classes Archives | Left Handed Calligrapher

How to Write on a Macaron

February 12, 2018

I had to learn how to write on macarons last valentines day and thought I would share what I learned with you! So this will be the first of a few “how to” posts I have planned for the year. Hope you enjoy!

HOW TO WRITE ON MACARON:

1. Gather your supplies. You will need: Fresh Macaron cookies, Gloves, clean fine tipped brush (not one you use with calligraphy ink!), icing color – I used the Wilton brand you can find at any craft store, a little bit of clean water, plate or wax paper, steady hand.

macaron calligraphy supplies

2. Plate a bit of your ink and test. Not all ink works the best. You can see in the photo above that I have a marker, some gel edible ink and then pots of ink. I found that I like the pots of ink the best for the bold coverage I wanted. Sometimes you also need to mix a drop of water (and I do mean 1 drop) with the icing color to make it flow on your brush for calligraphy. I liked the brush the best to not crack the delicate shell of the cookie.

ink testing for calligraphy on a macaron cookie

3. Keep your cookies in the refrigerator until you are ready to write on them. I cycled through about 10 at a time to keep them chilled and not spoil or go soft on me. (I’m not wearing a glove in this photo because I had already cleaned up and forgot to take an “in progress shot” – but please do wear gloves if you are serving to people for consumption).

calligraphy on a macaron cookie

4. Use a very light touch to work on the cookie shell. They can easily be punched through and that is an expensive mistake. I love the way the brush turned out better than the marker. You can use this method with any color and mix custom colors with the little pots of ink.

Also, I would like to note – this is a small surface area, it is more impactful to keep the design simple. One word or 2 with some capitals mixed in with your calligraphy is definitely the way to go. It was tough to fit all this on the little cookies.

calligraphy on a macaron cookie

5. I allowed my calligraphy to dry for 2 hours after writing on the macaron. This helped prevent the “ink” from transferring from one cookie to the other when stacked.

pretty cookies drying

6. Serve and watch people be in awe of your amazing work.

Hope you enjoyed this little how to. I have a few more planned throughout the year so keep checking back in and creating with calligraphy. Also, I’m still figuring out how to get a video on my blog… but until then, I do have a short video on my instagram of me writing these so you can see it all in action. Thanks!

New Penmanship Workshop with Design Roots

March 22, 2016

I am thrilled to offer my penmanship class again this spring in the beautiful studios of Design Roots.

This will be a long class that covers lower and upper case of a handwriting alphabet. We will use accessible writing tools: pencil and pen – things you can use anywhere and take anywhere. There will be plenty of snacks and extra goodies – however space is limited to 8 students for quality one on one instruction.

Can’t wait for you to join me – I don’t do this often so it will be a real treat.

Youth Handwriting Classes – Now Available

April 13, 2015

Good news! I am now offering a youth handwriting class through the Allen Arts Alliance this summer. You all have asked and I heard you! Want your children to have better handwriting? Now they can with my 3 day morning course, June 9-11 and August 11-13 from 9:30am – 11:30am.

This is a traditional penmanship class: one that will teach you how to write with the grace of our grandmothers or great grandmothers. To slow down and think about each letter and each word and make them count to make a meaningful statement that the recipient will enjoy reading. We spend some quality time on the foundations: doing warm up drills and learning the basic hand motions. Lower case and capital letters are covered in this class so you can leave able to write beautiful notes and letters. We go over the structure of connecting letters, making words, writing sentences and how to write a traditional letter (by hand!). Everyone gets a one-on-one progress review to help work out any trouble areas. For those afraid you will forget what we have learned — a wonderful class booklet is provided along with a pen, notepad and pencils. We end the class with a pen round table where the participants get to test out different pens to find their favorite… because what works for your neighbor may not be your favorite.

Classes will be held at the Blue House Gallery:

The Blue House
102 S. Allen Drive
Allen, 75013

Penmanship Classes – Dallas Calligrapher

February 10, 2015

Bella Figura so kindly featured my penmanship class on their blog this week and it turned out so pretty that I needed to share the post with you all!

Post below:

Our Designer of the Month Nicole Black recently offered a penmanship class with Southern Fried Paper, and she’ll be offering more classes again soon! Today we’re sharing details on what Nicole’s class entails, along with some quick tips for how to improve your own penmanship. We love how the class began: out of a love for beautiful, heartfelt words, carefully crafted with patience and pride. We’ll let Nicole take over from here!

This is a traditional penmanship class. One that will teach you how to write with the grace of our grandmothers or great grandmothers. To slow down and think about each letter and each word and make them count to make a meaningful statement that the recipient will enjoy reading.

We spend some quality time on the foundations: doing warm up drills and learning the basic hand motions. Lower case and capital letters are covered in this class so you can leave able to write notes. Not to leave you hanging there, we go over connecting letters, making words, writing sentences and how to write a traditional letter (by hand!).

Everyone gets a one-on-one progress review to help work out any trouble areas. For those afraid you will forget what we have learned — a wonderful class booklet is provided along with a pen, notepad and pencils.

We end the class with a pen round table where the participants get to test out different pens to find their favorite… because what works for your neighbor may not be your favorite.

Quick and easy tips for improving your penmanship at home – slow down! Develop a rhythm of writing and stick to it, slow down with the pen and you will see an ease of flow with the letters develop. Also, it is okay to write on lined paper. I’m a seasoned letter writer and still use guides to keep my lines straight. If you want to write on unlined correspondence paper – just place a piece of notebook paper underneath and follow the lines. When you are finished, you have written in straight lines without them being there and your recipient will be soooo impressed!

Many thanks to Nicole for sharing a peek inside her penmanship workshop! Looks fun, doesn’t it? Be sure to check out Nicole’s designs this month – they’re on sale through the end of February (and Bella Figura customers save on calligraphy addressing from Nicole, too!).