Mistakes happen. You live and you learn. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Every artist was first an amateur. Thank goodness for these quotes and the last one, a Fortune Cookie unfolded. I've found that not only with the progress of WP inks but also in other aspects of my life that keeping perspective and being taken back a step once in awhile is important for growth. So, with a recent manageable blunder in mind, I've decided on sharing a few pointers with those of you who choose to take on a task of writing out pretty letters and seeing through to the end-user in proper etiquette fashion:
1. Start at the end of your client's Address List and work your way to the top. I find that the nerves are a little bit calmer as the last of the list is less daunting than the newness of the first page. Perhaps this theory stems from daunting marker-drafting projects in Interior Design school? Being able to erase pencil is one thing, starting a complex multi-day requiring floor plan that builds off of each pen stroke and must be restarted from scratch with one slip of the pen definitely causes one to analyze the approach!
2. Know how to spell out your numbers before you begin with One hundred... and continue with ninety-ninth. It's embarrassing when your client ends up being a former English teacher and advises you that a letter "e" isn't used in the spelling of 9th (Thank you to those of you who don't live on a numbered street, it has helped me to save face!).
3. Ask your client if their Invitations include the use of Ribbon. While ribbon is positively gorgeous, it's an embellishment that takes time. We all know that "time is money". So when you're hired to inscribe, assemble and stuff it helps to know if you'll be looping the bunny ears around the tree (or however the shoe-tying rhyme goes). Not to mention snipping frayed edges and plumping a good bow afterwards.
4. Be mindful of the spacial needs of your letters. As an architect once told me during my Florida State drafting class, "Spacing is everything". Much like a drawing, the layout affects how the eye perceives the balance, and therefore beauty, of the writing.
5. Keep it consistent. Once you curve the bottom of your "H's", curve all of them throughout the job.
6. Know how to saturate your paper. It's taken me time to get used to the different paper weights and texture. This totally affects which writing utensil I use for the task.
7. Label your Client's List. This is was sparked the "Calligraphy How To". It's one thing if you know that you're practicing the list before you begin to put ink on the real envelope. It's another thing altogether when you don't realize that you're writing the wrong names on the wrong paper. Two unlabeled lists can do that to you. Here's to having multiple jobs...now they just need to be kept in-check!
Wishing all of you just enough hiccups in your everyday life to be able to work past them and have much better overall experience in and with life because of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment