How to write on wooden surface
What pen to use?
Use a pen that you won’t mind ruining (if you’re using a brush pen). I used an old Tombow Fudenosuke, and it is definitely compromised even though it is a hard tipped pen. The reason why I chose it is because it’s water resistant, and its tip is small and sturdy.
The tip is supposed to be a lot sharper. That’s why you should use an old pen!
Steps:
Draft on paper how you would like the calligraphy to look. Write the longest line first to make sure everything will fit
Write other lines based on the longest line. Use individual letters as reference
Write in pencil on the wooden surface
Loosely write over the pencil mark with the pen. Write in mono line and don’t press the tip for thick lines. Key: Don’t attempt to trace it. It is hard to write exactly the same, and your lettering is more likely to be wobbly if you’re stressed. The pencil mark is only there for overall positioning.
Do faux calligraphy to thicken the lines. Draw clean lines then colour it in. Key: Start small. Stop every now and then to zoom out for the big picture. There’s no going back and you’ll have to thicken all the lines if one goes overboard.
Wait for it to dry, then erase the pencil mark. Key: Press on the thickest line to check first before the eraser comes in!
Bonus tip:
Be flexible about lowercase positioning
Typically we would have lowercase on the same baseline as uppercase. But since they are written on individual wooden panels, they could look either too high or too low overall depending on the spelling.
For example if I hadn’t centralised the lowercase in “Rooney” and just wrote it on the same baseline as the uppercase, the whole word would be too close to the bottom edge.
The card box I made for my boyfriend’s brother’s wedding
