So yes, clearly I had become ridiculously behind on my thank you notes. When I was at the penman's conference (yes, we have those), I met a gentleman that was kind enough to promise to mail me engraving burs that I had yet to try. Within a few weeks of being home, they arrived. My work schedule was insane to say the least and I sent an email to convey thanks just so that I didn't seem like a complete savage. However, I take my stationery very seriously and committed to send a proper thank you note when the work schedule slowed down a bit. Here it 'tis.
Played around with the lighting a bit to make it show up better on camera. However, iridescent jade is clearly one of those colors that looks better in person than it photographs. Who knew? :) Here we go! Cheers!
Quick thank you note (that is incredibly late) to an extremely talented letterpress stationer in Dallas. Sending this along with a few requested samples. Cheers!
Cotton Paperie www.cottonpaperie.com
I must admit that I do LOVE commercial hand lettering (my Slinging Ink side of business). The avenues for creativity are endless. Here is something that I'm working on for a client that sells.....you guessed it: DRESSES! Cheers! #HoustonHandLettering
Earlier this year, I was contacted by a client to write something simple & to the point that they could use on their website to announce sales events in a hand lettered way. Literally, the word "sale". Nothing crazy, but since they wanted to use this for years to come it needed to be cool. I thought......BRUSH LETTERING. I'm not asked to use that often, but I do love the look of it especially when it is allowed to be "free" and unstructured. Here is the raw version of what I sent them & am was so happy that they were pleased. Looking forward to seeing this on their site and I'm sure that their graphic designers will make it even cooler. Cheers!
I have been very fortunate to maintain a full calendar with jobs. As anyone will tell you, that is a blessing but every blue moon it is a curse. When your calendar is booked you usually don't have wiggle room for 'unforeseen circumstances'....such as power outages. Today, my electricity went out due to the storms that we have been experiencing here in Houston. At the same time, I was working on a job that needed to be completed today as there are jobs booked directly behind it on the calendar. That meant that I needed to work in the dark. Thank goodness for my trusty battery operated laser.
I am happy to say that I did finish today and it also made for a cool picture on my phone. #MakeItWork. Cheers!
So I'm always up for writing on anything that is not paper. Agate stones are so great as they calligraph like butter, are gorgeous and are available in so many colors. Love this. We did this project in a modern hand as it seemed to just fit. These will be available on the website and the Etsy shop. Cheers!
Sometimes when I am asked to calligraph something, I'll write it out, return it to my client and months will pass & I've almost forgotten about it as there are many projects in between. However, yesterday on my restful Sunday I received a cool email from one of my wonderfully, memorable clients. She requested that I write out a saying in a connected hand with shading for a tattoo back in January. After a few options, this was her choice. This Sunday she had it inked. Very cool!
When we got married, we decided to do a "destination wedding". I love them as they tend to be much less stress and it's even better if the locale is gorgeous. This New Orleans couple is getting married in Paris and requested my services for their envelope addressing, which I completed last week. The first pic is in white ink (one of my favs), but the project was actually in black ink (the following pictures). We did this in the Business Casual style as they wanted something simple and cool. I love it! #neworleanscalligraphy #neworleanscalligrapher
It's been a while since I've posted a project. It's been a little crazy around here to say the least, but I love what I do so there are no complaints here. I had a client that is getting married in NY request samples of what I could do with birds. Yes, birds. This is one of the samples that I provided. I just finished her project and I will say that it was pretty cool. Yay for something new! Yet another example of a client asking for something that pushes me outside of my box and I'm glad that she did. These are now available as a style option for wedding calligraphy. Cheers!
During a quick break from my wedding work I made a calligraphic plume... Must find a way to incorporate one of these into a future project :)
CNN (via IBN Live) recently posted an article about how a calligrapher recreated well-known logos. One thing that I love about this article is how it highlights how many logos that we see everyday were actually created by hand as opposed to a computer program. Click the image for the entire article.
Courtesy of CNN: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/buzz/calligraphy-artist-recreates-famous-logos-with-amazing-precision-977846.html
The only way I send out my correspondence....blind embossing the return address. This is actually the formal etiquette for return addressing a wedding invitation & has been my preference for my correspondence for years along with wax seals. I began offering this to my clients this year & it has been well received. It's clean, classic and is offered in various styles.
Portions of the address below have been digitally removed for client privacy.
So with whatever profession you are in, if you love it, there is an artist's work that struck a chord with you and changed the trajectory of your focus. For me, that was Michael Sull, Master Penman & Chief White House calligrapher for Ronald Reagan. The man is my modern day rock star for penmanship. I met him and studied under him along with a few other master penman this week. I stood in line today and asked that he write my best friend's name. Here it is... Gorgeous!
What a treat it was to wake up this morning to learn that I have received the Houston Best Engraver Award for the 3rd year in a row! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here's the press release: http://houstontx.houstontx.awardcontact.org/PressReleaseub.aspx?cc=DEV7-RBCB-G7FF
Alright, let's get these babies ready for the mail...
Haven't engraved metal in about a year. Quick warm-up on a knife as I promised to engrave for a friend today. Forgot how cool metals were to engrave....
It's not often that I do wedding vows or song lyrics, but I am weak for contrast that's not the garden variety. So when a previous client asked me to calligraph their vows from their wedding for their 1st anniversary in white ink....Done! Yep, i wrote it out in graphite first, then followed up in ink and erased after it dried. Cheers!
When you are engraving scotch bottles for a spirit company at an event and the outlet for your air compressor gives out & you can't take the table to a different outlet because you'd block the aisle... along with the fact that you have a line of people waiting for their engraved bottles, what do you do? While the store figures out where to shift your electrical power, You find the closest outlet (that works), take the necessities to engrave a scotch bottle and something high enough to engrave on. Go!
#MakeItWork #IPimpMyPen #houstoncalligraphy #houstoncalligrapher #bottleengraving #slingingink
#SlingingInk
So remember that Grand Marnier Event that I did calligraphy for? They asked if I would engrave some of the bottles that were purchased by clients. I was happy to oblige. One of these was hand painted....No pressure. Keep a steady hand :)
