This is an exercise sheet giving measurements for writing thulth – a cursive script in Islamic calligraphy with deep downward sweeping strokes. Usually, before a calligrapher writes a piece of calligraphy, he would do some exercises in order to test the pens, the size of the letters and the consistency of the ink. It is also usual for the calligrapher to use all the available space on a sheet of paper, thus, earning it the term karalama in Turkish, which literally means ‘blackening’. Most of what is written on karalama has little meaning, as the calligraphers are really only trying out the various letter shapes.
