I Give My Calligraphy a B+

I decided long ago that I was going to teach myself calligraphy and that I was going to use said skills on my wedding invitations. I have always wanted to learn and now was the time. So I bought a book, studied it, practiced it and became slightly confident in my skills. Then my invitations came- my beautiful, meticulously designed and carefully crafted letterpress invitations. They are my pride and joy. How was I going to mess them up with that slop that I was calling calligraphy? I panicked and started considering labels, printing or just buying a nice gold pen and trusting in my normal handwriting.

Fortunately, my mother knocked some sense into me. I had already spent a decent chunk of change on the book, pens and inks, not to mention hours of practice. Even if it wasn't perfect, it would still make me happier than throwing in the towel and using labels. So I bought some gold ink that would perfectly match the gold ink already printed on my envelopes and I went to town.

Here is one I made just for you! Yes, I chose a smeared and discarded envelope to display my skills, but you can still get the picture.

Please disregard the smear next to the zip code :(

I could not break myself of the habit of writing into the top right corner. Some are better than this one, but most look best if you tilt them slightly to the left. I am pretty happy with how they turned out! In the very least, I haven't had any phone calls advising that I fire my calligrapher. The invites went out last Wednesday and we are already receiving RSVPs! I am so, so excited. I will show off the rest of the invite once I am confident that all my guests have seen them.

If anyone is interested, I used Gold-Metallic Bronze ink from Windsor and Newton and a C-4 nib. It was like banging my head against a wall as the gold flecks constantly separated from the liquid, but the color was just right. I also do recommend an Idiots Guide to Calligraphy. They gave some great tips on positioning the paper and creating a good working surface. I did end up buying a new book from Dick Blick's so that I could try out a few more styles, but the Idiot's guide was a great place to start.