Baby Girl Personalised Poster and Concertina Card

Well…. As if by magic…..I said a couple of posts ago, or was it the last one, that I had done the Baby Girl Poster, but everyone in the world seemed to be having boys. Then during a conversation with my friend Alison over at Eden Valley Scribes I was told that a work colleague was at that very moment, in hospital having a baby. Great news and we hoped it was a girl. An email the next day, told me it was, so I’ve had the opportunity to at last write the details of the new baby girl, Lucy Charlotte and photograph it for my blog….so here it is…..Printed in a lovely assortment of pinks…..
Close up detail. And if anyone is interested, because of the virus problem with my website, I’d advise you to email me direct. They are selling for £7.50 each, complete with personalisation and which includes P&P to mainland UK. Email me direct and I can send you an invoice by Paypal
My email is: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

January right through to May is a crazy time for me. I have birthdays almost every week! Next week is my nephew Seans, the son of my brother Steve. So here’s the card I made him. Nothing flash as he’s a grown up teenager now and will probably be more interested in the money that’s inside it! Lol.

Close up setail: these are also £7.50. Made to order and personalised.

Contact me here inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

And I just have to show you a close up of this….
It’s a small charm, and I’ve bought a huge assortment to add to my hand made books. I just wanted charms that were a little bit different. Aren’t they lovely? Thanks Amber Moggie for directing me on where to get these, I spent a fortune! And CJ, the paper I used for the cover is a Chinese Hand Made Silk Paper, do you want some sending across the pond?

Calligraphy Card - 40th Birthday Party Invitation

Well there’s noting so sure as…. We’re none of us getting any younger and try as we might, time flies by so quickly. What’s really shocking for me is that my son is fast approaching 30 (well in 2 years time) and my baby brother is turning 40 in the middle of March!
But, it gave me great pleasure to design and make his 40th Birthday Party Invitations. At first they were the ‘foolproof’ big lettering with tiny capital contrast, but somehow they didn’t capture the essence of him. So I redid them and used an informal, skeleton type foundational hand with them, then added the RSVP in tiny Arial font along the bottom.
The cover was in a wonderful orange (his favourite colour) and constructed as a 3 fold card.

The whole thing opened out Measures 11cm x 48cm (the advantage of having an A3 printer!) I punched out stars along the length to match the stars on the front.

New Moon in Pisces!

For all my blog readers interested in Astrology....read on....
Hmmmm could this be why I feel like I've been on a fast track since December. I feel at the moment that my feet aren't touching the floor, and far from being exhausted, well, I feel the opposite!
BTW- for those in the know: I'm a Virgo, with Moon in Capricorn and Aquarius Rising! And by the way....the following is for E*V*E*R*Y**O*N*E

Since the Lunar Eclipse, and continuing through this week, Mars and Jupiter are traveling together in the sky. This week, Mercury joins to form a triple conjunction, which also includes the Lunar North Node (a point, not a planet, yet influential). This is high energy. In Aquarius, it's time to put serious energy into networking. And with the Sun and Moon in Pisces, it's time to be more compassionate when you network. Pisces is a sign of higher math and finance, and this New Moon is the perfect time to get together with like-minded groups and friends because the NEW ideas you throw around now could just be the beginning of something BIG. Jupiter magnifies everything it touches. And with Mars, you can be unstoppable. But what if you want everything! This combo can be so exuberant, you can overpromise the world. Mars heats, and it also cuts. This conjunction can heat temperatures and cut prices, and as Mercury conjoins, jobs. Especially jobs connected with Mercury and Jupiter, which is publishing, transportation, education; all the things that make the world go round. Yet, as we all come together to share, the new ideas we generate can take us further along on the road to progress faster than ever thought possible. So why is there resistance? For that we look to Saturn. Saturn is opposing Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, and there's a concentration of energy in Aquarius. So all this uber exuberance has to be correctly digested and used appropriately, in an ordered and exacting way since Saturn is in Virgo. For example, you can use technology if you read and follow the directions. Then, you can use technology to your best advantage.

To find out more click on the link here: http://www.artcharts.com/

Rainbows, weddings and Sunsets

Phew what a day….Thanks for everyone who has let me know that I have a Trojan on my website and this is blocking people from going on it to buy. I have known this since December, but try as I might I can't seem to get people to commit themselves to sorting it out for me. I am trying to get someone onto it but I have the distinct feeling that the only way forward for me is to bite the bullet and wipe the whole site and start from scratch. Ho hum... I haven't the foggiest idea about Websites, downloading and uploading files etc..... but I am good at clicking the delete button when I have to. Sadly at the moment, if the site is inaccessible I can't sell from it, so there doesn't seem to be much point in it being there.

As far as possible I try to have all my orders emailed to me. The advantage of this is that you can be certain of spelling of certain things (especially when it comes to names) and also typed and printed copies are so much easier to read than hand written messages, no matter how legible people think their handwriting is. On this occasion the client gave me a written copy and I read it out in front of them and everything was fine, I could read it no bother.
After I had finished the piece I asked if they wanted a greeting on the bottom. I won’t say the name but the spelling was should I say ‘unusual’. The greeting was read to me over the phone and I didn’t feel any need to check it. Consequently I spelled it wrong, lol, so the piece had to be redone. So I’ve managed this time to photograph a better picture, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Next up is a follow up from yesterday’s post, where I did the Baby Boy piece. Before I left the studio yesterday I completed a matching Baby Girl piece, but with different words. Not wanting to stop while I was ahead and doing my usual trick of ‘Think of an Idea and Do It To Death’ routine, I today did one for a Marriage/Wedding. I have entered my sons wedding date in for photographic purposes. The baby girl poster will have to wait to be photographed as everyone in the world seems to be having boys at the moment. (Personally I blame additives in food for these phenomena! - AND YES I am only kidding!). Anyway, here is the photograph of the finished piece. The wonderful thing about printing these yourself is they cam be done in any colour scheme and can be changed as easily as a quick click of a button.
The second photo shows the detail…..
It has been a wonderful day, sunny for the most part and so warm that I had the studio door open all day and even managed to sit on my step at lunchtime, something I haven’t done for what seems like forever.
It was lovely to walk home in the daylight, and what’s very noticeable now is that Spring is on its way. I managed an hours garden clean up, pulled down my Virginia Creeper strands, cleaned up the leaves that I ALWAYS leave all winter for mulch and hedgehogs (gardens are too tidy for these poor things these days!) and pulled up some old dead plants, all ready for new growth. I really didn’t think I had done that much but still managed a wheelie bin full to the top of old garden debris. Thank the Goddess the grass doesn’t need cutting yet! Then won't the work begin! Lol.

I sat outside until the sunset. The birds were happy and even the sound of them just makes you feel lucky to have a special place. They certainly are telling us right now, that spring is fast approaching. The two photos of the sky are for a really good friend, who has started painting in watercolour, and is most fascinated with painting the sky. Hopefully they’ll give him inspiration. He's got plans to move back over here in the not do distant future and I fully intend to get him down to the studio and get his hands dirty! Plenty of paint, plenty of canvases, and plenty of catching up to do! He’s been away too long!

Oh....now.... I counting the weeks to Glastonbury! and getting more and more excited by the day and I know my travelling companion is getting just as excited.... who knows.... we may never come back! lol

See, no matter how much I love my little studio, my home and my garden, my heart and mind most of the time is in my spiritual home and miles and miles away from the place where I have at least for the moment, got to live.

It's Not Easy Being Green, or making money from your Artwork either come to think of it

It’s not easy making money from any artwork or craft, never mind calligraphy. A long time ago and before the age of the computer, I used to write out a verse or quotation then photocopy it onto Parchment or Marlmarque paper and sell these at craft fairs. I still took along some one off pieces, but these very rarely sold, whereas the A4 and A5 prints sold like hot cakes.

When home computers and scanners first became popular (and the Americans were at least 5 years ahead of us on this score) I remember there was a huge outcry, thinking that we calligraphers would be redundant and no longer needed. Little did we know then what a wonderful world we would open up.

The first scanners were awful. They tried to convert scanned Calligraphy into an OCR typeface and confused the operator as much as the computer. Over the years the quality and technology got better and better, as did the printers.

What calligraphers found hard at first was to uses modern technology to advance their work and make it easier, quicker and far less stressful than ever before. We no longer had to write out, cut and paste every little line and sentence (sometimes many times!) in order to achieve a great layout and then to rewrite the whole darn thing again, making the job twice as long as it needed to be. No is all we need is to write it out once, scan it, and move it around on the screen. Colour printers enable us to produce work and multiple copies which are affordable to the everyday, working class people and no longer exclusive to those who can afford our services. We can happily cut down on costs by using a combination of Calligraphy and Hand Lettering along with typeface. We can now do our own desk top publishing, and change the colours at the click of a mouse rather than write the whole thing again because the colour just wasn’t right.

Everyone thought people would choose to write things out on a computer rather than use the services of a calligrapher, but there’s something really special about Hand Lettering. It’s an art form, done by a human, with feelings and sprit. Sure, a computer font is very neat and very often designed by a calligrapher….but the little nuances that Calligraphy and Hand Lettering contain, just cannot be beaten. In fact, I really believe that the computer can only make people crave ‘REAL’ lettering all the more. The less we use handwriting today the more special Calligraphy looks and the more valued we seem to become.

Embrace Change, Embrace Technology,

It’s here to stay so get used to it

So use it to your advantage.

Personalised Baby Boy Christening Present

If you're looking for a special, unique and quite different Birth, Christening or Baby Naming Day Gift, then look no further. This is a large (29.7cm x 42cm) Print taken from an original piece of work by myself, Sue Simpson.
This piece will be personalised with the Name, Date and Weight of the Baby and is printed in a variety of blues.

Price: £7.50 including P&P to mainland UK

Contact: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

Payment by Paypal or Cheques accepted

Close up detail of personalisation

Calligraphy Framed Pieces

A selection of framed pieces. Commissioned to order.

Not at all easy to photograph when under glass and the strip lights are above. But it will give you an idea. All work is in Gouache.

Commissions are welcome email: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

Also Lettering on Canvas is available.

Personalised Valentine Card

2 more concertina cards. The first is a personalised Valentines card....

Complete with rainbow
And this is the cover

And this is one for a Baby Boy.....

And the cover....

These cards are made to order and personalised at your request. Quotation ideas available. For more details contact inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk or visit my website at: www.inspiredbyscript.co.uk

Concertina Book Commission

This is another Concertina Commission. With the popular quotation, Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars, by Les Brown

Becasue of the nature of this quotation I wrote it on black paper, and used silver writting. Below is a photo of the whole book opened up flat
And here is the detail showing the inside cover

All these books can be made to order. Price £7.50

Visit my website: www.inspiredbyscript.co.uk

or email me at: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

Concertina Books

A personalised Concertina Book.... one of many I make.
Commissions welcome. Payment by Paypal.
Price: £7.50
Email: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

Inside Cover

detail of inside coverFront

Because this was for a 2 year olds 2nd birthday I wanted to make the concertina bright and colourful

Making Affordable Art - Calligraphers, Letterers and Artists

I had to be brave and follow my heart when I gave up my teaching to dedicate my time to earning an income from my passion. It was time to move on. The system got ridiculously crazy with paper work and a need to justify every students learning and achievements. Then they wanted us to teach examination level…. No problem there, except many of y students had either a full time job or were retired and exams were the last things they wanted to do. I learnt the History of Lettering as part of my Diploma, but only because I had to, to pass, not because I had a particular interest in it. Anyway, I had set myself a year to see how it went….. And I’m still doing it, 10 years later!

Producing Calligraphy for sale is quite different to producing work for clients. To attract customers to buy your work, you have to think in a completely different way. Many people cannot afford or are unwilling to pay £80 - £100 and sometimes more for an individual framed piece of work. Wherever possible I have had to think of an alternative that would at least appeal to ‘anyone’ and within everyone’s budget range and at least give people the option of either a unique one off, or a print, which although not one off can also have a small added element of hand finishing that can make it unique. Last week I managed to squeeze in this idea for a print for a baby boy and today I’ve finished the one for a baby girl. The print is large, 28,7cm x 42cm, A3 and the main part is printed, but with a gap for the babies name, date of birth and weight to be added. The difference in cost to the customer is huge. The print will retail at £7.50 with an extra £2 for the mount. We’re looking here at about a 10th of the price. But I can sell 10 of these as opposed to one individual piece.
So my advice to any calligrapher out there who wants to earn an income from their work is to think of ways to market your work and think quantity. The advantage of producing prints is that they can be sold in frames in shops and in whatever quantities are required.

The photo below shows how something

produced and printed on demand,

can still have the personal touch

and at £7.50 each.... at a fraction of the cost of a one off.

Hand Made Calligraphy Concertina Book

It's always useful when as calligraphers we have a preset format that seems to work. I've mentioned before about a wonderful tutor I had called Celia Kilner. I once commented to her that it was amazing the amount of work she did. She replied, of no darling, I just get an idea that works and do it to death! a philosophy that has worked for me ever since.
I can take hours on a concertina, but this particular client came in to the studio and wanted to card within an hour. So there was no time to think, play about with layout or start worrying about spacing, letterforms or anything else for that matter.
In fact it took less than an hour! So it just goes to show you CAN work fast if you really HAVE to. I can't say that my hands weren't shaking with panic as I wrote at breakneck speed. lol. But must admit I was pleased with the result considering.......

Kreative Blogger Award

I was absolutely delighted to receive the Kreative Bogger Award by Mrs Mog at The Mog's Blog A great big thank you Mrs Mog, I am honoured. xxx

The Rules are Simple:

The rules are:-
1. Copy the award to your site. Done
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award) Done
3. Nominate other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

Phew this is so hard, there are so many and by no means is this list exclusive to the only Blogs I nominate, but to save this list getting silly I've decided on the following.

1. Mr Mogs Blog because he is a creative spirit and as well as been very ill, he has battled on and not let things get on top of him, he's also a wonderful man who I am proud to have met in my life.

2. Kelli Nina at Ephemera Alchemy, for her vibrant use of colour and making the world a brighter place. Go for it girl... We don't 'DO' beige!

3, Anna, at Anna's World another amazing person. Anna suffered a stroke at 40 and despite all odds has managed to overcome her obstacles and teach herself to Kreate again. Sweetie, your wonderful and I'm really proud of you!

4. To Beth Lee,

5. Cari Ferraro

6. Jan Hurst

7. Victoria

8. Teri Martin

9 and CJ All the above, fellow Cyberscribes, and in many ways have supported me over the years and for keeping the love of letters VERY MUCH ALIVE!

10. Nomination 10 must go to my fellow Glitter Sisters (far too many to mention) and single out) but they are a wonderful bunch of supportive (if not slightly nutty lot) too. May the Glitter you sprinkle reach far and wide!

I WAS supposed to be blogging about some commissions tonight, but I've been...errrm sort of busy every evening. Can't say too much, but my close friends will have a little titter when they read this. However I hopefully, will blog if not tomorrow night, at the weekend.

What Is Love?

To Find Out Click Here!

I promise you won't be disappointed and I can assure you this is something I have experienced many times in my life - lol

What's Your word?

Your Word is "Hope"

You see life as an opportunity for learning, growth, and bringing out the best in others. No matter how bad things get, you always have at least a glimmer of optimism. You are accepting and forgiving. You encourage those who have wronged you to turn over a new leaf. And while there is a lot of ugliness in the world, you believe that almost no one is beyond redemption. Good grief!.... does this person know me? Freeeeeky! lol Funny, people always say I'm a motivator and inspirator. I must admit I do like to see people bring out the best in themselves and encourage them all the way, as best I can. Do the quiz and see how you do. Post a comment to link to this post when you have.

What's Your Word?

Creative People - Come Out, come out wherever you are!

hi folks, I've just popped over to my friend Ambermoggie's Blog
and she's posted a fantastic idea which involves, Colour, Creativity and a common coming together....It's called Project Sprectrum click the link to find out more!
The basic idea is this So come on all you Creative Spirits, come and join us.

Snow Joke, this week has been ful of rainbows!

It's been another busy week at the studio. I had an early appointment on Thursday afternoon so had decided to work from home, preparing some roughs for Friday. although the studio is only 10 minutes walk from home, it would save me walking all the way there and all the way back and cutting out valuable time on work that can easily be done at home. I was working at the computer, the day was overcast but nothing special., I hadn't noticed what was happening outside........

This is my Twisted Hazel Blessing Tree,

and I think you can make out how deep it was. lol.

A Pixie could get lost in it!

And this happened within a couple of hours! We had only just seen the last of the snow from the week before. This time I went out to photograph it. WONDERFUL! I love it! I must be the only people in this town who doesn't complain about it... I think its gorgeous. Sadly it's all but gone now. But it was VERY seasonal, Bride puts her mark on the Earth once again.

This is the cover of the Valentines concertina that I showed you last week. I always find it quite difficult doing cards for men especially when it comes to ribbons....wonder why I see them as feminine? Probably because men don't ordinarily go around with ribbons in their hair or on their clothes....well not you 'Alpha' male anyway.

The next concertina is for a little girls 2nd birthday, Emily Adjoa. Because this little girl is young and very definitely NOT into pink, I decided to do it in rainbows. Here is the concertina before binding....

A close up of the letters of her name....representing a very 'Child Like' quality. The letters are constructed in a fine line pen and then coloured with these amazing Inktense Pencil crayons which dissolve with water, but unlike the Watercolour Pencils they retain their intensity

Here's the book, complete with covers and rainbow wool closure ties.

I thought that to do the cover in rainbow paper would be overkill, so I confined it to the closure

And her name on the front completes the book
And another concertina again with rainbows. The quotation reads, Friendship is a rainbow between two people.

I went for a very simple and pale watercolour wash for the Rainbow so as not to detract from the sentiments

This time I did use a rainbow cover. This paper was Paste Papered almost 10 years ago!!!! Can you believe it? I never found a use for it until now. See if you keep something long enough......

I am also in the process of designing a Logo which I have semi worked on. Needs some fine tune tweaking. And also 3 framed gifts, commissions which I can't really show you because I'm sure the recipient reads my blog! Could spoil a big surprise.

I've also 4 canvases to do, and 4 very large pieces of work if it comes off, as well as 3 different projects in the pipeline that I really want to develop....so it's all busy, busy, busy.

Calligraphy as a Spiritual Based Art Form Cont....

I have decided to add these images which are to illustrate the last lost, as editing in Blogger is a real pain in the arrrr..... So I hope these make sense to anyone looking at them. They are all in some way connected to Spiritual Based Calligraphic Art, and my musings on why most Western Calligraphers don't connect the Spiritual Side of ourselves with our writing, when they are more likely to (even today) in the East. Mine is not to reason why....

Firstly: Zen Calligraphy

The Circle here representing The Whole,

Oneness, Sacredness due to it's simplicity.

I was fascinated by Islamic Manuscripts, Arabic,

and their intricate decoration and attention to detail.

The beauty of the stunning turquoise blue, dark blue and gold leaf

This is carried through to even their buildings

The analysing of these manuscripts and subsequent study of them, was certainly a great inspiration when I created this.

And what of Marriage Master...of course it's Kahlil Gibran!

Here you can see a variety of Gold and Silver leaf. As much of an experiment than anything else.

I used Silver, Aluminium, 23 1/2 carat Gold, White Gold Left and loose leaf, to see how they would react with time.

Silver tarnishes VERY quickly and really should not be used. White Gold however has developed into the most gorgeous tones of blues, reds and golds, the patina has varied over time and I love it!

Here's an amazing worksheet by Ann Hechle

on 'The Golden Section'.

And just look at the size of this and the amazing attention to detail!