Arabic Thank You Card: Square Kufi Script شكراً جزيلاً

Yesterday was Alya's graduation ceremony from the Arabic School. She finished her first year. I am  the room parent for the class and decided with the parents to give the teacher, the assistants and administrators "thank you" gifts. I decided to make little Arabic "Thank You" cards to go with the miniature rose plants that I got. I have always loved Calligraphy in general and Arabic Calligraphy in specific. I also studied Western Calligraphy for three years under the magnificent Carol DuBosch in Portland, Oregon, click here to read about Carol Dubosch. Here is an example of my Western calligraphy practice of different scripts.

Material:

Bienfang Gridded Paper

White Cardstock

Paper Trimmer

Exacto knife

Colored Paper

Glue Dots

Bone Folder

Printer

Instructions:

I have always been attracted to Square Kufi script. I think it is a great script to start learning Arabic Calligraphy. First, I must acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Fayeq Oweis, click here to read about him. He provided me with much needed information and guidance in this project despite his busy schedule.  I started my design by working on a grid, I used Bienfang gridded paper. Using the Square Kufi Scale, I wrote the words "Thank you very much" in arabic  شكراً جزيلاً . Then I tried different arrangements of the words that were aesthetically appealing. This is the almost final design. 

I converted the design into a digital version. I must admit that I have been tinkering with Inscape, a free illustrator application but my time and primitive experience did not allow me to use it, so I opted for Pages. I can see you rolling on the floor, laughing out loud. Pages! Pages! Yes, Pages of Mac. I swear that I can use Microsoft Words and Apple Pages to make anything...well, almost. Long story short, I digitized the design and this is the final look.

I printed the design on regular card stock.

 Cut them out using my paper cutter

The rectangle inside the design are cut outs, so using my exacto knife, I cut them out.

I chose a bold print to highlight those cut outs. It took me a while to choose the paper, but I am very satisfied with my choice.

I used different types of glue to see which ones worked better. As usual, liquid glue disappoint because the moisture affects the paper. I use glue dots instead, which worked better.

I also tired two different designs for the cards, a trifold design to cover the colored paper and a two fold to show case the attractive silver color at the back of the paper. I think I like the second one.

I wrote in Arabic inside the card and used natural jute to wrap it around the miniature rose plants. 

Nadine

Dsiclaimer: This Design is the property of Reinventing Nadine. If you wish to use it, please ask for permission by contacting me Nadine at Reinventingnadine dot com