Re: fengxing (was Re: Familynames (was [OT] Re: Conlangea Dreaming)

On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, Steg Belsky wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Oct 2000 23:19:59 -0400 Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
> writes:
> > With what is Rokbeigalmki written?  Theoretically Chevraqis is
> > written
> > with brush and ink, though I designed it in pen/cil (I've been
> > discovering various possible nestings and interweavings as you've
> > mentioned!).  Ink and brush are things I'm wary of carrying in my
> > backpack, considering how apt I am *not* to close the ink container
> > tightly enough, and you just can't get Chinese or Winsor-Newton out
> > of
> > things....
>
> Theoretically, either with brush and ink, or with some kind of quill and
> ink system.  charcoal may be in limited use, as well.  My best
> calligraphic attempts were written with ballpoint pen, the kind where
> when you go over a line to darken it you make an indent in the paper.
:-)  I've used calligraphy pens of various types...they make life easier,
though I can do pencil approximations through sheer practice.  (The best
Western-style calligrapher I've *met* is a classics grad student, and
he's amazing.)

BTW, has anyone ever gotten to write with a quill and ink, or figured out
how to make a writing-quill?  My attempts with pigeon feathers and
inkpads (as for rubber stamps) never made it very far, but I couldn't get
any other feathers and my mom wouldn't let me near the India ink....

> I've also come up in my head with the basic ideas of a cuneiform-like
> stylus-imprint-on-clay style of writing the "old form" of the alphabet,
> using about 5 different-shaped stylus points - a point/line, a small
> circle, a large circle.... something like that.
Hmm.  I haven't even touched clay in a long time, but wouldn't circles be
difficult to make with a stylus?  Maybe something that evolved into a circle?

YHL, waiting for someone with knowledge of the development of writing
systems to speak up