But in moderately exciting crafting news I took an introductory calligraphy class this week! Wave your markers in the a-ir like you just don't ca-are! I had a pen set when I was in middle school (I had lots of friends, obviously) but haven't really touched it in 20 years.
I signed up for a class through the Chattery and I needed to find a quote to transcribe with my soon-to-be-acquired dope writin' skillz. Ahhh... *rubs hands together* Some inspiration to hang on my wall. But what really speaks to me on a spiritual level??
"That's why we call it murder not 'muckduck'." - Dwight Shrute
"Knuck if you buck." - Crime Mob(b)
"She can touch your lobes but never your latinum." - Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #40
"Hodor." - Hodor
"The flower doesn't dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes." - Mark Nepo
"Hey, assbut." - Castiel from Supernatural
"Are you there, God? It's me, MurderSauce." - Halloween season ModernSauce
"Actually, it's about ethics in games journalism." - internet shitlords
"I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicka." - you know who
"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." - Zora Neale Hurston
"There's always money in the banana stand." - your favorite tv show
So many good, timeless options but I finally settled on:
"Have faith in your own bad taste." - John Waters
It seems to cover so much ground.
Well turns out that it was a different instructor and format than I thought so we didn't get to the quote. In fact, I only managed to do four letters.
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| The instructor made the cute name card! |
It feels a little like The Shining writing your name over and over and over but truthfully it was all I could manage. Even though I write (type?) every day remembering how to write in cursive requires some brainpower that I apparently left in middle school along with my old pens. I tried to write my neighbor's name but had to ask how to make a capital G in cursive sooo...
Bet I could figure out how to make a hashtag, though.
Regardless of the fact that my entire public education was obviously wasted, I'm a handwriting enthusiast so I had a super fun time. It's so meditative writing 'o' and 'a' a million times. Even watching someone write is kinda amazing:
I gotta step up my envelope game for Christmas, y'all.
But I have to start practicing my general handwriting just to remember how to put letters together rather than the stroke-victim-printing I currently have. Time to start writing a real note or two. Anybody up for a pen pal situation?
Also just like my middle school years...
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| From this short and amazing video |
I think if my first name began with an L, I would be calligraphing it all the time. Seriously good leading name letter.
ReplyDeleteThe world always needs more John Waters appreciation.
Maybe my new signature is just going to be a giant cursive L. Like either I'm illiterate or eccentric.
DeleteYour list of quotes to transcribe made me totally LOL. "It's about ethics in gaming journalism," indeed.
ReplyDeleteI also have the shittiest handwriting - thanks to spending most of the last, oh, twenty years or so doing all of my writing with a keyboard - and I've always admired people who have beautiful handwriting. It never occurred to me to take a class! I mean, I know this is calligraphy so it's not like you'll be doing this every day, but I'm sure some of the skills you pick up will bleed over into your normal handwriting. Or am I wrong about that?
I really like handwriting, etc but like you I rarely write anymore so this was fun in a "retro" way (how terrible is that?).
ReplyDeleteBut ABSOLUTELY I think this will help my handwriting - at least for important things like addressing envelopes or notes in cards... okay maybe that's it. And the few things we learned - down strokes are fat, up strokes are thin - is so simple but makes a huge difference in all manner of handwriting.
And it's not just about the formal styles of calligraphy that we normally think about - lettering can include lots of things. Like the little nameplate she made me in the pic above isn't necessarily "calligraphy" but a nice way to letter.
So my advice it to take a class because you never know! Watch the video above to see what a more usable style of "calligraphy" for us might be too.
They make it look so smooth and eeeeeeasy. You're right, just watching it is hypnotizing. I tried to do it using a regular pen but my handwriting is so degraded the paper just burst into flame.
ReplyDeleteHaha same. How did 5th grade me make cursive seem so easy?
DeleteIf you do the banana stand quote I will buy it for my husband for christmas :)
ReplyDeleteMy skills are still pretty terrible but I'm practicing so I will let you know! (That means next Christmas... no way it'll look decent for THIS Christmas!) ; )
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for a new business idea, anon!