Tuesday’s TPK blog post was about straight calligraphy pens. We examined a few different brands, talked about how to insert nibs, and established a couple of questions to ask yourself before buying a pen. While it’s true that you should always have a good straight calligraphy pen handy, I have to admit that I mostly use oblique calligraphy pens!
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There are a lot of great calligraphy pens on the market, and deciding on one can be a daunting undertaking! In today’s post, I’ll lay out some of my favorite straight pens, and hopefully help you to reach a decision about which is best for you! The straight pens in this post are all in a reasonable price range, widely available, and user-friendly.
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Decorated envelopes make for an amazing surprise gift! Think about it: usually, a person’s mailbox is a pretty boring place, home to many a credit card offer and grocery store flyer. When something extraordinary graces the humble mailbox, it’s hard not to get excited! Accordingly, today’s tutorial offers a quick and effective way to make an artistic piece of envelope art that will stand out in anyone’s mail pile! To create it, you’ll need a black (or very dark) envelope; mine is a cheapie that came in a black card/envelope set from the North American craft store chain Michael’s. Use a soapstone pencil and a ruler to make a centered vertical guideline as well as a centered horizontal guideline.
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I post short, creative tutorials on the TPK Facebook page a few times per month! That said, I know that many readers aren’t Facebook users, so every so often, it’s nice to post a round-up of tutorials here on the TPK blog. While past roundups have mostly included envelope art, today’s roundup is a little bit of everything! We’ve got a very artistic envelope, an illustrated alphabet letter, and a rubber stamp. Let’s start with the envelope!
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I receive a lot of questions about how to waterproof paper (and, more importantly, the calligraphy written on it!), so I thought I’d address a couple of ways to go about it in this blog post! Today, you’ll learn a couple of different ways to waterproof paper/envelopes; and we’ll also discuss whether waterproofing is vital to your envelope calligraphy endeavors.
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Calligraphy skills, like anything, take time to hone and perfect to your liking. While calligraphy is a fun and enriching art, odds are you will encounter a bit of frustration while learning it! In this blog post, you’ll learn five ways to forge ahead and improve your technique along the way.
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This tutorial is the third and final installment of the Woodland Watercolor Wreath series; in it, you’ll learn how to make a versatile, whimsical watercolor wreath that features twiggy vines, flowers, leaves, and feathers! While you can follow the tutorial to the letter if you want to, you should also feel free to modify the instructions in order to switch up the appearance of your own wreaths. You can change colors, shapes, and elements to craft a piece that reflects your own unique aesthetic!
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In this installment of the Woodland Watercolor Wreath Tutorials, you’ll learn how to make a super-simple wreath that features a myriad of little leaves. All you need in order to create this project is a round object to trace around, a dip pen, a paintbrush, and watercolor paints! To get started, trace around any circular object using a pencil. In the photo below, I am tracing around a bottle of ink on a white envelope.
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If you’re not on the watercolor wreath bandwagon, I hope that this series of three tutorials will get you there! I love watercolor wreaths because they’re gorgeous, quick, and they complement calligraphy and lettering extremely well. In today’s tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a “Branches” watercolor wreath. It’s a square or rectangular wreath that looks amazing on cards, envelopes, gift tags, bookmarks, and whatever else you want to try it on!
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