Calligraphy: foiled!

• January 2nd, 2006 • • reading, type •

I don’t think I have ever been so frustrated trying to self-teach something. Recently I purchased a book on calligraphy so I could figure out how to make my letters a bit more respectable. I pulled out my little flat-tipped markers, and some ink nibs and got to work. The book showed how many strokes each letter was to have, what direction I was supposed to pull the pen and what angle to hold the pen at. After about half an hour of ink spits, wiggly ascenders/descenders and outright stupid-looking letters, I figured out the problem.

I’m left-handed.

Honestly! It dawned on me that I had just spend fifteen dollars on a book that was instantly useless. I’m somewhat ambidextrous, but trying out my right hand didn’t really help matters any; plus my brain started to hurt. I feel like there should’ve been a big disclaimer on the front of the book that said, “WARNING: FOR RIGHT-HANDED PERSONS ONLY.” Despite the fifteen buck setback, I at least have a very valuable question to ask should I ever wish to take a calligraphy course. “Do you teach lefties?”

One Response to ' Calligraphy: foiled! '

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to ' Calligraphy: foiled! '.

1. thejessicat said,
   
   

   on January 9th, 2006 at 1:20 pm

   Wow, that totally sucks about your calligraphy attempt. I taught myself calligraphy when my sister got married (I did all her wedding invitations), and really enjoyed it. In fact, I still practice western calligraphy, because it’s fun and I like it and I’m good at it. Then again, I’m right handed. Maybe that’s the cosmic trade-off. Lefties are holistic, artistic, creative types, living in the fantasy world of right-hemisphere dominance. Most righties can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, but boy, we make excellent scribes! Which is why all the desks are made for us, incidentally.
   Ah, but I kid!
   Anyway, depending on why you wanted to learn calligraphy, you may or may not be interested in this next bit. You might try eastern calligraphy - maybe it’s less righty-centric. I know there’s a ‘calligraphy master’ teaching somewhere in the metroplex. She’s Japanese, I think. Her classes were free or at least very, very cheap as I recall, and I don’t think you need to know anything about kanji. I’ve been meaning to go for a few semesters, but I’ve been lazy and just haven’t gotten around to it. If you are interested, I can probably still dig up the info on her.
   At any rate, if you ever need some calligraphy done, give me a call! I find it relaxing, so I always do it for free.

Leave a reply