first.

This is my very first piece I posted to Instagram (and it's still on there!)

From June 2019

 It was for the HLC (Happy Lettering Challenge) and one of the words was "first". 

At the time, I didn't understand how it worked, so I just picked a random word. BUT now I know that you do the word assigned to the day.

Anyway, still thought it fun that my first post was "first".

a few more Words...

These need redone, although I do kinda like the first one as is.

Just playing. This trial piece -- on scratch paper -- turned out kinda fun. 

Layered letters then added neon colors.

Love the colors and idea of this, but not my lettering.

Can you see the 3d?

Another on scratch paper. Turned out kinda fun.

 

Word, good & bad

Another word.

This is one that I was rather proud of. It was a bit tricky with gouache (see below), but I was thrilled it finally turned out!

Found a sample on Pinterest (i believe it's Peter Thornton's?) and I wanted to emulate it so bad.

You can see below where I messed up, so I tried lettering over it, by repeating the word.

I then tried lettering the rest of the quote in weaver writing, but I messed that up a bit.  (grrrr.)

Below: Ended up turning the messed up first attempt into a b-day card!

(I believe I added the word, "Celebrate", but forgot to take a pic of that.)

Another "word".

 This repeating word was an IG or Pinterest inspo. Ink on bond paper, then colored in with color pencils and metallic watercolors.

Word.

 In Sept. of 2019, I did a lettering challenge where I took one word and lettered it as many different ways as I could. The word I chose was "word". 

Here are a few of my samples (some faves, some not):

Hot pink acrylic ink, which looks neon orange on yellow.

Bleach

Ruling Writer. Starting to look a bit like the word, "world".

Needs a better D.

White ink.

Love the watercolor background.

Tried to make more "script" looking.

Again, tried a watercolor background. Not happy with the r.

Gold ink.

Fixing a Homemade Pen

So, before I knew what I know now (regarding making your own pens), I ended up tossing a few that I loved, because I wasn't sure why they weren't working anymore. I cleaned them thoroughly, but the ink was not flowing out of them like it use to.

Issue 1: Then, I decided to open one up to see what the heck was going on. Sure enough, as I wrote on my "Homemade Pens" page, the tip of the lead of the pencil had fallen off and THAT'S what was clogging my pen!

(*No matter what the metal, you should be able to fold it back, but I can't say how sturdy it will be overtime. Ones made from flashing will fold back nicely. Just peel off the tape and reposition on the same holder, or a new one.)

Issue 2: For ones that need recut -- 1) If you cut it wrong, and the end is bent/crimped, 2) if you want it smaller/thinner, OR 3) you just need to redo it b/c it's not working, as I wrote on the Homemade Pens page (https://foldedpenfan.blogspot.com/p/homemade-pens.html), start at the top/nib of the pen and cut down toward the handle. You should get a nice smooth straight tip that way. I've fixed about 5 or so pens this way, and now they work so great!

These are 2 I fixed. Wish I had taken a before pic, so you could see the crimps.

See how straight they are now though?

*if all else fails and you cannot salvage it, just toss and make a new one! Cheap to do, just a bit time-consuming.