Calligraphy Invitation Lay Out / Design Your Own Invitation

The next step will be cutting out each work, or phrase used in your invitation. This is why I told you that it is necessary to take a picture of, or scan your original draft. If not, you'll be starting all over.

*Tip: Be sure to keep the words in order, or else you'll be in for a real treat: a HUGE, confusing mess!

The next step, and the step where your creative skills must come in, is designing the format of your information. You take your cut out words, and phrases, and tape them to a blank sheet of paper, which can just be simple copy paper, or whatever sized paper you are using for your invitation.

You should tape them the way you want your invitation formatted, and worded. You can experiment with different designs, but for beginners, I suggest centering your words, you can also be unique, but it must be logical. You want the part of the invitation where you include how to RSVP, who to call, and the date of the party, to all be neatly at the bottom.

Once you have a solid, good design or format for your invitation, you will be ready to move on to the next step, and truly see your creation!

The next step will be the hardest. You need 4 things: pencil, T-square, practice paper (I use linen paper for practice), and a calligraphy pen. You should first draw out the lines where you have decided previously that you want to place each word. Don't draw the lines longer than they need to be, as you'll end up
I would suggest writing out the invitation in pencil first, this way you can design swashing (swirls from letter to letter). Next, you can write over the pencil in your fountain pen, dip pen, or calligraphy marker. I suggest the marker for beginner, but you can read more about choosing the right pen at: Calligraphy Pen Sets for Beginners.

A T-square will help you create exactly straight lines, so that you can have a neat invitation. If you don't know how to use one, you can look below, and I'll show you a picture example. Also, the picture above shows me in the process of finishing the lay out.
wasting time erasing, and having more room for error.

Your first invitation may come out looking like junk. That is expected for new people, and happened to me all of the time at the beginning. I read a ton of Calligraphy Books, and practice non-stop. I used to just do calligraphy for fun, but am starting to actually make a good amount of money from it.

The calligraphy shown above is a very simple version of what can be done. It is my one style that I developed on my own, but I would be extremely happy if you wanted to try it. In fact, I'll soon be writing an article on how to write like that (even if you don't like it), and hope to develop many more styles.

Lastly, I want to remind you, that even if you can't create the "perfect" invitation,( I can't wait to be able to), people are generally amazed by any type of calligraphy, as it is an old art, and something that most people can't do.

Good Luck!