The world has been turned upside down so quickly, so remaining positive despite it all is a challenge we all share. We are trying to embrace this forced slowing down of life and hope that some of the things we've been working on this week, will help you, by taking you out of the real world and into the magical world of calligraphy for a moment! What better time to practice calligraphy and enjoy that sense of peace it gives? Our hearts go out to the critical workers as they care for all of us who need them. We appreciate that for them there is no downtime, in-fact the total opposite.
Learning at Home
As we all acclimatise to living in such different circumstances, we wanted to offer content that would be accessible to everyone, from your homes. So we've added free, fun content to our YouTube channel and we will be adding more every week.
These boredom busting, 5-10 min tutorials are for adults or kids, or families can do them all together and share and compare between each other for inspiration.
Watch our master calligraphers, Kirsten and Maisie demonstrate, up close! You can see exactly how they form their letters and their ways of turning quotations into calligraphic designs.
There are simple things to try out at home, with free templates included, so download them and give them a go yourself.
We’ve also recorded premium online workshops for adults and kids. They include a lesson plan of downloadable worksheets that you print at home as many times as you need, giving you hours of potential calligraphy practice. Once you purchase one of these Pre-recorded workshops, you can watch it again and again. The link is printed onto the worksheets, so by purchasing the worksheets, you gain access to the tutorial for as long as you need it. View options here.
Filmed in Kirsten’s and Maisie’s friendly and interactive style, they teach you the skills you need, with lots of tips and tricks and an inspirational artwork to trace over and copy at the end, just as if you were with them at a workshop. We'll add more on our website, so that you can really progress as if you were on one of our weekly courses.
Kirsten’s teenage daughter Sofia (13) has set up an account on Instagram called @themoderncalligraphykidsclub dedicated to children’s calligraphy. She’ll be setting a weekly challenge on Saturday mornings and encouraging calligraphy kids to get involved. Our hope is this will give them all a bit of inspiration and a distraction from their screens at this confusing time. She has given up her bedroom and converted it into a temporary filming studio.
So, if you know a creative kid, why not ask them to take a look and then share their calligraphy endeavours by using #TheModernCalligraphyKidsClub. The wonderful people at Royal Talens are sponsoring this, so we will be offering a weekly prize. From the workshops we’ve run, we’ve found that given the chance, boys, as well as girls, love to spend time practising calligraphy, which helps their motor skills and increases their ability to concentrate.
Orders as Usual!
Our online shop is still open, as the studio is in Jill’s garden! She and her 3 sons have been packing up your purchases and posting them out to you.
With isolation now a reality for many, if you know someone who might like to give calligraphy a try and benefit from the distraction, but prefers books to 'online', we've put together some of our books and kits' in discounted bundles. Whether it's for pointed pen calligraphy, brush lettering or if you're an improver, we have a special 'bundle' for you!!
Thanks so much to all of you who have ordered from us in the last couple of weeks.