A few years ago, I enrolled in Dressmaking at Negoskwela. Wala lang. I just wanted to do something completely different from what I know and am exposed to. Maiba naman.
I like to shake things up a bit once in awhile. Sometimes I end up discovering a talent I didn’t know I had. Most of the time I end up just laughing at myself and making new friends. Walang talo.
So when Cher Cabula invited me to sign up in her Calligraphy class, I thought, why not?
We all got a set of materials
Cher’s Calligra-class 1.0 started with a few minutes of lecture on the basics. We got so excited when she had us pour the ink and prepare the nib. Game na!
We used a G nib
After getting the hang of handling the nib holder and working on thick and thin lines, we moved on to writing letters and eventually, words.
“Your handwriting is nice, I’m sure you’ll do well,” I can’t remember which friend told me that after I had announced that I am attending Calligraphy class. Puwes, kung sino man siya eh nagkamali siya!
My lines turned out all thick. I knew I was putting too much pressure on the nib but I couldn’t figure out how not to! Terrible! I envied the sexy, slim letters of my seatmates. We were all first timers but I did worst. Comedy lang, as usual!
I was kulelat in class. But hey, I was the neatest. I didn’t spill my ink, I used the least amount of tissue paper and I hardly had any ink marks on my hands. One classmate even ended up with ink on her face — which she wore with pride, by the way. Kumbaga sa school, kung may best in Math, best in English and best in Science, ako yung best behaved.
“You just need to practise,” assured Cher. She says she does at least 15 minutes of Calligraphy daily.
We all agreed that Calligraphy is highly recommended for the broken hearted. It requires so much focus. “wala ka na talagang maiisip na iba habang ginagawa ito ‘no?,” observed one of my classmates. Or maybe because we were newbies struggling with every stroke. “Don’t forget to breathe,” Cher reminded us every so often. I swear, it was much needed because hindi talaga kami humihinga!
The last exercise required us to write our full names. Of course I just wrote “Nana Nadal”.
“Not following instructions ka,” reprimanded Cher. No way would I have revealed my full name! Ire-refund ko ang binayad ko if she had insisted.
For the required inspiring quote, everyone’s creativity shone — in coming up with the shortest! Haha!
Mine was “progress not perfection”. It’s a line that my friend Sonja always dishes out when I’m being hard on myself.
My work
We thought it would also be fun to write hugot quotes. In Filipino, para solid ang tama! At solid din ang tawa namin!
This is my classmate’s work, guess whose idea
Cher will hold two classes next month, also at K&L Café along White Plains, Quezon City.
Those two dates are two separate sessions. So a class just runs for a day, 4 hours, actually.
Fee is P1,900, inclusive of materials, food, drinks, non-stop tawanan at masayang kwentuhan.
Class picture
Sharing with you the link to Cher’s Calligraphy blog, www.littlerock-creations.com. You may also view her latest projects on Instagram, @chercabula.
You’ve always been the “Always neat and well-groomed girl” in our class!!!
We both were, that’s why we became friends. The only two people in class with pristine white Reeboks even after soccer class, remember? Hahaha!