Previous Workshops – Calligraphers’ Guild Of Western Australia

The Calligraphers’ Guild holds workshops on a regular basis with members presenting workshops on their particular talent, but also workshops are presented by other local, interstate or overseas calligraphers . Subjects are on calligraphy or related to calligraphy. The workshops are suitable for both beginners and more advanced calligraphers.

The workshop for the June meeting 2026 was another interesting and informative workshop presented by Sandra Wedding, this time focusing on French Roundhand Majuscules.

Previously at the May meeting Sandra held the following workshop:
French Roundhand – Unlock the Elegance of the French Ronde.
Step into a world where the precision of the Enlightenment meets the flair of American artistry. Before the flourish of Spencerian or the rigour of Copperplate took hold, there was the Ronde—a script that defined French bureaucracy and legal elegance for centuries.
Sandra’s workshop traced the journey of this unique, upright hand from the streets of Paris to the desks of master American penmen.
What You’ll Discover:
French Roundhand is known as an elegant yet an easy, systematic, and legible hand.
The French Foundation: Explore the classic Ronde—the “round” hand, with its distinctive vertical script that uses connecting ligatures. We will look at historical examples of this delightful script that gained popularity in the late 16th century.
The American Adaptation: Explore how 19th-century American penmen took this rigid European standard and infused it with the “American System” of movement. Witness how the script transitioned from a heavy, formal hand into a more fluid, decorative style used for headings and diplomas.

Left: Sandra Wedding kindly wrote name tags for members attending the French Roundhand workshop.

On Saturday 26th April, Colleen Keelty presented a workshop to The Guild inspired by John Stevens, titled “Pointed Pen Capitals and Minuscules” that was held in 2025.

Any of you who know of John’s work will know that this style is a great hand to have in “Your Hand”! Colleen said she is still working hard to be consistent with her form, a lifetime of work ahead.

For inspiration and to see his style, check out his website https://www.johnstevensdesign.com

Saturday 28th March 2026 – Following the AGM meeting, Natalia Achino presented a workshop on writing on water colour back grounds. Here is the Review of the workshop
by Jenny Fowles.

Participants were asked to bring their previous watercolour pieces or new ones cut to size ready for experimenting with different mediums to produce a sampler on an A3 sheet. Natalia had a wonderful informative display of her hints for producing successful finished pieces using watercolour backgrounds. Also, some samples of her very impressive calligraphic artworks. Natalia was also very generous in sharing her knowledge of the variety of mediums to produce a finished piece. She stressed the use of quality watercolour paper as the most important factor in the final product. Members were then asked to experiment with different nibs/pointed brushes/parallel pens/posca pens/fineliners or any marking tool on their watercolour samples. Among Natalia’s generous tips was how to use gesso and matt medium to cover errors. She also uses them to experiment with a smoother texture to write on. A very thorough, informative and creative workshop that inspired members to experiment and produce some final pieces.

Natalia’s design process and workshop thumbnail sketches were inspired by the ancient walls of Pompeii

Some photos Natalia took at Pompeii that inspired the work below

Below: Natalia Achino – An example of what to include in a visual sampler when recording information for future projects.

Saturday 27th September 2025: Book binding with Martin Dickie

Martin began his Bookbinding workshop with a walk through the day’s proceedings. The room was set up with a series of workstations starting with the paper. Paper for the books was supplied by Zartart https://zartart.com.au. At each station Martin provided tools and instructions. Workstations included a Folding station, bone folder tools provided to crease the pages. A Piercing station, with awls and cork mats, a Cut covers station to cut strawboards, materials and make templates. A Threads station, hanks of threads, candles and beeswax blocks. Other stations, include gluing, cutting, and an area for ironing the material for the covers.

Above: Martin at his bookbinding workshop explaining the various workstations to be used.

September meeting-2024: Colleen Keelty, a longtime member of the Guild, made a very passionate presentation with her workshop on Rudolph Koch. Colleen asked members to choose a Rudolf Koch period:
1. Arts and Crafts which included open gothic like Fruhling.
2. The Blue period, black monoline with colouring.
3. His most famous style the very textural gothic.
4. Ornate capitals.

Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German font designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widely used typefaces include Neuland and Kabel. Source Wikipedia

“The making of letters in any form is my purest and greatest pleasure.” Rudolph Koch

**Kabel** is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Rudolf Koch and released by the Klingspor foundry in 1927

**Neuland** type also came from Koch’s penmanship, as shown later with his shadow work.

Janelle Macgregor – Textural gothic was her choice.

Workshop attendees Sue and Zoe, concentrating on their practice sheets

“Deep Practice Sound Learning” – A Zoom Workshop held by Gemma Black 23 July 2025 – see below.
Thanks to Martin and Susie for organising all the technical requirements to hold the workshop, that went off without a hitch. Another great workshop presentation by Gemma with much thought-provoking work for us to continue on with.