Work in Progress

This book is being created as a collaboration. The dropped capital from my last post will fit inside this border that I've designed. It features 23ct gold leaf and was painted and illuminated on vellum (calf skin). If anyone has a blank sheet of vellum, I'd be most grateful if you could scan it so that the image can be used for a unique page background. The aim is to have a different one for each page to make the finished book look truly like a medieval tome. The page numbers will go on the dragon's scroll.

This is a left-hand side page. You'll have to imagine the border flipped for the right-hand page of the spread. The inner border and illustrations will differ in size.


The text is written by hand using a different calligraphy style for each character in the children's story of the Queen of Hearts' Tarts, by Jennifer Poulter.

This is still a work in progress and the finished illustration(s) by Mandy Sinclair will actually be created using watercolours.She will surprise us with a detail that will go in the circle.

 

Now to complete the text calligraphy, including the page numbers to fit in the dragon's scroll:

 

It will be print-ready and 10 inches by 8 inches when it's finished, probably in July. Hoping that we can find the perfect traditional publisher...

Peter Taylor

Writing for Children

www.writing-for-children.com

Starting with a Dropped Capital

I don't think I should tell you much about this  - let's just say that my part of this project should be finished in the few months. It starts with  Dear Children... yes, with a fancy dropped capital illuminated in medieval style. The original letter shown here is 5cm (2 inches) square. You can try one for yourself!:

Firstly I drew the letter, outlining it with a black Uni-Pin archival black waterproof ink pen on hot-pressed watercolour paper. This design was laid over graph paper on a light-pad (LED and made by Artograph - I don't know how I managed without it - but you could lay yours on a glass-topped coffee table with a lamp under it or tape it to a back-lit window) and the squares traced in pencil, using a ruler. Everywhere that gold was needed was painted with a mixture of PVA glue, a tweak of red watercolour paint so that I could see where I had painted, and just enough water added for this 'gesso' to leave the brush smoothly (there were no ripples on the surface of the puddle). This took about an hour and a half. When the glue was dry, it was breathed upon in 7 long deep breaths from deep in my moist lungs and from short range in one small area at a time (about 2 diamonds) to make it sticky, and 23ct transfer gold leaf pressed on immediately through the backing. Surplus gold was removed with a silk cloth. This pulls off any extraneous gold with static electricity - but I do occasionally use a tissue, my sleeve, shirt...  Another half an hour.

(Single sheets of 23ct gold leaf can be purchased at reasonable cost from The Gold Leaf Factory www.goldleaf.com.au. Choose the Transfer variety - the gold is loosely attached to tissue paper and easiest to handle Currently $3.30 per leaf plus delivery. Jerry Tresser in the US is the expert on traditional gilding techniques and also does mail order supplies http://www.jtresser.com/ONLINE-GILDING-SUPPLIES.html)

Gouche colours were blended with a fraction of Permanent White and enough water so that the mixture trickled around the dish, and the areas painted. If the mix has enough water, you can paint right against the gold and if you go over the edge it will run off without creating a mark.

The orange-red in the squares is a mixture of Flame Red and Cadmium Scarlet + touch of white. The dark red is Alizarin Crimson + white. The blue is a mixture of Cerulean blue, Cobalt blue and Ultramarine Blue + white. (It would still be a good colour if you just used Ultramarine blue + white, or Cobalt blue + white. Cerulean blue has a bias towards the green end of the spectrum and is added to the mix to counteract the red bias of Ultramarine blue.) I added some of the blue to Lemon Yellow to make the green. All colours made by Winsor and Newton.

The squares make up a 'diaper background'. I used a 0.1 mm pen to add the black lines around them. This was done in medieval times (possibly with a duck quill), but I'm not 100% convinced it was the best plan of action for this letter. Would the squares have looked better with no outline? Hmmm. And maybe I should have used black paint or ink in a dip-nib for greater line thickness variation and character for these lines and also all outlining. But this technique of using a fine 'technical pen' shows that a good effect can be achieved by amateurs who are inexperienced at using dip-nibs or painting.

The red of the letter was added as a spot into the orange-red squares, three shades of pink (same red added to white) to the front of the bulgy section and the pink flowers have had an even lighter pink painted on the petal tips.

I've not tried making flowers by starting off with a black cross before, as I did for these. It seems to work. Pale blue petals have been added between the sections. I've started to loose track of time...

The final stage - adding dots, spots and lines in pure Permanent White (with a fraction of water - you can't paint with treacle):

Yes, that's all I did, and what a difference it makes! Much of this work was done under a magnifying glass, using a 00 Windsor and Newton Series 7 pure sable brush. You can't get way with using a brush of inferior quality. I think I must have spent at least an hour just painting in white ...plus fixing up some places where lines wavered or spots were too large.

You can't see it on this image, but each flower on the blue also has a white tip to each petal. I did also thicken up the black outline. There's no magic formula for how thick this should be. I might still work on that a bit more using a pointed nib and diluted black paint.

This could all have been done by someone with no prior experience - just a willingness to spend the necessary time and use the correct tools with care.

Materials other than PVA could have been used for the gesso to attach the gold, but I believed this would give the best result for photographing the work for the book.

The whole letter should look even better when reduced by about 70%, and the gold shines much brighter than you can see above where the images are the result of using a scanner.

Here's a photo - and it's even shinier with the sun on it. Far brighter than any gold ink will ever be:

Another twelve dropped capitals to do, plus write the dialogue for each character in a different calligraphy writing style - and create a spectacular medieval style border to go round each page. Plus a few other jobs.

I hope you'll like the book when it's finished.

Peter Taylor
www.writing-for-children.com
www.ptcalligraphy.com I'll always be delighted to provide you with tuition or write in calligraphy for you and add decoration if you wish.

P.S. I turned on my computer two weeks ago and there was a flash and bang. Ouch! And it's only 8 months old. It could have been worse - the hard drive was unaffected, but maybe it's time to back it up. Yours, too?

Romancing the Stars

I've just finished writing the name tags in calligraphy for the authors and illustrators who will be at Book Links' 'Romancing the Stars' event on Valentine's Day.

It would be great if you could come along and speed date us and find out what we've all been busy creating - Bulimba State School Hall, Oxford St., Bulimba, Brisbane, 6.00 pm - 8.30 pm, Thursday February 14.

I'm not on the original advertising, but filling Martin Chatterton's shoes as unfortunately he can't make it. All other details are correct and can be found at

http://www.booklinks.org.au/RomancingTheStars2013.pdf

 Drinks and supper provided.

Huge thanks to all Book Links' wonderful organisers, and check out their website at http://www.booklinks.org.au and plans to develop a Children's Literature Centre.

 Peter Taylor
www.writing-for-children.com
www.ptcalligraphy.com

Vintage Pens Giveaway

I never stop collecting items associated with the history of books and writing, both for my own pleasure and to share at workshops and presentations. Recently I discovered two vintage boxes of William Mitchell's Pens in a local shop. As you can see, the top of the box is embossed and inside there are twelve nibs and a handle. I hope someone will tell me their likely production date.

So, as a token of thanks to all writing and calligraphy friends, cyberscribes, blog and website visitors, schools at which I have conducted workshops, people who I have interested... I'll give one of these boxes away (99% pristine - a small fragment of the lid's side needs reattaching). Just add a comment to go into the draw. I hope you'll also consider following this blog.

To save getting the parcel lost in the seasonal mail, I'll make the draw on Jan 1st.

I also have another promotion - this time, in association with my latest book, 'Calligraphy for Greetings Cards and Scrapbooking'.

It has an enormous amount in it to teach calligraphy skills and using them for any purpose. It's for adults and older children and covers tools and equipment, alphabets, spacing letters and words, layout and design, creative letters (cut, decorated, embossed, pop-up and more), trails and borders, mass producing and printing cards and invitations, envelope design... and there's a gallery section of inspirational work by a variety of craftspeople. It's been beautifully designed and printed.by the publisher, GMC Publications.

It's available or able to be ordered from all bricks and mortar bookstores and online retailers worldwide.

As reviews help to sell books and I’m dependent on royalties, which won’t be payable until about 2,000 more copies are sold (mid- to end 2013??), I’m doing a promotion. If anyone who visits here, or any of your friends or blog readers chooses to buy a copy, after they have added a review on the retailer’s website or in a Guild/Society/industry newsletter, teacher's or librarians' journal/newsletter or similar, I will calligraph and decorate a name of their choice and snail mail it (they email me the details to Peter (at) writing-for-children.com). I’ll keep this offer open until I have 10 reviews on each website, and one in each of a large number of relevant journals and newsletters.

Enjoy celebrating your seasonal festivities and wishing you Peace, Love and Joy throughout 2013 and every year,

Peter Taylor
Writing for Children
www.writing-for-children.com
www.ptcalligraphy.com


,

Creative Writing

It was good to be featured in the Channel Ten TV early evening News last week, encouraging children to enjoy words and use calligraphy creatively.



The filming took an hour, the interview seemed long but was probably less than 5 minutes - but they edited well to retain the important bits in the minute long segment. Thank you Channel Ten, the Sequel Communications and the Centre for Educational Leadership and Innovation teams - and staff and students. This was pitched by Sequel Communications to promote the http://www.celi.org.au/ 'Dare to Be Still - Innovation Forum' in Brisbane at the end of next week (at which I will be presenting a workshop). 

Yep, as you can see, I've broken my left arm - but it's 'hanging in there' and I'm right handed. But it will be nice when I can tie my own shoe laces again. You'd be surprised how many things require the use of two hands!

Peter Taylor
http://www.writing-for-children.com/

Deciding where to buy books - and their price

Yay, my new book's out in the UK and through online stores - 'Calligraphy for Greetings Cards and Scrapbooking' - and I'm delighted with it. It's been wonderfully produced by the publisher, GMC Publications, but I daren't look for typos. We all tried very hard to locate any before it went to print.

Hands up the authors who read through their book, looking for escaped errors, when it first arrives. How many of you is that?

 

The book’s available on the GMC website for £14.99 ($23) - the price printed on the cover (I’m not sure if delivery is extra). ‘The Book Depository’ quotes $17.54 with free worldwide delivery. Amazon.com says you can pre-order it and it will be published on October 2nd, $13.57 with free supersaver delivery, but I believe the publishers received stock ahead of schedule from the printer, so presumably it will soon be for immediate sale there, too, as is on Amazon.com.uk.

The Australian Distributor's website says it will be available in June, RRP ...da da... $29.99. That's a huge difference to $13.57!

How can Australian stores compete?

I love and do support local stores, and I always ask readers to support bricks and mortar stores when they can because I’d hate to lose the ability to handle and browse through books in shops. More than enough bookstores have been forced to close already. But if there's a choice of buying one book or two, do you support two authors or one store? I guess sometimes you do one and sometimes the other - but it’s not an easy decision. I've a long list of titles that I'd love to purchase. The cheaper they are, the more books I can buy as gifts for children; the more children read the better...

The author will probably get a higher royalty payment if the price is high, with luck 10 per cent of the money the publisher gets from the sale, i.e. before the wholesaler and store have added their extras - not 10 per cent of the selling price to the customer.

The cost of public transport or car-parking is also added to the price a reader pays at a shop – once to get to the shop, often only to discover the book has to be ordered, in which case, then again to collect the purchase two weeks later.

I never regret book shopping in physical stores and spending a little extra - but I do think very long and hard if the cost is over double the online price, and then I invariably end up buying something totally different from my original mission.

But do you, as an author, breed happier readers/customers/loyal followers who spread the word that you are a nice person, who's kind and helpful, if you also tell readers where to buy your books at the cheapest price?

I don't know.

If you want someone to buy you a book as a gift, do you tell them where they can buy it cheapest as well as at the shop price and leave the decision to them? Or if they want to give your book as a gift to someone else and seek your buying suggestion?

I feel deceitful asking people pay top dollar when I know exactly where they can get the book for a lot lot less, even though I’d like them to support a ‘real’ bookshop. There are heaps of folk who struggle to afford to buy books at any price.

When the price of your book is significantly cheaper online than that stated on its cover, do you sell your own book at the cover price? People are happy to pay this at launches and signings, especially if food and champagne are provided, but if you sell privately at, say, a workshop, do readers feel ‘ripped off’ if they later find the book selling at half price (with that vendor presumed to be making a significant profit, even though they are possibly selling in bulk with only a small percentage mark up)? Are you then deemed greedy and obviously making an outrageously huge and unnecessary profit from sales?

Huge profit and greed is, of course, unlikely to be the case, but reputation is about perception, not fact - online discount stores no doubt get a different wholesale price to the one available to the author, as well as being content with a low margin.

How do readers feel about you as a person if they buy at the top price from you, or as recommended by you, and then later find that you knew all along where they could get it cheaper?

How I wish this book was the same price everywhere!

Peter Taylor
http://www.writing-for-children.com/

PS The best current deal is probably The Book Depository with free delivery but if you'd like to shop somewhere else... I'll keep you updated!

PPS  If you buy a copy of the book and write a review on any website, or in a magazine or newspaper and notify me, I will hand write and decorate a name for you in calligraphy, add a feature incorporating 23ct gold leaf and send it to you.

Creative Calligraphy To Help Children Develop A Love of Words

Last Sunday, I taught calligraphy in a session for the Ipswich District Teacher Librarian Network. Huge thanks, Jenny Stubbs, for your organisation! Hopefully I enabled attendees to appreciate that lettering can be fun and useful. Not all calligraphy has to be super neat writing on straight lines. A decorative capital with blended colour and mixed media additions can be used like an illuminated medieval letter to start a chapter or page. Many children find this inspires them to think extra hard about the words they write after it.


Another way that calligraphy can be used to stimulate creativity, and help children develop a love of words, literature and writing, is to develop a background and then hunt for an appropriate poem or text to write over the top - which necessitates reading a number of alternatives before a choice is made. Or they can write a poem or suitable prose themselves.

This artwork was produced by first writing and overlapping the word ‘Cloud’ many times, using a strip of balsa wood with a straight-cut end as a pen. To make the lighter tones, it was dipped in water before soaking up the ink. The writing was then smudged with a moistened sponge and some Burnt Sienna watercolour painted at the bottom of the wetted paper to suggest the red-brown soil of the Australian outback. Table salt was sprinkled over all the damp area and the paper left to dry - then the salt was removed. Salting creates light spots with unpredictable but interesting ragged edges. To reduce the dominance of the background, I then used a garden hose to wash off some of the ink and paint. Before the paper dried, ‘Rain’ was written on the left and right sides with a fountain-pen dipped in water to make the ink greyer. Letting the ink run and go 'hairy' seemed appropriate. More words were added when paper was completely dry, and their colour depth controlled by instantly blotting some with a paper tissue.

A few more ‘Rain’s then filled a blank space or two. The original is 30cm (1ft) wide.

I’m not sure that the colour or spacing of the letters in the added verse from the poem ‘This Land’, by Ian Mudie, is as effective as it should be. Do you think it’s too dominant? Should the colour have been more transparent, the letter strokes thinner and with more variety in colour and density. Should the letters have been more mixed in size or a different style, or all capitals as in the rest of the piece, or with closer and more consistent spacing or on less straight lines? I’m looking forward to trying again and I'll be pleased to incorporate any suggestions you’d like to offer.

For schools, the nature of the activity is more important that the quality of the script. Students could use pencils for the background and felt pens or ball-points for the words that need to stand out, and write them in their everyday handwriting.

Rather than finding a text to write over a background, facilitating a personal creative interpretation of a poem or text that a child discovers and likes can also encourage them to read and search for more, if they enjoy the activity. There are plenty of other ways of presenting words to refelct their meaning, sound and rhythms.

If you are a teacher, I'll be delighted to work with children in your school to create similar artworks, if you'd like to invite me to visit - please check out my website. If you try something similar yourself, please let me know how it goes and show me the result.

The verse from Ian Mudie's poem was chosen after first visualising the background – but it was coincidental that our location for the workshop was ‘Woodlands’ at Marburg, a beautiful old Queensland mansion with a tin roof - and as you can see, it was a glorious sunny and warm autumn day, and I didn't wish had been raining.



Peter Taylor

http://www.writing-for-children.com/

http://www.ptcalligraphy.com/

The Big Publishing Industry Mystery - Wish Lists

Two men had travelled from Sydney to Brisbane on business, and prepared to meet their client. The appointment was set for 11am.


“You’ve got the contract?”

“Yep – safe and sound.”

“And a pen?”

“Well, I had one ...but it’s gone. Must have left it on the plane.”

“I don’t have one either. We better get one quick. Something decent or he’ll think we’re ...well, I don’t know, I dread to think. Which way shall we go?”

After a couple of enquiries of other wandering shoppers, the two arrived at The Pen Shoppe. Buying a suitable implement was easy – but there was something else of interest in the shop. Calligraphy. Lots of it, and it looked good.

“Are you the calligrapher?” one of them asked the proprietor.

“This is not all mine, but yes, I do a lot,” she said. “Is there something you want written out?”

“Not exactly. You see, we’re book packagers, and we’re in town to sign a contract with an author for a book on yachting – but we know that Allen and Unwin want to produce a book on ‘how to do calligraphy’. Can you write one for them?”

Barbara Nichol replied that she didn’t have time, but suggested they contact me ...and eventually my first book was published – ‘The Australian Manual of Calligraphy’, which was also published by HarperCollins/Unwin Hyman in the UK and NZ as ‘A Manual of Calligraphy’. Many thanks, Barbara – I’ll always be grateful!

This took place in 1986.

But how did they know what was on Allen and Unwin’s ‘wish list’? How many publishers have wish lists and how do writers find out what is on them? This is one of the industry’s big mysteries to me. If a publisher really wants a book on a subject, you’d think that they’d advertise the fact or chase appropriate authors or experts.

I was ‘chased’ for my next book – well, not exactly, but in 2008 I asked an editor, who I’d never met or heard of, for virtual friendship on www.jacketflap.com and along with acceptance, they asked if I’d be interested in a project. I’ve no idea why they chose me – I’d only had the one major book published years before. They must have read something on the web that I’ve written. Apart from my Jacketflap page, maybe it was my Writing for Children website http://www.writing-for-children.com/, or contributions to PIO industry newsletter http://jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com/. Yes, building a web presence can be useful – occasionally unexpected people do read it.

For that one, for Hinkler Books, I wrote sections on Science and Survival in ‘101 Things To Do Before You Grow Up’. George Ivanoff and Sofija Stefanovic also wrote two sections each.

But then it happened again.

When it was time to mail my chapters and ideas for possible illustrations, I addressed the envelope in calligraphy. “Oh,” said the editor, “that was a nice surprise. We’ve been thinking about producing a book on calligraphy. Can you write one?” They had a wish list, too!

Trade book number three – ‘Practical Calligraphy’, which came out in 2010.

Then, just before it was released, and on my way to my aunt’s 90th birthday in the UK, I stopped off a and visited stands at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. A described in an earlier blog post, when asked what I was looking at, I replied that I was trying to discover if they had any books that might compete with my new one and if they had any gaps in their list that I may be able to fill. One Canadian publisher had a calligraphy book on display – so we chatted. I discovered that they had a wish list, and their calligraphy book was never intended to be such. What they had really wanted was a book on fancy border patterns. I could have provided that. I wonder if they still want one?

On to the London Book Fair, on the way home. There was one publisher who definitely had a wish list. He pleaded with me: “We want a book of easy recipes that children can cook. Can you write one? Do you know of anyone...?” (I considered it, but had soon received a contract for a book that would keep me busy, and offered the information to my local SCBWI Chapter members.) Note: Just because the market seems saturated with books on a particular topic, if a publisher does not have one on their list, don’t be afraid to send them a proposal – they may still want one of their own.

When I pitched the idea of a book on ‘Fun Lettering for Children’ to the Managing Director and the Publisher on the GMC Publications stand, they instantly came up with the idea of ‘Calligraphy for Greetings Cards and Scrapbooking’. Did they have a card making/scrapbooking/calligraphy book already on their wish list? It was certainly easy to discover what I should put in a proposal.

This book went to press last week, so if there are any publishers reading this who have a wish list, I’m looking for a new project and can write on a wide range of subjects. Just let me know what you want and I’ll be delighted to send a proposal and help if I can.

Peter Taylor
http://www.writing-for-children.com/

The number '4'

Yes, it’s another new start. This really is the year of the blog. Well that’s the plan! Something for adults wanting to create books for children, and something for children who like to write, draw and be creative.

It’s pretty obvious last year was a write off for blogging for me – but not for book writing. GMC Publications, in the UK, is just putting the final touches to ‘Calligraphy for Greetings Cards and Scrapbooking’ and should send it to the printer on January 24. It will be out in June. Yipee! It was a very time consuming project – but I’m delighted with the colour proofs I’ve been sent.

Next project: This one’s for charity and organised by www.uTales.com . uTales allows authors and illustrators to use their enhancement tools to create and sell  books with basic animations without charge. A percentage of profits go to www.PencilsofPromise.com, a very worthy charity that helps communities in the developing world to establish schools and libraries. A group of creators are now collaborating to produce one spread each of an alphabet book, and a counting book, for which all profits will go to Pencils of Promise. I’ve composed the verse for the number ‘4’ and the wonderful Anil Tortop www.anilmation.com will illustrate it. I’m finding it incredibly hard to wait to see how she interprets it. I may write the words in calligraphy, if there’s room. We’ll see. I’ll let you peep when it’s done.

Four green frogs with big googly eyes

Eating wiggly worms and crispy crunchy flies

This one's for me, and here's one for you -

A special one for Mummy, and my Daddy, too.

Four full frogs with big googly eyes

And fat froggy tummies - just look at their size!

Special thanks to my ‘think-tank’ friends who helped refine the choice of words!

If you’d like to draw pictures yourself to go with the words, and send them as images, I’ll add them to this blog and to my website – Peter (at) writing-for-children.com. You could print out the words first and draw the frogs around them to make a picture or poster. Or you could imagine it was for an open 2 page spread in a book, and if you want to, have some lines of the verse on one page and some on the other, splitting them up as you like.

Book illustrators usually start by making rough sketches of where everything might fit. They try lots of ideas and then work more on the one they like best. One big wide picture could be drawn for a double page spread with a background to cover the whole area, but no important drawings where the words will be positioned. The words are usually created on a transparent layer that a computer can arrange over the top of the picture. This allows new replacement words to be used if the book gets published in a foreign country.

Character profiles

My natural voice is 'chatty'. It does me well for writing non-fiction for the popular market and the occasional article. But now I'm on a YA I’m finding it much harder. I need to concentrate on the characters' voices. Perhaps I should give each a Jung Myers-Briggs personality profile test. Do they have creative ideas (which are sometime impractical), or are they good at seeing all sides of an argument (but no good at making up their minds), are they the ones that always make sure there's a cake for a birthday or a they 'the delegator', the 'listener', nit-picking perfectionist, party animal that energises the group...

Families, committees, gangs, teams etc all work best when the members know and respect the strengths and weakness of each other, and that there's a mix. So, too, with knowing characters and writing about them. Their voice and actions have to be believable and consistent for their personality.

And look in a train station, bus, exam room, family function - no two people sit in a chair identically. Have you ever tried describing the unique way each of your characters sit?

Some of my characters I know well, but not all of them yet.

I've been told that as I keep writing, the characters will also take some control of the story. We’ll see!

Personality profiles were also an important ingredient for the success and efficiency of the business groups I was with on Monday. I was employed by marketing conference presenters and facilitators Performance Frontiers http://www.performancefrontiers.com , on behalf of Bond University, for whom they were conducting the event. My job was to write down the key words and phrases in calligraphy as they were generated - ending the day with 3 panels each about one and a half metres square. I had about 2 hours to do each. The initial idea was for the university to cut the panels up at the end so that each department kept a chunk as a reminder of their contributions and the outcomes from the day - but they decided to keep them intact (at least for a while).

Many thanks to organisers and presenters Judith, Suzi, Taya and Kate and all at Bond for a superb day!

Back to writing my new calligraphy book, due to be published in 2012.

Peter Taylor

www.writing-for-children.com

PS My Writing for Children website has just been updated!