From Bad Handwriting to Bespoke Hands: My Calligraphy Origin Story

Third grade was not kind to my handwriting.

I remember it clearly: a few classmates teasing me for how sloppy my letters looked next to theirs. And theirs was the quintessential 90's bubble handwriting. You know the one. Big round letters, hearts dotting the i's, that unmistakable loopy swagger every girl in my class seemed to have mastered except me.

So I did what any stubborn 3rd grader would do. I studied it. I copied it, letter by letter, until I could write it just as well as they could. And somewhere in that process, something clicked and, over time, I realized I could do this with any handwriting. I started noticing how different people formed their letters, how every person's handwriting was really its own little font, and I could learn to mimic almost any of them.

That curiosity never really left. I kept drawing letters, kept collecting "hands" the way other kids collected stickers, long before I had any idea that what I was doing had a name or that it was the very beginning of what would become Write Me Prettyy.

Learning Through Weddings, Not Workshops

For years, hand lettering was something I did for the people I loved, not something I studied. My sister's wedding got a chalkboard sign. Friends' weddings got place cards, each one written in a different hand depending on the mood of the day. My nephew's birthday got a banner, hand-lettered because that's just what I did when someone I cared about needed something made beautiful.

I never learned the "rules." I didn't know about angles or letter spacing or the structure that calligraphers spend years perfecting. I was just trying to make pretty things for the people in my life, learning everything organically, through trial and error, one project at a time.

Finally Slowing Down to Study the Craft

It wasn't until much more recently that I actually sat down and studied the why behind the letters: copperplate calligraphy, pointed pen basics, the structure I'd been skipping past for years while chasing the feeling of a beautiful finished piece. And honestly? It's changed how I see everything I make. Understanding the bones behind the letters has only made it easier to build new hands, faster, and with more intention.

What This Means for You

Here's what I think makes what I do a little different: I didn't start with the rules and work my way out to creativity. I started by mimicking, experimenting, and building an instinct for letterforms and now I'm layering the technical foundation on top of that. The result is a growing collection of hands and styles I can offer, each one shaped by years of just paying attention to how letters live and move.

A few things that curiosity turned into over the years:

• Silly live, laugh, love-esque signs for my friends in high school

• A chalkboard welcome sign for my sister's wedding

• Place cards in a handful of different hands for a friend's wedding, depending on what fit her vision

• A genuine, growing collection of hands I can now offer clients, built from over a decade of studying letters wherever I found them

I'm excited to keep developing new hands, learning the rules of traditional calligraphy, and to keep figuring out how to make every piece feel like it was made specifically for the person receiving it.

If you're planning a wedding or event and want something written just for you, I'd love to hear about it. Reach out through my contact form.

make it unique · make it yours · make it prettyy