If you’ve been reading TPK for at least the past few months, then you know that I occasionally teach calligraphy workshops. The workshops are, without question, the highlights of my year! The feeling of helping learners to “click” with key calligraphy concepts and build a strong foundation is incredibly rewarding.
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If you are in the market to make a quick yet polished piece of mail art this weekend, then you’ll enjoy this tutorial! As long as you’ve got a few colored pencils, a pen, and an envelope, you’re ready to rock and roll. Just a quick word of warning before you begin: this ombré lettering technique is a little bit addictive! I have a hunch that you’ll use it on many more projects to come! Here’s how to make it:
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As I mentioned in last week’s tutorial over how to make a wifi password sign, Hernán and I recently remodeled the apartment in our basement. We purchased our house in April, and at that time, the basement felt a bit sparse and too modern for a house built in the 1950’s.
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Preparing for calligraphy workshops makes me so happy! I love writing out participant place cards, arranging little bouquets of flowers, and coming up with curriculum tweaks. On the day of, I arrive early at The Riverside and set up the room to make it comfortable and beautiful. If you are relaxed and in a pleasing environment, I believe that it’s easier to tap into your creativity!
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Last weekend, two cool things happened here in Boulder, Colorado. The first was literally cool: Saturday was a chilly day — in the midst of a slew of warm days — filled to the brim with snow. The second cool thing involved an amazing group of people who braved the snow to come to downtown Boulder to learn calligraphy. I couldn’t have had a better time getting to teach learners at the two TPK beginner calligraphy workshops last Saturday, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated!
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I have always loved lettering art because it draws observers in. When you see art that’s made out of words, your natural instinct is to read its message! Creating lettering art also provides you as the maker with a way to focus on a theme. In today’s tutorial, the theme is special memories and shared interests. I’ll explain how to make the project, then provide you with usage ideas for it!
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Three years ago, I decided to try making a calligraphy worksheet. It was the first worksheet that I ever made, and I used a calligraphy style that I called “Flourish Formal”, a style with ample curls and embellishments. Last year, I started to notice just how outdated the worksheet was … it just didn’t measure up to the quality of later worksheet sets, both functionally and aesthetically.
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Faux calligraphy — calligraphy created with any standard writing instrument like a ballpoint pen, chalk, or marker — offers a fantastic introduction to dip pen calligraphy! Additionally, faux calligraphy is a beautiful lettering art form in its own right. In the first half of this blog post, I’ll teach you how to create this fun, accessible form of calligraphy. In the second half, you’ll find inspiration for using it to add beauty to everything from chalkboards to mail art!
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Over the past few years, I have taught several beginners’ modern calligraphy workshops and answered countless calligraphy questions via email. Those experiences have taught me that there is a need for a blog post like this one: a post that shows you where to start learning from scratch! In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how to learn modern calligraphy in a few simple steps.
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There are already two tutorials over creating watercolor calligraphy on the TPK blog. And yet … this is a topic that I return to again and again because it’s a calligraphy technique that I love so much. The difference between the other watercolor calligraphy blog posts and this one is video capability! Now that I have a video-friendly camera and a tripod with a horizontal arm (initially purchased in order to create the Amy video course), you’ll be seeing a lot more videos in blog posts! Since watercolor calligraphy is really something that is easiest to do once you see how someone else does it, I thought today I’d share a video that will help you to create your own watercolor calligraphy with a dip pen.
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