Series 5 ~ continues with Brush Calligraphy

Since we have a short session for our next series, with only three classes left, we're going to finish off this series with some standalone techniques that have been requested by students.

This week we tackle Brush Calligraphy. I've come up with an easy method for you to try your hand as a beginner and still have something lovely to add to your journal. I mentioned this in our previous class because I used this method to add words to my second self-portrait collage. To refresh your memory, the page and the added text boxes looked like this:

So ... let's get on with Brush Calligraphy, shall we?

Firstly, you'll need some kind of "brush pen". We used several different kinds of brush pens in class: Brush Ink Pens (from Daiso), Tombow Dual Felt Markers (I bought mine at Opus), and Faber Castell PITT Brush Pens (I bought mine at Deserres). Note: all of these pens are non-refillable, but you could also use a waterbrush, which has a hollow handle that could be filled with ink instead of water.

The Brush Ink Pens from Daiso (front above) have real ink in them, and a range of "juiciness" (as we discovered in class!). Tombow Dual Felt Markers (in the middle above) are two markers in one - one end has a hard, fine tip, and the other end is a soft paintbrush-style end. The Faber Castell PITT Markers (at the back) are brush-tip felt pens, but the tip is shorter and harder than the other two, which some beginners prefer. I personally liked learning using the bigger brush tips because I could more easily see how successfully I was creating the marks I wanted.

For the method we did in class, you'll need tracing paper or deli paper - yes, the kind they wrap your sandwich in at the deli. Whichever you use, the first thing you need to do is figure out which side is smoother, because we'll be writing on the SMOOTH side, not the ROUGH side. When you first start, it may be difficult for you to tell the difference. The best way is to lay the deli or tracing paper flat on your worktable and sliiiiiiiide your hand flat lightly across the whole width of the paper on both sides. One side will give you slightly more resistance. That's the ROUGH side, which we don't want to write on and it will go face down so we can write on the SMOOTH side.

Next, you'll need some alphabets to practice on. I've created three brush alphabet practice sheets (which I'll post below) that you can print out and work with. If you find your print quality of the images at the bottom of this post is not sharp enough, let me know and I can send you a PDF instead. While I was researching this topic, I found lots of FREE practice sheets that you can download directly without waiting for me to get back to you. Here are the links to those:

Amy Latta has a wonderful collection of practice sheets, alphabets and more.

Dawn Nicole Designs is also very generous with brush lettering practice sheets - and more.

Tombow (the people who make the Dual Brush Markers) is very happy for you to learn how to use them, and they have the large-size letter here (for Tombow Dual Markers) and the small-size letters here, which are designed for pens with shorter, harder brush tips. I actually find both size alphabets good to practice on, whichever kind of brush pen you're using.

Missy Briggs at M2BStudioart.com has Brush Lettering Guides for both right-handed people AND left-handed people - very useful!

Sarah Types not only has lettering guides you can print out, but also an excellent video for beginners which shows you much more close up how the brush tip behaves during the lettering process. She veers off into Photoshop at the end of the video for people who want to digitize what they write, but the first nine minutes has exactly what you might be looking for to help you learn to letter.

After class, I tripped across another video resource you might like: Lyssy Creates has a series of short videos about brush lettering. For 14 days you'll be emailed a link to a new short video that will guide you through learning the brush lettering process. I'm only on Day Two, and so far I can say they are brief, focused and *totally* doable.

Now, before we go any further, I want to tell you the TWO MOST IMPORTANT things about how to do Brush Lettering:
1) THIN lines occur when your pen is moving UP by lifting up your brush pen and only touching the very tip of it to your page and
2) THICK lines happen when your pen is moving DOWN as you apply firmer pressure on your brush, and more of the tip is in contact with the paper.
Think this way: MOVE UP = LIFT UP,  MOVE DOWN = PRESS DOWN. This is the zen of brush lettering and something that everyone struggles with at the beginning.

As I mentioned in class, I made Page 4 of the handouts when I found a set of alphabet stickers at the dollar store of a calligraphy font I wanted to work with. I put lined paper under a sheet of clear acetate and then stuck the letters on spaced apart so we could practice with them. Whenever you find an alphabet or a saying that you love, you can trace it using this method.

By the way, just because we're tracing now doesn't mean you always be tracing. The more you practice, the more confident you'll get and eventually you'll develop your own lettering style and just go freeform straight onto the paper and amaze yourself. With practice, it can happen.

So, without further ado - away we go! Here are the steps:

1. Find the smooth side of your tracing paper - put that FACE UP to write on.
2. Have a word or phrase in your mind that you want to write. 
3. Locate the first letter of your word or phrase (usually a capital), and lay your deli or tracing paper over it (remember smooth side up!). 
4. Trace that letter.
5. Move your tracing paper to the NEXT letter and lining up your first letter with it. Don't be afraid to scooch them quite closely together - it should as if the whole word was a smooth continuous action (yeah, I know ... we'll get there!). 
6. HINT: Line up the edge of your tracing paper with the guidelines on the lettering guide page underneath. This will help the letters of your word be all lined up as write them.

In the photo series below, I show you how I wrote the word Patience (how appropriate!), letter by letter. Notice how I'm putting the end of each letter very close to the next letter I'm about to write. Also notice how I've "lined up" the edge of the tracing paper with the guidelines underneath, and kept the letters I've already written on the line:

Now that you've written out your word, we can move onto the next step ~ making it pretty for your journal.

We start by gluing your traced word to a piece of scrapbooking paper. First, try your word behind a few different patterns to see how it will look. Don't worry if the paper seems to disappear behind the tracing paper. When you glue it down, the tracing paper will become more transparent. Here are the papers I tried ... 

I liked the one in the top left corner. The pattern was stronger and the colours brighter.

The next steps are as follows: 

1. Choose your scrapbook paper background.
2. Apply glue to the FRONT of the scrapbooking paper you chose. I put a piece of scrap paper behind while I was applying glue because I wanted to make sure the edges would be nice and sticky when I laid the brush lettered word on top. 
3. Trim your word to the size you want.
4. Optional: You can round corner your trimmed piece. I turn both the thing I'm turning AND the round cornering punch upside down so that I can make sure I have the pointy corner of the card in the center of the punch. Also, when you punch, you'll be cutting the tracing paper AGAINST the paper you glued it to which gives a sharper cut.
5. After a bit of handling, you may need to burnish the tracing paper back down onto the background paper. Your side of your gluestick can work for this, or a bone folder, an old hotel room card, or as I use in the photo, a filler spreader from the hardware store.
6. The last thing you can do is add a border around the edge of your paper. I like to mimic the effect of stitches by drawing small 1/16" lines around the outside edges. They don't have to be perfect, by the way. 

There are a few more options to finish off your lettered card. I'm showing you two more below. In the one on the left, I drew over the leaves in the background to make them more visible. In the second one, I had a little doodling fun, almost zentangling, because the paper behind had no strong pattern and I wanted to make it more interesting:

One more thing ... you can do other fun things with these apart from putting them in your journal. You can make gift tags, or thank you notes (by gluing them to a folded piece of cardstock).

And now (phew!) your handouts. Again, if these don't print out sharp enough on your printer, let me know and I can send you a PDF.

Next class, we'll be playing with Mandalas (another relaxing way to deal with stress - I promise), as well as more stenciling with paint (by request) and maybe even some fun ways to work with circles and make them look more 3D on your pages. Hope to see you there!