Calligraphy Aging Gracefully

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, calligraphy, Inspirational

Tags

acrylic artist ink, art, art journal, calligraphy, India ink, ink, migraine, old age, pen and ink

I’ve got a migraine with no med, and a back more curvy than this calligraphy. Life is lived in slow motion some days but never too slow to do something creative. Yes!

Today I pulled out an art journal. I first printed text as a guide using the charming The King and Queen font, by Bran, available at dafont.com. I dipped the pen in ink and did three lines of script before noticing I grabbed the wrong ink. I watched through pain-squinted eyes as the watery ink slowly seeped into the page, creating rough and warted lines, puddles of gray.

Calligraphy using Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Artists Ink, Black.

In slow motion, I thought Oh, it’s not me, it’s the ink. So I pulled out the bottle of better ink and did another line of script. Though the ink didn’t seep into the paper, the letters were still nonuniform, wavery and warted. And then I laughed. It’s not the ink, it’s old age! And pain. And just because it’s a very slow day.

Calligraphy using Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Artist Ink, India, Opaque, New Formula.

It’s ok to be wavery and warted and gray when you’re old.
Slow, gray days are much easier to get through with Courage and Strength.
And when Courage and Strength seem a bit shaky, try Generosity and Joy.
And when Generosity and Joy are too muddled, Thanksgiving never fails.

Printing on tissue paper for mixed media work

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, crafts, projects, tutorial

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

calligraphy, craft, map, maps, mixed media, printing, tissue paper, tutorial

I am making my first piece of mixed media art and wanted to use printed tissue paper in the background. I took quite a gamble using my new printer because any time you play around with something like this, it’s possible to void the warranty. Despite that risk, I did it anyway.

The design I used was from a class I took by Jeanne Oliver. She’s an amazing teacher and if you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, do it! When I get my piece done from her class I will post a photo of it.

I ironed a sheet of tissue paper to a sheet of freezer paper, with the shiny plastic side of freezer paper against the tissue paper.
The paper was loaded as usual and printed with settings for a regular sheet of paper.
The printer didn’t jam, even while printing over the wrinkles.

Tissue paper ironed to a piece of freezer paper prints beautifully with the ink jet printer.

Tissue paper is carefully peeled off the freezer paper after printing.

The same piece of freezer paper can be used three or four times. I made the mistake the first time of thoroughly ironing the tissue to the freezer paper. It was impossible to remove the tissue after printing without tearing. I had to use the iron to melt the plastic holding the tissue to the freezer wrap.

If the tissue sticks too much, the tissue side is held carefully against the hot iron edge to melt the plastic that adheres the two pieces together. Tissue and freezer paper are peeled apart.

The first tissue print was a bit lighter than I wanted. I removed most of the background color of the file and increased the contrast in photoshop.

The sheet printed with isolated text layer in photoshop printed crisp and dark.

These maps printed on tissue paper are from scans taken from a 1935 World Atlas.

My favorite of all - my sister Donna's beautiful calligraphy of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

I’m using a Canon Pixma MX882 printer. The printed tissue paper stood up well when placed on a surface brushed with matte medium and then brushed over with more matte medium.