Category Archives: Uncategorized

“… and they lived happily ever after” is a quaint storybook ending, but dwelling on it at some length, I realized it has a germ of truth. Or, rather, it holds up a mirror to a reality that will actually … Continue reading →

Good News: You are finally beginning to master lowercase Italic. Bad News: The class is already moving on to Copperplate. Good News: The gold leaf sticks well to the binder. Bad News: The gold leaf sticks well to the inked … Continue reading →

It is meditative. It calms you down like a personal retreat as you work on one stroke in a letter, one at a time. It builds creativity. You always want to try the lettering a bit differently — a different … Continue reading →

People have wondered when they can call themselves an artist, singer, dancer, writer, or whatever. At what point can you say you have finally arrived, and call yourself an artist? There are different answers to this question, and they depend … Continue reading →

I recently returned from a vacation in Boston and came upon the Commonwealth Bookstore not far off the Freedom Trail there. Lo and behold, they had several pages of illuminated texts framed for sale from $850+. What was so interesting, … Continue reading →

Above, you’ll see Fantastic Calligraphy Links. I made several large edits to that section. I inserted my final entries to Western Calligraphy in the Movies that I had not gotten around to adding earlier. Many thanks to those who suggested titles … Continue reading →

I entered my handmade calligraphy flag book in the OC Fair this year. I wanted to enter the illuminated manuscript (of the post below), but it wasn’t ready by the time the entry date. So I entered the flag book … Continue reading →

I was inspired to create this flag book from the directions in the book, Making Handmade Books, by Alisa Golden, and from my calligraphy workshop series by Barbara Close. Our class did all the paper work, smearing acrylic paint on … Continue reading →

My son and I created this simple video to show how to use the calligrapher’s tool for making guidelines. When you have a small project, like an envelope, and don’t want to rule guidelines yourself, use this see-through tool for … Continue reading →