Get inspired by this handmade leather book with calligraphy and illuminated letters. My client commissioned me to create the book as a gift for his group’s DM. She wrote a three year campaign for their group to participate in!
Keep reading to get a close view of the letters and calligraphy and see my process for working my way through crafting a piece like this.
I wanted to write this post for you to see because I’m proud of my work, I want others to see this piece. I hope it inspires you to think a little bigger with your calligraphy. I also wanted to show that it’s okay to go deep with calligraphy. Not everything is going to go smoothly, but it’s part of creative process. It’s worth trying and breaking down into smaller steps to get to the finish.
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Concept
Richard, my client, is a member of a Dungeons and Dragons group that meets weekly for a few hours of fun play and decompression. In his gratitude for the person who wrote the campaign and makes playing possible, he wanted to present her with a gift.
The Dungeon Master, or game planner, wrote a Knight’s Code of Conduct for the group to abide by during game play. Richard’s idea was to make the Code of Conduct into a palm-sized dark brown leather bound book with their Knight’s symbol tooled into the cover. In his vision, each concept of the Code would have its own page, including illuminated letters at the top of each page. The pages would have soft edges, or “deckled edges”, and feature Uncial calligraphy. Richard found my portfolio post, Illuminated Letters for a New Baby, and contacted me about the book.
As a calligrapher, and a person who enjoys projects with many stages and moving parts, I excitedly agreed to take on the book! This project was a great exercise for me in learning more about illumination, project management, and working with other artists to make this vision a reality!
Preliminary Designs
The original size I decided on for the book was 4 inches wide by six inches tall. Richard only wanted about a dozen or so pages in the entire book. I created a series of to-size mockups of each page, using basic layout concepts to map out the margins and lines of calligraphy.
The emblem for the cover was an 8-pointed star, points alternating between green and gold. I sent these sketches, along with color swatches, to Richard for approval.
Fabricating the Book
Though I can bind books, I consider myself an enthusiast at best. And I have no experience with leather.
The first person I thought of for the cover was Teo of Halo Halo Creations. He creates, restores, and upcycles leather items, among other creative projects. I approached him about making the cover for this book.
He was so helpful as he guided me through the process of choosing leather and dye. Teo did the tooling on the cover perfectly.
A happy accident is that there is an imperfection in the leather that makes the emblem look like a shooting star! I would recommend him for any leather project.
At the same time, I was searching and asking bookbinder if they knew someone in Tucson who made books with leather covers. I landed on Colleen Young of The Attic + 1988. After a few emails, I met with her to give her the Arches Hot Press paper for the book pages and Teo’s beautifully crafted cover.
Colleen tore the pages down by hand to create the soft edges of the book. She sewed the pages together for me and cased them into the leather cover.
The book was now real, and for me, the real work was about to begin.
Pressure
An unexpected thing that this project revealed to me was just how high of a standard I hold myself to. Consequently, I came face to face with my practice of putting something off for fear of not doing it correctly or well enough.
In addition to that was the notion that with each element, the margin for error was next to none. If I misspelled something, wrote on the wrong line, spilled anything, or had an ink blob, it could not be corrected. I would need to start over, and I really didn’t want to get to that point!
But the clock would tick away anyway, so I might as well do what I do best: make a plan and follow it!
Laying Out the Pages
Each step in creating this book came with a quiet deep breath, and then a plunge. Normally I would have used my light pad with guidelines on a separate page to write the calligraphy. Since the book was already bound, drawing the lines was my only option.
As I began to try to plot my layout and lines into the new book, I noticed that the pages were larger than my sketches allowed for. I measured my sketches again — 4″x6″ — correct. The pages were almost an inch larger on both the width and the height. I considered leaving the page layout as-is and centering it on the page to save time. I’m sure it would have worked out, but the spacing and layout would have been off.
So I re-did the layout to the scale of the new pages. I recalculated the margins and the space between the lines of calligraphy. I also re-did the mockups of each page with calligraphy to-size, just to be sure everything fit properly and looked nice.
Ultimately, the larger pages worked out because the text would have ample room. I could condense it without it looking crowded. But this did eat up more time than I had planned for.
Transferring the Guidelines
I took my time with this step, as I wanted the placement of the text to be exactly the same from page to page. Though the conscious mind may not be able to point out the slight differences between pages, the energetic body can certainly sense them. I want each viewer to feel held and settled as they page through the book.
For each page, I carefully measured the margins I previously decided on. I used a triangle to ensure that all horizontal lines were perpendicular to the spine. This was the most crucial step in my process, I think! On average, each page has 12 lines of text.
I used my calligraphy page mockup as a template and a 0.3″ mechanical pencil to transfer the calligraphy guidelines over. I lined the edge of the graph paper up with the margin I drew and made 1 mark for each line of text.
Accuracy in the guidelines is essential because it will alter the size of calligraphy. A millimeter of error creates a perceptible difference in a body of text.
As my teacher Paul Antonio says, “Slow is steady, and steady is fast.”
Illuminated Letters
As excited as I was when I committed to this project, I put off drafting the illuminated letters for quite awhile. I was afraid I wouldn’t get them right. But, as I say to my sons, “you can’t edit a blank page” (wish I remembered who to credit with that statement).
As with many of my calligraphy projects, I started the sketches on 1/8″ graph paper. I relied heavily on The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy by Margaret Morgan. The author shares incredible research and knowledge of materials, process, and calligraphy and illumination of different periods. It also has such clear instruction.
I chose Roman-style capital letters with vines intertwined around them. I also included decorative leaves. Rather than using gold leaf for the decorative elements, I opted for gold watercolor. Over time, the slight bend that happens while turning the pages can cause cracks in gold leaf. I love that this book will be used and seen on a regular basis. I want the gold to maintain its quality through its usage.
Once I got into drawing the letters, I really got into it! In fact, I got so carried away a couple of times that I actually drew the incorrect letter. Twice. I got mostly through the letter C a couple of times before realizing that I’d drawn a G, and then an O. Since I had a scrap of Arches Hot Press, I transferred the G to it so I could test and experiment with it before working on the final letters in the book.
Page Calligraphy
After I drafted the letters, I carefully transferred them into the book using carbon paper. I carefully lined up the graph paper lines to the margins I drew to make sure the letters were straight and placed properly on the pages. Using a Micron, I lightly outlined each letter so that the lines wouldn’t fade or get erased accidentally.
I learned to write the calligraphy first on a page before completing the illuminated letters. Calligraphers do it in this order to avoid damaging the illuminated letter. It is an incredibly intricate and involved process. Plus, if there are mistakes in the calligraphy, a person can start over without having wasted the effort on the illumination first.
Before each session of writing in the book, I practiced and warmed up my hand for writing. This wasn’t necessarily to build confidence or memorize the movements, but more to get the kinks out that appear any time you first start writing. It’s a practice in focusing on intentional movement over tendencies.
Each principle in the Code had only one or two sentences to clarify it. I used a mix of sumi ink and black gouache and the finest broad edge calligraphy nib I have to write out the Code. It only took about 10 minutes per page to write the calligraphy, but I let the book dry for hours in between writing on each page. I stood the book up on a shelf and propped the pages open just to make sure the calligraphy would remain untouched.
Adding Color
My initial color swatches for this book included red, blue, gold, and black. Before painting the letters in the book, I felt the need to double-check my color choices. I used colored pencils to fill in a few of the drafted illuminated letters I traced into the book. After that, I taped them to the corresponding calligraphy mockups to see which ones I liked best.
I settled on green rather than blue for the background of each letter to continue the theme from the cover. It seemed like a more aligned design choice with this project. Also, a little color theory for you — red and green are opposite each other on the color wheel. This means that when they are next to each other, they make each other appear more vivid.
I also chose to use the warmest versions of the colors I had to reflect the valor and heart I saw throughout the text of the Code.
After the first couple washes of color, I noticed I missed a lot of spots! For regular paintings, some white spots are good, as they create interest and let light through. But that doesn’t really fly with illuminated letters.
With my left hand, I held the book open while also holding a magnifying glass. Using a smaller brush, I added more layers of paint, touching all of the lines of the letters. Much better!
I used multiple layers of gold watercolor for the vines and illuminated letters.
Title Page Calligraphy
I actually finished these pages last! Keeping with my design guidelines, I drew Lombardic capital letters with Uncial script for the title pages. Like the calligraphy pages, I wanted the placement of the text for both title pages to match. I created a separate template for this and transferred my measurements onto the appropriate pages.
I traced the capital letters in, outlined them using a Micron pen, and wrote the titles in calligraphy. Then, I filled them with color and gold. Lastly, I added the gold vine flourishes.
Embellishments
Though the illuminated letters and calligraphy turned out like I wanted them too, the pages lacked any other color or interest. The illuminated letters also appeared to be separated from the text. A signature of many illuminated manuscripts is structural elements. These are often columns and borders with geometric designs. At this point in the process, I didn’t have the space in the margins to add even a single line.
I pored over all calligraphy books I have to find a decorative element I could add. I was looking for something pared-down that could add structure and color without taking away from the text or encroaching on my vital negative space.
Finally, I settled on calligraphy flourishes with leaves to connect the illuminated letters and Principle titles to the text.
I repeated the shape of the leaves in the intertwined vines as a colorful decorative border at the bottom of the page. After that, the pages felt complete.
The last thing I added to this book was the artist credits at the end. I am sure we each want to be recognized and remembered for our hand in this project!
Erasing the Guidelines
Indeed, this was a whole step using calculated movements! The last thing I wanted was to bend one of these pages while furiously erasing!
I used my large white Staedler eraser in light circles over the blocks of text. Then, I erased the guidelines for the margins. The small mechanical Mono eraser was perfect for erasing lines close to the edges of the pages.
When I thought I had all the guidelines erased, I rotated the book so I was looking at the page upside-down and checked again. I erased more remnants of lines. Then I got the magnifying glass and found the rest of the lines.
I repeated this for all 14 pages.
Presentation of the Illuminated Letters Book
I brought the book to the 2023 Calligraphy Retreat, hosted by the Calligraphic Society of Arizona. Our bookbinding expert Karen Borggren suggested I add end pages to this special book. When I got home, I ordered decorative paper from Hollander’s. I chose a blue and green pattern to tie in the emblem from the cover. I measured so carefully and added the end pages.
Because there were several blank pages at the end of the book, I wanted to add a ribbon bookmark to the spine. This would save the time it takes to flip through the blank pages before finding the text. I chose a green ribbon and glued it to the top of the spine.
After so much meticulous work on this book, I wanted to find a protective box for it. Every once in awhile, I find exactly what I need in a store. I came home with a perfectly sized box with a lid. I wanted people to be able to get the book out of the box gracefully, and add decorative elements that made the box a part of the book itself.
First, I glued a length of ribbon to the bottom of the box at the center of the left long edge. Then, I measured the large flat areas of both the box and a lid. I cut the same paper I used for the decorative end pages and glued each in place. To absorb the excess moisture from the glue and prevent wrinkling in the decorative paper, I weighed copy paper down over the freshly glued sheets. I let this dry overnight.
Afterthoughts
This project was one of the only things that kept me engaged with calligraphy in 2023. It took almost 3 times as long as I initially planned for. For me, the hardest part of the creative process is sustaining the effort after the challenges, tying up all the loose ends. Just when I think I’ll never be finished, the piece takes on a life of its own and pulls me excitedly through the rest of the process.
I learned much more about calligraphy, drawing letters, and adding decorative elements to manuscript-style pages. I also got an in-depth look at myself and how I work. I’m looking forward to this new season of calligraphy in my life — thanks for reading!