Copperplate Script

Book excerpt: Copperplate Script - A Yin & Yang Approach by Paul Antonio, is an innovative, new technology applied to an historical script. The script presented in this manual is not an historical hand, but a geometric construct to aid in a more exacting understanding of the script. This construct assists with writing a cleaner and more beautiful copperplate script.The Technology reintroduces a comprehensive terminology for the parts of the letters - words used by the English Writing Masters in their Copybooks, in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, as well as additional names augmented from the historical record. Geometry and physics are used to explain how a curve works and where it sits in relation to the baseline. This concept, then compares how a car or a bicycle tackles a roundabout.Learning the skeletal forms, similar to learning Roman Capitals, is a key part of the manual. The process begins with using a pencil first, followed by the nib.The over-arching concept of the technology utilises 4Fold Symmetry. There are four facets in the 4Fold Symmetry, all of which have 2 aspects; simple and complex. Angular Confinement is the first facet. It shows how confining the curves, inside a plane sided figure (in this case a parallelogram), is like drawing a square to plot a circle.Additional pages of study include an extensive list of difficult-to-write practise words, exemplars of numbers and variations, ligatures of double letters and ampersands. Sections on Brush Copperplate, Flourishing and its rules, as well as a glossary, augment this fine body of work.This manual offers an extensive, in-depth study of Copperplate Script suitable for any level of ability and an extraordinary resource for the beginner, intermediate or advanced calligrapher.