It is written: calligraphy's back

After a computer software fad, people are again showing interest in the art of beautiful writing

There was a time when people began to lose interest in the art of beautiful writing.

The personal computer was pretty new, and software could write someone's name in a fancy script on awards certificates and other documents. Don King, professional calligrapher, lost a lot of that type of business from the companies and organizations that had previously hired a professional.

But after about 10 years, people stopped being impressed by a machine's interpretation of beautiful handwriting. The customers came back, King said.

"The human hand can do things that no machine can," said King, who works out of his calligraphy studio in North Raleigh. "It's 1,000 subtleties that a non-trained eye doesn't see."

Members of the Triangle Calligraphers' Guild know that. Several times a year, they get together to talk and learn about different facets of the wide-ranging field of calligraphy. Members range from novices to full-time professionals such as King, who even after 24 years considers himself an intermediate calligrapher. Members of the 27-year-old club come from many backgrounds but say they all share a love for beautiful writing.

"You love the way it looks," said Sharon McGreevey, the club's treasurer. "It quite often is making art with your hands in a form that people generally understand because they can read the letters."

The organization is affiliated with the Carolina Lettering Arts Society, which will hold its annual meeting in Cary this weekend. That event is booked up with a waiting list, McGreevey said, but the guild's May meeting is open to the public. That event will focus on paste paper techniques, a method of creating designs or images. McGreevey said the technique is used to create book covers.

King, who retired from the Army after a 22-year career, said his clients often bring him passages or quotations that carry some emotion or meaning. King can figure out pretty quickly whether he has done his job right when the client first sees the finished product.

"I judge the success by how big of a lump in their throat or how many tears come to their eyes," King said. "It means much more than if you just read it typed out on a sheet of paper."