Lay Members Day 2012, London

Originally written and published on 24 April 2012.

Inspired by the Venice Carnival.

Last Saturday was the 2012 Lay Members Day of the Society of Scribes & Illuminators held in King's College, Waterloo.  It's an annual gathering and each year it wins my vote as the top event in the calligraphy calendar.

A lady I met there told me that she comes away from the day feeling, on one hand, inspired and, on the other hand, depressed.  I know what she means...the exciting work and demonstrations on show are indeed inspiring, but they also remind us that there's always lots of experimentation and work still to do!

As a recent graduate of the SSI's Advanced Training Scheme, I was very pleased to be asked to display projects I had been working on during the last 3 years.  I did imagine that my satisfaction would come from having my work on show, but the real feeling of gratification came from how genuinely interested and curious people were - about techniques & materials used, development of my pieces, and also in the scheme itself.  It's quite surprising how much information people can share in a very short space of time!  I wouldn't have been taking such an active part if it wasn't for the ATS so I was keen to sing its praises and encourage any potential recruits to apply and find out what it's all about for themselves!  More thoughts on that soon...


It was a wonderful day and I shall be looking forward to next year's event with anticipation.

In the meantime, if you want to find out more info about The Society of Scribes and Illuminators then have a look here :  http://www.calligraphyonline.org/

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"Time In A Bottle" - centrepiece of gilded triptych.

Carmen de Boheme poem in a concertina book.