Last month, the Edmonton Calligraphic Society hosted a Zoom class with Heather Held called Flourish with Heart. It was really fun and I became a bit obsessed with making these beautiful hearts using a method called constrained offhand flourishing. Using a pointed pen, you make curved strokes with without pre-planning the outcome but “constraining” the design inside a heart shape. Just making it up as I go was new to me and I found it more relaxing as I focussed on the process and less on the end result.
Flourished hearts have a Victorian look to them as heart shapes were very popular in that era. Queen Victoria herself had many heart-shaped jewels, including a including a charm bracelet with a heart charm for each of her nine children. However, the heart motif had been around for centuries before then. No one knows for sure when the heart shape became a symbol of love, but an early depiction is found in a decorated versal of the letter S in a French manuscript, Roman de la poire, from the 1250s. The shape began to look a little more like the modern version with a more pronounced dent at the top and a point at the bottom sometime in the early 14th century.
I tried different inks and papers but my favourite was the look of Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White on black paper using my Hunt 56 nib in a straight holder.
In Mexico and some other Latin American countries, Valentine’s Day is called el Día del Amor y la Amistad (“Love and Friendship Day”). I think this is a better way to think of it rather than fixating on the romance part. So, whether you have a partner or not, Happy Valentine’s Day!
If these flourished hearts were people, they would be old-fashioned and a bit sentimental. They always do their own thing and are never embarrassed to let the people in their lives know how much they are valued and loved.
Margret puts pen to paper 