The Rchive no. 15—Hamilton Wayzgoose

R composition (2012).

At the 2012 Hamilton Wayzgoose at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin I asked Lucio Passerini, the Milanese master printer who was one of the letterpress demonstrators, to proof some grotesque wood type letters for me. I was a calligraphy demonstrator at the Wayzgoose and I used some of Lucio’s R prints as the basis for improvisational calligraphic compositions for attendees. This one came out the best in terms of both vivacity and composition. For the alphabet surrounding the grotesque R I used a “cat food tin” pen that I had made several years earlier at a Society of Scribes, Ltd. holiday fair. The blade of the pen was cut from an empty tin of cat food, sanded with an emery board, and then taped to a pair of chopsticks that formed the pen’s handle. It has become my favorite “ruling” pen for its smooth action. On the smooth paper used to print the grotesque R the pen glided beautifully. Serendipity.