Laying Out Your Calligraphy

I would never think to place 1 1/2 margins on a piece of paper while doing calligraphy. If a calligrapher decides to make their calligraphy very artistic they will come across all the ideas for layout, design, and skill. Calligraphers will create margins to help with the spacing and lettering to make their art look impressive (54). When I was tracing out my letters for my first blog I was free handing and guessing the space between the letters because I did not know how far apart to place them. The second time around I drew the 1 1/2 inch margins and I had carefully spaced out the letters apart as best as I could from each other to help give them space.

The layout could be used for poems, texts, and invitations. Taylor suggests the technique of creating a 1 1/2 border to please the eye. "The design and layout of a page or piece of calligraphic artwork is as personal as a painted picture, but calligraphy written on a single sheet, or a page of a book, always looks more impressive if you leave generous margins. It's hard to plan the size and spacing of lettering when you are given a sheet of paper and asked to fit a text into a particular area. Neither beginners nor professionals enjoy working this way. It's much easier to write on a larger piece of paper and trim the margins later to what you think looks nicest  (probably equal-sized boarders on the top and sides, and about 1 1/2 times that size on the bottom)" (Taylor 55). I feel that this technique did not work for me as best as my first technique. The boarder had limited me to my side space on the paper and I think that was my cause to write my letters smaller. I feel that not all techniques work for people and to do your best you need to find the technique that works best for you.
Do you work better with techniques or no techniques?
Taylor, Peter. Complete Calligraphy. Heatherton Victoria Austrailia, Hinkler
     Books, 2013. Print.