The Green Knight

Green Knight adventures

Anyone, who follows me on social media will have noticed the odd story or post about the movie “The Green Knight. ” An epic medieval fantasy shot on location in Ireland. Written and directed by David Lowery. The lead role is played by Dev Patel and if I may say is as handsome in real life as he is on film and oh so tall!

How do I know that Dev Patel is oh so tall? The story starts around the beginning of September 2019 when literally my phone started buzzing and wouldn’t stop. I was like…what the…??? My friends and my business network were messaging me. Apparently, there was a call out for an Indian Female Calligrapher based in Ireland. (Are you laughing?) I was…I was like this has to be a prank! A very elaborate one, but a prank nonetheless.

That was until my lovely friend, Danielle Serpico messaged and said that her partner Alan was part of the production in the movie and yes, it was true that I was like “ohhh, I see.” I realised that it wasn’t some elaborate joke, but it was for real. I’m sure the look on my face was a picture.

The adventure began…

I sent off a couple of emails responding to the call out. Within minutes my phone started ringing. It was like a little bit of a whirlwind. Talking to this person then that person. Until I finally, I spoke with a lovely guy named Stephen part of the production team, and the whole thing started to feel really real.

It turned out that they wanted an adult Indian female calligrapher as a hand double for a scene with Sarita Choudary who plays Sir Gawain’s mother. But first, they had to make sure that my skin tone matched Sarita’s. As luck would have it, mine did.
HAPPY DAYS!

Once all the arrangements were in place and I knew that I’d be travelling to Tullamore to be a hand double in an actual movie. I called my bestie Lucille to ask her if she’d like to come on a road trip? To which she said “yes!” And, away we went on our road trip to County Offaly. Having no idea of what was waiting for us.

It was surreal, driving towards Charleville Castle and arriving at the grounds. If you have never been to Charleville Castle, go, it’s amazing!

I was taken aback by the number of trailers (so many!) The crew and cast milling around the place and the smell of food from the catering truck. Yum! Grabbing a cuppa, I stood around for a bit taking the whole thing in. It was a long old wait until I was called. But, I did have my own trailer!

The Set was amazing!

It was an incredibly tight squeeze, thank god I was off my crutches and could bend my knee. It was like being in a really tiny weeny tent with just enough room for your hand to fit. Which in fairness, is all that was needed.

It was nerve-racking having to literally do novice type calligraphy with a bamboo pen and all the crew watching me. It was hard not to feel that blush of shyness. As I started to use the bamboo pen. It felt like forever, but I know it must have been only a few minutes and I was done.

Then a patient wait until the film was released. Which is was earlier this year and well, folks I’ve 10 secs of fame (well, my hand does) here’s the clip!

Hope you enjoyed reading about my little adventure. And, as always, if you would like me to inscribe your wedding invitations or create an everlasting gift send me an email and let’s get started.

Inscribing the Mool Mantar

Inscribing the Mool Mantar or Mul Mantar

When the Covid-19 restrictions came in place last March, like many other wedding services. I received phone calls, emails and notifications from customers cancelling their bookings.

Finding myself disheartened and despondent. I thought, well this is the perfect time to tidy my scriptorium. Sort through the inks, paints, paper and nibs. Great all done, it was wonderful to see the scriptorium looking so tidy.

But then, I found my sitting at my desk looking blankly at my inks and nibs, wondering what am I to do now? Like a bolt from the sky, it struck me! There’s a heap of projects that I’ve had on the long finger. You know the ones. The ones that you will do when you have a moment. I have the time now, I thought to myself. And, as that thought entered my mind. I knew exactly, what I was going to do.

A while back; my cousin had suggested that I inscribe the Mool Mantar or Mul Mantar. A prayer that all Sikh children learn to recite. Even though I know this prayer by heart, I wanted to learn more before I started to inscribe it.

The word, Mool means root, main or chief. And Mantar means magic chant or magic potion. Together the words Mool Mantar mean main chant or root verse. This beautiful prayer encapsulates the Sikh Philosophy.

The Mool Mantar is the foundation of Sikh philosophy. And, is the opening prayer of the Sikh Holy Scriptures known as the Guru Granth Sahib. It was composed by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism.

It is said.

That Guru Nanak Dev Ji composed the Mool Mantra after his Journey of Enlightenment. He was around 30 years old. And, had walked 28,000 kilometres covering most of the Indian sub-continent and parts of the middle east. Reaching; his final destination in the Punjab 24 years later. This is when he set the founded and formalised the three pillars of the Sikh faith. The Mool Mantar encapsulates Sikh philosophy.

Like with every piece I inscribe I always love to more. Learning about Guru Nanak’s journey was inspiring. With a better understanding of the meaning, the journey and the importance. I took out my tools. And, embarked on my journey inscribing this beautiful prayer.

My desk was busy and untidy while I worked. Just the way I like it. The piece that I was about to produce was going to be for my family. And, like me, a few cousins didn’t learn Gurbani. So, it made sense to use Gurbani, phonetic Gurbani and English.

The colours I choose, all represent something. Blue, the Kalsa,” Orange, the saffron of India. And, Brown, the earth and the universe.

Mool Mantar inscribed in Gurbani, English and phonetic Gurbani

A few weeks later, I held my breathe as I cautiously shared it with my family and asked: “Would anyone like a copy?” To my utter amazement and surprise, they loved it! I was in shock and bowled over. It took me a few days to settle myself before organising prints and posting them off.

If you would like a copy as well. You can order through my shop.

Here are some of the resources I used to learn about Guru Nanak’s journey to enlightement.

New Ross Town Archives

Calligraphy-Ireland-New Ross-Wexford-Archives

I know, I know I haven’t written to you all in a while. Let me tell you what I’ve been up to – pavement pounding introducing myself to local businesses and prominent people in New Ross. I ended up in a local politician’s office to whom, when I showed my portfolio to him, he said “you’d appreciate seeing the town archives” he promptly picked up his mobile and organised it for me.

What a privilege it turned out to be. I was taken aback by the beauty of the lettering. The illumination of the capital letters. Imagine what it would have been like way back when the printing press and computer fonts didn’t exist. A scribe with a simple dip pen and produced the most amazing work. I have to say that I was totally in awe of The Original Town Charter which dates back to the 14th Century. But then, when I was given the meeting books well from a Calligraphers point of view I was in “happy land.” Looking at the lettering and the ornamentation.

As you can imagine I walked away inspired