Pointed-pen ladies, unite! Wielding a calligraphy pen gives me such deep joy: I think it’s wound in more time with the alphabet I adore, but in a way apart fromt the keystrokes I daily pound. I can stay buried in words and letters, but this time, under art.

Taking on envelope orders is something you just can’t escape as a calligrapher, and I’ve grown to love it.

Before I dive in, can I tell you a secret? I used to hate it. I began studying calligraphy after doing hand-lettered orders for years, and took my first copperplate lessons from Anne Elser in 2013 to do my sister’s envelopes. So dreadfully insecure in my work, I couldn’t even finish my one and only sister’s wedding. I hated the splatters. Would cry over the wobbly lines. Agonize over the clock’s speed against my pitiful average (pretty sure I was at like, 15 minutes a set).

Fairly certain mama and daddy wanted to throw darts at me for running up her wedding budget by handing them 250 envelopes and saying, I’m sorry. I quit.

Now? I love them. If you’re an emerging calligrapher, take on as many envelope orders as your schedule can take. There is no way to get better than doing hundreds of letter formations and connections. Here are my secrets to learning to love envelopes:

SliderWriter

I have to give myself copious amounts of grace to use tools at first. Calligraphy should be hard, yeah! I thought. I’m so hard-core and an artist, yeah!

Um, no. There are tools like lightboxes and lasers, and they have shaved HOURS off tasks for me. I went from lining envelopes in pencil to a SliderWriter in the past year, and it’s wonderful. Ashley Buzzy I know still works in pencil, so for sure: if it works for ya and ain’t broke, by all means, keep at it! But if you want to try light as a tool, I highly recommend it.

Periscope and Podcasts

I would try Spotify. Movies. Fixer Upper. The former failed because I have song ADD and will jump from artist to artist bunny trailing through the caves of Spotify for days. The later, because if there’s a screen involved, I will look. Solution? Periscopes of other calligraphers or teachers, and I flip my phone over. Podcasts and webinars I save in an email folder to listen to are my other go-to to while the hours.

Proper Drying

If I could tell myself 5,023 more times to let the envelopes dry, I would. Just leave them, sister. No telling how many re-do’s I’ve had to roll my eyes and do because of my own impatience in wanting to pack an order. Leave them out to dry longer than you think. Buy a corner shelving unit like the ones that go in a closet from Home Depot and make it your drying rack.

Find Your Lipstick Shade

I also get impatient about starting a project, but it’s better if I whip out an envelope and my kit of nibs. I give each nib a whirl in the ink I’ve mixed and the paper until I find my “lipstick shade” that works well. You know how you have to try 50 lipsticks before you find yours? Nibs are the same. I’ll go from a Nikko G to (most recently) a Brause 101 — I’m obsessed with this one now.

Set a goal, and stick to it. I know I can run 100 ‘velopes a day before I want to turn the pen around and poke it in my eyeballs.

What do you do to survive and envelope order?