Calligraphy confessions

[AnasaziWrites]

I use the heck out of my vintage nibs no matter which they are (with the exception of some Principalities I have saved). I'll use a Spencerian 1, miss place it or forget it's on another holder and I'll just bring another our then find them on the floor or I pull a vintage 303 in my pocket with paint on it. Iron gall on 4-5 Spencerian 1s on different holders because I forget where I put them.

If you're hoarding those vintage nibs and not using them, you're really missing out

I'm with you, Heebs. I find I'm using my go to workhorse, the Zebra G, less and less, and Spencerian #1's or other older nibs almost exclusively. One reason is, the older nibs I'm using require a much lighter touch, and transitioning back and forth to the G makes getting the touch just right more difficult (for me, anyway).

[Jakmo1935]

I have ruined quite a few envelopes when after viewing the finished work, and noticing a small touch up needed  and dragging the base of my small finger over still wet ink to make the touch up. Arrrrrgh.
I have also ruined a few by starting to erase my pencil lines before the ink has completely dried. I guess I am too impatient to move on to the next envelope. Even knowing that I'm guilty of these mistakes, I will make them over again.

[FlowerCityLetters]

In deference to my nibs, I tear up the source garments before using them. As far as my nibs are concerned, I'm wiping their faces with a little rectangle of soft white cotton, and if you don't tell them differently, they'll never know.

This just absolutely tickled me! 

Haha, me too, I LOVE that confession.

My confession is I tried keeping paper towels by my desk to clean nibs off, but my cat really really likes to shred paper towel and no matter how hard I hid them he would always find my stash in the middle of the night and go. to. town. The little punk.

So I stole a few of my boyfriend's Hanes cotton white t-shirts. He has like 10,000 of them and won't throw them away, no matter how many Sriracha stains are on them. They actually work really well and when they get really inked up I just wash them on their own and I have nib rags for life. (He didn't even notice until a few weeks later and was just happy our cat wasn't waking us up at 3am anymore shredding paper towel).

[Judy G]

I had to admit, I was really intimidated jumping into a conversation since I'm new to calligraphy and almost everyone here kinda knew each other already. I was embarrassed because I didn't have much to contribute, but then I realized, hey..people here don't bite! I felt like I belong here somehow. It's amazing, too, that I have met new wonderful friends. I am hoping I get to meet each of you in person someday

[Sarah Foutz]

Judy, the only reason people "kinda know each other" is because they participate in the conversations!!! I'm glad you're here and took the plunge!!

my take is that EVERYONE has something to contribute, from newbie to master, even if it's just a smile or word of encouragement. I personally leave the heavy lifting to the pros, lol. (but still offer way too much unsolicited opinions freely and without restraint...need to work on that!)

My confession: I don't actually do calligraphy, I'm just here because people are really nice.  just kidding!!!

[elsa.d]

I had to admit, I was really intimidated jumping into a conversation since I'm new to calligraphy and almost everyone here kinda knew each other already. I was embarrassed because I didn't have much to contribute, but then I realized, hey..people here don't bite! I felt like I belong here somehow. It's amazing, too, that I have met new wonderful friends. I am hoping I get to meet each of you in person someday

I actually felt the same way, but now I consider the people here to be real friends. For some reason I thought people would dislike me coming in and throwing my 2 cents around. I mean I hate it when people throw pennies at me.... . Just kidding, but for real I had this irrational fear that people would scorn my loosey goosey take on calligraphy. But everyone has been perfectly pleasant to me!

[AmyNeub]

loosey goosey

Your next style name for your envelopes!

Love what you do and people will love it too.

[Yen]

Haha! This thread is interesting. I have to confess though that I don't wash my nibs after use. I wash them every weekend. Unfortunately, this resulted to rusty nibs give the humidity from where I  from. I also tend to dip my nibs in the pot. I know these are no-no's but sometimes laziness kicks in. Haha!

[Lyra Pandy]

I had to admit, I was really intimidated jumping into a conversation since I'm new to calligraphy and almost everyone here kinda knew each other already. I was embarrassed because I didn't have much to contribute, but then I realized, hey..people here don't bite! I felt like I belong here somehow. It's amazing, too, that I have met new wonderful friends. I am hoping I get to meet each of you in person someday

I feel the same way, Judy! I'm really, really shy in real life and unfortunately my shyness applies to my online life as well.  Like you said, the people here are very nice and I don't really feel anxious in contributing to the conversation. 

Here's my confession: I don't throw away rusty, old nibs. I feel like it's a disservice to them, know what I mean? I  feel like they're a part of my calligraphy journey.

Also, I hate hate hate doing drills. It reminds me too much of penmanship classes in school.  But drills are needed, so I must persevere.

[Estefa]

Two days ago, while sketching, I dipped a PENCIL in my inkwell … luckily it was an ordinary one, not an automatic …

I also don't throw away nibs. They are nice for experiments with crazy freestyle scripts and colors that I wouldn't use for 'good' nibs, or for trying to write on strange surfaces (like stone …).

[Andrew H]

Two days ago, while sketching, I dipped a PENCIL in my inkwell … luckily it was an ordinary one, not an automatic …

Yesterday I came within millimeters of dipping my pen nib in my tea.

[FlowerCityLetters]

Two days ago, while sketching, I dipped a PENCIL in my inkwell … luckily it was an ordinary one, not an automatic …

Yesterday I came within millimeters of dipping my pen nib in my tea.

Oh man, I've been very close to doing that too haha

[Andrew H]

Heh. It's the calligraphy equivalent of that thing that… uh, a friend… once did: putting your spoon in the bin and your yoghurt pot in the sink. The same… uh, friend… once put a fork in the fire instead of the sink.

[SarahParsons]

Jumping on the bandwagon:

-When I practice I sit on the sofa with a big sturdy book on my lap and place my pad on top of that - not the best posture but it means I can stay in the living room with my Husband and the TV, rather than getting bored in the kitchen at the table.
-Whenever my mind wanders I calligraphy doodle and sometimes write my notes at work calligraphy style.
-Every time I look at what I've written I always see all the faults in it and get disappointed - it's good in a way as it motivates me but I need to cut myself a little slack.

[AmandaDavis]

Jumping on the bandwagon:

-When I practice I sit on the sofa with a big sturdy book on my lap and place my pad on top of that - not the best posture but it means I can stay in the living room with my Husband and the TV, rather than getting bored in the kitchen at the table.
-Whenever my mind wanders I calligraphy doodle and sometimes write my notes at work calligraphy style.
-Every time I look at what I've written I always see all the faults in it and get disappointed - it's good in a way as it motivates me but I need to cut myself a little slack.

I do the same things!  Sometimes I sit on the floor and kind of lean on the table like a kid.  Then I remember that it's a terrible way to practice.