Messages

1

Find a Pen Pal / Re: In Ohio and looking for a Pen Pal!

« on: August 24, 2018, 11:08:04 PM »

If you want an international one (from Spain) count me in! I need someone to write to as an excuse to try all the new papers and pens I get to try now that I have opened as stationery store! 

That works for me as I am always interested in new products and how they do! I might be sending you letters written on new stationary as well, and some artwork will be coming your way. How do we exchange addresses?

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Find a Pen Pal / In Ohio and looking for a Pen Pal!

« on: August 24, 2018, 12:23:37 AM »

Hey there! I'm looking for a pen pal in order to not only practice my calligraphy but to also, to have a friend to converse with who shares the same love of handwriting that I do. Or at least wants some practice that's not the same drills over and over. I am a chatterbox and I love video games, movies, history, art, and good food.

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Kind Critique / How can I make this come to life?

« on: August 21, 2018, 02:59:05 PM »

So it was late at night and I was bored and hyped up on sugar. For some reason I was thinking about the movie Free Willy and this is what came out of it all. I love doing flourish art but I don't think any of it is any good. I don't think my skill is good enough to offer clients either. I know the lines are to thick but I was using sumi ink and it wasn't diluted. I need to find a good black ink that isn't super expensive. Black guoache works for me but I didn't feel like messing with it that night.

I want to bring it to life, if that makes sense...That's how I want all my art to become. But I think I'm my worst critique. What do you guys think?

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Tools & Supplies / Handmade Paper

« on: August 04, 2018, 12:17:29 AM »

I'm creating samples to display at a wedding expo and on my social media. I've noticed a huge trend in handmade paper and I want to try it out. Anyone have a favorite supplier?

Also I found this seed paper https://www.botanicalpaperworks.com and I was wondering if anyone has tried it yet? I'm going to order some samples soon! I like the idea of offering brides this eco friendly option.

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Wax Seal Suppliers

« on: August 03, 2018, 11:40:57 PM »

I'm curious about the glue gun wax seals, are they any good? What about sticker wax seals? And how many envelopes will the Atelier Gargoyle wax seal? I've used wax and a seal before, but it was really cheap and burned constantly.

6

Letter Pixels / Getting Started in Digital Art & Calligraphy

« on: March 29, 2018, 04:03:20 PM »

So my work in traditional calligraphy has stopped completely  And I need another source of income really soon. I can still do traditional art such as charcoal portraits. But there's not much call for that unfortunately.

My husband surprised me with a Wacom Intuos tablet and is encouraging me to try my hand and digital art. I've played with the tablet a bit but I don't see how I can do spencerian with it. But I think that's why I only see modern calligraphy done with tablets. I don't mind doing that and I know the style very well. My question is, what kind of work should I look into that's digital? I know I want to do great artwork, but is there really a call for digital calligraphy?

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Show & Tell / Flourish Art

« on: February 02, 2018, 09:04:12 PM »

A friend requested her and her boyfriend's name in something fancy and special. I am very happy how it turned out, and so was she. The dragon is Alduin from Elder Scrolls Skyrim. I seriously love that dragon! His title is the World Eater! What's not to love?! I am happy with him, but I feel like he could be better.

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Tools & Supplies / Re: My Favorite Nibs for Pointed Pen

« on: December 24, 2017, 01:39:53 PM »

I'm looking to try out nibs and experiment a bit. I currently use a Zebra G and I love it! However I know the Leonardt Principle is popular and I'm curious to try it. But I get my Zebras for a Lot cheaper.

I've also tried the 303 but I had so many bad nibs in a batch of 50 that only 20 were usable. Not worth the money to me.

What inexpensive nibs do you guys love?

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Tools & Supplies / Re: My Favorite Nibs for Pointed Pen

« on: December 10, 2017, 03:19:05 AM »

I see Gillot 303 quite a bit on this thread. But when I tried them I had a lot of duds, and it sprang quite a bit on me. Is that still a problem? Or have they upped the quality control lately?

10

Tools & Supplies / Paper Source cards

« on: December 10, 2017, 03:07:07 AM »

Hey guys, so recently I had an order for Christmas cards which required me to use white, folded cards. I live not even a mile away from a Paper Source store, and they've been my supplier for a while now. After running out of the cards I went to the store to purchase more, they didn't have the exact color Pure White so I ended up with the next color down. I know the client so I knew she wouldn't mind. I was really upset, and surprised to find the ink bleeding, and feathering really bad (it went straight through to the other side)! I was assured that all of their cards (except the shiny ones of course) could hold ink properly. I wanted to exchange them for the ones I knew would work, but they still didn't have them in stock. Upon asking I found out that they were no longer were receiving shipments. My options were to exchange for another color, accept store credit, drive 3 hours to another city that may have them in stock, or pay a pretty big sum to get them shipped to me on time. Needless to say I wasn't happy with any of those options. I ended up with picking another color, and that bled to 

Anyone else  have this issue with Paper Source? I know I could have gone online to get all the cardstock I needed. But like I mentioned, I live really close to a store. So it was a nice convenience to just find what I needed, and if it didn't work I'd just exchange it. Plus, paying the tax is WAY cheaper than shipping costs most of the time haha 

What really bugged me mostly was that I would've had to pay shipping, just because they screwed up. And what's the deal with the company no longer shipping products to their stores? The manager said they most likely would get stuff in January, but she wasn't sure if that would actually happen. She was just guessing. 

11

Tools & Supplies / Storing Sumi Ink

« on: June 23, 2017, 01:39:23 PM »

Hey guys!

So when I was getting my supplies for  my business, my hubby bought me a glass container with a metal lid to store my sumi ink. It's nice! A wide mouth that's just perfect to dip my oblique pen in. However I've run into a problem, the ink is eating the metal lid away and it's close to getting holes. And with a toddler trying to grab everything, I need a new container that has a foolproof lid. Any suggestions?

12

Show & Tell / Re: Flourish in Poetry

« on: February 15, 2017, 10:25:29 PM »

Wow! That's just amazing! I wish I had your skill

13

Show & Tell / My Business cards!

« on: February 04, 2017, 02:53:17 AM »

I made my own business cards! I wanted it to look nice and yet fun. And of course I added some glitter dots. Honestly I wasn't sure about making them in the first place. But I really want to work and get my business to take off. And I couldn't do that without cards! So stress relieving to write them to be honest, don't know why.... Maybe it was the glitter. Glitter makes everything better.

14

Design & Layout / Re: Valentine's Day Cards

« on: January 29, 2017, 12:37:52 AM »

To be honest, I didn't recognize the Pikachu at all. I thought the "O" was a head of some sort. Maybe try coloring it the way a Pikachu is colored to make it more obvious?

That's kind of hard to do. I don't have that many colors at my disposable. I could do gold! Honestly though I was thinking about just drawing Pikachu, along with Squirtle and the others. Would be more fun for me.

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Design & Layout / Re: Valentine's Day Cards

« on: January 27, 2017, 10:19:32 PM »

@RachelS very cute! Maybe spell out "ewe" instead of "you" to make the joke clearer - since it's clear the flourish is a ewe once you get the joke, but otherwise it's not. The placement of the "o" would be better at the bottom IMO (or w in case you change to "ewe"). Nice attempt on the flourish! Have you done animal flourishes before?? I know you were asking for references before. Also, in the final design maybe add some elements to make it clearly valentine-ish.. that will really make it come together.

Actually it's Pikachu lol. The most well known quote from Pokemon is "I choose you!".

I love the idea for adding more Valentine elements to make it pulled together. And no I have never done animal flourishes! This was my first time.