Like Coloring… for Typography

I’m not much for idle time… and I’ve had a lot of car rider and airplane time lately. It’s been a gratifying time to sharpen my hand lettering skills, even what is often called faux~calligraphy.

I follow a number of different hand lettering artist on Instagram, and it’s been fun to practice different fonts that each of them scrawl out flawlessly.

At CHA back in January, I received a new pen from Copic,  the Gasenfude (pronounced: gas•en•fu•day), that has a nice nylon brush tip that is beautiful for hand lettering. The ink is both water and Copic-proof for drawing, lettering and coloring. The long nib takes a little practice to work with if you are new to brush pens, but even the amateur results are worth it! I have enjoyed keeping a senseBook journal of my hand~lettering practices. Yes, my Gs need some help!

Faux~calligraphy is a process of hand lettering your individual words in a single stroke, and following up with a second line to create the thickness of the down stroke. Lindsey at The Postman’s Knock has some fun tutorials. It’s basically like coloring for letter lovers!

I have been keeping my lettering supplies ready for grab and go! I ordered this travel sketch roll pouch from Michelle Wooderson. It tucks and rolls, and when opened it will lay flat for easy pen selection or roll up backwards and stand up straight like a fabric cup.

Several sewn slots here make it easy to keep pens, pencils, an eraser and a few small rulers organized and contained ~ no rambling through a baggie for what I need.

I hosted an event last night for my college sorority alumnae group to honor our newest members, the graduating seniors at Wichita State University. Our chapter recognizes the ladies with beautiful embroidered stoles to wear at their commencement ceremonies, but I couldn’t resist a little gifty that would also decorate the tables at our venue. #doubleduty

I used a Copic Multiliner SP .5 and the Gasenfude pen to create hand lettered tags in a faux~calligraphy font for small vases of flowers. Simple, but striking.

I was fortunate to have flower arranging help before the event and had time for a picture or two before the graduates started arriving. The venue was rather informal, so these were perfect to spruce up our seating area, and I was happy with how they turned out.

After many busy weeks stretched back~to~back for our entire family, I think we’re all home for rest and recovery this weekend! I can hear angels singing! Whatever is on your agenda, I hope it’s beautiful! Have a fabulous weekend!