I belong to a calligraphy group that sends out its newsletter in hand lettered envelopes. Members of the club take turns to do them, and as my calligraphy is not of the finest calibre, I like to do the Christmas ones, where I can compensate for my mediocre penmanship with lavish decorating. As you can see I tend to work in a rats nest of art supplies. The envelopes were firstly stamped with an image by Acey Deucy “Illuminata II”, in midnight blue Brilliance ink. Then watercoloured with Twinkling H2o’s. These are watercolours with a lovely mica shimmer in them. I used pastels to finish the face and hands for a softer effect.

The lettering was done with a parallel plate pen, loaded with a light blue ink cartridge. To get the blended look, I occasionally touched the nib with another pen that had green ink in it. The final touch was to add a Dresden foil trim (I used angel wings on most of the envelopes, but when I ran out I switched to little doves.) I adore Dresden foil, and stockpile it whenever I’m in San Francisco. There is a store in Berkeley, The Castle in the Air, that has the most astonishing array of Dresden foils, along with more amazing craft supplies than you would expect under one roof.
Each posting of the newsletter requires about forty four envelopes, so it’s a great opportunity to acquire some much-needed practice. I’ll show you the ones I did for last year, and maybe you can judge whether my lettering has improved or deteriorated!

Thanks so much for stopping by, cheers Karen.