Writing Calligraphic Words

Writing Calligraphic Words

At the beginning of this journey, I didn't think that I would get this far.  Writing letters in Calligraphy, for me, seemed unrealistic.  Now, I've gotten enough practice to start writing words!  This is a huge milestone for anybody learning how to do Calligraphy, since at this point, you can officially start writing letters, making gifts, or unique and personalized home decor. 

While writing letters, two things are very crucial.  As Bennett states, "You not only need to know how to space letters within a word, but also need to practice how to space the words themselves" (53).  Just like this, the spacing between the words should not be so wide that they look like they are not a part of the sentence but instead are random words.  However, the spacing should not be so little that the words look crammed and are indistinguishable from each other.  

The ideal way to know that you have perfect spacing is, as Bennett states, "enough space to fit a letter o"(53).  The letter "o" should perfectly fit between any two words in a sentence.  From personal experience, this is not as easy as it sounds.  I had a lot of trouble while making sure my spacing is correct since I had a tendency to make the spaces too wide.  However, as I progressed along, I started getting more and more better.  The key is to imagine the letter "O" after writing the first word and before writing the second word.  This helped me to start writing at a place where the spacing was wide enough but not small enough to fit the letter "o". 

This is a major step from just writing letters and not caring about the spacing to writing actual words while being careful with the spacing.  The spacing between the words is what decides how nice and neat the words look (53)>  Don't be discouraged if the words or the letters don't come out right, it took me a couple tries before I started getting comfortable writing words.  What may help, is to redraw the nib width, as you did in the beginning while getting used to the Calligraphy pen.  The nib width will help you get the dimensions of the letters right automatically, so you can focus all your attention on the actual spacing between the words.  After you get comfortable with the spacing, encourage yourself to get rid of the nib width and write a few words without it.  If you take the nib width away but need it again, feel free to continue using it until you are ready to try writing words again without it.

Calligraphy, just like anything else in life, demands not only patience but also perseverance.  With time and practice, your letters and words will continue to come out more smoothly and precisely.  The spacing will also improve over time, just like mines did.  No matter how good you get at Calligraphy, you can always improve.  Even after practicing for such a long time,  I find my letters coming out much neater and correctly spaced compared to the previous day.  Do you think Calligraphy, just like everything else in life, demands patience and perseverance and will become fruitful in the long run? Why or why not?  

Bennett, Jim. Calligraphy for Dummies. For Dummies, 2007. Print.