Calligraphy Correspondence Course
£250.00
£250 per unit of six lessons. 24 lessons, divided into 4 units. You learn at your own pace, supported by an SSI Fellow as your tutor.
The course is open to both SSI members and non-members, beginners and the more experienced who want to improve their skills. There are no entry requirements.
On conclusion of all 24 lessons, a certificate of completion is issued.
On receipt of your application and payment, you will be sent a pack of printed copies of six lessons and you will be assigned to a tutor who will work with you through the lessons, marking your work, providing constructive feedback and encouragement.
Who are the tutors?
The tutors are, Tony Curtis, Yukiko Fukaya (for Japanese students), Sylvie Gokulsing, Jilly Hazeldine and Mary Noble. All are SSI Fellows.
The Course comprises:
Unit 1: Roman Capitals from geometric construction through to designing with pen-made letters.
Unit 2: The Foundational Hand from skeleton letters to pen-made letters. Included are a study of the Ramsey Psalter, the model for this script, an introduction to colour and designing, writing and making a simple manuscript book.
Unit 3: Two lessons complete the study of the Foundational Hand. These include working with larger and smaller nibs, balancing sizes in a piece of work and the importance of line length in design.
Information sheets on Layout, Punctuation and Numerals, and Writing a finished piece of work are included.
A study of the Italic Hand begins with Lesson 15: Skeleton letters, spacing, a study of Bembo’s Sonnets, writing formal italic and beginning to design using different sizes, leading on to beginning variations on the formal script.
Unit 4: Continuing studies of variations on the Italic Hand; Italic capitals, both formal and informal, leading on to the final project of the course, the designing and execution of a more complex piece of work using different weights and sizes and balancing tonal values.
How to Enrol
Select the unit you require above and add ‘click to basket; then the blue ‘view basket’ button and follow the check out process. Payment is made through PayPal. Please note that you should complete the units in the correct order. Please do not buy Units 2,3 or 4 until you have completer the previous unit.
Fees are the same for each unit, and postage is calculated at check out as follows:
- UK £250, postage included
- Europe inc Greenland, Russia and Norway, £250 plus extra postage £25 = £275
- World Zone 1, which generally covers countries in North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and South East Asia, £250 plus extra postage £35 = £285
- Australia, NZ and Singapore, £250, plus extra postage £40 = £290
For other areas and other enquiries, email ccc@calligraphyonline.org
Past Student –
An essential factor in making progress was the feedback from my tutor, not just to highlight errors – this wouldn’t happen with a book – but for constant encouragement when frustration set in with my materials. I also had to learn patience with ruling up!
Past Student –
I would recommend the calligraphy correspondence course. I had always enjoyed doing some kind of calligraphy on my own but it was good to do a course starting completely from scratch and starting with the basics. It certainly made a big difference to me as it taught me to understand what I was doing and really look at the letter shapes properly.
Angela Przelomski Bielsko-Biala, Poland –
Completing the course has been tremendously rewarding and given me a feeling of joy and competence when I pick up my pen. I couldn’t have had better instruction than the SSI Correspondence course.
Past Student –
I found the course exceptionally well designed, with each lesson building on earlier ones. Only three scripts are taught, but having learned those in such detail, I now feel equipped to go about learning others on my own. The course also provides a solid grounding in layout and interpretation, which I don’t think I would have acquired elsewhere. I also liked the fact that each lesson finished with ‘work to be going on with’, giving a continuity between lessons.
Past Student –
I started on the SSI Calligraphy Correspondence Course with no background in graphic art, just a desire to learn. I soon discovered that producing beautiful writing doesn’t happen overnight and that as well as enthusiasm, a good deal of hard work and self-discipline is required.
Philippa Gilbertson –
It was good to get substantial feedback after every lesson that I completed and I thoroughly enjoyed all the different aspects of the course. You do have to be quite disciplined and stick at it, several times I found it really hard working on my own but the support I got from my tutor was very good and I could email when I had questions about aspects of the lessons.