There you are with a fresh, exciting calligraphy project in front of you. Mistakes are not the first thing on your mind, but now, while you are calm and hopeful, is a good time to prepare for them. I am a slow calligrapher and this is a slow method. Perhaps fast calligraphers don’t make mistakes (looking at you, Jane Rollins) but I don’t know about that, so I’ll give you what has worked for me.
Anticipation is our friend. Use paper that is correctable (thick paper with sizing that prevents too much absorption, like BFK Rives or Arches Text Wove), and mediums like stick ink, gouache or paint that stay on the paper’s surface. How are your nibs? A new nib can be very enjoyable when you didn’t realize your old favorite had ragged edges. Have plenty of everything you’re using. (Yes, now is the time to check! Don’t ask me why I would emphasize that.) Fine paper has two sides; try writing on both sides with the correct size nibs and writing medium. Sometimes the “good” side with the watermark facing you won’t be your favorite. Now look at your workspace…is there one? Do you have a cat? Will you have open containers of ink or dirty wash water? Would you be able to incorporate paw prints into your design?
Anticipation becomes preparation. Make your design and pencil the lines lightly onto your good paper. Do it again, on a second sheet of paper. It’s easier to measure up two sheets at the same time, especially when you’re not stressed. (This is the back-up you will hear more about.) Make precise guidelines. I have sheets of re-usable guidelines that I attach securely to the back of the piece, then work over a light board so the lines are visible. Use these guidelines behind a scrap of the good paper to calligraph your decorative headlines at their actual size. When they’re dry position these lines in their exact locations. You can lightly trace them and remove the trials or letter over them. I like to warm up on a different piece of paper but it is easy to find yourself (myself) avoiding the work that counts, so warm up with the materials you will actually be using and set a time for yourself to start. Really, you have to put that first mark on your “good” paper.
And there you are, cruising along, enjoying the feel of your new nib on that sweet paper, the gouache that’s flowing perfectly, and boom, like a dagger to the heart (over-dramatic? Maybe…maybe not) you see that the word you are writing beautifully is the wrong word, or misspelled, or heading uphill. Thus we find ourselves at the very crux of the biscuit: can this mistake be corrected or do we need to start over? Are there words left out, lines not centered, or is it a blot? Will your work be archived in a royal court (looking at you, Rick Paulus) or is it an envelope to the groom’s ex-girlfriend that might be dropped in a puddle on the way to the post office? Or worse, will it be seen by another calligrapher? You can make those decisions for yourself, I’m just sayin’. I’d also like to thank Jorika Stockwell for introducing us to an appropriate German word: verschlimmbesserung, meaning: mistakes we make worse by trying to fix them.
If the mistake is on an envelope from a list, put it aside, take a breath and go on to the next name. Come back to it when you know how many extra envelopes you have. Maybe you won’t need to correct it. (It’s part of your prep to know how many extra envelopes you’re starting with.) Suppose you caught yourself immediately after misspelling a word on a long text, or after the first few letters of the wrong word. Stop, put your pen down, take a breath. Now is a good time to stretch your legs while you’re letting the gouache dry. Come back and calmly evaluate which of the above categories you’re in.
Let’s suppose you have decided to give correction a shot. A lovely feature of calligraphy is that the letters slant at the same angle and are very similar in shape; it’s this regularity that makes them so pleasing. Is your word rhythmic enough that you could write the correct word or letter right over it? Notice you didn’t start by scraping away the whole letter or word; you’re writing the word you want to see over the mistake and you will remove only the letter parts of the mistake that still show.
Once you have done this, let it dry again. Be patient. Make sure it’s completely dry. Then take an X-acto knife, or my favorite, a single edge razor blade, and very gently scrape the paint or ink away from only the parts of the old letters that you don’t need… ascenders, descenders, and parts that change the shape of the counter space. This is where good thick paper is worth the price, with sizing that keeps your writing fluid on the surface. You can try carefully rubbing an eraser over any spots that might still have specks of paint, but beware of smudging the remaining colors, especially reds.
Now you will need to repair the paper before touching up with wet paint or inks. Pour some finely ground gum sandarac into a piece of cotton fabric and secure it with a twist tie. Tap this bundle on your paper so some of the finest powder will land on your corrected mistake (Ground gum sandarac is available from John Neal Books or Paper and Ink Arts.) Cover this area with a piece of glassine paper (stamps come from the post office in glassine envelopes) and rub the glassine with a bone folder or the back of a spoon. This smooths down the paper fibers you may have roughed up. Clear the remaining dust with a brush. If there are letter parts you have to add, the gum sandarac will stop your ink or paint from bleeding near the corrections, but you may also want to use a pointed nib and draw in some of those tiny corrections. (As an aside, sprinkle some gum sandarac onto a whole sheet of paper as part of your preparation and rub it in a little. Heat from the friction makes it workable. Dust it off. This is a good way to improve paper that is too absorbent, if you have to use paper or envelopes like that.)
For a larger mistake, even a whole line, you can try an electric eraser…very, very carefully… if you’re desperate and had mostly given up hope of successfully salvaging your piece. An electric eraser can work well with your light touch, or can dig a hole right through the paper in a second. Speaking of digging holes, there’s a chance you are working for reproduction rather than for original artwork. Howard Glasser did a great deal of work for reproduction and I had the opportunity to see some of his original broadsides. He used a razor to carefully remove lines, words or even single letters he didn’t like until the piece was perfect for printing. That original was plenty worked over! And C.A.Millner told me that Hermann Zapf used to mix paint that exactly matched the paper color so he could cover a tiny mistake. You have to be really good at color mixing to get paint to dry the exact shade of your paper!
Perhaps you had only calligraphed a few lines when your mistake showed up and you decided to start over. Here is where your previously prepared second sheet means you don’t have to start from scratch… remembering the border widths, spacing, or the nib size for the most important line… you already have it, and you’re already warmed up. No doubt this will be your final effort and everything will flow smoothly without a single mistake. Perhaps. Or, there you are again with the dagger.
This time when you put down your penholder and breathe, glance over at your previous mistake. Was it really un-correctable? While you’re waiting for the gouache to dry get out your razor blade and try your hand on the first mistake. Time and space have a way of putting things in perspective. You may switch from one piece to another more than once. You may look at the worst problem as a trial piece, finish it anyway, including the mistake, and use it as a sample for your portfolio; you’re the only one who knows at a glance that there is a mistake. You will gain correction practice, confidence that you are able to fix something small and move on, and feel more freedom to “begin” your final effort. When you learn to roll with the give and take of your work you may like the “mistake” sheet better, or be able to actually incorporate that blot into your design. If it can’t be fixed you can tear it up later for collage, cut out parts you like, or rework it into a layered design. Laurie Doctor showed her class that you can paint over rejected paper to achieve a more interesting background. Plus, there is a whole other side to your good paper to play with. If you’re framing your work for your own pleasure who will know if there is rejected work on the back? The great masters did it.
Now that you can confidently repair mistakes may I suggest that you find a proof-reader other than yourself before the work is picked up? Mistakes that are invisible to you when you are feeling the satisfaction of finishing are the worst, but still fixable. I’m just sayin’.
Carole C. Roy