Learning to Fly a Plane at 1,230 feet

I started my calligraphy journey back in 2015 when I was pregnant with my second child. I used it as something fun I could do during nap time. If you asked me to describe the journey from 2015 to today, I would say it has been like learning to fly a plane at 1230 feet. When you get on an airplane you have a great level of trust that the pilot has completed all their flight hours. They have trained and they completely know what they are doing. Well, when I started my journey I started doodling on a legal pad. Slowly but surely I would post on instagram and a few people asked me to write on an envelope. To be honest, I was not “ready”. I did it with a tombow black pen. The first few jobs I got, I was pretty terrified and I was grateful especially looking back everyone was happy with the job I provided but I had to start somewhere. A few months after that I decided to learn pointed pen calligraphy. I taught myself pointed pen calligraphy, It did not happen overnight but took a period of 3-6 months. Again it was a nerve wracking process. There were a couple of jobs that came through and I was not “ready” for them but I kept at it and each time I learned a new skill. Back in 2019, I taught my first calligraphy class, Again, I wasn’t ready for it but decided to say yes. I used my background as a teacher to come up with a lesson plan and run it as if it was a classroom. I learned in the process its a lot of work to put on a class- you have to have all the materials- ink, ink cups, pointed pens, lettering worksheets, paper covering the table, flip charts. You have to have the answers for troubleshooting. Flash forward to present day, each workshop gave me the practice to be the best teacher I could be. I was definitely not ready when I got the call, but I was ready with a yes and I’ll figure it out. Along the way, there have been hundreds of things thrown my way that I was not ready for- how do I mix and create new ink colors, I want to work with a client but they need 130 ribbons in a week- how do I accomplish this, how do I create an invitation suite with no graphic design experience?, etc, etc. Each of these things takes time and a whole lot of patience. You learn, you grow, you grow some more, more questions come up, you solve them.