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Site Updated: 25 May, 2010
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Your finished piece of calligraphy needs some careful planning in the first place.
You need to take the overall size of the finished piece of lettering, plus any page
margins you wish to take into account (click on the diagram to the left).
:: HINT :: It is worth remembering that the lettering is not easily corrected if
you go wrong. Apply the lettering first and then the decoration. If you spend hours
over elaborate painted initial letters and decorative borders and then do the lettering
and make a mistake you might have a lot of repeat work to do.
Page Layout
Once you have decided on the script you are using, write a few test lines in slightly
different sized nibs to see how long the lines of text are.
I would suggest writing
some of the longest lines to get an idea of the overall width of the work. If you
have decided to use any decorative letters you will also need to plan where they
are going and how big they will be. Use pencil and pen drafts to plan the design.
Now you have decided on which size nib to use, write out some or all of the lines
of text. You can use these to ensure you stick to the original size and layout of
your planned piece by cutting them out and holding them under the line you are writing
- to act as a placement guide (click on the diagram to the right). I have shown the
lines centred on the page in this example but you may wish to arrange them differently.
The same method can still be used.
Leave the ink to dry for some time before attempting to do any more work or before
erasing any pencil guidelines. You don't want to smudge anything because of impatience.
I will usually wait until the following day before I erase any guidelines.
Page Margins
Page proportions are important for the overall look of the work and the diagrams
below show the formula for margin measurements. These proportions apply whether you
are writing a book or a one off piece for framing. See
The Gallery for more layout ideas.
Lettering and decoration are contained inside the margins. Alternatively, you might
like to keep the lettering contained within the boxed (grey) area and the decoration
to fill the margin to the edge of the paper. This formula will work whatever the
size and orientation of the paper.
(click for larger images)
One unit can be millimetres, centimetres, inches or divisions of an inch. What you
use is your choice. I usually work in centimetres, hence the single page layout will
have a top margin of 2cm, side margins of 2.5cm each and a bottom margin of 4cm.
Note how the side margins for a double page layout are slightly different. This is
to counteract the ‘weight’ of the work. If you use the margin formula for a single
page layout in a double page spread the pages could appear to want to fall away from
each other, as if weighted on the outside edges. The inner margins, the division
between the pages, would appear too wide as if separating the pages rather than uniting
them.
If you are going to frame your work (and why not, after all the hard work you've
put into it) you will also need to leave room for for the frame.
Useful Links:
Layout getting the page proportions right