Project Scope: Wax Letter Seal Stamp (3D Printing Files)

Project Description: This project involves designing a wax letter seal stamp that can be produced via 3D printing. The design will consist of two components: a handle and a stamp part, with the handle inspired by the structure of a human brain. The stamp part will be designed to screw into the handle, facilitating easy assembly and disassembly. All image files will be sent separately, I can not figure out how to add it to this post.
Project Objectives:

• To create 3D printable files for a custom-designed wax seal stamp.
• To ensure that the stamp component can be easily attached to and detached from the handle.
• To deliver a design that is not only functional but also visually appealing, with the handle inspired by a human brain.

Components:

1. Handle: Designed with a human brain texture for visual appeal. I am attaching images for inspiration.
2. Stamp Part: Custom-designed based on a provided image, equipped with threads for attachment. The stamp imprint has to align with the image as perfectly as possible.

Design Specifications:

• The seal design will be based on the attached image.
• The designs will be optimized for 3D printing, considering factors like material support and print resolution.
• The interface between the stamp and the handle must support easy screwing and unscrewing for potential customization.

Steps to Completion:

1. Design Phase:
   • Develop initial sketches incorporating the brain-inspired handle.
   • Create detailed 3D models of the handle and stamp.
   • Revise models based on client feedback.
2. File Preparation:
   • Finalize 3D models.
   • Prepare and test 3D printing files, ensuring compatibility with common 3D printers.

Budget:

• $4 to be paid via Paypal, after completion of the project.

I know that in calligraphy, letters like و or ر or ا often connect “illegally”, i.e. against the conventional rules. I also know that I have seen some examples of this in people’s everyday handwriting, e.g. a و connected to a following م at the end of a word.
I am curious: are there particular “illegal” connections that are commonly used in everyday writing vs. others mostly used in calligraphy? If so, which ones are in common use?

My sister sent me an insane box of pens, inks, etc. this will be photo heavy. My favorite it this vintage Conway Strward coin-filler, a thin pen about the size of a waterman 52 1/2. The letter was written with it on Tomoegawa Tomoe River 52 gsm press 7. Ink is Athena Sepia.
Other goodies inside were a Pilot Falcon, I gave her my double-modded Spencerian one and she sent hers. I couldn’t deal with the scratchy noise of the mod.
There were two Vietnamese modded calligraphy pens, will ink them this weekend and give them a spin.
Lastly she included Montblanc Racing Green (long retired,) a Diamine racing green, and a very fat sample of Ina-ho!
https://i.imgur.com/PADY8Q5.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/xY1ZUM0.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/IZfESuN.jpeg

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Following the trend of the original Inheritance Cycle books, there will be a Deluxe Edition of Murtagh released this October 15th, with some new content, including the much anticipated World Map that Christopher has been working on.

• A long-anticipated scene featuring Eragon and Murtagh
• Stunning red decorative stained and stenciled edges
• A gorgeous, embellished foil-stamped cover
• Never-before-seen full-color maps of Alagaësia and, for the first time, the world beyond
• A full-color painting of Mt. Arngor
• A letter from Jeod [This is a new letter, entirely different from the previous one.]
• Two pieces of original black-and-white artwork by Christopher Paolini

From Edelweiss:

Murtagh: Deluxe Edition features John Jude Palencar's iconic art on a revamped cover with: stunning foil effects on the front, spine, and back; luxe red stenciled edges; two brand-new full-color maps drawn by Christopher, a bonus scene featuring Eragon and Murtagh, a new letter from Jeod, two new pieces of b&w art by Christopher, and full-color art of Mt. Arngor.

The runes on the map can be translated using the key given in Murtagh. They read:

Elëa: Where dreams and dragons dwell. To the west, Alalëa, ancestral home of elves, humans, urgals, and the dread Ra’zac. Here once lived the Grey Folk. To the east, Alagaësia, ancestral home of dragons and dwarves, here too live werecats, fanghur, and other beasts.

Links:

• https://www.amazon.com/Murtagh-Deluxe-World-Eragon-Inheritance/dp/0593898001/
• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753245/murtagh-deluxe-edition-by-christopher-paolini/
• https://twitter.com/paolini/status/1788237554304610425

I am trying to make a calligraphy looking piece but, was told that using regular fonts won't work because the plotter will try to get an outline and fill in the letters. Single stroke fonts were mentioned.
How would I go about getting a calligraphy handwritten look to plot through Inkscape?

I am trying to make a calligraphy looking piece but, was told that using regular fonts won't work because the plotter will try to get an outline and fill in the letters.
How would I go about getting a calligraphy handwritten look to plot?

Mini serial up in my head for a while. Writing after 10 years pause, please go easy on me. No hfy yet, just setting things up.
........................
Looking up towards the orbital ring, through dirty plexiglass roofing, James wipes his forehead and furrowed his eyebrows. The ring, known to the local as Halo Station due to the yellow sun glinting off of it when the angle is right, was an ugly strip of brutalist sunshade in James's opinion. It had been hastily constructed over the course of five years with government of private fundings, with the local bureaucrats and politicians the most well off from the scheme. The locals, third generation from the initial colonisers, had been opposed to government postings from the hub worlds but was strong armed by the mining and agriculture conglomerate to accept it. There were of course altercation between the locals and the conglomerate but anything larger than a demonstration were heavily suppressed with threats of cutting off vital terraforming supplies. The uneasy tension lasted until the ring orbital proposal was announced, with the locals divided in two camps. One was in favour, their thinking was that the station would bring attention of the wider human communities to their plights. The opposing view is that it would only bring more corporate interest to their system, with the oppressions and wealth discrimination that their forefathers escaped from to this new world in the first place.
James was of neither the opinions. He was planning on hitchhiking across the frontier worlds, edges of the explored galaxy, relying on his knowledge and skill of hydroponics to earn his living. He empathise with the locals, as he was ine himself, but knew that corporate greeds is as inescapable as taxes and death. The only thing keeping him from despairing the future was the tiny sum his family saved up. He wasrecently orphaned, but his parents were rather well off when they were alive, working on the water treatment plants of the terraforming complex, before an influx of dissolved salts from a hydrothermal vents eruption caused a chlorine gas build up, leading to an explosion when they were doing maintenance on the gas extraction chamber. James was thankful that at least his parents passed away painlessly, but the funeral arrangements had cut into the family funds. It was due to this that he was still stuck on the half terraformed planet.
"Penny for your thought?" asked a hoarse gravelly voice. One would be forgiven for thinking the owner of the voice a male. A frail looking woman with grey hair peered up at James from behind a trellis supporting vines of red pod peas. "Counting down the days the merchant trader will pick me off this pile of dirt," James replied, "Not that I don't see why you would want to stay here." "Can't get the theiving bastards to give me my insurance money otherwise." The woman scowled. " Speaking about that, how's the surgery going? Inhaling that much chlorine would put anyone out of action, not that I'm not thankful for pulling my parents out of there. The company would've let them dissolved if they had their way." James asked the woman. "Well, the off world volunteer doctors bumped me up cue and if lady luck don't interfere, I'll be fully recovered by the end of the local year." she replied with a chuckle then a cough. The planet they are on has a 22 hours day but 976 days per year. This has made the locals used phrase 'end of the year' as a joke for deliberately slow bureaucracy, especially when the government is the one paying. Elisabeth was working with his parents when the accident occured, a toilet break saving her from the experience. She was trained as a first reponder and had taken it up on herself to at least recover the remains of her colleague and friend. Either due to cost cutting or by sheer incompetence, the recently cleared hazmat suit she took from the emergency storage had a leaking hose and she had barely survived. James was grateful for her action and offered her a job in his mostly automated hydroponic farm as she waits for the company to pay her insurance as she can no longer do heavy manual labour. James was going to transfer all his business to her as thanks when he got off planet but had told her yet. "I hope you recover fully," James smiled at the not bad news, "I'm going to give you this farm and the house after I leave. You've been a good friend to the family and I'd to see you suffer because of a good deed." Elisabeth looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded, realising that James was resolved. "I have no need for more money than what I need to survive, I'll send any profits left from the farm to you. You'll need it if you're going to gallavanting around the galaxy." Elisabeth said with a firm tone, or slightly deeper and hoarser to James's ear. "It'll also be somewhere to return to if the galaxy doesn't agree with you. A journey isn't complete if you haven't return and all that." she added. James was expecting this and knows that she won't change her mind. "I'll drop by with souvenirs whenever I come near this part." James said. The rest of the day went by as usual. As James finished checking the monitoring terminal in preparation for the night, a message popped up on his iris implant. He checked the message as he exited the decontamination airlock:
Dear James,
I hope this finds you well. I hate to impose on paying customers but a good friend of mine needs somewhere hole up for a few days on your planet. He has his own ship and offered to take you anywhere you wish after he finished offloading his cargo to the orbital. I have given him your contacts and attached his along with his headscan. I am terribly sorry for taking liberties but I hope you find this a good deal.
Sincerely,
Cpt. Frank Rowe
James was surprised but didn't mind it that much as he had empty rooms and he'll save some money. He quickly went into his sonic shower booth and tapped off a reply to the captain and his guest. He was preparing to cook some of the ripe tomatoes and eggplants he harvested today when Elisabeth came out of her room. He had asked her to moved into his guest bedroom when she started working on his farm and they had been having meals together since. It helped the make the house more lively and Elisabeth liked his cooking. "I don't know if it's the fresh produce or your cooking that make something mundane taste this god." Elisabeth said in between bites, "Either way, I'll miss this when you go. I'll have to remember to scan this into the automeal." "It'll be close but the Dad's recipe needs more dressing oil and salt than the standard automeal will allow. It won't be too unhealthy if you work and sweat enough for two people." James grinned, "My parents always debated this over dinner." "That reminds me about the workload. I will have to automate the fish feeder, my lungs are about done by the time I finished checking the fruit bins," Elisabeth said. "I'll dial in the settings tomorrow, you'll only need to top up pellets." replied James.
That night James got a reply from the guest confirming he will take up the offer. The guest will arrive in two days and James planned to offer his own room. He had not touched his parents bedroom since the accident and he is going to tidy up the room as a farewell. He did not look forward to spending a night in the room but he knows he will regret not doing something to mark off the end of his stay in this house.
On the day of the arrival, James woke up and looked at himself in the mirror. His curly brown hair that he got from his mother was growing out past his liking, along with the light stubble he put off shaving due to being busy setting up the farm for a one person operation. His grey eyes was sparkling and lively, despite waking up an hour before his usual time. He was excited since he will be departing tomorrow and had finished packing last night. After confirming with Elisabeth that everything is working fine in the farm, he left her to get used to the new routine to prepare lunch. A flying taxi touched down as he fished out a large pizza from the oven. He wiped his hands and went to greet his ticket off the planet. A short stocky man climbed down, his skin, where visible was deeply tan, highly unusual for a ship captain travelling long journey through deep space. His dark hair fluttered in the wind and brown piercing eyes take in the rural sight. His glance fell on James and smiled a toothy grin. "You must be the owner of this lovely estate!" he bellowed out with a thick accent James can't place. James walked up to him, offered his hand, and they shook. "James Howard, looking forward to getting on your ship." James replied, a bit put off by the excitement from the man. "Miguel, Miguel Emille. Captain of the Flying Snail. I am very thankful for your hospitality at such short notice. The corpo here kicks the captain off their ship! Imagine that!" James looked around for security drones, a bit fearful of being reported for sedition. The captain looked at him, confused, then in understanding, "Ah, one of those world? Say no more. I won't put my passenger in danger." "Is it not the same where you are from? That's why I'm trying to get off the planet." James asked. "No, I grew up and works mainly for the frontier colony. This one is a special favour for the captain that you contacted for a lift. Contract for some heavy metal isotopes from one of the asteroid mining station for one of your 'esteemed' governer." Miguel winked.
The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, with Miguel switching between telling news of the outer colonies and checking his ship's security cameras. The next morning, James and Elisabeth had a tearful farewell before heading off towards one of the pillar supporting the orbital that doubled as cargo elevator. As they rise, James takes a look at the purple and green landscape falling below. He could see the curvature of the planet right as they enter the orbital. He took a picture of his homeworld, intending to put into his journal to mark the start of his journey. The maglev took them towards the internal docking area, James looking out then windows at the opulence of the wealthy living in the station. As they walk towards the flying snail, they were jossled around wnd forced to stop a few times by the workers and machineries bustling around the dock. James took in the sight of the Flying Snail as they approached, staring at the size and unusual roundedness of the ship, in contrast to the blocky and angular ships standard for most space vehicles. "Custom made on Mariana IX station, designed by my grandfather. A great advertisement for my business and comfortable quarters too. And not as slow as the name suggests" Miguel said as he looked at not a few workers staring at his ship. The advertisement mentioned was stencilled in bright red cursive letters on bare metal, in contrast to the ship's black blocky registration number. As they made their way to airlock, passing the the ship's closing cargo door, an inspector passed Miguel a datapad to sign off. "Cargo confirmed received, payments are being processed by customs due to the new tax coming into effect yesterday. You shouldn't lose much with the currency exchange," the inspector said after looking the form over, " you are clear to depart when traffic control indicates." The inspector turn to another ship busy loading cargo, not waiting for a reply. Miguel lead James through the airlock to his room, a larger than standard room furnished with wooden furniture and upholstered, unheard of in a spaceship from the hub worlds. "Get yourself comfortable then join me on the bridge. The ship AI will help you with the layout. No need to address me as captain since it'll only be the two of us until your destination. I'll be going around looking for government approved bugs. Corporate overlords never can get the idea of privacy." Miguel said before leaving James to unpack. James look around the room, trying to wrap his head around the decor. It was as if someone stole a museum exhibit then use it to furnish a spaceship. He unpacked his luggage, looking around for a storage locker, before putting his meager clothings into a dark wood wardrobe. He then set off to put his toiletries in the attached bathroom before being shocked at the size and items he saw. A large oval mirror hangs on the wall above porcelain basin, with an archaic brass and glass shower cubicle with valves and pipes off to the side. He consdered the logistics of internal plumbing and water storage on the ship for a moment before shaking his head, "Might as well enjoy the luxuries. If this isn't a great start, I don't know what is."
After he finished, James head out of his room then froze as he peered into the corridor. The sterile white panelling had turned into stained wood, the harsh lighting into warm yellow glow from what looks like wall mounted lamps. He turned to look back at his room to see the standard white panelling was still there. He decided to ask the AI for directions to the Captain, "Ship? Where's the bridge?" "Please find the ship map in the mailbox behind the door," a synthetic female voice chimed out. He looked at the automatic sliding door and noticed it had changed to a wooden hinged door with a basket below a metal slot. He grabbed a rolled up brown paper bundle from the basket, unrolling it to seems to be hand drawn diagram of the ship. Other details such as crew members list and meal times are neatly list in one corner. He closed the door before following the map. He was not surprised to find his name engraved below the room number on the brass plaque on the door.
James was apprehensive about finding anything on the ship but there were signs jutting out from the wall at each intersection, surrounded by decorative metalwork in forms of flowers, pointing to major locations. The flooring hard changed from patterned wood to being carpeted the closer he is to the bridge. He finally arrived at a double door, with a plaque indicating that it was indeed the bridge, and he wondered if he should knock. He decided not to, and swung open, to hear a bell ring as the door opens. "James! Come strap yourself in. How do you like my ship?" Miguel was seated on what looks like a couch in the centre of the room, looking at a large screen. The screen shows the outside of the ship, which was the landing bay blast door, still shut. "It's nice but too much like a museum piece to be flying around," James responded, "Isn't it against regulation and too hazardous if the grav generator fails?" "That's why I set the nanites to change to standard whenever I dock. Changed back to what my grandpa designed when we're clear for take off," Miguel answered, " also cleared out to bare walls with carpeting whenever there's an emergency. Only ever happens once in all my years of flying." James had heard of nanites but wasn't aware that it could be used on ships. "The ship was supposed to be a private cruiser for a hubworlder, but he backed out of deal so the swimming pool and hydrotherapy areas was converted into the cargo hold," Miguel added.
James strapped himself in a plush fabric covered armchair near the screen. As he figured out the buckle, the comm beeped then a voice called out, " landing bay E42 cleared. All ships ensure airlock and cargo door are closed before depressurisation in 15 minutes." "Hal, check the doors and prepare for take off," Miguel said. "Sorry captain, I cannot do that." "Stops scaring the passengers. Maybe it's time you watch some modern movies." A huff sounded before the AI replied, "Aye aye, Captain." "She always does that, scaring the living daylight out of my last crew when she pretended to lock the airlock during EVA," Miguel sighed, " i don't know what my Pa was doing, feeding her all that old robot uprising movies." "I thought she was just a basic navigation AI when I asked her for directions." "Yeah, she does that to make people let their guards down before springing the 'Exterminate!' stuff on them. That's why my last crews all signed off." "Isn't that bad on you?" James asked, "also your reputation won't be good." " It's fine, I mainly take on crews for company. Most contracts I got are from fellow captains needing to take orders from regulars but are to far out to accept. She got the latest repair drones and all nanites tech to take care of all damages, excluding only jump core explosions," Miguel smiled.
They waited in the bridge, chatting about life in space and homicidal AI, with Hal, James learned shortened from Haley and pronunciation changed courtesy of the AI herself, chiming in when the checks are done. "Landing bay E42 depressurised in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Landing bay depressurised. All ships clear to take off in E42 once landing bay door fully opened. Green light will light up when ready for manually piloted crafts. Halo orbital thanks you for your business." The traffic controller speaks through the comm, indicating he is a native. Off-worlder would usually call the station 'The Regina's Ring' after the planet. Once the door slides open fully, ships start to go out in rows. When it was the Flying Snail's turn to take off, a hologram of Hal appeared besides the captain's couch and the ship starts to move out slowly in formation, coordinating with the other ships. Once the Flying Snail cleared the door, Hal spoke, "Captain, there's any energy spike reading in the aft sensor. No details on origin available due to station's plating. Seems to be mostly neutrons" "Perhaps someone forgot to shut their cargo door. Probably transporting tritium or helium three. Put up shield just to be safe."
The captain's decision turns out to be just in time as a heavy blast blew the ships out of the orbital. Alarms started wailing and James was pushed back into his seat. "Damage report!" Miguel shouted over the alarms and a diagram of the ship's system popped up on screen. "No structural damage, low EMP, main computer rebooting, shields down to 60 percent," Hal replied mechanically, "Reboot complete. Putting rear view on screen." The screen shows a large explosion on the inner ring side, dropping debris onto the planet below. The alarms turned off as Hal reports, "Ring appears to be holding. Debris calculated to fall on low population area and ocean. Minimal damage to civilians and properties." " There's that at least. Are we expected to help?" Miguel asked. "Negative, the station order civilian vessels to clear the area. No detention order." "Good, get us to the jump point. James, you got a destination?" Miguel turns to look at James. James was still trying to recover from being slammed into his seat, saved from concussions by the seat's padding. "I need to check on Elisabeth," James said as he reached for his wristcom. He then saw an incoming video call from Elisabeth. He sighed in relief as he picked up the call. "I'm glad you're alright. Exciting starts to your trip, eh?" Elisabeth said after seeing James. "Good to see you unharmed too. Did the emergency broadcast says anything?" James asked. "They were saying no damage to those living below. The corporate news network was saying it was the work of the anti-hub government groups." Elisabeth said with a grimace, "trying to weasel out of responsibility if you ask me. I need to check the farm systems in case anything went down. Safe trip out there, I don't want to cry for the second time today," Elisabeth was starting to tear up as James tried to reply before the call cut off. "All's well that ends well," Miguel said as James gathered himself, "good to see her safe. So, destination?" James thought for a moment then replied, "I've never been anywhere further than the Halo. I was thinking of getting off at the last stops but I'm the only passenger here so I think I'll get off wherever your next business ends." " Fine by me. I'm going back three system on my route here, pick up some cargo and or crews, then out to the frontiers," miguel said to James then turn to Hal, " You remembered the station with extra medical supplies looking for buyers? Set destination there." " Aye captain. Arriving at jump point. Jumping in 5 seconds," Hal said before starting the count down. The jump drive, the second most popular after warp, generates a wormhole from Lagrange points. The energy requirements is higher than warp but the near instantaneous travel time is highly value by merchants and diplomats alike.
The jump starts without a hitch and they exited into a red dwarf system. As they make they way towards a spherical station above a green gas giants, they were hailed on all frequencies as the screen starts to shows an armada of black pyramids blockading ships trying to enter and leave the station. The screen suddenly flickers then shows a black upside down triangle with glowing blueish white lights runni ng on its surface. The speakers blared out a high pitch voice, " Bags of mostly water our flattest desire exchange thinking patterns. Flattest yours here deliver. Airwaves produce expect agreement." This broadcast then repeats itself. "Ain't this the strangest day of my life," Hal said loudly. "Exciting first day for our passenger here for sure," Miguel added. James just stared blankly at the screens.
.......................

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As promised, I've made some printable PWHL Playoff brackets for us. What's nice is I could fill these in an post these as images to this sub, if you're interested.
Here's some links:

• 2024 PWHL Playoffs Bracket (PDF / Google Drawings)
• Printable elements if you want to glue them on yourself (PDF / Google Drawings) These are A4 sized but you can still print it on US Letter or whatever you want really, since you'll probably have to trim a little off no matter what.

As always, any and all feedback is appreciated! I'm very aware that there's a lot of dead space. I'm afraid that's because I'm largely repurposing my NBA and NHL brackets, which have 24 and 16 post-season teams respectively, lol.

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Hi! I am fairly new to lettering - I have learned and am working on mastering modern calligraphy. I recently got a workbook to learn other styles. I currently use a pad of paper I got off of Amazon to practice but as I learn different styles I think graph paper might be my best option. I know I can buy packs of it, but that seems like it's kind of thin? Are there any recs for a good quality graph paper? I'd love a top bound pad or notebook.

I was doing some calligraphy practice this morning with (what I think is) the least number of world capitals (Wiki link) whose English names cover all 26 letters of the English alphabet—six:

Mexico City, New Delhi, Quito, Reykjavik, Sofia Port-of-Spain, Zagreb

EDIT: Letter P is missing
EDIT: Fixed!
Considering that no world capital in Russian uses the letters ч, щ, ъ, or ё (бедная ё 😔), what is the least number of world capitals (Wiki link) whose Russian names cover the remaining 29 letters of the Russian alphabet? Best I could do is seven:

Ашхабад, Афины, Бразилия, Буэнос-Айрес, Вильнюс, Нджамена, Подгорица

EDIT: К and Т are missing
Is it possible to do it with fewer than seven capitals? Or perhaps another interesting combination of seven?
UPDATE: Thanks to u/Ancquar and u/mar2ya's suggestions, I have concluded the following:

• The minimum number is 9.
• Сантьяго-де-Чили (and not just Сантьяго), Кишинёв, and Афины must be included as no other capitals include ч, ё, or ы.
• The remaining letters are б ж з й м п р у х ц ю э
• I manually narrowed down the list of candidates to

• Вильнюс / Брюссель / Нью-Дели / Вильнюс / Люксембург / Любляна
• Бразилиа / Браззавиль / Загреб / Розо
• Буэнос-Айрес / Тайбэй
• Тхимпху / Мехико / Хартум
• Париж / Алжир
• Вадуц / Подгорица

• There are 368 combinations of 6 of these that complete the alphabet. It cannot be done in fewer than 6, so including the preceding 3, that's 9.
• The shortest combination of the last is 6 by letter count is Любляна, Розо, Тайбэй, Хартум, Париж, Вадуц
• The longest combination is Люксембург, Браззавиль, Буэнос-Айрес, Эр-Рияд, Тхимпху, Алжир, Подгорица

UPDATE 2:
I did country names too. I didn't really approach them with the same rigor as I had only one "seed" word (UAE) rather than two to help narrow down the number of candidates to search through for the remaining letters. So I did it mostly manually, but I think this is in the ballpark. All letters except щ are used.

• Объединённые Арабские Эмираты
• Чехия
• Швейцария
• Филиппины
• Мальдивы
• Южная Корея
• Грузия

In March on the VERY last day that admin has to notify teachers of not renewing their contracts, my principal called me into his office and informed me he wouldn’t be rehiring me. I LOVED working with this school, so I was really disappointed.
Then I found out my mom had advanced stage cancer, and this really helped me focus on what is important these days, and I’d like to share some of my tips (and welcome yours).

1. PRIORITIZE (like REALLY investinage what is essential) what will have lasting importance and is important for you).

In public school there are tons of “essential” tasks dumped on us, and some of them have more impact than others. In my school, all 3 fourth grade teachers are supposed to write individualized comments for all 70 students 3x/year on report cards. After reflecting, I don’t think 4th grade report cards comments are that significant, so I plan to copy paste mine with just their test scores so I can complete that task with minimum effort.
Being prepared for IEPs and SST meetings for struggling students is more impactful, especially since I won’t be here next year, so I take the time to organize my data for those conferences, even though I could possibly go to them less prepared.
The other day I put down my foot when they almost rescheduled state testing for my grade because my 2 colleagues were absent and had subs who aren’t certified to give the state tests. I said I was going to go ahead with state testing for my students because I was not able to last minute come up with 2 hours of lesson plans for the allotted state testing time.
Guess what? They figured out how to have our various teachers and admin who are certified to do the testing swap out with the substitutes for testing block, so we could get testing out of the way and not mess up our schedule.

1. Plan fun treats for you and the students

In my case I started using some team builder printables I found on Instagram (Monica Genta) to have a fun start of the period do nows instead of doing a grammar do now. What are they going to do? Fire me ;)
I added an art component to the end of year writing task (nope, not going to grade it and sure they can work with their friends, bend the rules etc.)

1. Learn what your rights are.

I have a strong union and a strong school teacher and parent community, so I had resources to reach out and find out what my “Non renewal of contract” meant. An important question I asked my union rep was “Can my principal change my status from ‘Temp Release’ (doesn’t put a bad mark on your record for the district) to a ‘Non Reeelect’ (looks worse)?” For me the answer was NO, so I no longer warmly greet my principal in the hallway and I often skip professional developments.

1. Ask more experienced teachers for insight about priorities in your school community

Some questions I asked were:
Can I use my letter of rec from last year’s principal instead of this year’s principal and look like a good applicant? In my case yes.
Can I use a letter of rec from a teacher I worked with closely? Yes.
(To your colleagues) These kids you taught last year are having some serious conflicts and issues. What did you do last year to keep the peace?

1. Delegate to willing (or socially obligated) parties

I’m so sorry for all the folks who work in the many schools where there aren’t that many people to delegate to, so you might have to get creative. Here are some examples:
-my classroom volunteer often marks the homework and assignments but I enter the final grades
-I had already volunteered to go on the class camping trip before I got this bad news and we had a lot of adult chaperones. I later found out that another teacher at my school goes for the daytime part of the camping trip, then takes the school bus/drives home. I should have done this since I had family visiting my ill mom in town…but I was in the dedicated school teacher mode.
-I started reaching out to friends to help me clean out my classroom for the last few days of the school year

1. Be kind and positive when it matters, and authentically pissed off when appropriate

-To combat the sadness and anger I feel, I push myself to give positive behavior incentisves and shout out to students each period
-I message parents of struggling kids when they have a medium to good day (and said parents don’t have a reputation of trying to get extra meetings each time you message them)
-If colleagues ask, I plainly tell them that my principal forwarded me an email chain in which he told HR he didn’t want to rehire me, but wanted to wait as long as possible to tell me. They are usually horrified and say they have heard of similar behavior from him. It’s not fun to talk about, but it helps them to better understand the way their leader works so they can watch their back
-a parent invited me to see her kid perform on Friday night. I responded by saying I was so proud of her daughter and that I put her announcement on our announcement board, but I spent my Friday night with a friend instead.
What are your end of the year tips?

The general dentist that I’ve been shadowing for the past few months agreed to write me a rec letter and requested some more information about me beforehand. He specifically asked me to share experiences that demonstrate my integrity and hand skills.
As for hand skills, I used to play the violin in high school but haven’t played much since. I also picked up watercolor again recently but don’t have any “good” pieces to share yet. I am pretty good at cursive/calligraphy but not sure if that’s appropriate for an application. I also used to sew but it’s been a few years since I’ve made anything. A lot of “buts” lol. Any suggestions on which hand skill to pick?
Regarding integrity, I have a lot of professional and academic experiences that I can draw from. Any suggestions on if I should lean towards professional or academic experiences?

Hello! I apologize if this doesn’t belong here, but I hoped there might be some crossover. An older friend of mine was once a well-established calligraphepen and ink artist in the days before digital media was widespread, but hasn’t had time for it in years. Recently, he retired and has expressed interest in picking up his artwork & lettering again. His old tools have been largely lost or destroyed in intervening moves, and I want to get him some new things to start with. I know nothing about calligraphy or pen-and-ink (I work in charcoals), and it seems many of his favorite companies have now gone out of business. I’d love personal opinions on good-quality inks and paper to buy as a present for him. Many thanks!

Hi,
I need advice.
I am getting extremely frustrated with calligraphy and pilot parallel pens.
I'm trying to do Gothic exercises with a 6.0 mm. Every other stroke, the pen does not lay a full line down, usually one quarter of the line will be blank when I start stroking down the letter. Worst of all, though, is the way paper behaves. While I start going down, the paper will start swelling, forcing my nib right, nib which I cannot seem to keep going straight down to begin with, and then the paper creates a bump so important that I am forced to raise the nib midway through the letter to flatten it again. This happens regardless of the paper kind I use.
I never see any calligraphy tips relating to preparing your actual working zone.
I know that some users here do a fantastic work with these pens. So please, advise, before I toss anything in the trash and give up on calligraphy.
Yes, I'm that close.