“Certainly the art of writing is the most miraculous of all things man has devised.” –Carlyle

It’s true, I have a hard time throwing anything away, which sometimes makes me very happy.  For instance, when I decide that I want to dabble with calligraphy after about, oh say, 25 years!  Needless to say, I was ecstatic to find a folder with all of the old handouts given to me by the elementary teacher who taught me calligraphy in the sixth grade.  I’m one-hundred percent sure that she ran these pages off on one of those machines that she had to crank the handle!  I shared some of my thoughts about learning to write calligraphy with Janine Vangool at Uppercase Magazine, and she featured my short essay in her online newsletter here.

I also found some of my calligraphy practice sheets.  I can still remember sitting at my old wooden desk – the one with the sloped top and a groove to hold my pencil – and making these letters over and over.  There was always a black ink stain on my middle finger for the rest of the day.

I was truly inspired, so I treated myself to some fun new ink colors, but I remained faithful to my old pen and nibs. Over the years, I have enjoyed using my calligraphy skills for certain projects, but I’ve been using the marker-style pens that make things so much quicker and easier.  However, when I decided to go “old school,” I was amazed at how quickly the movements came back to me after all of these years.

This is what I came up with….

There’s something extra-special about writing something that takes a little extra time and care.  Hopefully it won’t be another 25 years before I get out my pen and ink to do some “dipping and swirling.”

Happy Writing!