MICHIANA CALLIGRAPHY GUILD 

August 24, 2025

Earlier this month we held our Annual Michiana Calligraphy Guild Picnic.  Our President, Renee, once again hosted the lovely day at her home.  It was a wonderful day full of friendship, creativity sharing, inspiration and lots of hugs.  We had two members, Susan and Chris, traveled from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Traci came all the way from Bloomington, Illinois.  We had a few other out-of-town members join us via Zoom. We were delighted to see them! 

We like to invite all members to participate in a handmade exchange at this annual event.  Pat came up with the wonderful idea of exchanging a mobile.  Ginny collected the names of those who want to participate.  She did a drawing of names and informed each of us secretly who our mobile would be gifted to. She also lets us know if we needed to mail it or our person would be at the picnic.  Ginny stayed on top of us with reminders, especially for those that need to be mailed, so they arrived in time for the event.  I think we were all blown away at the beautiful mobiles that were received.  This is truly an inspirational group of ladies.  Below are the mobiles we were able to get pictures of.  Although showing them to those that joined us via Zoom was rather difficult, they were good sports and hopefully enjoyed the exchange. 

After the Zoom meeting and exchange, we enjoyed a delicious potluck lunch and a couple of demonstrations.  We had supplies to make a folding ornament, which Angie showed, a tool Judy loves and supplies to make a bookmark from Pat.  Anne generously brought in boxes of her treasured calligraphy supplies that she offered to anyone interested in giving them a new home.   

A big THANK YOU goes out to Renee for inviting us all to her home to celebrate our guild!

Submitted by Judy T - Guild Secretary 

 from: Chris

Hope everyone enjoyed our sharing!  

MICHIANA CALLIGRAPHY GUILD (update 2025-4-8)

MICHIANA CALLIGRAPHY GUILD 

(April 8, 2025 Update)

It's been a while since our last post; however, our Guild has been as active as always.  We hosted a 2-day virtual workshop in February with Suzie Beringer. Many of us enjoyed her class "Playful Pressurized Letterforms". Suzie is always so generous with her tips, tricks, and answering our questions.  

In addition, we held our monthly virtual business meeting the first Saturday in April.  One of our favorite parts of the meeting is the Show ‘n Tell section.  Rose collects members’ pictures of their work for the past month and puts them in a Power Point slide presentation. Renee then plays the slide show so we can look at each one separately and discuss them.  We enjoy seeing work in progress, finish work, asking for advice and options from each other and just generally enjoying each other’s company.  All the artwork, done by our members, is welcome and encouraged.  As you can see below, it isn’t only calligraphy that our members enjoy.  However,  by the time many pieces are complete, hand lettering if often included.  It’s just who we are!  We are here to support and encourage each other.  And when someone is having a hard time with their artwork or getting motivated, we are there for them also. 

FUN FACT:  Did you know that about half our members being from different states than just Indiana?    

Work in progress from Traci.

Pat's beautiful painting on cards.

Some beautiful lettering!  Everyone wants to feel Peace!

Ginny doing a Circle of Squares from our study group.

Judy practice from a demonstration taught by Traci at a March meeting.  

Both pictures above are from a book making class Renee attended in Kalamazoo this past week.

Angie playing with the double Seed of Life, the Circle of Squares and 

another design everyone wants to learn now.  

 DECEMBER 12, 2024 MICHIANA CALLIGRAPHY GUILD

Our December Guild meeting was held via Zoom as our meeting usually are. We had a short meeting but enjoyed several Show 'n Tell items from some of our talented members.  We had some time to talk about our next geometry study group meeting on January 15th. All members are invited to join in at any of these meetings.  If you aren't on the Zoom link distribution list, please contact  Renee to join in.

At our January 4, 2025 MCG Guild meeting, we will discuss some virtual workshops we have an opportunity to view from Sally Penley. We also will hear more about our upcoming Suzie Beringer "Playful Pressurized Letterforms" workshop, scheduled for February 22nd & 23rd.

Lots of exciting things are coming this next year! And a few show 'n Tell from our December meeting are shown below.

All of us at MCG would like to wish you a Merry Christmas!

          Submitted by Judy T. 

NOVEMBER 2024 MICHIANA CALLIGRAPHY GUILD 

At October's meeting, Renee demonstrated Art Deco lettering and flowers. It was a fun meeting. At this November meeting, we decided to enjoy socializing and spend extra time viewing and discussing the Show 'n Tell Power Point that Rose put together for us. The great thing, about our guild, is that we enjoy talking about each other's works of art, sharing techniques and building each other up. Traci specifically mentioned that this sharing is one of the things she appreciates most about being a guild member.  

Below are just a small sample of some of the show' n tell we enjoyed at the last meeting.

Our December meeting will be a shorter Zoom one because several of our members are gathering for lunch at Villa Macri to celebrate the holidays.  

Submitted by Judy T.

 September 22, 2024  -- Michiana Calligraphy Guild

We had a delightful summer picnic, in August, hosted by Renee at her home. Good food, several guild members present along with a few attending our meeting portion via Zoom. We also enjoyed a handmade bookmark exchange with members who wanted to participate. Then, during our September meeting, most of our artists explained what their inspiration was and how we made the bookmark they gifted to another member.  Wonderful surprises and fun were involved. Everyone seemed so pleased with the bookmark they received.  Below are just a few that were made.

Just a reminder that a brand new study group is beginning in mid-September. And then at our October 5th Guild meeting, we will see a demonstration of some art deco.

I'm sorry that I can't give credit to each artist, but I don't have that information on a couple of them.  So I felt it was only fair to not mention the artists at all.  Besides, we have to many talented members, if you are interested, you might want to join Michiana Calligraphy Guild.  We have members from all over the country!  

Submitted by Judy T.

 

July 18, 2024  -- Michiana Calligraphy Guild

We had a very enjoyable virtual meeting on July 13, 2024.   We are looking forward to our MCGAnnual Picnic in August and have decided to do a handmade bookmark exchange with those who signed up. We have a great suggestion for a demonstration to do at one of our future meetings.  This leads us to realized our fiscal year is almost over.  If anyone has any other demo suggestions, we would love to hear them.

Annual Dues are to be paid by August 3rd.  We are still keeping them at only $20.  

Traci has our Instagram account up and going.  Even though we have just started, we are so pleased with the number of people who are now following us.  If you are interested, you can find us at mcg_1990.  We have lots more to share in the upcoming months!   

For this meeting we choose to not plan a demonstration but leave extra time for visiting and enjoying the Show ‘n Tell of our creative members.  So, what have you been up to this summer?  You need to join our Guild to see them all.  Here are just a few.     

 

P

 Pat is just amazing!  She made this 5 x 7 birthday card based on an enhanced picture she took from a dragon book.  All the details and painting of this art show her talent.  

 

Angela is another one of our members that enjoys making special handmade cards for her family and friends. The second birthday card she cut out letters in the shape of flag, woven with cutouts letters on top of the weaving.

Anna her watercolor washes with ink scripts using Mary Oliver quotes. Used walnut ink to lighten a bright green watercolor, interesting color reactions. Played with adding other colors with saran wrap technique to manage bleed through and brightness of a color she didn’t prefer.

MCG CALENDAR FOR 2024 (subject to change if necessary)

August 3, 2024 – Guild meeting; Picnic at Renee’s home. Bookmark exchange.

September 7^, 2024 – Guild meeting

October 5, 2024 – Guild meeting

November 2, 2024 – Guild meeting

December 7, 2024 - Guild Christmas Party; Virtual meeting 10am–Noon. Lunch following at Rocky River. Ornament exchange.

Submitted by Judy T 

 

 

 

On May 4^th, our Guild hosted a virtual workshop with Suzie Beringer called “Sharp Italic”.  Suzie is always a delight to have for a class!  She willingly answers questions, shows tools she uses and how to care for them and makes the class fun with her genuine love of her art. 

Suzie often adds humor in her presentation which was the case when she explained that she just is not a “mathy person” and how she hides that by using her clear ruler to line things up.  Another funny one was when she said, “I’m a girl and I can change her mind”.  NO one disagreed with her.

Her style of opening spaces, branching off and using just the corner of the tool makes up Suzie’s Sharp Italic variation.  Her goal was to teach us an elegant hand that we could do with a bit more speed than some other lettering styles.  And she wants us to push ourselves to see what type of changes we can try to make our own style. 

I found myself with most of the supplies on her list, however, her using one item I did not have, which was an Elegant Writer, made me wish it had been on the list and I could try it.  It really showed her pen strokes much better than what I had.  She recommended using a broad edge nib such as a Brause or Tape (her preference) no smaller than an 2mm.  I thought I had a Brause but realized I did not the day before.  I had to use a Mitchell and I tried a Pilot Parallel Pen just because I was curious.  The Mitchell nib worked best.  Suzie had trained us, in the past, to use tracing paper and scraps of the same paper we were using for our final piece.  This she calls, “ your dress rehearsal”  so you know how it is going to work. 

In conclusion, if you have a chance to take any of Suzie Beringer’s workshops, please give them a try.  She has a wonderful selection of different classes.  I am glad I took the Sharp Italic and know it will be used often in my future calligraphy journey. 

Submitted by Judy T (5-23-24)

Sharp Italic by Ginny VanderHey

Sharp Italic by Judy T.