#calligraphing

[cryptixotic]

Be real with me. You're sitting in a bar and a 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔞 with a massive sword rams into the door. Do you or do you not laugh

[parisoonic]

can you draw some more medic and pauling...? I would love them just gossiping

have some doodles! Something something patient confidentiality....

[omnificent-orion]

Waiting for...

[baba-is-blog]

BABA IS SHOCKED

[mostly-paper-kind]

Thought I'd share my take on the calligrapher; Lilly is the problem. Okay so Lilly is the person organising the state dinner right, and there's lots of ways she's doing badly at it. But the big one is she can't decide who is going. Like we're told she kept changing the number of guests, it was 100 or maybe 200. And the number of rooms the dinner would be held in. It was one then three, then a tent outside. And the servers said this was a problem as well. Because they rehearse how they are going to serve the meals. I'd also like to argue that the security breaches are part as well, because the social secretary's office was helping clear the people who came into the white house but obviously something went wrong because three people got in who shouldn't have. But the whole problem goes back to Lilly constantly changing who is going to the dinner and where they're going to sit, then St. Pierre tells her to move things around and I'm assuming the calligrapher writes more place cards based on the the changes. It's not super clear how long she has been making changes, but she makes them right up till the dinner starts. There's a shot where you can clearly see the calligrapher is stressed. He literally says it hasn't been a good night. You can see some of the place cards on the table are neat, but by the time the dinner is about to start he's got bad handwriting. Yes, you'd expect a calligrapher to write nice, and the fact he doesn't is just another way of showing hey this really hasn't been a good night. Really there isn't anything suspicious about the calligrapher. The state dinner didn't go well for him just the same as Wynter and Didier and Marvella and the Florist and the Plumber and Elsyie and Jasmine and Sheila and Tripp. The place cards are just another little clue pointing at Lilly who doesn't respect how things are done in the white house.

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Ahmet the Calligrapher

Died May 3, 1682

Feast Day: May 3

Saint Ahmet or Ahmed, a Muslim, lived in Constantinople. He worked as an Ottoman official in the office of the Chief Secretary and served as a copyist and calligrapher in the Great Archives. He converted to Christianity because of the influence of his Russian concubine’s faith and after experiencing the Christian liturgy. When defending the Christian faith and renouncing Islam, he was martyred.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[marlequinncos]

I directly translated Astarion's back scars

I'm a language nerd (even when the language is fictional), so I decided to directly translate the sigil that Cazador carved into Astarion's back.

I know you do find out the gist of what the scars mean in-game, but I wanted to translate it letter-by-letter, and then word-by-word.

We know that its a poem written in Infernal, which is the language of devils and the hells. If you translate it from Infernal, you get the following:

"Hoc inferius non iurare per ignis

Haec verba loquor

Et hoc mundo mutat"

As you can see, this is not English; its Latin, which makes sense since its a "magical language". Now, if you translate the Latin to English and fiddle with the grammar a bit, you get something like this:

"This I swear by the fires below

I speak these words

And this changes the world."

Obviously this ties in very closely with Astarion's backstory and I think its very cool that Larian took the time to actually make the scars real text instead of just random texture.

ETA: I want to point out that the "non" in the first Latin sentence doesn't actually make grammatical sense. I think its probably there to look cool/fill in the physical design, because excluding it makes the sentence itself make sense, and its exclusion works in the context of the sigil's purpose. So that's why I omitted it from my translation.

[unbfacts]

The White House employs a Chief Calligrapher responsible for crafting official documents, including invitations, menus, and place cards. The position earns over $100,000 annually.

[naomiknight-17]

Just got this sweet print by @theshitpostcalligrapher framed! In a gold frame, of course. As is appropriate.

Now to wrap it up nice and wait for Christmas when my brother (who is obsessed with this joke) will finally behold its glory

[fontriver]

NCL Kisgade font designed by Enxyclo Studio

[thepastisalreadywritten]

"The Writing Boy"

In 1774 AD, during the reign of Louis XVI (1754-1793), Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jacques Dro (1721-1790) unveiled a remarkable engineering feat that would go down in history as the world's first android or programmed automaton.

Known as "The Writing Boy," this creation appeared at first glance to be a simple wooden doll with a porcelain head, barefoot, and holding a goose feather.

But hidden within this seemingly ordinary toy was a technological marvel, a writing mechanism powered by 6,000 intricate moving parts, making it the first automatic calligrapher.

"The Writing Boy" was a groundbreaking achievement, as it was capable of writing complex sentences, such as "My inventor is Jacques Dro."

The automaton was a product of 20 months of meticulous work by Pierre Jacques Dro, and its debut in Paris stunned the court of King Louis XVI.

The android's ability to perform such an intricate task showcased the high level of craftsmanship and innovation of the time.

This astonishing creation marked a significant milestone in the history of robotics and engineering.

Not only was it the world’s first programmed android, but it also demonstrated the potential of machines to replicate human actions.

"The Writing Boy" paved the way for future advancements in automation, solidifying Pierre Jacques Dro’s legacy as a pioneer in the field of robotics.

[miamaimania]

"Bluviola" (1961) by Carla Accardi ☀ Tempera marks spiral through violet and indigo

[lilbasthet]

I'm rewatching The Residence and I need at least another season!

There are so many interesting nods to Cordelia's background and family history (like the general neurodivergent-codedness of the family, the fact that her brother died (??) and the parents are keeping his room untouched, her father wearing some Kind of Military Uniform(??), her mom doing things he doesn't like behind his back, ...)

I NEED TO KNOW MORE! GIVE ME MORE

[wide-eyed-freak]

I loved The Residence so much but why did we never find out what was going on with the fuckass calligrapher

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Marginated Calligrapher Hoverfly - Toxomerus marginatus

The long task of untangling bishop's weed roots from the roots of rambling roses continues. However, many of the roses in the yard had started to bloom since the previous set of yardwork images. Their blossoming colors and tantalizing aromas have brought many nectar-hungry pollinators to the yard, including today's striped specimens. When initially stepping out into the yard, I found the individual in Picture 6 hovering around the larger plant blades and was able to take one picture thinking that would be the end of it. How wrong I was! There were so many more small Hoverflies gathering, coming and going among the yard's court of roses (no thorns) here. They can simply tuck in atop or underneath the anther filaments to mop up pollen and any pooled nectar available. Moreso the latter as roses tend to be more of a pollen-rich flower, which nevertheless makes them quite important to insects, especially Bees...and Flies that can pretend to be Bees thanks to their patterning and appearance. When observing these little pollinators, I was curious to see if it was just one specie of Hoverfly coming to these flowers or many species.

In previous years, I've found other types of Calligrapher Hoverflies in this area, including the Eastern Calligrapher Hoverfly and other similar genera. The two calligrapher species can appear similar to each other whether found in midflight or when landed, but they can be differentiated by carefully examining the abdomen and the rearmost part of the thorax. As mentioned in an earlier post, most professionals first look at the margins of abdomen to confirm for this particular Fly genus, so look there also if you can, but you may wind up needing a live specimen or close-ups of your flower-loving insect to do so. Alas, the day of photography only drew in Marginated Calligraphers, making identification easy. It's quite a party inside the roses, and while the camera is able to capture them at a reasonable size, I had to include Picture 5 for sense of scale. How tiny they are! Not only do these roses serve as sources of food for these small pollinators, but also as potential platforms to find mates. For the observer, this also presents an opportunity to find male and female Flies. Try and see which individuals you can find in these pictures. Remembers, in males the eyes touch, and in females, the abdomen tends to have a sharper tip.

Pictures were taken on June 7, 2025 with a Google Pixel 8a.

[baebeylik]

Calligraphic Galleon. Abd al-Qadir Hisari.

Ottoman Empire. 1767 CE.

Housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.