An Accident With An Ink Pot

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Wednesday, 8th February 2023

I had the last of Christmas Thank You letters to write but I had run out of new nibs and ink so had to wait for the new supply to arrive before I could finish off the letters.

Thankfully they arrived fairly quickly which meant that I restarted my letter writing a few days ago. Unfortunately the nib was not a snug fit even though it was the same make that I have been using since I started practicing calligraphy. Anyway,I decided to crack on…. and then the nib fell into the ink pot!!!!!! In a moment of madness, I stucked my index finger into the ink pot causing the ink the overflow!!!! There was no way I was going to fish the nib out of the ink pot while my desk was semi covered in ink but thankfully the carpet was spared. By this time, my fingers were dark blue in colour. I usually keep a rag in my calligraphy kit and so I used it to wipe off the ink from the table. After that, I went downstairs to the kitchen to clean my fingers but soap and water weren’t doing the trick. In another moment of madness, I dipped my fingers in paint thinner! What was I thinking? After calming myself down, I used a scouring pad to scrub off the ink off my fingers. Thankfully that worked!

I have decided to take a temporary break from inks and ink pots until I recover from this incident! 😁😁😁

Letter Writing

This year’s thank you cards

I love letter writing and I also like receiving handwritten letters. There is just something special about them! Sadly, in this modern world, most people prefer to communicate via electronic means while some simply don’t bother! 😁

I love to look at beautiful handwritings and in order to improve my own handwriting, I started learning (self taught) calligraphy in 2019. There were no calligraphy workbooks for left handers so I just bought one that was for right handers and practiced religiously. Despite getting frustrated, I must say that I am super pleased with myself for having come this far with just the help of one book!

As you will see from the photo above, I have finally mustered enough courage to show off my work.

In terms of letter writing, the month of January is a busy month for me. The first two weeks in January see me writing thank you cards to all the people who gave us Christmas presents.

As we don’t send out Christmas cards, I spend the rest of January writing to people who are in our “Christmas” card list.

We stopped sending Christmas cards about 11 years ago when I realised through our own experience that due to the busyness of Christmas, the Mhinisteir and I often don’t have the time to read or appreciate the many many Christmas cards plus robin letters that come through the Vicarage postbox. It was also during this time that I discovered through casual conversations with parishioners that after all the hype of Christmas, January becomes a lonely month for most people especially those who live on their own. That is when the idea to write to people in January was born and since then I have stuck to it.

International Left Handers Day

Did you know that today is International Left Handers Day ? I didn’t know there was such a thing until I got a message from my right handed sibling this morning!

Since it is International Left handers Day today, I have reposted the blog that I wrote and posted in November 2019.

Photo by Meruyert Gonullu on Pexels.com

Yes, I am left handed and am proud of it.  Since childhood, I knew I was a little different because I was the only child in my class who would draw circles anti- clockwise!!!

However, I didn’t know that this was the reason why I couldn’t tell the time by looking at the analog clock that was in our family home!!!

As I became an adult I realised that most things are not leftie friendly like when I used to go to the bank and when asked to sign documents, the chain that is attached to the pen is never long enough

Recently I was making a mental list of some of the pros and cons of being left handed and the following is how my list looks like:-

Pros

• left handed cheque book – courtesy of the Royal Bank of Scotland
• Many famous people in the world are left handed😬

Cons

• unable to knit as I can’t follow the pattern.
• unable to use an ordinary potato peeler.
• inconvenient to use Filofax, diaries etc.
• almost impossible to learn Calligraphy as it is more suited for right handed people even though I have just finished learning the basics after a long struggle.
• when greeting someone with a hug/kiss I ALWAYS go the wrong way and it is so embarrassing

Unusual Use for Hairspray!

During the first lockdown that started in March 2020, I decided to buy a bottle of hairspray to tame my crop. According to my hairdresser, if you have long hair, it will grow downwards unlike mine that was growing upwards and in all directions! I bought the biggest Loreal Elnett that was available but sadly thanks to my sensitive skin, it didn’t agree with me.

The huge bottle of Loreal Elnett has been sitting on our dressing table for over a year now when a few weeks a ago I had a Eureka moment.

Regular readers will know that I am an amateur calligrapher even though I don’t blog about it very much. The inks that I use are lovely to use but sadly not waterproof. I had been looking for a way to waterproof my work but to no avail.

One night, the thought that I might be able to use hairspray to waterproof my work came to my mind! The next day I googled my idea and found that it is possible even though it is not a popular solution. I decided to test it and I am pleased to say that so far it is working very well.

2020,What a year!

We all know what a year it has been for all of us so I will not dwell on it instead I will focus on the positives.

1. I started learning Calligraphy in February 2019 and am pleased to report that I have kept at it. I enjoy it very much and find it very therapeutic.
2. My Favourite holiday destination is the South of France but I don’t speak a word of French! I want to put that right so since the Autumn, I have started learning basic french.
3. After a very long time, I got back into crochet and successfully crocheted a simple throw for an arm chair.
4. I have read more than my usual this year.
5. I have blogged almost every weekday since the lockdown in March.

2020 is the year in which I finally managed to get rid of my Calvinistic killjoy image and decorated the Vicarage for Christmas !

Calligraphy Success

More and more people have started commenting on my Calligraphy and I am Super chuffed. This time last year, I didn’t think that I would come this far. I am self taught and didn’t know what I was doing. Everything just looked like a big mess. It didnt help that I am left handed. Now, everything looks so beautiful. I am still not confident to post any pictures of my handwriting but maybe one day….

This is insane!

This was the feedback I received after someone received my Christmas card with my Calligraphy hand writing. I was initially shocked but I imagine insane to be the millennial equivalent for impressive?!

Just last week, my hairdresser remarked about my Calligraphy writing and since then a few others have also commented.

Maybe I am finally getting better at it?? I am quite encouraged that my practice has actually paid off and I hope to keep at it and get even better.

Flourish

I have just discovered what flourish means in Calligraphy language.  It refers to the decorative pen stroke added to the letter.  In other words, the curly ribbon like drawings.

I am slowly becoming more confident using Calligraphy but still don’t know how to apply flourish to my words!!

Copperplate Lettering

Frustrated.  I am frustrated that I am not able to lead a normal active life.  Simple tasks have become very challenging.

I am trying not to dwell in self pity.

As I prayed that God will lead me to a hobby, Calligraphy came to mind.  I was very excited but I am LEFT HANDED!  Left handers and Calligraphy are like water and oil, they don’t mix!  I searched the internet for books on Calligraphy for left handers but I was unsuccessful.  There were materials online but they were of no use to me.  I wanted a physical book.

I wanted to narrow down on the type of Calligraphy I wanted to learn.  I love Copperplate Lettering and decided that that is what I will try and master.

I finally found a book by Laura Di Piazza called Copperplate Calligraphy  It isn’t for left handers but is simple enough to learn.

I also found YoungHae Chung’swebsite inspiring.  She too is left handed!

I am giving myself until September to learn.  I am very pleased that I have been fairly diligent in practising!