Too Many Hobbies

I don't know how much time I seem to think I have, but apparently it's enough to have a new hobby: calligraphy.  I took a class today at our local Paper Source and am in love.  I mean, I always have loved calligraphy and types, and I tried to teach myself calligraphy when I lived in Savannah (it was an expensive failure for someone who couldn't afford groceries), but to have someone show me how to do it reinforced my feelings for the art.

The class was small--there were six women, ranging in age from mid-twenties to mid-sixties--and the teacher was phenomenal.  She's local and self-taught, which is always so impressive, and was very friendly but still instructional.  We went through the basic alphabet of traditional calligraphy and then into an alphabet of modern calligraphy, which is much more my style.  We used a chisel marker and Micron pens, and a few students experimented with her pointed pen (nib and ink) but I didn't.  The class was three hours, which gave us all plenty of time to experiment and get to know each other and her.  

In short, I had a great time!  I bought tons of pens and a sketch book, so I guess this means I need to start practicing my letters.  It's very difficult to learn a new way to write, especially after writing a certain way for years.  We all have certain traits--some people write straight up and down, others write in loopy letters--and to suddenly shed those is harder than you'd think.  I'm up for the challenge, though!  I'm also looking for calligraphy blogs for inspiration, so if anyone has recommendations, I'm interested!

We also learned how to line envelopes, which is neat!  And that's my instructor's letterpressed business card.

In other news, my friend Kelby finished our wedding announcements!  I don't know if I've mentioned it here, because I'm purposely trying not to, but we're sending announcements to friends and family when we get married instead of inviting anyone but our parents and my brother.  Kelby is super talented and graciously agreed to work on our announcements as a swap--I'm making her some gifts as a thank you!

We've chosen Paper Source's Cement color as the paper, and I think we'll use a local printer to get those ready.  We aren't getting married until the fall, so we have plenty of time.  Just as a note, the fonts are all from dafont.com (I picked them out and sent the files to Kelby) and the artwork is available for purchase from The Ink Nest.  I bought the September, October, and November packs and Kelby worked her magic with the images.  I love how they turned out!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and you spent less time on the computer than this guy.