Calligraphy
December 21st, 2007 @ 11:26 am by Mrs. Milkshake
I have the most awesome person at work (who happens to be a guy) whose everyday writing looks like that! When I first saw him filling out a form, the first thing I blurted out was - wow, that person has a stamp with their name and address on it? And then I realized he had written it!
Just like my MOH has re-enforced my diy ethic to my wedding simply because she’s actually going to make her own vegan cake, so too he’s inspired to me to address my own wedding invitations. But I’ve been practicing with different styles and trying to pick a good one. Does anyone have any online calligraphy sites they’d recommend for inspiration? So it looks like a trip to Michaels to buy some pens and get some practice.
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12 Responses to “Calligraphy”
I just learned how two nights ago! I purchased a starter set at Borders for 8 dollars in the bargain books section. I know that they have it in other Borders for the same price. It comes with an instructional book and 5 pens, of all different nib sizes. It is so much fun!
Bless your heart!
This is a wonderful way to keep things personal……if you’ve got the patience, write on!
(ok, ok, that was corny, lol)
Cool, I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Just be cautious if you are left handed — you need special pens and special instructions so a generic kit won’t work. And of course, the same kit, generated for left handers, will cost you triple the amount.
Grumble grumble.
I have some a practice page I can send to you that helps quite a bit… I just scanned it into PDF so you can print as many copies of it as you need them!
I’m left-handed, and I did not think the special lefty nibs were that useful. So juliejulie, don’t give up! I wanted to use brown ink, and they don’t really make a kit with brown–just red, green, blue, and black, typically. So I bought a bunch of nibs and a stick-pen thing to stick them in, a pot of brown ink, and started practicing. I printed out the font I liked (”Lauren”) and wrote and wrote. I found that the C5 nib worked best for me, and I could do about two-three lines of an address text before needing to redip the nib. I also only did about 10 envelopes at a time b/c I’d get tired and start making more mistakes. That said, I STILL made a ton of mistakes–order LOTS of extra envelopes! In the end though, I really enjoyed the process–my envelopes turned out beautifully, they were personal, and I had learned a new skill.
Good luck!
I’m a lefty, but learned to do calligraphy right-handed. No, really.
The bigger question is, wouldn’t this coworker of yours love to have the opportunity to give you the marvelous wedding gift of addressing your invitiations for you? Sure, he would.
I don’t have any tips but think it looks like fun…and really, I’m an English teacher and have pretty decent handwriting so now I’m wishing I’d really done this myself. Eh, who am I kidding? We had 220 invitations sent out…my mom’s and my regular cursive was more than enough. 
Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but after years (seriously, every birthday 8-15) of receiving ink calligraphy sets, I tried a felt calligraphy pen. SO much easier to use, and so easy to switch colors. No areas of heavy ink or re-tracing light areas of ink. The brand I used was “Zig.” The nibs only come in 2 sizes (appropriate for addressing, and way huge size). I addressed my envelopes by typing everyone’s address in Lucida Calligraphy font in word. I used a ruler to make straight lines for the address on the envelope. Then eyeballing it, I lightly traced the calligraphy in pencil onto the envelopes. Another tip is to start on the right side and spell backwards to have the words perfectly line up. Then I went over it with the calligraphy pen (I used brown ink), let it dry, and erased the lines. They weren’t perfect, but a lot of people were very surprised I did them myself!
Miss Lemon,
Would you mind posting your pdf practice page? I think many people including myself would be very grateful.
I do calligraphy and have some great things to look at. I am happy to send on any info anyone needs.
I love the look of hand lettered items. While I enjoy getting paid to do this for clients, I say go for it if you want to add the special touch that sets the mood of your special day!! http://www.mx3calligraphy.com
Mrs. Milkshake, Seattle/Vancouver, BC
Age and Occupation: 23, Pharmacist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Pharmacist
Engagement Date: May 2007
Wedding Date: August 2008
Blogging Since: December 6, 2007
Venue: Victorian Mansion
About Me: Despite the fact that I’ve invested many long years of my life studying the sciences in college, I’m glad to be out of there and I would never do it again! I’m super artsy at heart - I run an indie craft site, I grew up shooting and developing my own film, doing jazz and ballet, and the whole gamut of art classes. I’ve been called a Jane of all Trades… but I was also told many years ago not to make my passion my career because it’d suck the fun out of it. Hence my choice of day job. We live in Seattle but are having our wedding in Canada to be fair to all our family and friends.
At Michaels - they have the perfect starter kit. It is a Schaffer kit - comes with three pen nib sizes, several different colors and is only $24.99. So grab your 40% coupon is Sunday’s paper and go!
Starting with the cartridge pens will be your best bet. You will be suprised how easy it is! Having a pen makes a world of difference. Good luck and remember - it doesn’t have to be perfect!