Many years ago I did a calligraphy class, over a couple of years, just at the local adult education community college.
We had a wonderful teacher, one of those special people who can teach a class of mixed experience and ability and make everyone feel like they had done something great, but also suggested ways to extend yourself.
She also had a whole grab bag of projects on which to apply our calligraphy - not just plain old boring white paper, we made boxes and envelopes and little books. We used different paper, pens, inks, paint...in fact it was hard to keep up with the list of materials we had to buy.
But she also imparted lots of design tips and here are 3 that I remember -
1. Space is important. In fact the space around things is more important then the thing itself.
So we learned about the spaces between and around letters, words, clumps of text and the whole design itself.
This is as much true for your blog page as for other designs.
Have a look at your blog - is it all cramped and crowded?
Is it too sprawly and hard to follow?
Or is it pleasing to the eye? Easy to read and follow?
2. That you should only use the maximum of 2 different fonts per design.
For those of us that love fonts, this can be so hard to do - because we want to include as many of our loves in our work as possible. Using too many different fonts can make your work look like a dog's breakfast!
However a couple of appropriate, well-chosen fonts can really make your page *pop*.
3. An odd number is more pleasing to the eye than an even number.
Sometimes this doesn't fit in with the symmetry of your design, and sometimes you have to break this rule.
I also learned that calligraphy is NOT handwriting and that it is a very precise art.
You have to rule up your pages and use the right pen angle and heaps of stuff that I can't remember.
But if you'd like to learn more about calligraphy - give it a try.
Or you could just go to Dafont and download some free fonts.
Here are some other practise works that I did -
Come back later when I will draw the winner of this week's planettreasures necklace and announce the next giveaway.
You can find more blogtoberfest participants on I saw you dancing's blog.
And you can find more giveaways over at Ms Curly Pop's page.
