Hand Lettering

So last Friday on the first post of a “Currently” series I think I’m going to start doing, I mentioned that lately one thing I’ve been looking to dive into is calligraphy. After some additional research and chatting with people on where to begin, I realized where I’m really looking to start is hand lettering.

I’ve always loved books, writing, libraries, stationary…basically I have a love for words. I love how powerful they are. They have the ability to arouse laughter, heal a heartache, inspire a movement, form a prayer, and let someone know they’re your world. That’s pretty amazing stuff. I’ve also always loved being creative and playing around with beautiful writing, whether it was on a brown lunch bag or an office sticky note.

Hand lettering is the art form I realized I’ve been trying to explore that let’s me indulge in all of these things.

Now, learning calligraphy is still something I want to, and plan to, accomplish. I just didn’t realize there was definite differences between these two word arts. Calligraphy is done with ink and can take quite a bit longer to get the hang of due to required muscle movements. Hand lettering can be picked up much more easily with its free-style motions and pretty much any supplies you want to work with.

After getting a recommendation from a friend at work, I checked out Paper Source to inquire about monthly hand lettering classes and supplies. *Side note: Paper Source is my personal Heaven – prints, cards, planners, pens, I can’t.* I signed up for the next open class in March, and purchased this awesome guidebook for beginning calligraphy and hand lettering because I just had to start on my own in the meantime.

The book is called Creative Letting and Beyond – if this sounds like stuff you want to dig into, I highly recommend it. Four authors come together over four sections to explain calligraphy basics, how to being hand lettering, making beautiful letting crafts with chalk, paint, and even digitizing your work.

I also picked up a black Le Pen at this shop (the nice sales lady said Sharpie pens work great too), and pulled out an old sketch pad I had at home – good to go!

Some practice from the first few days –

I’m excited to keep practicing and learning boarders, shaping, mixing fonts, etc. I know this was the right place to start crafting, because I think I can definitely channel it for some wedding decor! Progress to be continued…