Custom Letters is an evolving category that includes calligraphy, sign painting, graffiti, stone carving, digital lettering, hand lettering, paper sculpture, and type design.
posted by minifigs on Jun 18, 2009 - 17 comments

"[Celtic] knots are most known for their adaptation for use in the ornamentation of Christian monuments and manuscripts like the 8th century St. Teilo Gospels, the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels." [more inside]
posted by litterateur on Jun 2, 2009 - 9 comments

Calligraphy Qalam An introduction to Arabic, Ottoman and Persian Calligraphy. See a gallery, a timeline of scripts and styles, a blog with entries such as how to design your own square kufic calligraphy, and much more.
posted by dhruva on May 11, 2009 - 8 comments

The Ministry of Type is a weblog about type, typography, lettering, calligraphy and other related things. The FontFeed, from the folks at FontShop, is a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 31, 2009 - 12 comments

Dancing with Ink: by Taiwanese photographer Liu Chunxing (刘纯兴).
posted by of strange foe on Oct 30, 2008 - 9 comments

Julien Briton draws calligraphy with light. [Via]
posted by gottabefunky on Aug 20, 2008 - 11 comments

Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy from the collection of The Library of Congress. 373 individual pieces from ranging in time from the 9th to the 19th Century, all explained and some translated. A few personal favorites (note that very high quality scans can be viewed by clicking the appropriate link after clicking thumbnail): marriage decree, verses on tragic love, practice sheet, verses 10-11 of the 48th chapter of the Qur'an, poetic verses offering advice, frontispiece of Qur'anic exegesis and quatrain by Rumi. There are also four special presentations: Calligraphers of the Persian Tradition, Ottoman Calligraphers and Their Works, Qur’anic Fragments and Noteworthy Items. This last presentation also features representational art, for instance images of The battle of Mazandaran and the Persian king Bahram Gur hunting.
posted by Kattullus on May 12, 2008 - 11 comments

Keyboard calligraphy "To produce such a typeface, Müteferrika knew he had to analyze Arabic script. Calligraphers might learn to make the correctly shaped letter combinations by practice, without conscious application of tens of thousands of rules, but for machine reproduction of the script, deciphering those rules was exactly what was essential."
posted by dhruva on May 1, 2008 - 28 comments

Mouneer Al-Shaarani's beautiful Syrian calligraphy. [more inside]
posted by klangklangston on Nov 27, 2007 - 24 comments

Famed Arabic calligrapher Khalil al-Zahawi murdered. (Arabic: خليل الزهاوي‎; 1946 - 25 May 2007) Khalil al-Zahawi was the most famous practitioner in Iraq of the art of writing classical Arabic script. He was shot to death Friday as he left his home.
posted by psmealey on May 29, 2007 - 54 comments

The new 'Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean' site incorporates material from 14 countries through 18 exhibition sites that explore the the cultural and artistic heritage of Islamic dynasties spanning 1200 years. [via].
posted by peacay on Apr 25, 2007 - 16 comments

28-year-old Tomomi Kunishige has created a new form of Japanese calligraphy, dubbed Eikanji (literally 'english kanji'), which uses the Roman alphabet to represent Japanese characters. Even if you don't study Japanese her calligraphy is still worth admiring, though it must be said that some of the paintings involve a fairly relaxed usage. (taken from Mainichi Daily News)
posted by Talvalin on Jan 31, 2007 - 51 comments

Write your name in Tengwar, the Elvish language/alphabet created by JRR Tolkien. You can work with Tengwar fonts based on Middle Earth languages and runes and see many examples of the script via a Google Image search. According to Tolkien, "there is quite a bit of linguistic wisdom in it." There are certainly websites devoted to his languages and thier history. And It took some thought and work to make the speech sound right in the movies.
posted by persona non grata on Aug 29, 2006 - 27 comments

Type, handwriting, and lettering
posted by persona non grata on Aug 20, 2006 - 17 comments

Caligraft - computational calligraphy.
posted by Wolfdog on Jun 19, 2006 - 14 comments

According to Persian mythology, God is a painter who has painted the world with his kelk. More Persian calligraphy here.
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Dec 5, 2004 - 10 comments

IslamicArchitecture.org : Islamic architecture, Islamic patterns and Islamic calligraphy.
posted by obedo on Sep 5, 2004 - 8 comments

Keyboards Are Not Like Nibs: Fountain pens - or writing instruments in general - rule. Lately though, the main manufacturers have stooped to ballpoints, gels and other madnesses. Just as the stupid calligraphy fad killed proper handwriting, the main fountain pen manufacturers have been their own hangmen. I love Pelikan but my main hearbreak is Rotring, whose rapidograph 0.10 and 0.18 and isograph 0.20 (this latter line now sadly reduced to college sets) are my favourite scratching sticks. Are you holding a torch for any of those legendary manufacturers (Parker, Waterman, Cross, Schaeffer, Aurora, Lamy et caetera) who have gone down the drain? What glides your writing hand? Is the pseudish, unpardonably expensive and increasingly naff Montblanc the last pen manufacturer to uphold its own standards? When you do put pen to paper - if you still do at all - what's your stubborn choice? Damn it, you must use something to log into your Moleskine!
posted by MiguelCardoso on May 1, 2003 - 96 comments

Illuminated manuscripts are truly a joy to behold. And there are a remarkable number of them available on the web for your viewing pleasure. The most famous illuminated MS is the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. For galleries with multiple images, try the resources at DScriptorium, Web Gallery of Art, and the Leaves of Gold exhibition. Elyse Boucher's page is a work-in-progress detailing the history and methods of illuminating books, with both images and secondary sources; see also Sue Wood's Art and Books page.
posted by thomas j wise on Apr 30, 2003 - 10 comments

Chinese culture. Calligraphy, and Chinese rural architecture.
posted by hama7 on Oct 31, 2002 - 13 comments

It can be stately and elegant, beautiful and swirling or square and modern. It makes a surprising variety of intricate pictures. Why is the written word honored so highly in Islamic art? Find out by diving into the gorgeous world of Arab Calligraphy. Here's a friendly portal to help. Take time to linger over a language that took a different path. (Bonus for font freaks inside)
posted by mediareport on Jul 26, 2002 - 10 comments

Got bad handwriting? Go back to where the nightmare started and learn to write all over again. Or, if that didn't work the first time, try some more advanced instruction. Perhaps you just want to adopt the handwriting of one of your idols. In that case, I'm way ahead of you. Remember - write with all your muscles, not just with your fingers.
posted by Settle on Mar 19, 2002 - 9 comments