This book was really helpful as I got to know about different types of strokes, brushes, pens and an introduction to all sorts of calligraphy! I wish it was more catered towards beginners though, since I have very little practice in the field and was looking to learn from scratch. Most of the used stationaries are not easily available here either. It was a bit overwhelming, but I loved how the author illustrated all her teachings and how there were practice pages. The tips includes are also beneficial.

This is a good book if you are just starting calligraphy. It offers a concise introduction to the basics in writing tools and styles. However, if you are not a beginner, it leaves you feeling a bit unsatisfied. What bothered me was the quality of the example pages of the letters. I have a bit of an OCD going on, and it seemed that the author and the editors did not really pay a lot of attention to that. Letters in the exemplar pages are a bit clumsy and uneven.
All in all a solid starting book for those who are considering venturing into calligraphy - it won't cause you to feel "anxiety of influence" as literary theorists would say, but for the rest of us who want more attention to detail, there are much better books out there.

Beautiful; and inspirational content to recreate message using these delightful fonts. Very useful to create plaques and decorate children furniture.

#CreativeLetteringAndBeyondTimelessCalligraphy #NetGalley

I love the look of hand-lettering and was excited to learn how to do some old-school calligraphy with a traditional pen. Overall this book had a great introduction to the different styles, but as someone who is new to using a calligraphy pen, I would have liked more basic instructions to practice.

A good guide for a beginner in calligraphy, this book is a comprehensive overview of the techniques needed to become proficient. I appreciated the step by step stroke guides included at the beginning of the book, and the clear illustrations included throughout.

Handwriting as an art form is making a comeback, and this book will inspire you to try your hand (haha) at it. Includes sections for different styles, such as Spencerian and copperplate, as well as artistic techniques like illumination with gold foil. Each section has pages to practice, which made me hesitate briefly about adding it to our public library collection, but I will give it a try!

Lots of beautiful fonts and lettering. There is a LOT in this book, but little tutorial and practice. I would recommend this to those looking to advance their letting skills and those who have mastered basic lettering and script writing. I think the content could overwhelm and frustrate novices, but be very benefit
Cial to well season artists.

Beautiful and very useful book on calligraphy, starting from the very basics through the various styles to the refined embellished capitals. I liked the simplicity, the layout, the art nouveau decorations too.

This book focuses on the pointed pen style of calligraphy, requiring different tools than a fountain pen, though for practice any writing utensil can be used. A handy guide for beginners, it covers everything from practice strokes to how to assemble letters for various fonts. I loved the various font ideas (which even the uninspired could trace if need be!). The lovely letter art that finishes out the book was way out of my league, but beautiful to gawk at all the same. I think I would have been overwhelmed if this was my first calligraphy book, but it would make a great addition to a lettering library.

My niece gave me Laura’s other book a month ago, when I asked her to teach me handlettering, and told me I needed to memorise it. And I did. This book resembles the other book a lot in style, but this time we focus on calligraphy alone. First Laura tells what materials there are and what to use (there is even an info on how to craft your own feather pen!), and after the basics we jump into the alphabets. There are fortunately many practice pages, and the alphabets itself and the variations are stunning! There is much variaty, from Victorian to Art Deco to Gothic. And every time there is precise information on how to make the strokes. This is a book you always want to keep at hand when you start writing, as an excellent resource. And what also doesn’t hurt: the graphics and overall design of this book is stunning!

Great easy to follow directions for learning calligraphy in a beautifully designed book! I enjoyed the process and steps along the way and look forward to perfecting my lettering with practice! This is a book to come back to again and again!

This is such a lovely book. Creative Lettering and Beyond: Timeless Calligraphy teaches from the very beginning of choosing a pen, nib, ink and getting started with the art of calligraphy. It has practice sheets to work on an master the art of cursive writing. My favourite part of the book is all the styles of calligraphy that it has to offer and all the practical uses of calligraphy out there. (A great way to create intimate wedding invites or thank you cards!). The aesthetic of the book is absolutely wonderful, and I would highly recommend to all my art friends out there.

Creative Lettering and Beyond: Time Calligraphy is totally awesome! The beginning of the book talks about types of tools which is not unusual. What I found unusual was that the author explains how to put a nib in your pen, how to dip your pen in the ink the correct way and lots and lots of tips. There are tips about the environment you surround yourself with while creating, tips for left handed calligraphers, general practice tips, practice pages and so much more. There is even a section for wedding invitation basics. The author has a knack for teaching and making the process fun and creative. A definite must have book if you have the desire to be creative in this medium, Well Done!

Creative Lettering and Beyond: Timeless Calligraphy is an instruction guide to calligraphy along with specific tutorials and practice templates for 18 projects featuring well known styles such as Spencerian, copperplate, uncial, Roman, and bookhand.
Released 30th April 2019 by Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 144 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

When learning any skill, the emphasis must be on practice, practice, practice. That is absolutely paramount when learning calligraphy. So much of the success or failure of hand lettering (or painting or other graphic arts) is in training the eye and fine tuning the muscle memory to make reproducible consistent movements. To that end, having pleasing tools and instructions can make practice time more fun (and thus, likely to be done happily instead of suffered through as a necessary 'evil').

I have always found that having a new lesson or plan or new tutorial projects makes me a lot more willing to pick up my pens and paper. The book includes templates for the reader to reproduce the lessons which can be printed out and copied. Many of the templates have guidelines in the practice areas.

There are also a number of project tutorials, including a DIY scented oak gall ink which looks tempting to try. There's also a nice beginner homage to illuminated letters with sidebars covering diapers, backgrounds, and embellishments.

There are a huge number of books on calligraphy and illumination available. This one is quite worthy and contains a lot of material in digestible form for both beginner and intermediate calligraphers. The book also includes a short glossary and a reading list for further exploration.

Appealing and well written. Five stars.

For the creative one
"Creative Lettering and Beyond: Timeless Calligraphy. A collection of traditional calligraphic hands from history and how to write them" was written by Laura Lavender and published by Quarto Publishing Group - Walter. With this book Lavender wants to inform readers about historic flourished hands and how to create them, using them for modern artwork. The book has three foci: 1) the historical styles of calligraphy, 2) script pointed-pen styles of calligraphy from the origins of pointed pens in Renaissance Italy, and 3) elegant hand-lettering styles with pointed-pen scripts. The book shows the reader how various pointed-pen hands (Copperplate, Spencerian, Italian Hand, Bickham, Roman, Uncial, Bookhand) are created and offers various step-by-step projects (Monograms & Wedding Invitations, Craft a Feather Quill, Silhouette Letters, Victorian-Inspired Story Letters, ...). The glossary can be found at the end of the book as well as a resource list.
I appreciated the book for its great pictures and artwork. There are prompts, tips, projects, and exercises to inspire the reader to learn the art of traditional pointed-pen calligraphy. The explanations are clear and easy to understand. Furthermore, there are clear instructions which supplies the reader who wants to engage in this type of calligraphy needs to get as well as instructions for attaching the nip and caring for the nip and the holder. There are various practice sheets throughout the book, but I recommend to photocopy them because the book is not spiral-bound and will not lie flat (considering the fact that it has 144 pages) and it will be difficult to write in the book. It would have been nice if the practice sheets would have been offered as a download.
This book is not for readers who are interested in other arts of lettering, modern (faux) lettering, or lettering with other materials (e.g. chalk, brush pens, brushes). It is also important to note that the only pen used for the presentation and exercises is the oblique pen, there are no presentation or exercises where the straight calligraphy pen is used.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#CreativeLetteringAndBeyondTimelessCalligraphy #NetGalley

Creative Lettering and Beyond: Timeless Calligraphy
A collection of traditional calligraphic hands from history and how to write them
by Laura Lavender

The term Calligraphy comes from the Greek words “calli” = beautiful and “graphein” = meaning to write. The book goes on to describe writing tools, terminology, letters, scripts and so much more. On a personal note, I received low grades in 4th grade handwritinng class. I still remember that “Jane” was able to make perfect letters and receive the highest grade. It did make me want to improve and over time my fine motor skills strengthened thus improving my control of what I produced when writing letters on paper. Handwriting is used less now than in the past but the fine art of calligraphy is in demand for special documents, invitations and big events. Another side note – when I was in high school or college I remember my father, a physician, being impressed with calligraphy and practicing to change his personal handwriting into a more calligraphic style even though his handwriting was perfectly legible as it was.

The book included information in how to seat the nib in the holder, how to fill the pen with ink, how ot make ox gall ink from scratch, how to embellis writing, styles of calligraphy, working with colors, adding in patterns, illuniated calligraphy, practice pages and templates. I found it interesting that there are three lines to consider when creating calligraphy and that the empty spaces are as important, in some ways, as the lines and curves. One tip I found intriguing was the use of a light box to put a template on to improve the calligraphy one creates.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster for the ARC ~ This is my honest review

4-5 Stars

Calligraphy has always appealed and expanding my skill set and font library was my goal in picking up Creative Lettering and Beyond: Timeless Calligraphy by Laura Lavender. I was not disappointed. It is full of step-by-step instructions, practice exercises and beautiful lettering. A bonus, and probably my favourite element, is the emblemishment designs which surround lettering.

I don’t own calligraphy pens but rather use pencil and pen to imitate them but thoroughly enjoyed the book nonetheless! If you are looking for book to teach you from the basics through to designs, this is the one for you! Five out of five on the en-JOY-ment scale!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC to read and give my honest opinion.

If you've always been interested in calligraphy and lettering then look no further. This was a fun hands on manual that shows you what to buy and what certain styles of calligraphy are. There are many different old styles of handwriting, and you can see different styles and history listed through out the book. The book also has certain things you could use as ideas of calligraphy invitations or crafts. This feels like an introduction book and not a real how to because a lot of the terms I just didn't know.

What did I like? This book tells you what style of pen to use, and gives you a street map of the lettering per style. If I was more into tracing, this book would be more helpful. I could not get the hang of actually doing them on my own. I wonder how our ancestors did?

Would I buy this book? Lettering is fun and this book gives you an understanding of what the letters look like but I'm more of a watch and learn so I'd still have to YouTube a video. If your looking for a reference, then this book is for you.

Thoughts for the author? I'm always saying in these how to books for author's to YouTube a few videos and add it or a site. People watch stuff more than they read so it helps. I realize that over time video's expire or become unavailable but it's always nice to reference just checking.

Four stars of craftiness!

First off, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher. I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 I really think that this is a great informational book. Creative Lettering and Beyond takes you through different writing tools, fonts, and techniques. There are practice pages and images to help you get through each tutorial.

I think that the way the book is set up is great. There isn’t just all the information in the beginning, and then you go off on your own, it really is a great step by step learning experience.

I have always loved calligraphy. I had a kit when I was younger, and did practice. I lost touch with that hobby, but was able to get back into it with this book. I’m by no means great yet, but I think that this is a great way to get back into it, and learn some new things.

The one thing that I wish there was a bit more of, would be just a bit more of the step by step when it comes to the actual lettering. Some fonts do have that extra tutorial, but others just show a photo of the font and then have a practice page. That is minor to me, as they do go through technique on how to hold different writing tools, the shape of letters, spacing, and movements.

Overall, this is a great book to start learning how to do calligraphy.

Provides some of the basics on tools, pen nibs, pen holders and materials, as well as a number of different calligraphic lettering types to learn and practice. This is NOT for the person wanting to learn modern lettering, this book is for the person who wants to learn how to achieve some of the older font types.