History: Greece

Writing became prevalent within Greece during 334 BCE. Greece considered writing to be art and went through several systems of writing, with Cypriot at 1000 BCE and Syllabic by 1400 BCE. HT Wade established the length of the chisel with the small scale alphabet.

The eastern Ionic alphabet became a norm within this society, with tools including brushes and chisels.

Calligraphy: Uncial

 Used between the 4th and 8th centuries, Uncial was a form of writing preferred for higher priority documents.

The bottom page was used mostly for becoming acquainted with the 2.0 calligraphy marker. I initially had a great amount of trouble achieving the correct thin to thick contrast and actually found myself preferring the highlighter from earlier postings–until I was made aware of my incorrect angling of the tip, that is.

The middle picture includes more playing around with thick versus thin contrast. After practicing with some random letters and getting a feel for the style of Uncial,
I started experimenting with words and sentences (and trying to restrict myself from using spaces).

The top picture was used in preparation for making valentines day cards.

I spent between 1:30 and 2 hours altogether, with the bulk of practice being spent on the middle picture.

History: Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, which took place between the 3rd and 5th century, was the prime era of uncial writing. At the time, slaves were often responsible for the teaching, writing, and copying of books. Reading and writing was considered unsuitable for the free man.

Greeks were in charge of society and had influence from Northern Africa.

Roman cursive was developed during this era and less formal writing was used for things such as books. Reader/writer relationships were also more occurrent.

Parchment was used for writing during this era and was considered to be superior to other options. Despite it's superiority, parchment was very expensive and untypical for practice or informal writing. Writing utensils included bone and metal stylus'.

History: BC Rome

The BC Rome era took place during 3rd century BCE. The Greeks neighbored early Roman civilization. BC Rome was controlled by kings, senate, and emperors.

The development of letter systems, math, science, and political systems all occurred during the BC Rome era. During this period, everyone was allowed to read and write and there were detailed past/present records.

Using beeswax tablets, writing was primarily done with stylus' and chisels or squared brushes. Carved stones and metals, as well as squared brushes, were all used within this period as well.

Clayton, E. (n.d.). The Golden Thread : A History of Writing (pp. 33-38).

Calligraphy: Roman Rustic & Practice Strokes

Due to a lack of proper tools, the calligraphy below was created with a generic blue highlighter.

Although this method was not as satisfactory as using tools made for the form of writing, the edge of the highlighter provided a reasonably acceptable substitute for the time being and allowed for some much needed practice.

Stroke Practice

Roman Rustic

The stroke practice went over rather smoothly. The Roman Rustic, however, was more difficult without nib width measurement. Nib width will be something to keep in mind for future practice. I spent approximately 30 minutes practicing with the highlighter (had difficulty finding materials for reference).