EASY GILDED INITIALS TUTORIAL!

My Art Spark Tutorial...
EASY GILDED INTIALS!

The Old manuscripts featured 20 Karat gold initials called Versals-they started the verses! You can easily reproduce these stunning shiny letters.

Here I’ve used my versals from the book Hand Lettering for Crafts by Sandra Salamony- but any intials could work.

Using bright colored or black paper sketch the outline of the initial lightly with a pencil. Then carefully fill it with a small brush and Duo Adhesive. You can get Duo Adhesive from Paper and Ink Arts, (www.paperinkarts.com) You can also use Mona Lisa Glue from Michaels but I like the Duo better. You’ll want to fill the initials with a LOT of adhesive-flood it once you do the outline.

Here’s how it looks when you apply the glue. It will be creamy white and cover the paper completely.







Now the hardest part-wait till it drys COMPLETELY CLEAR! During
the drying make sure nothing touches the glue-I always seem to forget and put another paper on top and that wrecks the surface! ( You can just reapply the adhesive if this happens)

                     The letters should look like this when finished drying

Now apply the gold leaf-I find La D’Ore at Michaels and art stores. It comes in many colors and variegated. It is super flimsy and light.

Carefully remove a sheet and place it on the adhesive, using your fingers to get all the nooks and crannies. Remove the excess with a foam brush

                              Using a soft cloth burnish the gold to a dull shine
                                 Voila!! Gold initials ( Or silver or copper)

 

                                      Here I have made a card using one of the initials

My son and I have put together a kit with all you need to make these initials right away!  It includes a mini jar of Duo Adhesive, ( You can make many initials with this small jar!)  3 sheets of assorted gold leaf, 4 quarter sheets of black Artagain paper, an exemplar of my versals, Small brush, and a foam brush. It is $18 plus $4.95 shipping, please order through my website under the store tab-
www.lisaengelbrecht.com

                                              thanks for giving my son a little project!

ITS THE HOLIDAY BLOG HOP TUTORIAL FROM THE ARTSPARK GIRLS!

Its the Holiday Blog Hop!
My girls and I at ArtSpark are havin a Holiday Tutorial blog hop!! I will be up on Sunday with Easy Gilded letters-but tomorrow its the amazing Lyric Kinard, Lyric starts us off with a beautifully delicate snowflake pinwheel ornament! 

Here is the link and here is the schedule for the entire week!

http://lyrickinard.com/blog/?p=1161

 

Dec 4 - Lyric Kinard, Snowflake Pinwheel Ornament www.lyrickinard.com/blog
Dec 5 Tracie Lyn Huskamp, Coming Soon! , http://thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com
Dec 6 Judy Perez, Speculatius-St. Nicolas cookies,  http://judycoatesperez.gloderworks.net
Dec 7 Jill Berry, Mini Book Ornament,http://jillberrydesign.com/blog/
Dec 8 Traci Bunkers, Star Garland, http://www.tracibunkers.com/blog/
Dec 9 - Lisa Engelbrecht, Easy Gilded Letters for Cards www.lisaletters.blogspot.com

OH MY CANADA EXPERIENCE!

 Barrie's

Kerri's


I can't say it enough-but I am still so surprised at the wonderful work that happens in my classes! I feel so honored to be able to watch artists work and just be there as a facilitator-I had the most wonderful experience at the BOW VALLEY CALLIGRAPHY GUILD in Calgary, Alberta for 4 wonderful days in November! I stayed with the talented Kerri Forster who was a wonderful host-despite an unfortunate incident. I taught Letterista Romans and Gothic and the great ladies and gentleman did inventive and grand work-here is just a small sample-you definitely owe it to yourself to check out the many pics on my flickr-( click on the link on the right) it is so inspiring!

                    Annette's

                      Anne Purdy's

                       Kerri's




Here are some samples from the next two day class that was Bali Lanterns-the theme was celebrating the everyday. I have to give a special shout out to my girls Anne Purdy, Kerri Forster and Thea Paul and everyone in my classes -...and whoa an art store inside the classroom!? Special thanks to Annette-thats her Autumn lantern up there-owner of  Kensington Art Supply who saw to our every art need and there were many!!

So now home to recuperate and get ready for the new year adventures! A solo show in February! An Art party in January! Letters California Style! ( My class is full but there are still spaces in several awesome classes! go to www.socieyforcalligraphy.org for the flyer)

BRUSH SAN DIEGO!

Oh so lovely a weekend with the SanDiego Fellow Calligraphers at the Rancho Bernardo Swim and Tennis club! Here's what a new member, Abhirami wrote about the workshop! ( This is her work below and by the way she is a total beginner!)

*Brush Lettering by Lisa Engelbrecht on Nov 10-11 2012*

We started off by introducing ourselves and getting to know each other.
The class was a mixed group, ranging from those with no introduction to
brush lettering to those who've taught calligraphy classes. We spent the
first morning getting comfortable with using a brush, being able to
control our
movement while at the same time learning to let the strokes flow from
our hands freely. We practised simple (and not-so-simple) strokes

Nancy's Studio plaque!


repeatedly before getting started on the alphabet. Then, Lisa had us watch as she
demonstrated the lower-case letters one by one. We traced them using
graph paper and the handouts to get the hang of the letters and then
started trying to write them on our own. Lisa gave us thoughtful prompts
to think
of words we could write once we were familiar with the alphabet. We did
the same thing for the upper-case letters after that. By the end of the
day, all of us felt more confident with our brushes and were also able
to try our some words with watercolors and glitters.

Lisa started the second day's session by showing us demos of writing
styles with various types of brushes and pens; it was fascinating. She
provided some supplies for us to try out different effects and we spent
the morning writing more words on black paper with acrylic paints. We
practised a pointed script with micro-tip pens and also did a brush
version of the same. After lunch, we learnt a curly script with a more
fluid style and a lot of curls and flairs - it was my personal favorite!
When we put up Lisa's demo font on the wall in front of us, I thought it
looked fabulous. She then asked us to create our own variation based on
what we've learnt and have fun finishing our favorite words; we made a
booklet out of these at the end of the day. We had also got our plaques
set up earlier in the morning with gesso, to write one inspirational
word on it. Lisa then showed us different ways to decorate the scripts
with gel pens, oil pastels or water colors. At the end of both days, we
spent some time walking around  looking at everyone's creative work and
sharing our own - it was a great way to interact with everyone, share
techniques, learn from each other and feel connected.

Kristen's work and her wildest dreams!


Throughout the two days, everyone's good spirits and energy made the
place a wonderful environment to work in, full of laughter and
enthusiasm, and
made the overall experience very memorable.

Cheers,
Abhirami



She is the best and I couldnt have described it better! Thanks to Rose Smutko and Linda and Allen West for providing me with everything I ever needed down to the morning Starbucks and tech help with my presentation! HOW LUCKY am I? Off now to Canada -then to Seattle to see the girls-November is cray cray for sure!! GO LOOK NOW at the pics from the weekend at my Flickr site-link on the right-right there!

HOUSTON CALLIGRAPHY GUILD MAKES FABRIC BOOKS!

A wonderful full full weekend in Houston with the Calligraphy Guild! I stayed with the wonderful couple, Don and Maureen Vickery who co-own the calligraphy business Pen Dance-go to their website and check it out! www.pendance.us  It is so great to see fabulously successful lettering artists! ( Their house was so lovely too!)

We painted and played and created wonderful books-here are a couple in progress!

One of my students was Beth Keitt Brubaker ( above) who really wowed us with her amazing work-check out her website at www.keittoodles.com
I also got to meet up with the enigmatic and super fun Mike Eros who showed me round the downtown area
I've posted all the Houston photos on my Flickr site here! www.flickr.com/photos/25736261@N00/\

I VISIT ARTGIRLZ NORTH!

 Tracy Stillwell's art is AMAZING!

 So yes- I was able to connect with my Art Girl Friends-Tracy and Sue at their lovely home and gardens in Rhode Island on my trip to Connecticut! Despite their just having returned from Gay Paree ! ( and they had had not much sleep!) They were gracious enough to allow me and Ann and Bernard Pasquier to troop through their house that is so so amazing-art heaven I should say -And we all came home with a treat-The Pasquiers with Honey and I tucked away my huge garlic! Go to my Flickr to see the whole deal but here are some tempting photos-I really want to have a place like this one day!! THANKS to my friends who even drove me to the airport after! WOW!

AUTUMN IN CONNECTICUT!

A wonderful weekend in Connecticut-I cant believe how fast this last weekend went! I was so lucky to be able to teach at the Mysticalligraphers workshop in Mystic. Thoroughly Modern Script and Letterista style abounded-go to my Flickr site-link on the left and check out my pages of photos and see how wonderful the work was-and what a bunch of lovely people! I stayed with the sweetest couple, Ann and Bernard Pasquier along with the king of the cats Pierre! Ann showed me the sites, downtown Mystic, Avery point and a lovely museum on the water at the UConn campus. I was treated on Saturday night to a lovely dinner at Go Fish with a bunch of new letteristas. Amazing work here-I still get so excited to watch artists like this work! On Monday we went to the incredible Mohegan Sun casino-biggest Indian casino ever-check out the pics of this-every detail was thought of-I know it doesnt seem like a place that would be an artists destination but really it was!A Chihuly in the entry! Then we went to Artgirlz North to visit Tracy and Sue-I will blog about this tomorrow! That was a whole nother blog

Roseburg Oregon Bliss

I'm finally getting around to blogging about my adventures! I must say I  had the best of times when I taught at the Umpqua Valley Arts Association last weekend-I taught Watercolor Florals and Words and wow-the work produced was amazing-why am I still amazed at the incredible quality of work thats produced? I am so so lucky to be there when I see artists get that AHA! moment and gain confidence to take leaps of creativity! I drove down from Seattle where I visited my daughter and the Incredible Sarah. I was so lucky too to have Sarah take care of my hair at the Gary Manuel Salon-she is so talented a stylist-anyone in the Seattle area who needs a wonderful hair person she's the one for you! ( Email me or leave a comment for info on that!) 

 I stayed at Diana Brown's BEAUTIFUL House with her and her hubby Steve -the LA transplants live on a river with huge views of paradise only feet away from their back door. Diana is the ultimate hostess and so organized! You should see her studio! I have tons of pictures on the flickr account( at right) -you'll have to scroll back a bit for Oregon,-without Diana the class would not have happened and I am so grateful to her for all her hard work-I hope to return someday soon! ( Ive put up my local class first which I will be blogging about tomorrow!) 

My dads funeral was yesterday at Riverside National Cemetery and I think he would be proud-he got a 21 gun salute and full military honors finally! Rest in Peace Capt. Engelbrecht-yours was not a perfect life and I think you did the best you could as a father that was at sea half the time

So my life has been as they say cray cray an I m hoping to get back to normal soon-whatever that could mean!

What I did on my Summer Vacation!

KATHERINE AND RYAN ARE MARRIED!

KRISTIN AND I CELEBRATE OUR BIRTHDAYS AT BOLSA CHICA!


DONALD JACKSON WRITES AT THE GETTY!

TOO much to list-but highlights include-New Mexico/ Ghost Ranch trip. Reunion committee, Kristin and Lisas birthday at the beach!, My Niece Katherines beautiful wedding-aaaaand also Donald Jackson at the Getty writing on camera!! Tomorrow I'm off to Colorado to Fort Collins to teach at Scrap2It! I betcha you could still sign up if you're feeling super spontaneous! ( Teaching a one day Letterista Class) Next week to Seattle and Roseburg Oregon for Watercolor Flower Journal at the Umpqua Arts Center ( sorry this one IS sold out!) I hope to be better on blogging this month-so much happening!

ARTISTS GIVE BACK!

Hello! I know its been awhile-but cray cray summer is happening-getting ready to hit the road soon but I wanted to let you know about this cool deal. ( thats me in the corner....)

This is ripped from my friend Jenn Mason's blog-I am so happy to be included in this fundraiser-so I thought you might want to check it out!

The September/October issue of CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS which features our “We Made This” article is already arriving at reader’s homes. The article is filled with art donated by our 2012 contributing artists and CREATE Art Retreat Instructors (and there are even more pieces on line) to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

The Magazine is very excited to open our Etsy shop! We will officially open on August 28th for your art-shopping pleasure.

Now in the NEW Cloth Paper Scissors!Besides the 41 lovely pieces of art, we will also have a very special collection of Cloth Paper Scissors Pretty In Pink Peerless Watercolors available for $10 a set.

If you’ve never been lucky enough to try these watercolors before, let me tell you about them. They were developed by Charles F. Nicholson in 1885 (aka they stand the test of time!). After a lot of research, he developed a color film, or paper leaflet (now called DrySheets)—essentially watercolor paint on paper. 122 years later, the process remains the same. And Chris Mode, only the 4th person to obtain the original formulas, has put together this fantastic set of pinks just for us. The pinks range from purplish pink and magenta to a deep reddish pink hue.

Again, the store officially opens on August 28th. If you stop by now, you’ll see a vacation sign, but you can leave your email so that you receive a message as soon as the store opens. Thanks for your support!