Weddingbee Blog

Can I just ask you a favor? Do yourself a solid and don’t order metallic paper. Screw etiquette and send your envelopes through the printer and call it a day. You’re not going to listen to me, are you? Yea…I didn’t think so.

I took a calligraphy class in college. In order to write calligraphy you need to have a smooth, confident stroke. THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID! The proper way to hold a calligraphy pen is at a 45 degree angle, demonstrated below.

Source

As far as calligraphy pens go, I’ve come across three.

I’ve used the traditional pen with india ink, the calligraphy marker, and the calligraphy fountain pen. I recommend the fountain pen. While I prefer the traditional pen and india ink combo, it’s rather messy. It also takes quite a bit of practice to get the right about of ink on there and to know when to re-dip. The marker just sucks, don’t bother with it. I’ll admit, the fountain calligraphy pen was difficult to assemble at first as it’s directions aren’t very clear.

Calligraphy fountain pen on top

A little problem, however, is that most graphic designers don’t take into account proper calligraphy pen holding techniques when designing the type. I downloaded Antrokas type off of Dafont. It’s a lovely type except that it excludes important things like…oh…I don’t know, commas, apostrophes, periods, and ampersands. It was a bit of a bitch having to alter all 153 addresses to include cohesive punctuation. My printer hated my metallic envelopes otherwise I would have printed the addresses directly onto the envelopes. I printed each address onto a piece of paper. I then cut it to fit in the envelope. Complicated… right? That’s why I didn’t call this a tutorial. This is not advice, this is a warning!

I spent two painful weeks, bent over a lightboard, tracing a font on 155 invitations. I listened to enough television to rot 3 brains. I tried to complete 10-15 envelopes a night. I think my biggest mistake was thinking that I could finish these up within a few days. My wrist and back both needed frequent breaks. Here is my work station:

Except, in order for me to actually see the address through the envelope, I had to turn off the lights (turn off the lights). Okay, fine, I spent two weeks in the dark guiding my hand by the glow of the television set. I also had to create a paper contraption around the lightboard allowing only the envelope light because the glow around the perimeter of the board prevented me from seeing my work.

You’re not going to heed my advice, are you? Yeah, I know, people thought I was crazy, too. I didn’t listen either. I can’t blame you if you go the self calligraphy way. I was rather proud of myself once they were finished. Zeb was, too! I got a few free back massages out of this DIY. Hey… maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remember.

Are you attempting your own calligraphy? Any advice?