How To // Fake Calligraphy!

Hey Guys.  Brooke here.  Welcome to one of Chevron and Stripe’s first official posts!  So glad you decided to stop by.  I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to navigate around the site and learn a little bit about Becca & I but I actually have a small calligraphy business that I have been building up over the past year or so.  Calligraphy is such a beautiful way to tell your guests that you care or add a special element of surprise to a favor or detail but sometimes the price tag for enlisting such a service may not be within range for you.  I’m here to tell you it’s okay because you can fake it.  Below is a little quote I put together from one of my faves, Ms. Zooey Deschanel:

For all of my projects I use a dipped pen and ink and gouache mixture to complete the look.  Although I’ve had a lot of practice, I am still learning the best way in which to control the pen and avoid big, dark inky splotches.  I will tell you, it is like art and as with any kind of art, practice makes perfect.  I admit, sometimes I still have small mishaps where I’m all the way down to a zip code and I get an ink drop.  If you don’t have the budget nor the time to artfully embellish all of your paper goods with calligraphy you can fake it and here is a basic how to on how to do it!

First, in your best handwriting write whatever it is that you want to fake out. 

Tip: A lot of times, I center an individual’s name on an envelope and simply write the name in “fake calligraphy” finishing it with a whimsical font for the rest of the envelope.  This saves time while still adding a dose of "calligraphy"

The next part takes a bit of practice but start envisioning the way your pen moves as you write the letters.  Whenever you complete a downward stroke with your pen, this is the point in which a dipped pen would divide in half creating a wider stroke.  Carefully create rounded edges where you pen makes a downward stroke like so:

 

Tip:  I use a very fine tipped pen when using this method as it provides a better allowance for mishaps.

Finally, fill in your edges with your fine pen.  Look over your work and see where you could fill in gaps or other areas and admire!  You just faked calligraphy.

As a side note - I'm thinking about taking my Etsy shop a bit further and doing watercolor versions of inspirational quotes like what you saw above. What do you guys think?  

xx. Brooke