Calligraphy Ideas Journal

One project I would strongly encourage you to do is to create your own journal of calligraphy ideas.

Years ago I found a large hardcover sketchbook at a garage sale and started collecting quotes, letter designs, color ideas and anything else to do with calligraphy. That has become one of my best resources when I quickly need an idea for a project.

Get a journal book that you can be comfortable with using. Don't get one so fancy that you feel like it has to be an amazing work of art. That's not the point of this.

You want it to be a place where you can play with ideas - and any experimenting will at times turn out some duds. But you will also create some real winners. So make sure you have a book you can be comfortable making mistakes in.

How would you use a journal like this?

One way might be to set aside a specific time each week where you purposefully go looking for calligraphy ideas. Check online. Check the local library. Check out bookstores.

In your travels, start looking for lettering and color ideas. You may find ideas on highway billboards, on business signs, on restaurant menus, in magazines, and any of a thousand other places. One year when we drove from Alberta to Ontario, I had a small sketchbook in the truck with me. I'd scribble down ideas I saw during the day, then at night I'd transfer them in color and details to my Calligraphy Journal.

You never know where a good idea might be hiding. I still remember stopping at a gas station to use the restroom - and it was a grungy one - but there I found a really neat tile pattern. Who would have thought to find something beautiful in a place like that!

So train yourself to start looking around you and becoming more aware of the things around you that you like. Ask yourself what it is about that thing that you like. Is there a color combination that appeals to you that you could use in a calligraphy piece? Is there a letter design that you really like? Could you create your own alphabet from that?

What could you include in this journal? Here's some ideas to get you started:

• quotes
• letter ideas
• alphabets
• recipes for inks, glues, etc
• border ideas
• decorated letter ideas
• instructions for related craft ideas (ie, bookbinding, card making, etc)
• photos or magazine pictures
• and whatever else appeals to you

Most of all make this something you can have fun with. There's a particular pleasure in capturing good ideas. In trying out a new letter form and "getting it".

And it's also a pleasure to share a book like this with others. I've included several pages here to give you some ideas, but if you'd like to see full size copies of these, plus six extra pages, sign up for the newsletter and you'll get a pdf copy of ten sample pages.