Both the Shulchan Aruch Harav and the Mishnah Brurah use similar terminology when describing the importance of the shin being "pointy" on the bottom and all three branches of the letter shin meeting at a point or "chad" at the bottom of the letter. There is a strong foundation in Halacha for this and for the bottom of the shin to be flat like a moshav (base) is considered questionable (Pri Megadim) and definitely not Kosher Lechatchillah. It is worse if the moshav is very wide, but it is still questionable if it is lechatchillah if there is a thick noticeable base rather than a chad. Even for Sephardim, who lechatchillah make an angular base, it is still important that the base is indeed on a (significant) angle. If the base is flat, even if all three branches of the shin come out of the base connected , as in the top picture, it is problematic. It is worse in the bottom picture below where the right head/ branch comes out of the right part of the base and the m
If the paper is very thick, you MAY be able to remove the dyo with a bowed razor blade held between your thumb and forefinger. Alternately, you could try scraping with a very sharp blade. I'd recommend the first method though, it's often possible to slice under the dyo without damaging the surface at all. Be sure to apply gum sandarac to the abraded area or the ink will most likely spread.
ReplyDeleteYou could also try an ink eraser gum. On paper, I doubt it's possible to make a perfect correction that will leave no trace.
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ReplyDeleteBowed razor blades do work, but on many thick art papers they will leave a very clear mark at the place of the correction.
ReplyDeleteAnother suggestion is to use a #10 x-acto blade (the curved one). Hold the blade perpendicular to the page and VERY gently scrape in one direction, not back and forth. It may take a white, but with care this can remove the ink even from thin paper. When done, go over the area with a white rubber eraser and then, as Binyomin rightly points out, dust with gum sandarac and rewrite!
What is gum sandarac? Would that be used on klaf as well? I was taught on klaf to lightly rub a white pastel/chalk on erased area to keep ink from spreading.
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