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.

guest artist linda - mergenthaller

oh, i love this one. i've loved confetti for years. i always forget to teach more confetti. maybe i hesitate because i am not sure everyone else will like confetti, too. i probably have a fondness for it because it was one of the first decorative doo-dads i used when i learned to decorate letters instead of just write.

and scribbling. love the scribbling.

happy valentines day

as i have been saying, the first three weeks of february were written in dec before my trip. but....i bumped a previously scheduled post to thank sue for this very welcome piece of mail. there is more to the story, but, you will just have to wait until feb 17th.

alert readers will see the portion of the note that says *i was inspired to send another* and they will be eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.

and now for the BIG NEWS....i am changing my address. yup...it will now be

420 - 44th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50312
420 instead of 430

420 is my house.
i have moved out of the studio, two doors from my house.
i hear a few long distance gasps. everyone who visited the studio knew that it was a dream space. a complete 2 bedroom duplex with a basement. sadly...it has turned into a maintenance burden. and, i am ready to clear out and simplify my life and make this blog so much better. so, it is a win-win situation. i will be mailing a ton of stuff to whomever wants it. i might have to start another blog just to post all the art supplies and treasures that will be shipped out. if you already know what you want....lemmekno. i have a Whopperplate...and those are prized amongst people who know what they are....

guest artist - postcard jim

this is from a blog written by *postcard jim*. his main focus is collecting postcards...

extremely steal-worthy idea

http://postcardjim.wordpress.com/

guest artist - linda - flag stamp

this one is a wonderful example of taking the ideas off the stamp and really taking them to the next level. those little hearts at the end of the squiggly lines are adorable and stealworthy.

this is done by guest artist, linda.

guest artist, linda - marilyn stamp

it looks like linda used a brush to do some chunky lettering and knew that she would have to make some adjustments to fit the name in. substituting stars for vowels is fun. most names can lose their vowels and still be pretty readable.

guest artist - carol dubosch

time to get those last minute valentines in the mail. here is a fun idea from carol that was the 2007 entry in the graceful envelope. it is a nice layout -- one to remember because you could put any stamp in between a first and last name and then choose an element from the stamp and repeat it across the top. this looks like it might be a rubber stamp. if you don't have rubber stamps, you can use found objects to stamp things across the envelope. corks, the eraser end of pencils, potatoes, carrots, any vegetable, fingerprints, google *creative stamping* and you might come up with 3 million additional ideas.  (i just did....8,300,000)

additional notes from carol:
Graceful Envelope 2007 - the theme was "A Mailable Feast." The Love Kiss stamp had just been issued, and I had carved a stamp of a Hershey's kiss years back. I stamped my kiss stamp and then dusted the images with silver embossing powder and heated to melt the powder. The postage stamp and the rubber stamp became the basis for the design. Writing the two words Graceful and Envelope in a very large size provided the strong contrast element needed to pull the design together.

[another reminder that there will be one more week of solid guest artists, due to the time crunch when i was out-of-town]

guest artist jeri - kate smith

another fun collaboration. the p.o. likes jeri's envelopes and does such a nice job of cancelling them. i see that jeri did this in 2010. i wonder if she did it using a parallel pen. they are nifty pens that make very wide lines, or broad edge, if you understand calligraphy lingo. and they have nice crisp edges. i don't have any because, as i have mentioned before, if i let them into the house or studio, i would be consumed with writing with them for a very long time and would get in trouble for shirking all my duties. i wonder if this font has a name or if it is experimental.

guest artist - linda

i chose the x-large photo option so you could see the detail. the kwanzaa stamps always have nice details to pull out and use for the name.  this was done by jeri's sister and that little tag a is super-stealworthy idea.

guest artist - linda w/ sponge?

i wonder if she had a set of those alphabets made out of sponges. they look like they are intended for children, but any children's toy is fair game. so pretty...and the hearts really make the whole envelope. one of my favorite design principles is *scale.* i like the mix of something over-sized with something tiny.

foreign guest artist - tony ross

tony ross
how cute is this?
the way the address wraps around the scene is so perfect.
keep in mind, if you do this on an envelope in the US, they will want to charge extra because the address is not level with the bottom of the envelope.

[every 4 days, i will issue the reminder warning that there will be 3 weeks of guest artists due to my out-of-town situation]

guest artist - carol dubosch

this looks like she embossed a circuit board pattern.
very nice arrangement of elements. if  you want to send an envelope in portrait orientation, you have to pay extra. double the one ounce rate will be more than enough to the best of my knowledge. i hesitate to give specifics on what it costs to send anything, since it changes all the time.

carol's comments:

Graceful Envelope 2000 - the theme was "Significant Event from the Past Century"

I had two stamps of a circuit board, and decided to use them to honor electronics. I used a silver colored pencil and did a rubbing of a small circuit board to create the textured background on the envelope. It is such an easy technique and it gives a 3-D look to the flat paper.

Turning the square stamps to stand on their corners gives the layout more energy.

guest artist - kathy schneider

kathy knows how much i love white space.
also, i love wispy growing things.
thank you very much :-)

also, note how the p.o. didn't cancel the stamp...and that bar code is at the top. i wonder what's up with that???? those stick on bar codes are easy to peel off and i will be doing that.

guest artist - carol dubosch

this is a great idea, to adhere a folded something to the front of the envelope. the arrangement of the elements is very nice. the slight tilt on the stamps and address label. it would be fun to know how long it took carol to arrange the elements. sometimes artists spend more time moving the elements around than they do on the actual lettering and choosing of the stamps. other times, there is a quick and logical flow to where things are going. it's a balancing act.

i sent my comments on carol's envelopes to her and she kindly answered my questions:

2005 Graceful Envelope - "The Letter P" was the theme. P for Peace, that was easy! I had recently learned how to fold a flat Origami crane and I adapted the fold design to become an envelope. The entire envelope is one piece of paper. The Origami crane is an extension of one of the sides and wraps around to the front. I had to glue all the bits down flat and then do the calligraphy on the edges.

The three Peace-themed stamps and the address "envelope" needed to be arranged to compliment one another. I spent much time moving things about. The pleasing layout was to tilt all the pieces slightly to echo the diagonals in the crane fold.

guest artist - jeri

this was jeri's holiday card. so pretty. i like the detail on the J. not sure what to call it, it is not exactly a flourish...a nice little wispy flower. just makes me want to go get my white ink and make some valentines.

and how does jeri always make her stamps come out to the exact amount? plus they are color coordinated. i don't get it....i can never make the stamps come out right and still look pretty together. i waste many many cents because i use more than the required amount to make the stamps look good. but jeri always has the right amount PLUS they look good....you'd think she was some kind of chartered accountant. oh, wait. she is. am i joking? or is it a skeleton in her tabouret?

[warning...the next three weeks are entirely guest artists because i was out-of-town for 3 weeks and ran out of time to schedule my own work]

comparing

here are three that i did the day after i came up with the idea to use that ornament stamp as a nib. i hardly ever compare envelopes, so i thought this would be a good opportunity to show how one idea works with different amounts of information 

this one has the most information and while i usually like lots of decorative doo-dads, i think this one just looks cluttered. i might have liked it better if the address lines were on the same slant as the name, but then, i would worry that the p.o. would tack a surcharge on the envelope for being not-level. so, when i wanted to conform to the rule to make the address legible and level with the landscape orientation, i should have used tiny pens and made the address really tiny.

this one has less information and some doo-dads. i might like it better than the amensen one because the big S and the swoopy d are more interesting than amensen. the slanted name and level address seem to fit together a little better. i did not put the blue shadow on the first name and can't decide whether or not it needs it. i know that d needed some more weight. maybe sandra will send it back so i can fix it.

this is my favorite of the three, also the least cluttered and the short name ends up looking better, to me.  i would have put more weight on the red name if i had seen this scan before i mailed it. it is interesting to note that i see a lot of things i would change after i see the envelopes scanned and on the screen.

guest artist jeri - sickle cell

very pretty work by jeri. i'm guessing this is gouache. i wonder about that blob at the top. was it intentional or an accident and then she figured that it tied in with the stamp, in that sickle cell anemia is a blood dis-order? i'm trying to decide what style this is. it has some italic to it and also a little uncial. i enjoy cross-breeding styles. and once again, jeri is good at centering. or maybe she wrote it once on something else, to see how long it would be.

foreign guest artist - tony ross

tony ross

another in the series of putting the name inside a mouth.
stealworthy.
i want to do an entire alphabet book with 26 items inside the mouths of 26 creatures...
s-o-m-e-d-a-y

memory lane

here is another re-run. this one is super-easy. you do not need to know anything about lettering or caligraphy to write like this. you just need a lot of markers. and a fun colorful stamps. there is a new kaleidoscope stamp coming out in 2013 that will be perfect for this kind of writing.

[time passes - jean continues to review posts she wrote in december and scheduled to appear daily thru the month of jan and half of feb]

ellen - apt building

i did this one very quickly...wanted to show *from my house to yours* she lives in an apartment building in sydney, so i put her on the balcony. would have loved to have had time to do cuter stick figures...note to self, google *stick figures* - i bet there are a ton of good ideas.

[time passes - jean reviews her prewritten posts - she has time to google *stick figures* and is pleased to announce that yes, indeed, there are a multitude of swipe-worthy stick figures.]

memory lane

this is the very first envelope i posted on the blog. i was thinking of going back and editing the blog and reconfiguring it so that it is easier to search for specific examples.

i think i have to label this one, not-easy. i have a lot of styles that i love that are very easy. this one, i have no idea how i would teach someone to write this way. it is my best example of what you can do if you write one name 50 or 60 times.

guest artist - carol dubosch

carol and i are kindred spirits when it comes to using up paper. this is the third envelope from her that embraces recycling. i love brown paper bags and cardboard. i even like the small bags that are used when you buy greeting cards. yes, i still buy some of my greeting cards....and i like those little bags. they make nice envelopes. some day i will post a tutorial on making them in to envelopes....

carol said:
1999 Graceful Envelope - the theme was "The Beauty in Nature." I chose to approach the theme from a conservation point of view, and used a paper bag for the envelope. I simply cut open a regular envelope and use it as my pattern to cut out the paper bag.

ellen - really quick

nothing exciting about this one.
sometimes you just need to write a cute curly name and add a heart and mail it.
of course, the cutest stamp ever is nice touch.

this was a gel marker. they are always fun.

guest artist jeri -

very pretty. i should have posted this in december, but it can be a valentine inspiration. nice bouncing of the letters. a rule of thumb in bouncing is:
make the first and last letters on the same level

foreign guest artist - tony ross

tony ross

this would have been a fun holiday envelope. nd it would have looked nice with the black and white miles davis and edith piaf stamps. or, i can picture the black and white drawing on gray of something less dramatic.

ellen - dottarific

i love the dottariffic markers. i only have three of them and they were samples from back in the day when i did designs for a magazine and was given new products to try out. if i let myself have more, i would be distracted all day. they have a big round hemispherical foamy tip and you get larger dots by pressing harder. way cool. way fun.

ellen - year of the ram again

here is that stamp again with some confetti that looks a little more like flower petals, but not actually flowers, just a variation on confetti. the whole thing is probably done with brush markers. the green one was a little dry. but, i think it looks nice to layer some darker strokes over the top and add the dot-dot-dot.

guest artist - kathy saunders

this is from a rochester, new york event planner website. it is the work of kathy saunders. i have met kathy at penmanship conventions. someday, i would like to see an entire set of envelopes that she does in this style to compare all the different lengths of names and addresses and see how she makes them all come out as beautifully as this one....
like....what does she do with
South Weymouth, Massachusetts?
etiquette requires that the states be spelled out....

guest artist - carol dubosch

in 2009, the graceful envelope theme was *addressing the environment* so carol stitched together several old envelopes and added the address and those wonderful Gee's Bend quilt stamps. very clever.

i like the idea of the small words ahead of the main word and then small words again...
and the first large initial cap sticking out a little to the left.
there is a nice arrangement to the words that should be noted for future reference.

ellen - uncle sam

hmmmm...not much to say about this one. just hang in there...some better stuff is on the way.

i guess i could mention the S in wilson. i see a lot of bad S shapes. sometimes it works to just let it hang down below the line. trying to keep it all tucked in can make it too scrunched. the S is frequently an odd-ball letter. most letters are squarish (HTEFL) or they have some angles (MWNVXY) or they are roundish (OGQCD) but S has a whole back and forth thing going on and if the top and bottom have hooks or if the overall shape doesn't relate to any of the other letters, it can be unsightly. it is counter-intuitive to make it drop down like that, but i rather like it and i see it done by people who are ten-times better at lettering than i am. so there.

guest artist jeri - red illuminated

this is so pretty i am just going to type a smile :-)

ellen - banner

this stamp is from the same series as the last one with a flag stamp and the decoration on the envelope is really fast ans scribbly. it's fine with me to just do a quick impression of the stamp. it would be gorgeous to do a very detailed rendering of the banner and put the name in carefully....but, if i don't have time to do that, i'm just fine with a scribble. i like that border across the top, too.

guest artist - carol dubosch

the 2008 theme for the graceful envelope was either *the letter C* or *color.* the two rainbow stamps fit together beautifully and it is genius how she chose to position them at just a slight angle and with the seam running north-south. soooooo pretty. it would not have looked right for the stamps to be parallel with the l. and it would not have looked right for them to be square with the baseline of the word.

i know carol wants to inspire people to enter the contest, but with examples like this....we might be making it look like it is a contest for only the very best calligraphers. while masterful calligraphy will catch the judges attention, they do choose envelopes done by beginners who have a very good idea.

check out the past winners and you will see what i mean....
or...click on the label *graceful envelope* and you will see several of my entries that were accepted and the lettering is nowhere near the skill level of carol's.

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

ellen - candy hearts

those candy hearts again. this time on the funny colored envelopes. i don't remember what they called this color. i bought a box of 100 of them at office max. they were fun to have as an alternative.

those fun hearts again...quick and easy.
i like the way the Ls line up
and the way the two names fit together.

ellen - mickey mouse

it doesn't seem like mickey would look ok done in black, but, i knew i couldn't color it in in black without it getting all muddy. so, i was surprised that this looked OK in gray....i'm also surprised disney agreed to let the p.o. put mickey on a stamp.

ellen - lions

quick uncials, quick outlines, quick whiskers, quick hearts. i love making those little hearts with the tips of the brush markers.

guest artist linda - pencils

these pencils were cut out of a magazine or catalog and adhered to the envelope. the colors are great. no comment on the flag stamp. i can't even imagine why she had one in the house...unless...it was one of those envelopes that comes in junk mail, where they include an envelope with an actual stamp and they think people will say, oh, i must not waste that stamp, i better send them a check. but, clever people glue something over the address and use the envelope for actual mail. except this is a red envelope, so it would not have come in junk mail. i spend too much time pondering stories behind other people's mail. but this is not wasted time. i have to drink coffee, so i am putting my coffee drinking time to good use.

ellen - glaze pens

i loved those glaze pens. they still sell them. and they look really cool on chrome-coat paper...which is the super shiny stuff. i'm not going to say anything about the lettering. this is just filler while i get some good stuff piled up and scanned. i'm actually writing this on 12-12-12...and trying to get the blog lined up so i can focus on something you will like better than this envelope.

guest artist - carol dubosch

carol's 2004 graceful envelope. i think the theme was weather? she wrote rain several times, in ink and then washed it off. and added some sunny orange stamps and lettering.

her website mentions that she has been promoting calligraphy for 55 years. so, there is a lot of experience behind this particular envelope. in some ways, it is very simple and straight forward. we could spend a lot of time looking at how the elements fit together.

i always like tight-fitting elements and overlapping and this carol's writing overlaps the stamp, which looks great. however, i will mention that i have had postal workers tell me that they will not accept stamps with writing on them. this one went through fine and there might be postal workers who would not object, but, be prepared if you decide to overlap the stamp with writing.

again... every postal worker will have a different opinion on what you can do and can't do. please do not quote me or consider me an authority on postal regulations.... i just pass along things that have been said to me directly. if i don't like what i hear, i just go to a different post office. with regard to putting the stamp anywhere other than the upper right corner, i have had very polite postal workers warn me that i am not in compliance with their *rules.* i put on my wide-eyed *who knew?* expression and nod my head that i understand the rules....then....as i walk away...the little devil that resides on my non-jiminy cricket shoulder says: they need your business more than they need the stamp in the upper right corner.

ellen - heart candy

such a cute stamp. love the combination of colors. i was lucky to have the right color markers. i don't think i could do much with this stamp without those two colors. i like the way the lettering is small and rounded, like the candy.

guest artist linda - pear

this one is nice because of the simplicity. i like letters that touch. it is hard to convince beginners to make their letters touching. but, once they get the hang of it, i think they can see how it makes the name into a nice shape. and sometimes, that is all you need for a successful envelope. of course, the bright colors also play a major role.

ellen - flag

this is an example of something done very fast and scribble-y. sometimes people slave over their envelopes and they don't think they should just scribble the idea really fast. i would not enter this in the graceful envelope contest, but, if i just wanted to send something fun, it's good enough.

ellen - jiminy cricket

another example of taking one little detail off the stamp and putting it somewhere on the envelope. very quick....

guest artist - carol dubosch

this envelope was Best of Show in the 2002 graceful envelope contest.

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

read all about the contest at the link above.  the theme for 2013 is *A World of Change*

the theme in 2002 was *The Written Word* - so carol wrote the word *words* a gazillion times. you could adopt this idea for an envelope by writing the person's name over and over and then applying stamps and a mailing label.

carol said:
When you write the word "words" over and over without spacing it begins to read "word sword word sword" which is a fun play on the quote: The pen is mightier than the sword. I don't know if anyone catches that trick…but it was fun for me to employ it on this entry.

ellen - colored pencil

the flowers do not go with that stamp. but, i will include this one in case anyone likes to doodle with colored pencils. i like to make scribbly little flowers and vines.

foreign guest artist - sitoshi kitamure

sitoshi kitamura

super stealworthy
but, you are going to need to know how to draw a little bit.
you could take a photograph and trace over it.
you can also take photos and plug them into the newest version of Word.
it has a feature where you can convert a photo to a line sketch
then you could print it out and color it in.
first you have to move into a brownstone.
no you don't
this would look just fine with any kind of house

actually, this is two envelopes
which is a second stealworthy idea.
make a set of envelopes that -when combined-
create a much larger picture

ellen - wyoming

this series of stamps that looked like picture postcards - one from each state was so much fun. just use the color of the lettering and pickup one other color for accent. and the lettering could be anything. this whole set of 20 envelopes to ellen, that are pretty old show that i was rather stuck on this stick-figure variation of neuland. it was quick and easy.