heartbeat script

Just in case folk thought I may have given up my love of calligraphy and become a complete and utter letterpress person; fear not!  I continue to love and admire words wrought by hand and have been able to play a little bit of late with my heartbeat script.

A friend asked if I could write a reminder for her, which she could pop in a simple frame to remind her to "just breathe".

I loved it. I had so much fun playing with the words and the script and the whimsical little flowers I had been exploring earlier.

Sometimes somebody asks you to do a 'job' and the stress of it drives you bananas; this time it was the lovely antidote I needed and it felt like the 'job' was a gift to me from her, so I had a great time.

I tried a few and sent her some drafts; then we worked on the design for a final which was quite different from these; simpler and beautiful. More of a whisper...

I thought I could share the drafts here nonetheless as the final looks so different.

I did a couple of different colours, styles and backgrounds - pink on grey, black ink.

Blue on grey, black ink.

Gold infill and 'stitched' outline on cream, purple ink.

Multi colours on cream, no leaves on stems, purple ink.

 Multi colours on cream, leaves on stems, black ink.

So many possibilities and combinations! It has been interesting nonetheless; that these spare drafts have sat on the entrance hall table and already two have been gifted on to folk who saw them and sort of, needed them.

I am also working my way towards doing my pennant for Mo's exhibition. If you link to Mo you will see her plan, and it is based around the words of Old Man Crow (her partner)'s lyrics " I dream of a world where love is the answer".

I have received my pennant - cut from an old wedding dress - and have been working out how to respond. I am headed this way I think...

This is a book from a long time ago when I was doing A Letter a Week. I handstitched a letter each week; using my heartbeat script. I stitched onto rusted braille paper which I had 'decorated' with lead pencil or silver pen a tiny bit. Every second letter I filled in; the alternates were left with just an outline.

I made a book and use it as an exemplar whenever I teach this script.

I am thinking I would fill in each of the letters for the pennant. It's a good place to start and as ever, we shall see where we end up...