Father's Day Flourish Friday

I thought I'd do a little flourish in honor of Father's Day.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I see Tom in a tie nearly every morning, and I still didn't get this right.  I guess instead of a Double Windsor, it's a Double Jane.  (That little, extra, round knot is my special signature...)

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there, including Rachel and Matt's terrific dad!

I tried to play around with the descenders a little bit.

All of today's flourishes were done with a vintage Gillott 404 and Moon Palace Sumi. I then scanned them and played with them in Photoshop Elements.

This is my champion. His name is Floyd.

This was taken a few months ago on his 80th birthday.

My dad is one of the sweetest guys you'd ever meet.

Happy Father's Day Dad! 

I love you!!!

XOXO

Janie Bird

He's the only one that gets to call me that! :)

Calligraphy Practice - Flourish Friday

This is a practice page done on 100% cotton, resume paper using a Gillott 170 nib and Moon Palace Sumi.  E.A. Lupfer is one of my favorite Master Penmen, and these exercises can be found in his "Ornate Pictorial Calligraphy" published by Dover.  I am naturally heavy handed, and it takes great concentration for me to lighten up.  

For those in the States, I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend! Tomorrow is Matt's graduation open house.  I am swimming in a sea of "to do" lists, but I am looking forward to celebrating this milestone with family and friends.

Go forth and flourish!

xo

Flourish Friday - Calligraphy Christmas Tree

For today's Flourish Friday, I wanted to do something festive!

I saw this beautiful, calligraphic Christmas tree on page 105 of Bill Hildebrandt's book Calligraphic Flourishing: A New Approach to an Ancient Art. Isn't it a beautiful design? I used my graph paper transparency to assist in the layout. I then put my layout rough onto my light table, placed my good paper over the rough and did the flourishing.

I added some touches of color to give it a more festive feel.

After 25 years, I got hair cut short! I didn't realize how long my hair had grown until my stylist said, "I think you have enough for Locks of Love." Actually, at 9" it was an inch short for LOL, but my stylist knew of a place in Mississippi that takes any ponytails over 6". So, I pray my hair is being used by Pink Heart Funds to brighten some one's life. To learn more about Pink Heart Funds, or how to "Share Your Hair" click here.

Put some Flourish in your Friday - have a great weekend everyone!

Flourish Friday October 16 and Pointed Pen Lessons

This flourish is based on one from page 8 of Dover Publication's "E.A. Lupfer Ornate Pictorial Calligraphy." I saved the original with an empty banner. This is a copy that I then lettered my info onto the banner, so the blacks are not as rich as the original.

I want to thank everyone for your continued support! As far as pointed pen lessons, PLEASE! Go to IAMPETH's website. Dr. Joe Vitolo has done an incredible amount of work to post videos, pdfs and wonderful directions on learning a number of pointed pen scripts. These lessons are FREE! However, membership is only $30-$35 and includes access to IAMPETH's wonderful newsletter "The Penman's Journal." This is an inexpensive investment toward learning or improving your pointed pen calligraphy. Click as fast as you can over to the lessons at IAMPETH: here.

Do something to Flourish your Friday!