Whatcha looking for... ?

Alright, I’m just going to flat out say it: Suzanne Cunningham is to calligraphy flourishes as Beyoncé is to…well, everything else.

Not only is she incredibly talented (oh you know, just 25 years of calligraphy experience, nbd), but she’s amazingly generous, too.

When I asked Suzanne to come on for a live Q&A with me, not only did she agree to let me pepper her with questions, but she also said she’d be happy to do a live lesson, aaaand give us free worksheets.

Whaaaaa?!

Yep. Make sure not to miss the bottom of this post of those.

Honestly, if I were to say nothing more in this post, I would just leave it at this: she is THE Queen of flourishing ?. If you don’t believe me, you will after you watch this video. It’ll completely change the way you see your flourishing skills (or, lack thereof!)

Feel free to skip right to the Q&A and lesson here, or you can read on for my full recap!

---

Among a ton of other things (proper posture, what an average day looks like in the life of a pro calligrapher, & more),  one of the most popular questions y’all wanted to know was about her preferred tools. (BTW- I’ve never said “y’all” in my life, but this time it felt fitting with Suzanne’s Alabama roots!) 

Here’s a list of all of the tools Suzanne mentioned in the interview, complete with links for where to find them! (By the way- some of these are affiliate links, meaning if you buy through clicking here, I’ll get a few pennies! *kissface*)

OBLIQUE HOLDER:

• Lindsey Hook Oblique Holder: https://www.lindsey-hook.com/

PAPER:

• Borden & Riley Marker Paper: https://amzn.to/2KKh0WI

NIBS:

• Nikko G Nib: https://amzn.to/2GCDVAZ
• Zebra G Nib: https://amzn.to/2LlP64L
• Hunt 22 Nib: https://amzn.to/2KJnQfa
• Gillott 303 Nib: https://amzn.to/2rZYov6
• Gillott 404 Nib: https://amzn.to/2rZYov6
• Blanse 605 Nib
• Velleda Nib
• Spring Loaded Nib: https://www.paperinkarts.com/inkcag—zeb.html

GUIDE SHEETS:

• Younghae Chung’s guidesheets: https://www.logoscalligraphy.com/resources/ 
• Nina Tran’s guidesheets: http://anintran.com/guide-sheets/

---

Now, I actually can’t tell you enough that the interview has so. much. more. information. If I were to recap everything we discussed, we’d be here all day. So I’ll just keep it simple, and give you a few quick wins.

The good stuff: flourishing tips!

• Plan with pencil first if you’re feeling hesitant. There’s nothing wrong with that!
• Use a combination of finger movements, as well as arm/wrist movements for your flourishes.
• Ascenders, descenders, entrance/exit strokes, and the crossbar of the “t” are the most obvious places to add flourishes, but you don’t have to start in the obvious place.
• Cross your flourishes at 90 degrees – an OPEN crossing looks better!
• Think of your flourishes in terms of ovals!
• To fix an off-centred envelope, add a big flourish on whichever end needs it!

The EXTRA good stuff: FREE worksheets!

If you’ve watched the video by now (do that, trust me), you’ll have seen Suzanne demonstrating different types of flourishes. Aaaand… I bet you wished you had a little cheat sheet of those, dontch’ya? It’s your lucky day.

---

I really hope you enjoyed this interview, and make sure you’re subscribed to The Happy Ever Crafter TV to catch the rest in the series! And one last HUGE thank you to Suzanne, for being so awesome and teaching us ALL-THE-THINGS flourishing!

Leave us a comment below- what was your biggest A-HA moment from Suzanne’s lesson?! ??