graceful envelope

 this envelope is a repeat from dec 28. it was the first graceful envelope entry i posted from carol dubosch. carol shared 10 envelopes with us. tomorrow will be the final one in the series and also a reminder to enter the graceful envelope contest.

http://www.calligraphersguild.org/envelope.html

carol was also kind enough to share these layout pages so you can see a bit of her thought process. there was an embossed hand on the envelope that i don't think shows up in the scan. the theme that year was the 5th birthday of the smithsonian postal museum, which was the originator of the contest. it has since been turned over to the washington calligraphy guild.

carol made one other comment about black:

I heard once that a bit of black will make colors pop, and that black is needed to "ground" color.
For what its worth….

well, carol, i've heard that too and not just from calligraphers. interior designers say that most rooms will benefit from a bit of black...or a room is not finished until you find a place to put in a bit of black.

the exception, for me, (on envelopes) is when there are very specific colors and instead of black for a minor color, there is a very dark brown. or a monochromatic stamp. sometimes, one color is enough. the most recent example of this is the red ribbon Love stamp. i loved using all red and white on the envelopes. but, black did not necessarily ruin an envelope...it just looked like i didn't have the right weight pen in white.