Nicki Traikos | life i design |

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Modern Calligraphy Project to motivate you to learn calligraphy and to practice

This easy and beautiful Modern Calligraphy project will motivate you to learn calligraphy and to practice more! It's simple, easy to gather the tools and fun to do with someone!

So one of my most recent goals is to share more inspiration to motivate you to learn and practice modern calligraphy.  More and more we rely on our tech (don't get me wrong, I love mine too) and more and more, we move away from crafting, building and making with our hands.  

As a letterer and designer, I crave tactile experiences.  They help ground me, improve my skills and motivate me to learn, to try something new and to keep practicing.  For some of you, finding ways to use your new found hobby or skill of modern calligraphy may be a little challenging. During my in-person calligraphy workshops, you'll hear me offer some advice, but I think these next few project posts will help inspire you a little bit more!


I have hired my talented and creative daughter Sabrina to work with me over the summer as I create more online inspiration and how-to's for my readers and followers.  One of our goals this summer is to share more creative ideas on the blog.  Here is our first Modern Calligraphy Project to motivate you to learn calligraphy and to practice too!

The only tools you need are;

- a small floral bouquet - we chose lavendar

- twine/string

- scissors and clear tape

- brown kraft paper

- calligraphy pen of your choice (I used a dip pen and ink for this one)

Decide how large your cone needs to be for your floral arrangement.  Sabrina gathered some fresh lavender from our garden and cut a small piece of kraft paper for me to write on.

I went to my favorite source for quotes and poem inspiration which is PINTEREST! I can seriously kill a few hours browsing all the pretty photos and inspiration.

Once done, Sabrina played around with how to wrap the bouquet with the kraft paper.

And here is what she created for our first joint project!!  A lovely bouquet ready to gift to a friend.  

It didn't end there though!! While we were hunting for kraft paper, we found black wrapping paper that I picked up from Ikea years ago when I was in my black and white phase.  

So I lettered my favorite Robert Frost poem (anyone else a fan of the book the Outsiders?! I wish I still had my original copy) using a small waterbrush pen and acrylic ink in white!

I love the contrast so much and lettering with a brush pen is so very gratifying.  We played around with using it to wrap a bunch of peonies that I picked up from Wholefoods that morning.  I seriously can't walk past peonies without needing to buy a bouquet!!

Just look at that gorgeousness!! The contrast of the pink against the black.  Swoon-worthy!

I played around with this one for a while.  As I was forming the cone, I panicked a bit...

I suddenly was protective of this calligraphy piece and thought of a great way to use it in my newly painted studio!!!

You'll have to stay tuned for that post.  I went out of my color comfort zone of black and white and am so glad I did!! Wait until you see the big reveal.


Anyway, back to this easy and beautiful modern calligraphy project!! I hope you have been inspired to try a fun and quick way to practice your modern calligraphy and to make something with your own two hands that you can keep and enjoy or use as a hostess gift for the many socials you'll be hopefully enjoying this summer!

If you are looking to learn calligraphy or lettering, check out my online workbooks here or my in-person workshops here.

As always, the Creative Library is a great way to be inspired and to get updates on new projects and tools that we are launching over these next few months!

If you've been inspired to try this project, please let me know how it went!! I am always inspired by you and what you are doing. 

Happy lettering!!!

Nicki & Sabrina

xo

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