CALLIGRAPHY & LETTERING

I use a pointed brush to give me the flexibility to design and make letters of any shape and to work on different surfaces that would be difficult or impossible with a pen.

Fabric and stitching have been part of my life from childhood. My grandmother and my mother made clothes and furnishings, they sewed for necessity and pleasure, preferring never to have idle hands. Sewing letters opens up many possibilities and at the same time allows interesting changes to happen to conventional letterforms.

Calligraphy is the root of all my work and that begins with pen lettering. The traditional tool was a quill and that is still the best tool for me - it is sensitive and flexible, light and free.

I work with ground stick ink and watercolour, onto good paper or vellum. Hand-written books are a delight to make, sustained writing over many pages allows a flow and rhythm to build as the text is written.

Weaving is a process that builds a shape up little by little, thread by thread. And because essentially, a weaving is a grid, it is like both digital lettering and like painted lettering - built and refined in small increments.

You can see more about my process and pictures of work on my Journal page.

Woven letters take on a unique character because they move with the weft, the cross threads that lay above each other, as the letter shape is woven from the bottom or from the side. You can never quite predict how the letter is going to look when the weaving is finished.

Examples of books made entirely by hand, designed and written and bound according to the meaning of the text and the purpose of the book.

Working on cloth with paint and stitch is exciting - there are so many variables and possibilities. It also enables creative ideas for making hangings, quilts, cloths to lie flat or to wrap and contain.

Manuscript books and formal documents were traditionally made of vellum, or calfskin, and this is still a beautiful material to use.

Writing with a quill on a well-prepared piece of vellum gives a sharp, almost luminous quality to the writing and allows a freedom of movement that isn’t quite matched by paper.

The type of paper I choose to use depends upon the work I’m doing, the meaning of the text and how it will be presented. For example, embossed letters need a heavy, soft paper, books require lighter weight paper that is easily written on. If possible, I choose handmade papers as they are often more interesting in texture and subtlety.

In 2012 I went to Rome with Hazel Dolby and this inspired a body of work which we have been making over the time since. In December 2019, we exhibited the work so far in The Priestman Gallery of the University of Sunderland.

These are some works done in recent years and exhibited in Suffolk, Oxford, Lichfield and Sunderland.

I generally make one-off pieces to commission, working with a client to respond to their wishes and the unique needs of the piece of work.

The letters I use are designed and adapted especially for the work, taking into consideration the words and the dimensions of the piece. Suitable materials are chosen according to where the work will be displayed, how it will be handled and the meaning of the text.

Education has always been an important element of my work. I was trained as a school teacher and for most of my career have taught adults, both in formal further education settings and private workshops all round the world.

Changing times and location have meant that now I do more correspondence and mentoring work and write articles, instruction books and lessons as part of passing on my skills and knowledge to those who are interested in learning calligraphy and lettering.