The Glass Line SMMR '25 MAY-JUN Wed PM

✍🏻Wed PM SMMR ’25 • All Levels • Live/Recorded Online 8-week Course via Google Meet $224-280 **

🌿🌷 Wed nights from 6-8:30pm Eastern:::: May 7-Jun 25

⌛️**Early Bird price Through Weds, Apr 2

Cursive Crush, Open-Shaded Script, Florals. Hold the energy of transformation working wet into wet with glass dip pens and transparent inks.

Week 1-4: Cursive Crush, a child of Spencerian calligraphy, focuses on syncing the flow and rhythm of the body, spirit, and mind with the results on our page. We break down each letterform and connection into 2 categories - masculine and feminine strokes. This distinction will improve your cursive handwriting and enrich your enjoyment of this classic, versatile, and useful hand.

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Week 5-8: Open-Shaded Script constructs letterforms by describing the swell or shade made by a pointed pen with at least two contour mono line strokes, drawn in the same stroke sequence seen in traditional scripts (Round Hand, Copperplate, etc.) The second stroke of a shade or extension of a hairline acts as a mentor stroke to the previous and is meant to offer gentle correction to curves (if needed) and to suggest the growth of a flourish, all with an open heart and gentle hand.

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Here's the class schedule:

Week 1 • Wed. Jun 12, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 2 • Wed. Jun 19, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 3 • Wed. Jun 26, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 4 • Wed. Jul 03, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 5 • Wed. Jul 10, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 6 • Wed. Jul 17, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 7 • Wed. Jul 24, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

Week 8 • Wed. Jul 31, 2024 10am-12:30pm Eastern

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This is a LIVE class, which is recorded for your enjoyment and review, then uploaded to a class folder on my Dropbox site each of our 8 weeks of class time together. If you ever have to miss a class, you can always check back later to watch what you missed and practice at your own pace. I really enjoy the live format, and meeting so many people all over the world each week in my home. Live classes allow the student to interact with me and each other for specific feedback.

IMPORTANT: When you purchase a ticket, Eventbrite will send you an order confirmation email with your ticket. WITHIN that email, scroll down beneath the ticket to see the links to our online classroom, supply list, and Dropbox folder where exemplars and class recordings will be stored for viewing. This will be our virtual classroom for every time we meet. When the link and intro email is sent to you, click the link, which will open a web page in your web browser.

It's easier to use a Google CHROME browser if you're joining the class via your computer. If you're joining via your ipad or phone, you'll download Google's Meet app and join that way. You do not need to have a gmail address.

Please read technical notes way down at the bottom for details about participating in an online class via Google Meet.

After you register and before the class begins, you will receive a welcome email containing:

• Link to our online classroom folder where you can find uploads each week and a PDF link to exemplar packet to download and print out for our first class.

• The Google Meet Classroom link we will use every week.

After each live class, I’ll upload either a full-length recording of my demonstrations during the class OR a 20-minute review of the pages we worked on (and snapshots of those pages) for you to later download or stream at your convenience. This makes it easier for students to keep up with the class if you cannot participate live.

THE GLASS LINE SUPPLY LIST

Paper for practice:

• Bienfang Graphics 360 9ííx12íí 100% Rag Marker Pad OR Borden & Riley 9ííx12íí 100s Smooth Cotton Comp Pad

Paper for envelopes and final projects: Pick at least one or ALL if youíre wanting to try a variety.

• Fave is Craneís Lettra Pearl White 32 lb writing paper by Crane & Co.. Comes in reams of 250 in 8.5 x 11. Soft and buttery - it is great for markers, paints, fountain pens, BUT not so great with pointed pen.

• Strathmore Calligraphy Writing Paper Pad 8.5 x 11.

• Southworth ResumÈ paper by Neenah. Office Supply stores sell this as well as amazon.com. Comes in white or ivory and has two weights: 24lb and 32 lb. Iíve used both for folding letters/envelopes. Works will with Pointed pen and everything else.

Pens: Two of my favorites are a fine-nib fountain pen and a glass dip pen. With both, you enjoy watching wet inkpool and dry at the end of a stroke. It can give your strokes a depth hard to achieve with markers.

You donít need an expensive fountain pen.

• Lamy Safari (Amazon and jetpens.com are both great places to look.) Get a fine or medium. Iíd also recommend purchasing a converter for it so you can fill the pen with the colors of your choice. I highly recommend purchasing bottles of fountain pen ink as opposed to pre-loaded cartridges.

• Prera by Pilot. Get a fine or medium. These have a lovely feel to them with the cap snapping into place and come in fun colors.

Glass dip pens

Glass pens come from all over the world, and they CAME from all over the world - Europe, Asia... in all kinds of crazy glass shapes from tip to end. They can be fragile, so make sure to protect the tip (and handle, if itís also made of glass.)

I use a plastic inkwell and water container when using a glass pen/nib. My penrest is a washcloth folded in half, then thirds. This keeps my pen from rolling off the table, and it keeps it cradled on a pillowy surface.

Any internet search will give you a variety of glass dip pens. I have a few that have a glass nib with a plastic or wooden body. These come with the option of replacing the nibs that screw in. They also come with a threaded cap. Jetpens.com has them, and Iíve also found them in other places online.

You can also get a full body glass pen - the entire piece is made of one hand-blown piece of glass. My current faves are by J.Herbin (Herbin Round Glass Dip Pens). I get mine at PaperInkArts.com. They are well balanced and grogeous, with several different places to place your fingers and adjust your grip.

The advantage of a glass dip pen is that you have the option to mix your inks, double dip, and even redip in water to make your ink color more transparent. Very much like painting, I have recently fallen deeply in love with glass dip pens and my variety of ink wells in a warm blue, cool blue, warm green, deep yellow ochre or warm gold, and red or violet. With a variety of inks on hand, you can really have fun with mixing.

My preferred paper for glass nibs is Craneís Lettra in writing weight. Its 100% cotton sheet is soft, absorbant, and wonít bleed the inks.

Finding the right paper/glass combo is really important for a pleasureable writing experience. This is also an individual choice - so be prepared to experiement and find your sweet spot - what works for you.

Also remember that every glass nib is handmade by a glassblower at the mouth of a glass oven... so each nib, all over the world is unique. After they are blown, theyíre sharpened with sandpaper and ground evenly to a point that connects to the deep ridges (also called capillaries) where the ink falls and flows down to the surface of your paper, using gravity to pull ink to the point.

Because glass nibs/pens are handmade, they can come with imperfections. If that happens to you, SAVE YOUR RECEIPT AND GET A REPLACEMENT. Iíve seen glass pen makers do their own filing and repair on chipped nibs or some with tiny burs... itís a meticulous process to grind to an even point and connect to all the capillaries, too. Seriously - I donít even bother. Iíve tried and failed to grind my own nibs, but if youíre determined to try, get on YouTube and watch vids of penmakers reshaping and grinding their nibs.

PLEASE. when youíre purchasing your glass pens, get at least two to experiment with.

They are easier to use than a metal dip pen nib, but they are still uniquely mysterious. So give using these magical writing tools some time with your hands and a variety of paper. See what works for you.

SO, to find a good variety of colors, look for a selection of colors that youíll enjoy mixing. Start with a red, blue, yellow, and black, and see how much fun it is to make new colors as you mix them. Remember to put these colors into smaller containers so that youíre not contaminating the original larger bottle. Look to the next page to see the colors Iím loving now.

For regular writing in one fountain pen with one ink, my faves are transparent grey inks: MontBlanc/Oyster Grey and Kiri-Same/Iroshizuku. These come in bottles and youíll have to make sure you get a converter for your fountain pen instead of a box of cartridges, so you can fill your pen with bottled ink (more economical but a little more high-maintenance.)

Misc:

• Mechanical Pencil (for drawing guides.)

• SOFT erasable pencil for light sketching.

• Eraser (white)

• Eraser (2 kneaded)

• PLASTIC ruler

• PLASTIC water container

• Washcloth to clean pen and as a penrest

• Scissors

• Decorative Washi Tape (for envelopes.)

• Bone Folder (for envelopes.)

• Postage Stamps (for envelopes.)

Host or Publisher Anne Elser