Monday, May 24, 2010

wedding gifts

I had planned on saving this for another day when I didn't have anything to post, but I just can't help publishing it now. I'm so excited about how these turned out.
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I needed to make wedding gifts for two sets of friends, and last week I finally got it done. Part of the reason I was dragging my feet was because I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do calligraphies of I Corinthians 13:4-8a for both couples, but other than that, my ideas for design were very foggy. Finally the perfect idea popped into my head, and I sketched a master design which I used for both final calligraphies. I finished them up on Saturday.

The hardest part of this design was that it's not a simple left-to-right and top-to-bottom pattern. The script faces all directions and wraps around, making it difficult to write some areas without smearing other areas that were already written.
For one of the calligraphies I used a similar pearly patterned paper as I did in my last project. It's a fun paper to work with. The ink glides smoothly onto the surface and the pearly finish is blessedly forgiving of smudges: if I catch a smudge early enough, I can simply wipe it cleanly off. These benefits more than make up for the small inconvenience of needing to work on my improvised light board (a glass table with a lamp underneath) due to the paper's thickness.
I am pleased with how it turned out. The pattern on the paper is almost distracting, but I think the overall effect works. I paired the finished calligraphy with a dark green mat and medium tone wooden frame. The final result is artsy and elegant.

I chose a crisp parchment paper that strikingly contrasts with my black ink for the second calligraphy. Parchment is a quiet backdrop that doesn't compete for attention with the calligraphy showcased on it. While I love experimenting with new papers, there's something about classic parchment that never gets old.

I finished this calligraphy by surrounding it with a black mat in a dark reddish wooden frame. In some ways this simpler version packs more punch than the version on the more ornate paper. However, I think they are equally nice in their own ways, and I enjoyed making both versions tremendously. I hope that the happy couples like them too.

p.s. If you click on the photos, you can get a larger view of the artwork.

3 comments:

Laura Railing said...

breathtakingly beautiful Christina!! I'm sure that will be a keepsake they will both cherish for many years to come!

SarahZ said...

LOVE THEM BOTH!
Such sweet lettering!
Wonderful composition, so perfect for both the scripture and the event!

Tammie said...

so beautiful it makes me cry.<3