This project took me far too long. It was “by request” — my mom wanted me to inscribe some of her favorite quotations on to 3×5 cards. She was then going to hang them from an antique hay rake she has in her workroom. 
3×5 cards were not going to do it for me. So i made these leaves with soft pastels. After making the leaves, i realized that the soft pastels would rub off on everything.
So there was a long delay before i got around to buying fixative. Then i over sprayed the fixative on my test leaf, leaving it looking oddly frosted and spotting through on the obverse.
So, there was a long delay before i got around to spraying all the leaves, as i feared i was going to ruin them all. Eventually, i did spray the rest of the leaves — and took these two photos. The calligraphy was to be done on the white obverse of the leaves.
In the same time frame, i heard that some ATC i’d made for the “Glorified Characters” trade had been lost in the mail. I had been frustrated with the calligraphy on those; too loose them as well was disappointing. I slowly developed a block against doing the calligraphy. Moving provided a very nice excuse not to continue with anything.
Still, i’d committed to this project, so last weekend i did the calligraphy. I tested the paper — seemed using Pounce was good, Pounce + resin was not. I made a sheet with rules to put behind the leaf in hopes the rules would show through as a guide. I didn’t practice a great deal — i need months of practice i think.
Layout was hard and didn’t work. I’d previously done layout with a digital font on the leaf patterns; the font and scale didn’t really match my nibs. Since i couldn’t use those digital layouts, i tried sketching the lettering on the leaves. I never estimated the lettering width correctly. I ended up using a C-4 and Higgins non-waterproof ink.
I am hyperaware of the imperfections. Without looking, a week later, i can list: I spattered some drops of ink on the colored side of the leaves, i smudged some of the lettering on the first leaf, i misspelled a word and had to patch it with another layer of paper…. I don’t feel like scanning in the lettering.
I think it will be just fine, but i’ve learned how much doing things on request triggers bad perfectionist paralysis in me. I’m going to have to see how this affects my participation in ATC and other trades. I certainly got worked up over my Glorified Characters trade. (And to have them lost!)