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You Asked, We Answer Fun with the Scor-it Board Press Did You Know? Great Finds!
Past Newsletters |
June/July, 2008 Newsletter Welcome to Scor-it News, a monthly eNewsletter from the makers of Scor-it Boards and the Scor-it Mini. In the Spotlight: Suzanne Cannon - Quietfire Design
Suzanne has been published in Somerset Studio, Take Ten, Just Cards and books such as ABC Canada and Signatures. In 2000 she had her first solo exhibition of calligraphic works and hand-bound books entitled Lines of Evolution. In recent years, her company Quietfire Design has begun carrying an extensive and eclectic collection of art supplies oriented towards calligraphers, bookbinders, ATC artists and altered artists. You’ll find the Scor-it Board as an important part of that mix. Suzanne uses the Scor-it Board for precise scoring and folding, for decorative embossed and de-bossed lines. She stepped way out of the box for the project she designed for this month’s newsletter. The funky lettering, equally suitable for kids’ art or adults with a sophisticated eye, is evidence of her unique creative approach. When she was eleven a neighbor gave Suzanne a dip pen, showed her a book on basic Italic calligraphy, and from that moment on she’s had a pen in her hand. Suzanne got a degree in chemistry, using her “left brain big time” and not doing any art. But Suzanne made up for it right after university, joining a calligraphy society, drawing and taking pottery classes even though her day job was as a research chemist for over a decade. Calligraphy was for enjoyment, though she taught and took on occasional commissions. Suzanne believes that it takes a long time to master calligraphy skills so she continued to take every workshop she could during these early years. After they married, Suzanne and her husband moved to England and then to the US, living in Cambridge, MA where they had their first child. They moved back to the west coast of Canada where they have settled. Lettering jobs allowed Suzanne to be a stay at home mom. Suzanne remarked that she loved the practice of calligraphy, that it’s tough but something she thrives on. She calls it “Practice, but with your heart in it.” With the birth of a second child, chemistry and calligraphy both went on a back burner. She didn’t have time to do the formal pieces of lettering with all the planning and design that go into that kind of work. It’s not something that can be done in “stops and starts” because it involves warming up and then an uninterrupted block of time so that the work will flow. Suzanne began to bind books, an activity that can be done in small steps and chunks of time. Calligraphers, after all, were the people who hand wrote the first books. So bookbinding and calligraphy are very much entwined. It began as something she did exclusively for her own pleasure, but soon Suzanne started teaching beginning bookbinding and soft cover books, to sell them at craft fairs, and as she learned more, she taught other styles of binding, too. When there was more time, Suzanne picked up calligraphy again. It was “like riding a bicycle”, easy to pick up. Suzanne was ready to sell her work, but living in an isolated community made that a challenge so she took seriously the suggestion a friend made to her husband and created a web site. After all, she’d been mailing a flyer, so why not put out an on-line newsletter instead! And while she was at it, Suzanne began to carry supplies and tools for her students and visitors to her site, too. Like so many small businesses, Quietfire Design began to take shape in ways its owner might not have predicted at first. Three years ago someone suggested that she have stamps made from her designs. The notion had been in her mind for a long time, so Suzanne decided to go for it. There are now close to 100 stamps, at this time sold un-mounted only, as well as sheets of alphabets. Suzanne selects quotes that speak to her, each one just right for stamping cards and art work for life’s occasions, big and small, happy and sad. Suzanne Cannon’s Quietfire Design rubber stamps are works of art. Each letter, each curve, each tiny detail is evidence that a skilled, talented human hand has created the calligraphy. For store owners, this means that Suzanne’s stamps are not what you’ll see from other companies. For consumers, it means you don’t have to learn calligraphy to achieve the look of beautiful hand lettering on cards, scrapbooks and other projects. Suzanne is a perpetual student. She studies ancient manuscripts to see how calligraphers used letter forms in different cultures and times long past. She charges her batteries with new challenges like teaching a class called “Italic Boot Camp” for people who’ve studied lettering before but want to refine and redefine their skills. She’s not content to stay at the same level in her own work; Suzanne is eager to grow as an artist. Check out Suzanne’s project, view her work in the Scor-it Gallery or visit her web site, www.quietfiredesign.com, or www.quietfiredesign.ca Q - I love the way Suzanne Cannon used the Scor-it Board to create lettering. What else can I do that’s unique and different?
Q - What’s the difference between the Scor-It Board and other scoring tools? A - Move your cardstock or paper away from the centering ruler to create diagonal lines for folding, or emboss or de-boss starbursts and the rays from the sun, random diagonals that crisscross to create an interesting background, and so on. Experiment! We’d love to see what you come up with! Get out the Scor-it Board as you get ready for a new school year. Some ideas to get you started: • Mini accordion books in which to keep class assignments. L The Scor-it Board received the coveted Member Tested & Recommended seal from Creative Home Arts Magazine, July/August 2008 issue, page 60 or visit Creative Home Arts web site. The company name Quietfire Design has an interesting history. Suzanne took a graphic design class in the late 1980s and as an assignment had to design an identity program with company name and logo. She thought that the words Quietfire Design suggested subtlety, strength and artistry. It also represents the quiet but passionate way Suzanne Cannon pursues her art, one spark igniting the next, as each letter joins the next to become a word, each word joins the next as a thought comes to life. You can create the look of high end embossed invitations using the Scor-it Board. Learn how… Add Scor-it embossed lines to the invitations you print from a home computer and take them to a whole new level. A simple border at the top and bottom, a double rule down one side; the possibilities are endless. Add a low relief (easy to mail) embellishment - ribbon or trim, a small silk flower, and your invitations will rival those from a high end boutique. The best part: It only takes seconds to emboss beautiful, precise, expensive looking lines on an invitation. Even if you’re making a hundred or more, you’re done in a snap. Check out Norwegian designer Bibi Lindahl’s bilingual accordion thank you card (TAKK in Norwegian, THANKS in English) in Scrap & Stamp Arts Magazine, September 2008, page 34. She used the Scor-it Board for creating the mountain and valley folds and to emboss and embellish the tags and other decorative elements. Great Finds! |
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In the spotlight this month is Suzanne Cannon, calligrapher, bookbinder and self-described “altered person” living on Vancouver Island. In addition to designing, creating art and teaching throughout Western Canada, she publishes a free online newsletter on her website full of information and inspiration. 
ook for a new Webisode at TVWeekly.com featuring Tricia Morris. The newest episode, “Expanding Memories” will begin airing Friday, July 4. She’ll demo the Scor-it Mini and show the specially designed carrying case.