Got the bug to learn calligraphy recently. After a trip to Michael’s and bought the speedball calligraphy set, I finally sat down to do some practice. Have no idea where to begin, so got on google and did an image search for “calligraphy practice”. This page came up
It looks like a good practice so I embarked on trying it. The result was not good at all. Obviously, it takes a lot of practice to do these fancy stokes.
So I looked some more and found a free printable for calligraphy practice at http://www.printablepaper.net/category/calligraphy. Downloaded a couple and tried to copy this page http://www.wedding-calligraphy.co.uk/images/styles/copperplate%20bw.jpg. The guide helped and the practice went a bit smoother. However, I found that my background in Chinese calligraphy didn’t help with the pen writing. The way they use down strokes are a bit different. I feel that I am going against the way the pen wants to go trying to produce the thicker part. Maybe I am not holding the pen correctly. Still trying to get used to the scratchiness of the calligraphy pen nibs. The Chinese brush pens write so smoothly, it’s a big contrast. Ordered an oblique pen holder and will see if they helps with creating the kind of strokes I see on the sample. Also ordered Modern Calligraphy: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started in Script Calligraphy by Molly Suber Thorpe http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250016320/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It got a lot of good reviews on Amazon. Hopefully, I’ll learn the correct way to write from her.
In my retirement, I am picking up hobbies from left to right. Now there are so many things I want to learn, I don’t have enough time to do them. I know, I can’t do anything well in a few days. So patience is absolutely needed here.
