Have you ever wondered what it would be like to do calligraphy with a blindfold on. No? Just me?
I’ve been doing calligraphy for a while now. Calligraphy is pretty much broken down into basic strokes, and at this point, the basic strokes are just ingrained in me. The other day I got to thinking – I wonder if I could do calligraphy with my eyes closed. It was one of those “I’m trying to fall asleep but can’t stop thinking about it” thoughts, so I decided I just had to try it.
So I did! And I want to challenge you to do it too! I hope you have as much fun as I did.
Here’s How To Do It
Write the same words I do, snap a picture, and post it on Instagram using #BlindfoldLettering. Make sure you tag me! I’m going to do a drawing for some free brush pens for those who participate!
First Things First…
The links below may be affiliate links where appropriate. This means that your purchase through these links may result in a few cents in payment to me, to support creating further resources like this one! That being said, I will never suggest supplies that I do not personally use and fully recommend.
Supplies Used
- Blindfold – Honestly, I just used a headband. I made sure it was a good size, so I can’t cheat.
- Tombow Fudenosuke
- Rhodia Paper
Rather watch than read? No problem! Feel free to follow along in real-time to watch me attempt calligraphy blindfolded!
Let’s Get Started!
I put my headband over my eyes. I couldn’t see anything. I promise I didn’t cheat! I just covered my eyes and tried some words!
For my words, I picked some random words from Google. I didn’t want any that would be too easy or too difficult for me – I just wanted some random ones. Google gave me BATTLE, ELEPHANT, and DECLINE.
Take the cap off your pen before you add the blindfold. Put your blindfold on. And jump right in with BATTLE.
BATTLE
As I started writing BATTLE, I knew that the strokes made it really easy. However…
Here was the problem: I had to lift my pen after each stroke. Each time I lifted my pen, I lost my place. It was reeeeeally hard to line all the strokes up properly.
How do you think I did?
I mean… it could have been worse. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. My b started out perfectly! I lost it on the downstroke on the a though. Lowercase a’s can be tricky though – sometimes those are challenging even on a good day with my eyes open.
For the next one, I decided to follow my stroke with my pointer finger so I would know where I ended each stroke. I hoped that this would help me not lose my place each time I lifted my pen. Wanna see if this worked better?
ELEPHANT
I put my blindfold back on, grabbed my pen, and then realized that elephant is actually a really hard word.
As I worked through each stroke, I followed along each stroke with my opposite pointer finger.
I used my fingertip as a guide point each time I started writing again.
How do you think this one turned out?
Oooof. I wasn’t expecting the big gap on my a. What happened?! I had my finger on the edge…. Right? RIGHT? Apparently not. ?
This didn’t work out how I had hoped, AND my finger ended up covered in ink…
Neither of those (BATTLE or ELEPHANT) really worked. With one more word to go, I had to decide which approach I should go for. Just wing it? Yup, I definitely just winged it.
Before I show you, do you think DECLINE will be my best word? There isn’t an “a” in DECLINE, so that’s promising…
DECLINE
As I started on DECLINE, I decided that I just wasn’t going to lift my pen.
Just kidding… I had to lift my pen for the c.
I kept going… kept going… I was super hopeful it looked okay.
And then I realized – oh no. I still needed to dot my i. In hindsight, I definitely should have done that as I was writing and finished the “i” downstroke!
What do you think?
It could have been worse… but it definitely looks like I wrote CLECLINE not DECLINE. Oops!
And that’s a wrap!
Overall, this was pretty fun. It really made me think of my strokes and where I was lifting my pen. When I teach calligraphy, I always recommend you lift your pen… But apparently when your eyes are closed, there’s pretty strong evidence here that you shouldn’t lift your pen off the page as you go.
And if you’re looking for a more serious tutorial recommendation (since this one is a bit unserious), check out this one!
Hey! Now it’s YOUR turn!
I really want you to try this! I want to see if anyone nails it! Please try it, snap a photo, and post it on Instagram using #BlindfoldLettering. Don’t forget to tag me!
I’ll do a draw for some free brush pens for those who participate (valid in March 2021)!
And finally, your 3D dad joke…
Why is spelling so hard when you’re blindfolded?
Because you can’t C anything.
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