Next meeting: Saturday, April 12, 2025

Meeting at
Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, 800 N. New Road, Waco
10 am start
(meeting in back Sunday School room)

 SECRET PALs TO BE REVEALED

Wonder what’s under all those pretty wraps? After 3 months of sending mail, delivering packages, and guessing, the time has come to find out who’s behind all those secrets. The April program is devoted to revealing who’s been sending secrets to whom.

To the 13 people who are participating in this oh-so-fun exchange, please be sure to bring everything you have received, including the wrapping to show off and explain (empty candy wrappers OK!). Also, be sure to create a “Thank you” card to give to the person who sent goodies to you. Judy Steward will allow about three minutes for you to explain the items you received. If you are unable to attend on the 12^th, please arrange for another member to bring your items to present to the group, and be sure to include a thank you card for your pal. For those who did not participate, enjoy the eye candy and wealth of ideas!

ZINES CHALLENGE delayed until May: After the March program on making Zines, someone asked about a challenge to make a zine and bring it. Thinking that sounded like a good idea, we made it a thing to do. Make one and show it off in May!

Next meeting: Saturday, March 8, 2025

 Meeting at 10 am
at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, 800 N. New Road, Waco

ZINE CARDS FOR SCRIBES

At our March program we will try something a bit different. Let’s watch a movie! We will show Carol Dubosch’s “Zines for Scribes” video for the program. In the 42-minute program you will learn what a “zine” is, how to make one, and ideas for putting it to use. This comes from Angie Vangalis’s production of “Lettering for Holiday Projects 2023,” which is a collection of 13 excellent step-by-step videos from well-known calligraphers. This and more are available through the Texas Lettering Arts website Discover, Learn & Create Calligraphy. Thanks to Angie for permission to show it.

Supplies to bring:
    Pencil
    12” Ruler
    Scissors

Next meeting:

Saturday, February 8, 2025, at 10 am
Saint Matthew Lutheran Church Waco, Texas 

Iris Folding 

This month Francis Stoppiello will teach an iris fold card to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We will also be using the skills we learned this past year by using one of the hands to write in our card. 

SUPPLIES LIST:

·        Scissors

·        X-Acto knife/cutting mat

·        4 different types of thin paper; solid or print. No heavier than copy paper. Origami paper or tissue paper will work just fine. Francis will be bringing gold paper for the middle; if you want something different for the middle, please bring it. 

·       Tape (we will be using a lot of tape)

·       Bone folder

·      Piece of card stock measuring about 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” that will be trimmed down slightly

·       Calligraphy marker

·       Any other decorating elements for your cards

PLUS:

double-sided tape, in addition to the regular tape

Next meeting: Saturday, January 11, 2025

Meeting at 10 am, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, 800 N. New Road, Waco 

Making Marks and Letters with Folded Pens

 

From Jeanne Dittmann

Back in 2017 I taught a program and workshop on making and using folded pens. It’s time to revisit that tool with the guild. Please bring what you have but don’t worry if you don’t have everything:

• a folded pen only if you have one (if you don’t even know what that means, there will be extras at the meeting for you to try)
• some sort of liquid medium (ink or liquid watercolor)
• some inexpensive practice paper that takes liquid well (cheap watercolor paper would be great)

We are NOT going to be making folded pens this time around, so if you have multiple folded pens, would you mind bringing them to share? I will have quite a few with me (some for sale), but each one is different and that’s fun to explore. We’ll be talking a little about what the heck these tools are — they’re not broad edged pens exactly, and they’re certainly not pointed pens, so where do they fit in the calligraphic world? Then we’ll start to make marks with them and explore some fun ways to make letters from those marks.

It’s going to be all about play and experimentation. And that’s fitting for this tool.