Die Cut Brush Calligraphy Canvas Art
I am currently obsessed with two things: brush calligraphy and my digital die cutting machine. Brush calligraphy has been a long-standing obsession and since I got the Silhouette Portrait around Christmas I’ve been really putting it through its paces. I decided to incorporate both things when setting out to design a piece of encouraging/inspirational wall art.
To see me writing in-action (along with a full step-by-step tutorial of this wall art craft) be sure to check out the video I have uploaded to my Youtube channel!
I often prefer using brushes with actual fibers to tools like the Tombow dual brush pens which have felt-tip nibs and come in lots of water-based colors. All brush pens have their advantages and disadvantages; some make it easier to achieve certain styles or techniques. All I know is that I tend to return to my real-brush options most often.
Once you have it sized and placed on the cut area properly (I have it sized to fit my canvas and to cut from a sheet of Gold Glitter Card Stock) continue to the Trace Window > Select Trace Area > Trace. You may have to do some fiddling with the cut lines to make sure everything will work properly. I have found the website silhouetteschoolblog.com to be super helpful as I am learning to navigate this new world of digital die cutting – there are so many tutorials out there for anything you might need!
Before hitting “send” and feeding the glitter card stock through to cut, I tested the settings to make sure everything would cut clean. I’d never used this card stock before and just a little test in a corner can save a whole lot of hassle down the road.
The 8×10 inch canvas I planned to add my lettering to needed some love, so I put down a layer of gesso and went to town with some Faber Castell Gelatos in bright pink and purple colors. I wanted it to be so bright, cheerful, and feminine that it could basically knock you over the head with how sweet it looked.
I used a baby wipe to smear the pigment around, fingers to smudge. More white gesso as needed for highlights. Color around the sides of the canvas as well.
Once the letters were glued on with Aleene’s Tacky Glue, I realized I had a butterfly from the dollar store that would be a perfect embellishment. So I grunged it up with some black ink, splattered it with Winsor and Newton gold gouache, and fixed it on with E-6000.
This glitter card stock was a dream to work with and it was especially nice not to get glitter all over the place while still getting such a shiny result.