A Little Faux Calligraphy

Some time back I painted a college graduation card for a dear friend of my daughter. I used my daddy's old nib pen and gold ink for the lettering. The sheet music I inked  in is no tune that anyone knows! I was just randomly adding notes!😃

The lettering is really not proper calligraphy, thus it is called "faux."  This means you are not just using one pen stroke - you go back and add shading if needed. I found this gold a little difficult to work with. Maybe this was because I am not really adept at calligraphy yet!

The idea for this card came from a beautiful one I bought at an antique store. The company that produced it no longer makes this particular one. I took a picture of a silk rose on top of some old sheet music and used that as my reference photo instead of actually copying the card I had purchased. In my photo here, the gold ink is not really evident as being shiny. I used heavy watercolor paper to paint this special greeting for our special friend.

 front of card

 inside of card

card opened out, back and front sides

Just a couple of weeks ago, I sent a little handmade card that does not open to a couple we know that ministers in a very dangerous location. This little piece really is faux calligraphy! I used  fine Sharpie markers for the words and detailing. 

If you are interested in learning how to do different styles of hand lettering, I recommend visiting:  https://thepostmansknock.com/blog/