A lesson in hand lettering with Hero + Betty Etiquette!

31.03

Cider-with-Rosie-calligraphy-lesson

If there’s something I’ve always dreamed of having, it’s beautiful handwriting. The kind that our grandparents have- elegant and swirling, with the sort of unique quirks and traits that make it as instantly recognisable as the sound of their voice. My own handwriting has always been as changeable as the weather. I never managed to find my own style whilst at school, and basically formed my own ‘hand’ at the age of about 10 by copying the writing of a friend of mine who always had the most admired handwriting in our class ;)

And so, when an email pinged in my inbox a few weeks ago inviting me to attend a workshop in which I’d have chance to learn the basics of hand lettering and calligraphy, I sent back a ‘yes please!’ faster than you can say ‘joined up writing’!

The workshop was held in Stockbridge and hosted by the lovely ladies behind a store called Hero, whose beautiful aesthetic I’ve admired via Instagram for a long while now. Our day began at 10 in a tucked away room of Woodfire restaurant (right on the high street), where we warmed ourselves up with a few coffees and pastries and chit chat about what a beautiful setting Stockbridge village is. I’d spent the whole of the drive down that morning admiring tiny farmhouse cottages and spotting fat pheasants in the fields and birds of prey flying overhead- if only it wasn’t quite so far away from Guildford and beyond the realms of a sensible commute for Jason, I’d have added it to our ‘house hunting locations’ list already!

Flat-white-Cider-with-Rosie Hero-lifestyle-store-Stockbridge-Ciderwithrosie

^^ How dreamy is Hero’s range? I’d have taken that blue jumper home with me in a heartbeat! ^^

Cherry-blossom-Hero-CiderwithRosie Hero-Betty-Etiquette-event-Cider-with-Rosie

The calligraphy workshop itself was being run by Becky of Betty Etiquette, who was the most patient and encouraging teacher you could hope to find. We each were supplied with a pen and nib (which felt so elegant and old-school to write with, I loved it!), black Indian ink, paper, and an instruction card that walked us through the basics of Copperplate hand lettering. We started small- drawing out painstakingly careful vertical lines onto the paper that varied in thickness and weight- before moving on to lines in diagonal directions, curved shapes, and then finally on to numbers and letters. Becky explained the rules behind the Copperplate script that give it its characteristic style- downward strokes must be thick, sideways lines fine, and the lettering should be fluid with a slight forward slant.

It was far, far trickier than you’d imagine, and yet a thousand times more satisfying and enjoyable than it was fiddly! As someone whose artistic ability was maxed out during Art GCSE (all I ever wanted to do was play with the cameras anyway, and oh what a foreshadowing that turned out to be!), it was so pleasing to see the results of the morning’s work coming out looking not too shabby at all! I mean, I don’t think I’ll be attempting any hand-lettered place cards for the wedding any time soon, but you know! Maybe when the time comes to write thank you cards, I’ll have it in the bag! ;)

Handlettering-practise-CiderwithRosie

^^ Nines were hard for me, okay? I never did get it down…^^

Betty-Etiquette-calligraphy-Cider-with-Rosie Cider-with-Rosie-handlettering Rosie-Chappel

My favourite, *favourite* part of the morning was moving on to writing out our names. It was harder than you’d imagine not to just slip straight back into your own handwriting, and instead to remember that the letters should have a forward slant to them and a distinctive pattern of weight and heaviness.

I decided to have a go writing my married name, which is, as you can imagine, my current favourite activity. I’m like a schoolgirl with a crush at the moment, writing out ‘Mrs Rosie Chappel’ and practising my signature in the corners of to-do lists and notebook pages every chance I get! ;)

Woodfire-Stockbridge-CiderwithRosie Woodfire-Stockbridge-CiderwithRosie-1

Our workshop ended all too quickly (I could’ve sat there scribbling away for hours!), and was rounded off with a beautiful mezze lunch and yet another round of delicious coffee. It really was the loveliest way to spend a midweek morning, and I can’t recommend looking into a workshop with Betty Etiquette highly enough. It would make the loveliest hen party activity!

Thanks x1000 to lovely Laura from Hero for inviting me to attend. Do search ‘shopathero’ on Instagram and follow along- it’s the dreamiest feed!

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19 Comments
Posted in DAY TRIPS, PRESS TRIP
  • http://daydreamsofsummertime.blogspot.co.uk/ Sarah @ DaydreamsofSummertime

    This looks like so much fun but I can imagine calligraphy is way harder than it looks! xx

  • https://swanlake1701.wordpress.com/ NGOC LAN

    The calligraphy workshop seems very interesting and informative. I love how they organized the workshop with cups of coffee. It made the atmosphere relaxing and comfortable. Handwritten letters can convey a lot of feelings, so practicing the handwriting is really worth it.

    You remind me of the time when I write the name of my special person in my books too.

    • http://www.ciderwithrosie.com/ Rosie

      It really was so lovely! :) I need to buy some good quality paper so I can start practising at home now! x

  • http://www.thelibrarian.co.uk/ Georgina

    I loved calligraphy at school (I was oh so cool spending my lunch times practicing flourishes) though I never got to use a proper pen and ink, we were only allowed those Berol Italic pens! I will have to see how much I can remember :)

  • Anna

    that’s so cool!! I’m in love with all types pf calligraphy <3

    https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/

  • https://rhymeandribbons.com Amanda @ Rhyme & Ribbons

    What a neat event! I’ve always wanted to take proper handwriting classes! x

  • http://www.alittlelusciousness.com/ rosie alittlelusciousness

    What an amazing event! I love Hero’s instagram, visual treats galore :)
    Rosie xx

  • Izzy

    It looks amazing I would love to learn x

    http://wearsheiz.blogspot.co.uk

  • http://www.songsofstillness.com/ Natalie | Songs of Stillness

    What a fun gathering! And you did SO well! I took my first calligraphy class last fall. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks, isn’t it? But so worth the effort! Well done :)

    Circus & Bloom
    ♥♥♥

  • emily couture

    this experience sounds amazing :)

    emily xx

    emilycouture95.blogspot.co.uk

  • Natasha x

    Oh wow! Your writing is beautiful! Stockbridge is only down the road so I hope they have classes available.

  • http://www.ginevrella.co.uk Jennifer

    I also developed my own writing from copying a girl in my class at primary school! I would love to be able to write like this – although I’m left-handed and I’m not sure I could do it without any smudges. I remember having a calligraphy set many, many years ago as a child and I wish I still had the cards at least to be able to practise again. A bit of calligraphy would also be the perfect way to balance out any chance of my handwriting developing into a doctor’s scrawl before I graduate!

    Jennifer x

    Ginevrella | Lifestyle Blog

  • http://prettycontent.net Aisling

    This looks amazing! I’ve done quite a lot of hand lettering since I’m a designer and it’s one of my favourite things. I have the grandparent handwriting you mention… more than one person has commented on my near-constant use of curly cursive.

    Aisling | aisybee.

  • https://www.thebettystamp.com Betty

    This looks like the dreamiest morning. I write like a 5 year old but feel like if I had a feathered quill and ink pot it would be a different story altogether. I’ve just followed Hero on Instagram ta for recommending.
    Ps. Rosie Chappel – what a great name.

    Betty x

    The Betty Stamp

  • http://www.perpetuallycaroline.com/ Caroline L.

    My sister’s having me address her wedding invitations, so we’ll see how my chicken scratch handwriting goes with that ;) No, but this past week I was at this really cool old vintage shop that had buckets upon buckets of old postcards and love letters from people… SUCH beautiful swirly handwriting (um and sweet sentiments too, of course)!
    http://www.perpetuallycaroline.com

  • http://www.brittonloves.co.uk Lauren S

    I’d love to learn calligraphy, the script always looks so delicate and romantic! Definitely need to try a workshop

    Lauren x

    Britton Loves | Lifestyle Food Fashion Beauty – http://www.brittonloves.blogspot.co.uk

  • http://sallytangle.blogspot.co.uk/ Sally Crangle

    Loved this Rosie! I am forever getting told that my writing is beautiful – expect that nobody can seem to read a word i write! I don’t know when it went so curly and whirly! I’d love to learn calligraphy properly, i used to love writing with a fountain when i was younger. I inherited my granddads old, old black and gold fountain pen and it’d be lovely to learn how to use it properly.

    Sal x

  • http://www.freecore.uk Free Core

    so jealous haha, this looks awesome. I’ve always wanted to have beautiful handwriting, the sort that gets actually looks like a piece of art. Tried to force myself a couple of years back to recreate my handwriting style, and spent everyday for a week or so trying to change the style, but unfortunately didn’t have the time to and stopped. This workshop would have been perfect! Glad you had a good time :)

    Growing Positive

  • http://saltandsail.blogspot.com/ Natalie (Salt & Sail)

    this is such an adorable workshop/space! i’ve been practicing hand lettering for a little while but want to start using real ink instead of faking it with a gel ink pen :P

    Natalie / Salt & Sail

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