The Glasgow Scribes recently have had the great privilege of appointing an Honorary Membership to the highly respected Duncan Tolmie; whose work and teaching throughout the years has inspired numerous calligraphers, new and experienced alike. Duncan is well known to many Scribes members and visitors - his help and support of the Glasgow Scribes has been invaluable.
For our latest MTC interview, we took the chance to ask Duncan about his work and how it feels to be the latest honorary member of the Scribes.
How long have you been doing calligraphy?
Forty years during which time I became both a calligraphy tutor and a freelance calligrapher.
How did your interest in calligraphy start?
One day in 1982, while sitting in my dentist’s waiting room, I picked up a copy of Readers Digest and idly flicked through it. By chance a double page spread featuring the hymn "Song of All Creatures" caught my eye. The hymn was hand-lettered in a highly-flourished decorative script and I was instantly mesmerised. I had absolutely no experience of calligraphy at that time but I felt an inexplicable impulse to emulate the hymn’s "fancy writing". I felt so affected by the flourished script that, shamefully, I tore the two pages out of the magazine and put them in my pocket so that I could study the script in detail at home.
Shortly afterwards, my wife bought me an Osmiroid calligraphy fountain pen set, and I borrowed the book "Using Calligraphy" by Margaret Shepherd from my local library. Then I began the laborious process of teaching myself calligraphy. Remarkably I still possess the two Digest pages that I stole.
In 1987 I attended a Tom Gourdie course at Stirling University. Although I didn't know it at the time it turned out to be another life changing event in my calligraphic journey. Everything I learned about calligraphy during those two weeks gave me the confidence to go into business as a freelance calligrapher. With a government enterprise grant of £40 per week for a year I set myself up as a small business called "Calligraphic Art Services". Thanks to that course, and to the grant, I have been in business as a calligrapher for over three decades. Someone once said, “choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That quote easily applies to me and I feel blessed to be doing a job that I’m passionate about.
What calligraphy resource/tool/material could you not live without?
Osmiroid fountain pens have always been my calligraphy pen of choice. I own dozens of them but, since the company stopped production in the 1990s, it is now almost impossible to find replacement nibs.
For pointed pen calligraphy my favourite nib is a Hiro Leonardt 41 which I use with an elbow pen holder. The nib’s flexibility allows great variation in line widths, creating both very fine and very broad strokes. For that reason I occasionally use the Hiro nib for sketching as well as for calligraphy.
I must also mention my four Pilot Parallel pens. I love the way ink can be easily transferred between various pen nibs, creating pleasing colour gradients in my calligraphy.
A revelation was my discovery of Platinum Carbon ink. It is a waterproof ink that, unusually, can be used in a fountain pen. The ink can be purchased in a bottle and used with a converter but I use the cartridges for convenience. I have to remember that unless my pens are in daily use I need to flush them out with warm water to prevent the Carbon ink from drying and clogging the pen feeds.
What is your favourite script?
I love the versatility of Italic and I use variations of that script to letter 95% of my commissions. I do enjoy lettering in Foundational, Uncial and Gothic but Italic is my go-to script. As a self-taught calligrapher I experienced first hand the difficulty and frustration of learning Italic from a book. So it gave me great satisfaction when, years later, I was able to simplify the learning process for my calligraphy students. Once they learned that the majority of letters in the Italic alphabet are based on ‘n’ and ‘u’ shapes they made speedy progress.
The best calligraphy book you've read/bought?
I own more than seventy calligraphy books so it’s difficult for me to choose a single favourite. For learning calligraphy I would say that the best all-round book has to be "Mastering The Art of Calligraphy" by Janet Mehigan. Everything an incipient scribe needs to know about calligraphy is contained within those pages.
A personal favourite of mine is "More Than Fine Writing", a book that features the calligraphy of master calligrapher, Irene Wellington. Her calligraphy is some of the finest I have ever seen.
Also worth a mention are two books that I found indispensable when teaching myself calligraphic composition and layout. "Layout and Design for Calligraphers" and "Using Calligraphy", both written by Alan Furber, proved invaluable in teaching me how to create "pictures" from words. I highly recommend that any aspiring calligrapher should seek out at least one of Furber’s books.
Advice for new calligraphers?
I can sum up my advice in three words - "practice", "patience" and "perseverance" with special emphasis on "practice". And another three words are - "attend a class". It took me many years to teach myself calligraphy from books. It was a slow process riddled with frustration and disappointment. On many occasions I almost gave up trying. Later, as a tutor, I was able to teach students, in just ten weeks, all the tips, tricks and techniques that it had taken me many years to learn. When learning calligraphy there is no substitute for being guided by a knowledgeable, experienced calligrapher.
Favourite calligraphy piece produced so far?
Over the years I have created many pieces of calligraphy for clients. Although I’m proud of the artwork that I create I’m not precious or sentimental about it so I rarely keep a record or take photographs of the artwork before I part with it.
I do, however, have many images of artwork that I’ve created digitally for my own pleasure. I create digital artwork on my Apple Mac using a scanner and Adobe Photoshop software. In Photoshop I can easily manipulate the size, shape and colour of my calligraphy. I can add a drop shadow or move the lettering around the page. Digitised calligraphy offers endless possibilities such as using my own photography and watercolour paintings as backgrounds for my hand-lettering.
Funniest workshop/calligraphy story?
Many years ago I was teaching the first evening of a new calligraphy class. Two teenage boys had enrolled which was very unusual. The two boys knew each other and I soon realised that they had no intention of taking my instruction seriously. While the rest of the class members were silent and attentive the two boys were animated and chatty.
I sat in a chair beside one of the boys in an attempt to focus his attention on his lettering. After demonstrating some letters to him I stood up… and the chair that I was sitting on rose with me, having adhered itself to the backside of my trousers. The two boys were sniggering at my compromised situation and I was convinced that they had put glue on the chair before I sat on it. Although embarrassed I eventually detached my backside from the chair and forced myself to see the funny side of my public humiliation. I was relieved when the two pranksters didn’t attend any further classes.
What hobbies/activities do you do other than calligraphy?
I enjoy playing acoustic guitar, reading, writing, walking, gardening, photography, graphic design, sketching and watercolour painting, in no particular order of preference. I also play bass guitar in a three-piece pub rock band. I’ve played bass guitar in various bands since I was a teenager. The highlight of my musical career was being the bassist in Scottish singer/comedian Maureen Hart’s backing band when she performed in Glasgow Pavilion in the late 1980s. Now, age 69, I realise that I may be stretching my credibility as a rocker. But as long as I enjoy playing live music I intend to keep doing so. If Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney can rock into their eighties, so can I!
What was the last book you've read or are reading?
I’m an avid reader and I’ll read any novel, whether historical or contemporary as long as it’s a good story, well-written.
The last book that I thoroughly enjoyed was a historical crime novel called "Blood and Sugar" by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. The novel is set in London in the late eighteenth century and is based on the horrors of the slave trade. It is an excellent story, atmospheric and well-written. Two other authors whose novels I have enjoyed reading are Diane Setterfield and Lauren Belfer.
Last TV/Movie you watched?
My wife and I recently enjoyed the comedy drama, "The Banshees of Inisherin", on Netflix. The movie is set at the end of the Irish Civil War in 1923. Although it doesn’t have much of a plot the movie is both humorous and poignant. The acting skills of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson also made it a worthwhile watch. The BBC1 series "Happy Valley", written by Sally Wainright, is our current tv addiction.
How does it feel to be an Honorary Member of the Glasgow Scribes?
I retired from being a calligraphy tutor a few years ago. Now, with my seventieth birthday on the horizon, it is my intention to hang up my pens in the near future and retire from my professional calligrapher status. So being honoured by the Glasgow Scribes at this particular moment feels like a celebratory end to my calligraphic career. I’m grateful, and delighted, to be recognised for my efforts over the years and I thank the Glasgow Scribes for making me an Honorary Member.
