Dimensional Calligraphy with Sharon Hanse

My calligraphy guild, CGI, just held a wonderful, two day workshop with Sharon Hanse.  It was titled "Dimensional Calligraphy."  We learned to make stencils and cutouts from our lettering and artwork.  Here is my cutout.  Sharon had us rough out our lettering on tracing paper first. Then once we had our design, we cut it out of Bristol Board.  I will definitely be on the prowl for a soft grip Exacto knife with my next 40% off coupon!  I placed my cutout on various backgrounds.  You can see more on my Flickr page, but I love this background.  It was made by Sandy Wagner.  I think it's FABULOUS, and it's in my colors too.  I thought about sticking it in my bag, but I'm pretty sure she would have missed it.

Another project Sharon had us complete was an embossing of our lettering on a piece of copper.  (Chillax is a blend of "chill out" and "relax.")  I discovered the wider the letterforms the better.  I got too thin in a few places.  I added the handle and beads at home.  I want to find a little hanger for it, so I can put it on the back deck. (Since that's where we do most of our chillaxing in the summer.)

The thing I liked the most was creating a stencil of our lettering.  Additionally, Sharon had us save and mount the "drop out" pieces onto drafting vellum.   This way, using a light table, I'll be able to emboss and deboss the letters on the same piece of paper.  It will give the illusion that some letters are in front of the others.  I haven't had time to play with it yet, but I'm looking forward to doing it.  I'll also be able to use the stencil for pastels, chalk, etc.

Using the stencil from above, I did a blind embossing on a piece of Canson Mi-Teintes.  I plan on lettering Proverbs 3:5-6 on it, which is one of my favorite verses from the Bible.

It was a great workshop, and you can see more photos from the workshop here.  Please check back on Friday for this week's flourish!