A couple of weekends ago, I went to Nashville TN to spend some time with the calligraphy community at Paper and Ink Arts. The featured teacher was Kathy Milici of 24Karet Designs from NJ. She’s such a special person, funny and kind, and full of encouragement. She also brought chocolate which automatically puts her in the top ten!

The first day was a workshop on learning to flourish. I absolutely love the Universal Penman book anyway so I was thrilled to know that Kathy was going to show us how to do some of the designs. And she did! At first, I had a little bit of trouble but once I was able to “loosen up” and “try bigger ovals…more space,” I was able to come up with some nice flourishes. I can’t wait to do some quotes and add the flourishes to them, especially using color.

Sunday’s workshop was entirely different. Kathy gave us some wonderful insight to running a successful calligraphy business. She gave us tips on what to do (and what not to do!) about clients, business etiquette (answer the phone!) and also techniques and advice on how to set and meet our goals. I am still processing my notes but immediately, I can see things I can and need to do right off. And I was happy to learn that I’ve already done some things so I’m not at the very beginning. I just need to step it up a little bit.

The weekend was such a good time for me. Besides the excitement of learning new things and spending time with some wonderful, talented people, I also got the opportunity to shop a little bit too! Jennifer missed some of Kathy’s classes because of us “kids in the candy store!”

Many thanks to Kathy for coming to Nashville to spend the weekend with us and for Paper and Ink Arts for having us.

Here is a picture that Sheryl Bracey took during class of  my flourish. Click on the thumbnail to see the entire pic.