Fraktur: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft

Description

The Pennsylvania Dutch are noted for the beautifully designed and hand-lettered documents known as fraktur. These include birth and marriage certificates, family trees, bookplates, awards, and house blessings. Leading fraktur artist Ruthanne Hartung adapts the craft to modern tastes and needs in this practical how-to book, with information on tools, step-by-step instructions, ideas for design, lettering and coloring techniques, and a variety of projects. An assortment of traditional patterns to apply to personal frakturs are included.ReviewIf you're looking for a book that will greatly help you along on your own Fraktur designing, inking, lettering, and painting journey, this one definitely fits the bill. Step-by step instructions for several projects that show you the entire artistic process in detail, plus lots of motifs like flowers, fruit, birds, hearts, angels, houses, borders, etc. for inspiration (or tracing) so that you can mix-and-match them to create your own compositions, as well as a birth certificate, a house blessing, family trees (two different designs), and a family records design that are all full-sized and traceable, plus a Fraktur alphabet to practice (also traceable), both upper and lower case, which Ruthanne designed to be easier to read than the traditional Blacklettering (but still looks enough like traditional Blacklettering to give it that authentic Fraktur feel). So there's literally everything you'd need to be inspired to design your own pieces, or for you to trace straight from the book to make something super-quaint for your home.--Jim and Lori "Amazon.Com Review" Includes all you need, what supplies and where to buy them, templates, tips for design and layout, all you need to set yourself up. A bit of history and photos of old Frakturs for inspiration. Notes from the author and how to tips only a seasoned artist would know. I am now ready to paint my own Frakturs. Easy step by step instructions that take the guess work and that fear of just doing it away. I HIGHLY recommend this book.--J.J. "Amazon.Com Review"ReviewIf you’re looking for a book that will greatly help you along on your own Fraktur designing, inking, lettering, and painting journey, this one definitely fits the bill. Step-by step instructions for several projects that show you the entire artistic process in detail, plus lots of motifs like flowers, fruit, birds, hearts, angels, houses, borders, etc. for inspiration (or tracing) so that you can mix-and-match them to create your own compositions, as well as a birth certificate, a house blessing, family trees (two different designs), and a family records design that are all full-sized and traceable, plus a Fraktur alphabet to practice (also traceable), both upper and lower case, which Ruthanne designed to be easier to read than the traditional Blacklettering (but still looks enough like traditional Blacklettering to give it that authentic Fraktur feel). So there’s literally everything you’d need to be inspired to design your own pieces, or for you to trace straight from the book to makesomething super-quaint for your home.-- Jim and Lori ― Amazon.Com Review Includes all you need, what supplies and where to buy them, templates, tips for design and layout, all you need to set yourself up. A bit of history and photos of old Frakturs for inspiration. Notes from the author and "how to " tips only a seasoned artist would know. I am now ready to paint my own Frakturs. Easy step by step instructions that take the guess work and that fear of just doing it away. I HIGHLY recommend this book.-- J.J. ― Amazon.Com ReviewAbout the AuthorRuthanne Hartung was a fraktur artist for more than thirty years. She was a juried member of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen and was selected as one of the top 200 traditional American craftsmen by Early American Life magazine.