How to Make a Calligraphy Piece

So, you have been studying calligraphy, and maybe written a few beautiful cards. What else can you do with your lettering skills? Many calligraphers make calligraphy pieces to frame and hang, for gifts or to display. This is not too hard if you have the basic abilities; but there's definitely more to it than just fancy writing. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Nice paper
• Scrap paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Calligraphy pen
• Ink
• Other art supplies (optional)

1. Pick the text for your piece. Quotations and poems are popular subjects.
2. If you know more than one style of lettering, decide which one works best with the text you have chosen.
3. Practice calligraphing the text on scrap paper. Write out the whole thing as well as you can, to see if you run into any unexpected challenges, and also for use in the next step.
4. If you are using a poem or any text that is already broken into lines, you can skip this step--just make sure that your calligraphy piece fits on the size of paper you have selected (remember to leave space for a border on all sides). Otherwise, cut out the words from your sample and try different arrangements, to decide how many lines there should be, where they should start on the paper and where they should be broken. Keep in mind that you could make some words bigger than others.
5. Using the ruler and pencil, lightly draw a border of at least an inch (or more if you want to add a design) around your piece of paper.
6. Still using pencil, draw in lines showing where you will place the text. Many calligraphers use a top and a bottom line for each row of lettering, or even a top and bottom line for the body of the letters, with another line above for the tops of tall letters like "h", plus one below for descending letters like "g." These lines will help you make the text very straight and even.
7. Now it's time to actually make the calligraphy for the piece. Referring to your sample arrangement, fill in the pencil lines with calligraphy. Work slowly and carefully.
8. When the piece is completely dry, erase the pencil lines. The eraser shouldn't damage the inked letters, so you can go right over them.
9. If you like, draw or paint a decorative border around the edges.

Tips & Warnings

• If you make a mistake, don't give up. Gently dab the ink with a paper towel to remove any excess, but be careful not to smear it further. When it's dry, try a very fine grade of sandpaper to see if you can remove the error. (This trick works better on good quality heavy paper, but there's no guarantee).