Really Cool Somewhat Calligraphy Related Video

Embedded Video

I thought this video was really neat.  I found this early today.  It is Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in 3D.  It is worth the the couple of minutes that it will take to read.

I will get back to posting other useful items this next week.  I have been traveling a lot the last three weeks and have not had time to keep up with my blogs and articles.  Thank you for being patient.  I hope I can make it up to you.

Calligraphy Services

As a continuation of yesterday's post, Calligraphy Cash, I want to quickly share ideas for calligraphy services.

1. Wedding - It is not uncommon for individuals to want to use calligraphers for wedding invitations. I believe the reasons are obvious, so I won"t insult your intelligence or waste time. However, have you thought about how to find opportunities to perform these services for the wedding parties? If you are interested in only local work, you could put nicely designed business cards in various locations, post signs in grocery stores, etc. Or you could go to local wedding planners and print shops and make them aware of your services! When you go to talk with them, be sure to have a portfolio of sample work with you. When you are talking to the wedding planner, don't forget about the little opportunities such as the name cards for the seats at the reception!

2. Graduation Announcements - It may be a little more difficult to find opportunities for this, but you could seek to write graduation announcements and invitations for those with graduating kids. Many of the cards that you purchase have fancy writing on them with a blank line for the families to fill out the details. Could you fill out the details for them? Maybe an ad in the local paper and going to a few school events could help you get the word out? If you have a high school child, have him/her tell their friends. Maybe even make them a deal, such as for every customer he finds, you will give him 10% of the profits.

3. Graduation and Wedding Announcements 2 - Maybe instead of filling out the details, you could put your artistic skills to work and actually create the entire invitations! Become your own card company! Begin designing some wedding invitations and graduation announcements. Make sure that the invitations or announcements will look right when printed out at your local print shop. If they look right, and you sell some, you could continue to use the local print shop or you could find an online print shop to try to save money. You could then take these wedding invitations to the local wedding planners to use as a sample. Maybe pass around some graduation announcements to local parents to get noticed. Try to bring yourself some more business by offering each style of card you have developed on ebay.

I hope this gives you a few ideas of services to offer and maybe how to get started with them. I am sure there are many more ideas out there that you can use and services that you could offer. Hopefully this will help get your creative juices flowing though!

Calligraphy Cash!

In a time of declining economic conditions and a desire by many to live a higher or better quality of life, I thought I would post some ideas I recently had for turning a passion for calligraphy into cold cash to help ease the financial burdens so many are facing.

As I have several ideas, I am not sure I will post them all here now, as it would make for a very long post, but stay tuned for more tips soon! For now, I will briefly mention two ideas and cover them in more depth over the next few days. With these ideas you can create a simple home-based business that could bring some relief and fun to your home.

1. Offer a calligraphy service in your local town.
2. Rid yourself of paper and make the world your canvas. Create calligraphy art to sell.

With just these two general ideas, there are almost an infinite number of ways to make calligraphy cash. Put some thought into it, and see if you can come up with a few ideas that might work with you.

As I said, I will expand upon the ideas above soon. Please stay tuned!

Calligraphists in High Demand

Ahh, the life!  Go to work every day, just to do something that you love.  Oh!  Even better yet, you're the boss.  To top it all off, business is great.  You are getting all of the work that you can possibly handle.  Sounds great, doesn't it?

This is what Pat Meacham Fries is doing.  The article below is about Pat's calligraphy business in Aberdeen.  According to Pat she primarily works in the winters and spring, and this business is her primary source of income.  Not only is this story inspirational, it also has a couple of good ideas about where you might be able to find a little bit of work.

The article is nice and short, so take a second to read it below.  The rest of the article can be found by clicking on the link.

Hub City resident finds joy in art of calligraphy

Winter busiest time
By Jackie Burke
American News Writer

Pat Meacham Fries has been writing calligraphy for 44 years.She began when her daughter Kim was born."I had pictures of this beautiful girl and wanted to make Christmas cards," she said.Fries is self-taught and shows her artwork through the ArtWorks Cooperative gallery in the Aberdeen Recreation and Cultural Center and at Aberdeen's Winterfest.

American News | 07/10/2006 | Hub City resident finds joy in art of calligraphy

technorati tags:calligraphy, caligraphy+writing, calligraphy+business, calligraphy+tips, calligraphy+tips

Concentration Allows Brush to Flow

This is a short article about a young lady that is beginning to teach Japanese calligraphy, or shodo,  to the public Kansas.  Right now, she is teaching this form of calligraphy to home-schooled children. 

The most important message that I took out of this article is the necessity to concentrate on everything you do while performing this ancient art.  By concentrating, not only will you improve the overall outcome of your writings, but it allows you to express your inner beauty. 

Are you showing your true beauty?

Japanese calligraphy course ascribes beauty to writing

By Sophia Maines (Contact)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 Japan, it is called shodo, the way of writing. But to Sanae Eda, it is like music.“What makes it beautiful is having some balance between technique and freedom of expression,” said Eda, assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Kansas University.

Japanese calligraphy course ascribes beauty to writing | LJWorld.com

technorati tags:Calligrahpy, Japanese+Calligraphy, Shodo, Calligrahpy+Concentration

Who Knew the Alphabet Could be so Interesting?

I came across this site earlier today.  It is entitled, "The Alphabet Forest".  The page of the site is a collection of collages, designs, and pictures with the primary subject simply being the alphabet.  Ceclia, the curator of the site, explains in the paragraph below what "The Alphabet Forest" is.  Below this you will find a collection of alphabet artworks.  It is wonderful to see the world of calligraphy and art coming together in such a simple, yet almost profound (in some cases) way.

Take a minute to look through the works of fellow calligraphy artists.  Can you find some inspirations and new ideas?  Does a particular piece or style stand out to you?  I think my favorite is probably the one seen here:

http://www.cecilia-letteringart.com/alphabetforest/geraldmoscato02.htm

What do you think?

After you have look through these great pieces, browse through Cecilia's site.  She has a few other resources and calligraphy exhibits too.  If you like dragons, perhaps you will enjoy "The Dragon's Cave". 

I have never quite known the correct term for the myriad of wonderful designs I have oftencome across, created from the twenty-six letters of our alphabet. In this small corner of cyberspace -the choice is mine, and I choose to call them 'alphabet trees'.Here we will begin to plant the Alphabet Forest.

The Alphabet Forest

technorati tags:Calligrahpy, Calligraphy+Art

Calligraphy in the Digital World

With letter-writing and other written comminications being a thing of the past, it is not always easy to show of your art skills.  While it seems that the art of calligraphy of is slowly gaining popularity once again, the number of people that are beginning to communicate through virtual services such as email and voice over ip (voip)systems continues to grow at an overwhelming rate.  Does that mean that you can not still show of your calligraphy art?  Why should you not be able to communicate in this beautiful writing style? 

The truth is that there is no reason that you can't take this great art form digital.  In fact it may be easier than you think.  The website below offers an extensive collection of calligraphy style fonts that you can download and use when you type your next email or hop on a chat or messenger service.  Or perhaps you haven't mastered you caligraphy skills yet, but you want to include stylish invitations to a wedding, open house, or baby shower.  With the collection of fonts found at http://www.fontcraft.com, you can easily type your invitations in your chosen calligraphy style and print the invitations.  If you have a need to mass produce the invitations with a great deal of quality, you could even send the new invitations to a local printhsop to produce them for you.

Anyways, check out the site below and post a comment telling us which font is your favorite. 

Fontcraft's Scriptorium Fonts and Graphic Arts

None of these compare to your excellent skills?  You would rather have your own writing as a font on your computer?  Stayed tuned, and I will show you how you can turn your writings into a great new font.


William

technorati tags:Calligrahpy, Calligraphy+Fonts, Calligraphy+Online

A Neat Little Art Newspaper?

This particular article talks about Don Quichang and some of his associates.  The article gives a little background on Don Quichang and tells us that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has created and exhibit about Don Quichang and Tung Chi-chang.  In the section about Tung Chi-chang, we learn that Tung Chi-chang was considered to be a significant influece in the arts of painting and calligraphy. 

What I really wanted to tell you about though, was this site in general.  This site is considered to be the "First Art Newspaper on the Net."  It is a great little directory that leads to sites about artists of various influence.  If you appreciate learning more about those that have had influences on the world of art, you very well could enjoy using this site to find loads of interesting information.  You can find the the particular article that I referenced above by clicking on the link below.  This link will take you to ArtDaily.com.  Be sure to browse the site after quickly reviewing the article.

Don Qichang and His Circle at the MFA in Boston

BOSTON.- The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston presents the exhibit Understanding the Master: Dong Qichang and His Circle through January 7, 2007. The controversial painter Dong Qichang (1555–1626) is alternately regarded as the greatest artist in Chinese history or simply clumsy with the brush. “Understanding the Master: Dong Qichang and His Circle” confronts Dong’s complexity by offering a rich selection of his works, centering on the famous sketchbook where he first tested his ideas. These deceptively simple sketches of rocks and trees provide a rare glimpse into Dong’s analytical method and serve as a key to appreciating his mature works, which are also on view in the gallery. In addition, paintings by Dong’s friends and followers in this exhibition provide critical context for understanding the great master.

Artdaily.com - The First Art Newspaper on the Net

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Don+Quichang, Tung+Chi-Chang, Artists

Calligraphy as a Career?

Have you ever considered calligraphy as a career?  Many people are professional freelance calligraphists, but to have a calligraphy career outside of freelancing?  This article features Ann Miller and her excellent career as a professional calligraphist, including her tenure as the president of a calligraphers society and as a professor of calligraphy.  Maybe this will spark new ideas for taking your hobby to new heights.

Spotlight: Ann Miller, ’64, MA ’65

Cyberspace Calligraphy

Glenn Matsumura

AFTER 1978, when a California funding crisis short-circuited a tenure-track job teaching art, Ann Balaam Miller was “irked for quite a while.” She had studied painting and lithography at Stanford with Nathan Oliveira and Richard Diebenkorn and enjoyed working with students in turn. It was frustrating to have “all these teaching ideas that never reached fruition.”

STANFORD Magazine: July/August 2004 > Class Notes

William

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Calligraphist, Calligraphy+Career

Are You a Left-Handed Mess?

Are you a south-paw writer making a mess of your paper? If you are, you might enjoy this webpage. It is all about tips for left-handed calligraphists. Well, okay..It mainly shows you how you can hold the paper to better your writing for a few different south-paw writing styles. It even shows pictures to illustrate the points. The best part is that it is rather short and too the point.

The Left-handed Writers Page

What we can do.

Many left-handed writers have trouble with several kinds of writing tips. Points may catch on a corner or on an edge, digging into the paper. The worst of these are the extra-fine, needlepoint, flexible, and italic nibs; however poorly-designed mediums and stubs can also be nasty for lefties. While broad and broad-oblique tips usually present no problem, any of them can be problematic if they are poorly-adjusted or even just a little bit sharp in the direction of writing.

The Left

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Calligraphist, Left-Handed+Calligraphy, Left-Handed, South-Paw

Are you on the List?

While searching around for some interesting calligrahpy resources to share with you today, I found this cool little site. It is a calligraphers directory. The particular page that I have posted below is a United States calligrapher directory. From this directory, you can find calligraphers in each state.

Are you on the list?

http://www.cynscribe.com/usascribes.html

If you scroll down the page a little, you will also see a list of the various calligraphers guilds out there. So, if you would like to find a guild in your area, this might be rather helpful.

If you are not in the United States..Please stay tuned. I will keep an out for a similar resource that
lists the calligraphers of various countries . This site does include some, but the directory is not nearly as navigable as the directory for the United States.

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Calligraphers, Calligraphy+Guilds, Calligraphers+Directory

Making Money with Calligraphy Artwork

This is kind of a fun article about a young kid making money by selling calligraphy artwork online.  Is that something you have ever thought about?  If this kid can do it, surely you can too.  Even if you don't want to run a full blown internet business, perhaps you can still take an idea or two from here.

Simple Gifts offers ‘illuminating’ artwork

Kobi Shaw/for Dunn County

NewsBy Kobi Shaw, Correspondent

Did you ever wonder who is processing your order when you buy from a catalog or shop on the Internet? It could be the folks who live right next door.Cottage industries are often the invisible, silent economies of a community, taking many different forms. In fact, without a bricks-and-mortar presence on a city street or in an industrial park, many businesses seem to exist below the radar. While these industries may not have a sign on the door, they do have a name and face.

Archives: Story

P.S.  It says the story is from archives, but it was only puyblished on July 3, 2006

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Artwork

Improving your Handwriting and Calligraphy Skills

This is an interesting article.  It isn't aimed directly at calligraphy, but it is written by a calligraphy and handwriting coach.  This article, or web page rather, provides lots of tips for improving your handwriting, and some of which can inevitably be used to imrpve your calligraphy skills. 

Tips for improving your handwriting

By Dyas A. Lawson

You’ve decided you want to improve your handwriting and you’re probably hoping a fountain pen will do the trick -- maybe a friend told you it would. Maybe you’re just adventurous and you want to try your hand at calligraphy (or you might, once your handwriting improves). Good for you!

handwriting tips

technorati tags:Calligraphy, Handwriting, Tips

Is Calligraphy Only Meant For Paper?

This is an article that made me think.  So often, we, or at least I, think of calligraphy as the art of beautiful writing on paper.  Usually it is in the form of letters, invitations, cards, etc.  This article made me think about all of the other possibilities that we could apply our simple writing to.  What about a beautiful picture on silk, with a proverb, or some other inspirational writing, or even something as simple as "Welcome to our home." 

The women in this article is from Istanbul.  She is a calligraphist where women are not expected to be.  She has used her painting skills to transform the work of calligraphy masters from paper to silk and other materials to create beautiful pictures.  One of her pictures is featured in the article.

Ink Meets Silk this Time
By Musa Igrek, Istanbul
Published: Wednesday, July 05, 2006
zaman.com

Calligraphy is often described as “the love of paper, ink and reed pen.” An exhibition titled ‘Turkuaz Calligraphy” at the Beyoglu Municipality Art Gallery hosts calligraphy works painted on silk, fabric and leaves, as opposed to the description above.

ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER (2006070634556)

technorati tags:Calligraphy