice all the lowercase and capital letters and look at how they can be adapted: letter shapes can change, and the style made simpler or curvier. How letters join to one another is very adaptable and we will practice examples, then move on to word design and how simple flourishing can really help the design. Finally, we will look at how words can be put together to make a longer piece of text, taking advantage of the versatility of this script to pack lines closely together to make a strong visual texture.

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In this workshop we will be covering capital forms of ‘Monoline’ or ‘Skeleton’ letters and those inspired by the lettering of the ‘Art Nouveau’ period, plus looking at imaginative ways these adaptable letters can be embellished or modified to complement other traditional scripts in our calligraphic tool box.

The Italic hand, a.k.a. Cancellaresca, evolved in Italy during the Italian Renaissance of the 15th – 16th century as a cursive style to meet the demand for a quickly written, elegant letter and it has been a popular hand ever since.
We will start the day learning/revising the Formal Italic minuscule alphabet from scratch. Those who are already familiar with the formal Italic Hand will have the opportunity to explore script variations to create different moods and express a range of emotions. As the day progresses we will aim to use this versatile hand to write out and present our favourite texts.

This workshop is suitable for everyone with familiarity of at least one square-edged pen hand.

 In this workshop we will be learning to make a non-adhesive binding called a Cross-structure binding, ideal for your own artist book or journal. The book opens perfectly flat which is great for sketch books.

Printmaking Shapes and Letter Forms (Stencils and Monoprint) using three colours (yellow, cyan and magenta) individual motifs (including letter forms) will be designed and printed on a small press. This experimental process will produce images (15cm sq) with a wide range of blended colours

The dynamic duo are back in action after a long break. Look out for shenanigans and be prepared for fun as we address 3D forms with a calligraphic and artistic bent using everything you can find in your art supplies – watercolours, acrylics, gouache, chalk and oil pastels, coloured crayons, tissues, paper… all sorts, the world’s your lobster! 3D items will mame ideal book ends, jewellery holders, displays – we will show you lots of ways to play with no two results the same.

PLUS – prizes will be awarded for various activities!!