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Small and fun projects

04.01.2018 by Kristen Kiong //

So once in a while, especially on long weekends, I try to do things that are fun. Today, that involved drawing on an egg. I did a stop motion of parts of it but for some reason my phone is throwing a tantrum and for the life of me, I can’t upload all the photos I meant to use. So there.

Meanwhile, to tide us all over, free wallpapers and prints in various colours of our first #30daysofbiblelettering post!

Categories // Freebies Tags // calligraphy, Design, hand lettering, Kristen, painting

Behind the scenes (Part 1): Designers’ Dilemmas

09.26.2017 by Kristen Kiong //

Yesterday evening, I was fixing back some of the frames that had fallen off the wall onto the sofa. This one in particular stood out to me – I Guess it’s all the memories associated with this image.

This, was my wedding dinner invite. I also had another design as my afternoon ceremony invite. I remember toying with different Color palettes: yellow and grey, jade green and maroon… The idea of a Peranakan themed wedding only came up when one of my bridesmaids said “I’ve always wanted to wear a kebaya.” My response? “Let’s make it happen.”

4 years ago when I started doing calligraphy, my goal was to write and design my own wedding invites. By the time it came to mine, I had probably designed more than 10  invite suites. But was it easy? Nope. Not at all.

Why?

  1. I didn’t know what I wanted! Flowers were in trend. They were gorgeous. But at the same time I wanted to do something different from the usual flowers. I wanted something specific to my then-fiancé and I, but what?
  2. I wanted everything. Since I was designing my own suite, I wanted to have a Programme card, a guest card, invite cards, a thank you card, etc. Etc. But how would I even start if I didn’t have a design? Ambitious much.
  3. Pressure. I was stressed about the fact that as a designer myself, my invites had to be the best they could be. I don’t think those were expectations others’ put on me but it was something I had taken upon myself. I remember writing my wedding verse multiple times…and then not using it. And then drawing and scanning multiple pieces, putting them together and deciding.. it’s not spectacular enough.

It was stressful then but I remember the idea came when I was least expecting it. That’s a story for another day. Bottom line though, is that everyone goes through that phase, normal brides and artists brides both.

In Part 2, I’ll talk a little more about the design steps and processes.

 

Categories // Hand lettering, Wedding Tags // Bespoke wedding, calligraphy, Design, hand lettering, Kristen, Watercolour, wedding, Wedding stationery, Wedding suite

From Scribbles to Script

02.22.2017 by Kristen Kiong //

Hello, I’m Kristen (instagram @kristenkiong). Just a little bit about me: I’m a left-hander, I’m clumsy, and (as the photo  suggests) I live for ice cream. I work as a Speech Therapist by day and the leftie behind the handwritten works on KEJJ Co. by night, and on Saturdays for workshops. People often tell me that I make hand lettering, watercolouring and drawing all seem so easy, but most don’t realize that it didn’t always start this way.

 

Back when I was 3, my mum used to give me paper and colour pencils to keep me quiet during Sunday services. Throughout primary and secondary school, I was a doodler of sorts. I never did Art as a subject because I never thought I could “create to a theme”. I did music instead, but I don’t do much of that anymore. Here’s a sneak of what my old doodles used to look like:

 

Then three years ago, I decided hey, everyone is doing calligraphy so maybe  I can try. I didn’t know where or what to buy, but I decided to start with using highlighters and round tip ikea markers.

 

I started #100typographydays to make myself practice writing, with the end goal of lettering my very own wedding invites.

Before I post my 100th and final work, here's a review of the #100typographydays journey I've taken. Take a closer look in #kristen100. #kristenwrites

A post shared by Kristen ☁️ Calligraphy (@kristenkiong) on Dec 30, 2014 at 6:06am PST

Fast-forward 2.5 years since the first seed, I did design my own wedding stationery and this is how it looked.

 

Pardon the substandard looking photos, but they’re photos plucked from various walks of life. The bottom line of this post is that this “talent” that everyone talks of didn’t develop overnight. It was years and years of doodling and failures. Don’t give up when it doesn’t work out! What you don’t see is the behind the scenes – writing the same thing a million times, getting frustrated about it; and when I start writing more posts, I’ll reveal more artists’ thoughts and creative struggles.

Till then, have a good week. We’ve hit Wednesday, that means we’re halfway through!

 

Categories // Hand lettering Tags // calligraphy, hand lettering, Kristen

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