My calligraphy secret magic tricks

I sometimes get paper that lets ink bleed badly when I try to write on it. I have several tricks I use to get the ink to lay nice and sharp on it, and I had to try almost all of them yesterday on some wedding placecards I just did. I start with a good quality ink, try it out on the paper and see if it bleeds, and if it does, the first thing I try is a little gum arabic. It's expensive, but a little goes a long way. That usually does the trick, although sometimes it makes the ink too thick to run properly off my mapping quill (it's my favorite nib for the classic Copperplate script I write in). If the ink is too thick after adding the gum arabic, I add a little bit of alcohol, which evaporates fast and helps stop bleeding. However, this didn't work on the placecards, either, so I went to the hard stuff: ammonia. Et voila! It was perfect. My last resort is spraying each piece of paper with spray fixative, the kind used to seal in pastels, charcoal or pencil so they don't smudge. I know that last trick from my experience drawing with different media, and I just use that knowledge in that other field and transfer it for use in this one, heh. Fortunately I didn't have to go that far, and I always would rather not as the offgassing from the spray fixative on the paper is unpleasant while I work. I avoided that this time, yay! The ink is nice and crispy sharp at the edges of the letters, and the placecards look good. I'm proud of my work. :)

Wyandotte Art Festival

The four day festival was a big success for me; I sold two paintings, "Chairy's Revenge" and "Watching You". (I did well enough to pay all my bills for July, YAY!) The first day, Wednesday, was very hot, 104 (I heard, and I believe it). We all drank several litres of water to keep from overheating, and the crowds still came out to see all the great work at the fair. My booth was in a perfect spot, right next to Carl Lundgren on one side, and Gary Grimshaw's work with Laura Grimshaw manning that booth on the other. I couldn't have asked for better neighbors! The crowds walked past and saw my booth as they looped their way around the fair, it was wonderful exposure. Thursday it rained heavily, but I was prepared and my booth stayed high and dry. The only minor drama that happened all weekend (for me, anyway) was when I made the mistake of putting my glassware and display shelves in the tent space next to mine which was exposed to the rain -the other tent had no sides - the glasses and shelves were a wet mess! I had to take the glasses down and move the shelving into my tent and dry it all off in a hurry - the shelves are particle board which soaks water up like a sponge, but I was fast and lucky and they're fine! A bit of windex on the glasses and they were back to being sparkling in no time! It gave me something to do, which was good, as the crowds had all but disappeared during the storms, but they returned as soon as the rain stopped. All was well, and my sales resumed. I met lots of new people and had a really nice time overall. I hope I get to do it again next year!

Art Blog

Hopefully this location works for you as well as me, I like the layout and UI better than Yahoo's, it makes more sense both when I post a new blog, and when one reads the postings. I like it. No more blogging about my art on MySpace, and no more Yahoo blog linking to MySpace. This is it! Right here, right now.

I did a calligraphy job over the weekend, about 400 names on placecards, etc. for a wedding. I always feel so good about doing wedding jobs, the excitement, the joy, you know? Plus, I give my absolute best work; I figure those pieces of paper I write on so elegantly will become souvenirs to a lot of people (and rekindle memories of a special day later when they're looked at in someone's memory box). I'm getting another calligraphy job tomorrow, 300 names, so I'll be busy working, yay!

Anyone can go to my website to see my calligraphy, juliefournier.com. Or, you can go directly to the Calligraphy page at http://www.juliekfournier.com/Calligraphy.html