When I get a hairbrained idea to transplant a bush and don’t have the strength, I am thankful I have a thoughtful husband who volunteers to help.
Okay, so the little verse above doesn’t have anything to do with this post, but I have made it my goal to include thankful thoughts in this blog. What this post is actually about is how I use calligraphy as part of the design in my memory books. In the memory book about my father, I am including some pages about his parents, Dorothea and George. The information includes some family background I have collected from my parents, siblings, grandparents and other relation as well as stories passed down through generations. I began a genealogy search many years ago and had assistance by materials provided by my aunt Marilou whom also conducted searches into our ancestors. My mother sent me a treasure trove of photographs.
In designing my pages, I have included some basic calligraphy to mix things up and make the pages interesting to read and look at. In my last post, I mentioned problems I was having with the ink not drying permanent. After researching the issue, I learned that permanent ink will clog fountain pens. For a remedy, I purchased some pen nibs and a handle from Speedball. I also purchased some Speedball acrylic ink for calligraphy use. This ink can be used for calligraphy as well as drawing. It is fluid during use, but becomes permanent when dried. *note-I did have a bit of smearing when I glued the page to my journal and then tried to erase some pencil guidelines. The page was damp from the glue at the time and perhaps the ink was not completely dry. See the sample below. I used the teal and burnt umber inks. Font is Modern on the large at the top. The smaller was a non-serif font like Nyala with thick and thin motifs.
As you can see, I am a beginner in calligraphy. I need practice making my letters evenly spaced and the evenly sized. I used colored pencil in the smaller font to coordinate with the gel print graphic and template design. I gessoed the kit paper because it is rough cotton and porous.
Here is a picture of the paints and calligraphy nibs I bought from Speedball.
While you are journaling or designing a memory book, don’t be afraid to try your hand at calligraphy. You can create your own fonts and decorative script. Let your imagination flow. I’d love to see your designs on pinterest.
