Excerpt.......If the American card is to be encouraged in America, the designing and appreciation of such must be started right in the art rooms of our schools; and the most important part of such a problem is the lettering. Lettering need not be ... Read more

Excerpt.......If the American card is to be encouraged in America, the designing and appreciation of such must be started right in the art rooms of our schools; and the most important part of such a problem is the lettering. Lettering need not be approached with fear and trembling, for it can be done with ease and pleasure. I know of students who shunned lettering because they thought it mechanical and laborious, but who, after discovering its possibilities, had almost to be bribed to do anything else. The old masters and artist-craftsmen recognized that lettering could be as artistic as the worker desired and nothing is more beautiful in lettering than the illuminated manuscripts and books of those ages. The easiest way to produce lettering is to use the lettering pens. These pens are made with a separate, small brass tip which is placed on the pen as a fountain. The fountain is filled from the quill of the drawing ink bottle, just as the ink is put into a ruling pen. As the pens come in about twelve different stroke-widths, it is well to have a pen holder for each size. This will save confusion and time. When the pen is being used it should be held so that both sides of the pen-point rest on the paper. It is not necessary to press the pen for wide parts, as it will almost automatically produce the wide strokes when brought downward and the thin strokes when brought upward. Less