Istanbul Alive Magazine April 2014 ISTANBUL ALIVE APRIL 2014 | Page 16

ISTANBUL DESIGN TASARIM İSTANBUL

Calligraphy is exhibited with its best
examples in Istanbul

Hat sanatı en güzel örnekleri ile
İstanbul'da sergilenketedir.

Calligraphy is one of the most
prominent cutural hereclity from
the Ottomans

Hat sanatı Osmanlı'dan
günümüze aktarılmış önemli
kültürel miraslardan biri

14 • I S T A N B U L A L I V E

particularly in the case of nesih and similar fine
hands. Therefore, when writing long texts in
fine script, pens made from the hard, straight
and slender stipule, black in colour, which
grows from the base of the leaves of a tropical
tree in Java is used. Extremely large celî
inscriptions cannot be written directly by hand
at all, since a pen large enough to produce the
letters would be too heavy to hold and
supplying an ink flow would be impossible.
Such inscriptions are first written on a smaller
scale and then enlarged by means of squaring.
To nib a reed pen, it is laid in the palm of the
left hand, and cut away on the slant until the
central cavity and wall take on an almond
shape. Since this flat part projects like a
tongue, it is known as the kalem dili. The tip of
this flat section is then cut across to obtain the
desired width. The splitting of the nib to a
depth of several centimetres is known as kalem
bakki.
When performing this operation it is essential
that the split be exactly parallel to the pen
shaft. The crack thus formed serves to contain
a store of ink, which flows down to the nib as
the pen writes. When splitting the nib with a
penknife or kalemtiraþ, the pen is laid over the
groove of a makta. Both these items are
described in detail on the following page.
Cutting and shaping the nib, also carried out
on the makta, is a process known as kalemi
makta'a vurmak or katt-i kalem. A newly
sharpened pen produces an extremely clear-cut
hand, but as the nib wears down the letters
become flawed, and it must be sharpened on
the makta again. Cutting the nib on the slant
was the invention of Yakutü'l-Musta'simî
(?-698/1298) and results in the writing slanting
towards the writer, who continues to hold the
pen in a natural position. The ta'lîk pen is less
sharply slanted than the sülüs, but more so
than the nesih, while the rik'a nib is only very
slightly slanted. Holding the pen so that the
slanted edge of the nib rests fully on the paper
and moving it downwards produces a fine line,