Читать книгу Jewish London, 2nd Edition - Danielle Stringer - Страница 8

Introductio

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Hey there, creative! Before you pick up a pen, I want you to be encouraged. If you are an absolute

beginner to the world of lettering, this book was created just for you. I’m not sure if I should say this,

so shhhhh! I have never taken a calligraphy class! I know I’m writing a book on lettering, but I need to

be real with you! I’m not overly trained in all the lettering ways, but I think that is what makes me the

perfect teacher for you as a beginner. I remember knowing nothing about calligraphy and teaching

myself the basics. I remember practicing endlessly until I got that perfect “S” shape. I also remember the

feeling of pride I got when I completed my first project. Lettering has grown to be such a fun, creative

outlet for me, and I’m so excited to share it with you.

When I first began, I was lettering on chalkboards and wood signs. Because I wanted to create art on

larger mediums than just pen and paper, I knew I had to find a way to get the look of beautiful lettering

without using the usual brush pens that calligraphy calls for. I discovered a method of calligraphy that is

in a sense “faking it.” The term you will see used for this method is “faux calligraphy.” It takes calligraphy

and breaks it down into a simple drawing of the letters and thickening of the downstrokes. I couldn’t

believe how similar it looked to modern calligraphy! The best part is that I was able to begin lettering on

all sorts of mediums. Now I’ve worked on everything from chalkboards, windows, mugs, metal, wood,

fabric, and even my mailbox. If you are anything like me, you will start walking around stores thinking,

“Hmmm, I wonder if I could letter on that?”

Since growing my sign business, I began getting requests to teach how I made them. I remembered

how excited I was to learn this method for our signs, and I knew I had to share it with others. I began to

pull back the curtain and give away all my secrets to lettering. What I found was a new love for seeing

the faces of my students light up when they see how easy it is to create lettering they thought was so

difficult. Some sign makers that had only used stencils and vinyl are now lettering their signs instead!

If you enjoy crafting already, faux calligraphy will be such a fun addition to your projects! One of

my favorite things about lettering is personalization with gift giving. Later in the book I will guide you

through a few projects and show how you can take your gift giving to the next level by adding lettering

to the mix.

I hope this method will take away any intimidation you may feel! We won’t be using brush pens or

calligraphy nibs. (And if you don’t know what those are, don’t worry!) This book will give you the bare

basics of lettering and build your confidence to move up to those tools. Will it take practice? Absolutely!

This book is your launching pad. Jump in knowing that your practice is making progress, and your

lettering will continue to “flourish.”

Facing page:

Faux calligraphy allows you to letter on many large-scale surfaces. Although

calligraphy and brush pens would work on this kraft paper, it’s much easier to create

oversized hand-lettered works of art when you use a regular fine-point marker.