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DIY Rustic Mountain Wedding
This DIY rustic mountain wedding was inspired by a series of handmade paper from Share Studios.
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DIY Minimal Chic Wedding
At the end of 2021, Karla Chew introduced another #DesignYourDreamInvites challenge. And I just had to do the challenge!
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How I design tattoos
These days I get a lot of requests for tattoo designs based on my Cambodian calligraphy. Here’s a look at what you can expect when ordering a design from me.
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30 Day Reels Challenge 2021
In September 2021, I did #30DayReelsChallenge to help better my video making skills and sharing who I am and what the behind the scenes look like.
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Turning my Khmer calligraphy into wearable art
I’ve been wanting to make my Khmer calligraphy into wearable art for some time now and was browsing Rebekah’s store when I saw she offers custom 3D jewelry!
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Personal Tips for Starting An Art Business
When I started this business, I didn’t have a whole lot of people I could turn to for help. I had amazing teachers who helped me with calligraphy and art. But the business side has been something I waded through on my own. Recently, I’ve been seeing a slew of useful articles and courses! So I wanted to share some personal tips if and when you want to start your own art business. By no means are these the ONLY tips you should follow. I have worked as a freelancer designer since 2005 before I started this art business in 2014. All the tips below are based on my personal experience that I felt might be helpful to anyone out there. For more professional help like CPA, lawyer, marketing or business professional, please seek out accordingly. READ POST »
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DIY Baroque Inspired Wedding
For Karla Chew of Written Word Calligraphy‘s #DesignYourDreamInvites Day 2 challenge, she introduced Samantha and Garreth who are planning a destination wedding at Château de Challain-la-Potherie, France.
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My participation with #DesignYourDreamInvites Challenge 2021
Karla Chew of Written Word Calligraphy initiated this new design challenge for calligraphers (or anyone) interested in making their move into the wedding invitation business.
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Behind the Scene: Custom Signage: Shady Selection
For this custom order, the client asked for her business name to be designed with Khmer kbach around the edges in an 8×10 black paper. She specified red, white, and black as the overall theme color.
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Khmer Calligraphy 2021
I started this calligraphy art initiative called #khmerappreciationmonth last year to learn about my heritage.
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Behind the Scene: Custom Name Card: Kannitha
The client asked for 2 6×4 cards with Khmer and English name. One was to be gilded and the other is regular gouache paint. The English name would be scripted on top.
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CLIENT: Collaborating with SEAD Project
As Khmer new year fast approaches, I wanted to share a project I worked on with The SEAD Project. They reached out to me after an Instagram follower recommended my work. The initiative is to showcase Southeast Asian artists by creating greetings cards. The theme was Gratitude, Pandemic, and New Year. Along with some AMAZING artists and illustrator, I’m hugely humbled by the fact that I got chosen to create Khmer calligraphy cards.
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Behind the Scene: Gilded Khmer Name: Sophinie
For this custom order, the client asked for her name in Khmer using an italic style I came up with. She asked for the size to be about 3 inches tall and to be gilded.
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Case Study: Caring for Cambodia
Full disclosure: I am a self-taught Khmer calligrapher. With my knowledge of western calligraphy, I studied of Khmer writing styles on my own. Thus, I created my own style and to also learn traditional Khmer calligraphy using Western tools.
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Khmer Calligraphy 2020
This year, I’m introducing a new initiative for my calligraphy project. Every April, I will be posting 1 Khmer (Cambodian) calligraphy piece a day. #khmerappreciationmonth
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Calligraphy Masterclass 2019
2019 marks the 3rd year I’ve been attending Sheila Waters’ calligraphy masterclass. It is a week long workshop of inspiration and hard work. READ POST »
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My #DogDaysOfSummer at The Museum of the Dog
On August 24, 2019, I participated in the artist showcase at The Museum of the Dog (run by the American Kennel Club). The #DogDayOfSummer featured women artists painting dog portraits. There were 30 applicants and 10 were chosen to demonstrate on Saturday and Sunday.
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Watercolor Flower Alphabets
Earlier this year, I participated in Adobe’s #36DaysofType challenge where I painted a flower for each letter.
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Member’s Exhibition of Works at National Arts Club 2019
Part of being a member of Society of Scribes NYC Chapter, I was able to exhibit my work alongside some amazing calligraphers in the guild. It took place 4-29.March.2019 at National Arts Club.
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Favorite Inks
There are so many inks out there and some are good and some are superb. This is a small list of items I use but there’s always more to try out!
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Featured in Queens Scene
I’m so happy to be featured in Queens Scene November 2018 magazine edition! I’m so thankful for the write-up. Check out the writing here at Queens Scene or grab a copy at any local shop! READ POST »
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Illuminated Literary Female Characters
One of my big fun projects this year, among all the client work, was to create a drawing of famous literary female characters with a illuminated letter. I thought this would be a fun project but it turned out to be even more interesting. I’ve read so many new books I haven’t read before and it made me realize how lacking in diversity AND female characters there are in literature.
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Favorite Pens for non-paper media
While my main medium is paper, I often do various media for in-house works like engraving or customization. For non-engraving work, I opt for pen to avoid spilling and bringing in ink to a nice store. Here are some options that you might be interested in trying. READ POST »
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Favorite Brush Pens
When I go out to markets or teach workshops, I often get asked which is my favorite pens. It’s hard to say which is a favorite pen. It all depends on the situation. So I am making a list of my favorite brush pens that I use on paper. For non-paper media, I will create another blog post about that.
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52 Weeks of Surface Calligraphy Part 1
It’s halfway through 2018!
View all videos here: Facebook Playlist
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52 Weeks of Lettering Part 1
This year, I started a new project that I would create 1 lettering piece a week. This project helped me to hone my skill and to create some nice pieces for social media. Each piece is hand drawn on paper with various media.
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Hand drawing a spiral
Creating spiral is easy using Illustrator or finding templates online. In this tutorial, I wanted to show how to hand draw a spiral for those days when you’re without modern technology. For me, this happens when I’m flying or traveling without a laptop.
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Laying out a quote design by hand
In this tutorial, I’m going to show how I lay out a quote by hand. While you can do this on the computer easily for those well versed with Adobe, this is really meant for beginners. I also sometimes prefer to do this because it’s a more tactile experience. READ POST »
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Member’s Exhibition of Works at National Arts Club
Part of being a member of Society of Scribes NYC Chapter, I was able to exhibit my work alongside some amazing calligraphers in the guild. It took place March 2018 at National Arts Club, which is one of the most beautiful homes in Gramercy Park. READ POST »
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Lunar animal drawings are perfect for flourishes
As a young kid growing up in a very diverse neighborhood, I got to celebrate lunar new year with the local Vietnamese population and it was a lot of fun, partly because of the food. As Cambodians, we celebrated our new year later in the year when the monsoon season picks up. But we celebrate the same zodiac!
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The course of true love never did run smooth
With daily routines and habits, I find sometimes showing love (I mean more than the habitual kisses and I love you’s) is often overlooked. We often hear about relationships going stale when one or both partner take each other for granted. And then, it becomes too hard to get out of and you become too comfortable in it. So what do you do? READ POST »
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Featured in Boro Mag!
I’m so happy to be part of the Crafty Queens section in the local paper, Boro Mag! If you’re local to Astoria, LIC, or Sunnyside, grab a copy at any local shop! READ POST »
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Lessons from First Market Event
After 2 years of an online shop, I’ve decided to take my shop to a live event! For my first market, I decided to keep it in Queens since it’s my hometown and all. Importantly, it was being held at Queens Museum, an art museum and I felt like it would fit my works. READ POST »
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Holiday Cheers from Yours Sincerely!
I love the holidays! It’s so much fun even when I was home alone. The colors, the lights, the decorations, the food, and the chocolate can keep even a cold soul warm. To get my shop (and home ready) for the holidays, I made a prepared a bunch of activities. READ POST »
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5 Rules to Writing a Love Letter
In my research of love letters, I’ve found that some of the most memorable ones aren’t the funnies, the scandalous, or the gross. The ones that go down in history and is admired and oohed and ahhed over are downright honest. Let’s admit that not all of us are Shakespeare in the making. And neither do we want to sound like another Hallmark card. We want to send an individual message to our significant other that could be shared and cherished. READ POST »
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Behind A Room With A View Inspired Wedding
After reading and watch A Room With A View, I always thought how romantic would it be to have an Italian destination wedding? I know many celebrities have them in Venice or Rome or Florence. But I’ve always had a soft spot for the Italian riviera.
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Jazz Age at Cooper Hewitt
Just 2 blocks north of the Guggenheim, you’ll find the Cooper Hewitt, which had been renovated pretty recently and boasts some very cool technology to store information about the pieces you see. It’s one of my favorite museums to visit, not for for technology, but the exhibits always showcase some aspect of design.
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Custom Tote Bag Sketches
I started experimenting with doing calligraphy on tote bag after perusing Blick’s Art Store and finding some fabric marker. While the marker itself frays after multiple uses, I was able to design some beautiful pieces. And I got a request from friends to design bags with their dogs on it. While I haven’t done illustration on real animals in quite awhile, I was up for the challenge!
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Behind Austen-Inspired Wedding
To prepare for this Jane Austen themed wedding, I researched samples of designs and motifs and hands (fonts) typically used from in or around that period. From the research, I sketched ideas before deciding on a direction.
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Letters on the Intrepid
Before the invention of personal computers and mobile phones, do you remember paper, pencil, and pen? And post stamps? READ POST »
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Signage on Coney Island
Old signages are hard to come by these days with the influx of newly designed one beckoning customers to try their latest and greatest. But I find Coney Island still has some old signage up its sleeves. You can spot a new sign right away because it doesn’t have that “beach-looking” signs. READ POST »
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Illuminated Books at The Cloisters
New York City has so many museums that you could never see all the museums in this lifetime unless you spent every single day at one. But to see every piece would take years. READ POST »
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Laguardia Community College Exhibit
While I was waiting to apply for the ID NYC, I found myself waiting in the hallway of Laguardia Community College. I’ve been the college twice and it was only the second time did I notice the pictures on the wall. READ POST »
