You may wonder what caused me to start learning calligraphy and my calligraphy story actually spans decades!
I was actually introduced to calligraphy when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My Granny was as obsessed with arts and crafts - so much so, that she had a whole room of her house dedicated to art supplies.
Growing up, she encouraged me and my sister to try all sorts of arts and crafts; I have tried everything from knitting, to glass painting, to you guessed it - calligraphy.
Back then, I learnt broad edge calligraphy which is more a traditional style of the art form and used a fountain pen to create it. I still remember my Granny kindly buying me different colour ink cartridges to try out and that feel of excitement about new art supplies (which I still get!).
As a teenager, my Granny sadly passed away and I gradually lost interest in calligraphy. As an adult though, I kept telling friends and family that I'd love to pick calligraphy up "one day" but never took any action.
As it turns out though, my friends and family were listening and I was gifted a dip pen set for my birthday. This gift reignited my love for calligraphy and although I struggled with the dip pen, I tried out brush pens which are now my go-to calligraphy supply.
After becoming obsessed with calligraphy and reconnecting with my creativity I definitely think about my Granny and I not only miss her as a person, but I wish that we could have geeked out about arts and crafts together as adults. I think she would have superseded my skills in calligraphy by now, as she was also a fan of calligraphy (you can see some of her work below).
Her true creative passion though was card making. She made incredibly intricate 3D cards that were made with such love that she made for all sorts of occasions. I still remember my 13th birthday card, the last I would receive from her, which featured all sorts of hand crafted elements. Unintentionally, I also happen to love designing greeting cards; they're one of my favourite uses of calligraphy.
Nowadays, I'm lucky enough to teach calligraphy as my job! I love that not only can I get someone else to geek out about something that I'm passionate about, but that I'm also paying forward what my Granny did for me years ago - gave me the gift of connecting to my creativity.
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