Hello! My name is Icy and I am the creative behind @eyesea.studio! Initially I started off as a wedding calligrapher but I now focus on teaching calligraphy and bullet journal workshops. I am also a current member of the Archer & Olive Design Team 2021 to 2022. Aside from that I am a mom and work as a nurse part time. I personally love the balance between being a health professional and a creative!
2. What's it like working with Archer & Olive?It has been an absolute dream! I have been using
Archer & Olive products since discovering them on Instagram in 2018. Ever since then, I have fallen in love not only with their bullet journaling goods but with everything they stand for. One of their core values is creative wellness which is basically the main reason why I love bullet journaling and calligraphy. These creative outlets aid my mental health.
So you can imagine how elated I was when I got selected to be on the Design Team on October 2021! It has been a year of creative growth and it has truly been an honor working alongside fellow creatives in the bullet journal community. We all help create bullet journal, and arts and crafts related content for the
Archer & Olive community. I love how Archer & Olive provides a platform that is accessible to everyone and help start their creative journey and continuously support them through the Archer & Olive community.
Aside from content creation, we get new releases in advance and my favorite thing about promoting new items is doing sneak peeks which gets everyone hyped up and excited! I love how Archer & Olive collaborate with creative artists like
Amanda Rach Lee,
Plant Based Bride,
The Grayter Good, and Aussie artist
Pink Bits and create amazing products!
3. Where do you get your inspiration from and how do you stay motivated?To be honest, I am not always motivated. Like everyone else, I go through ups and downs, and I have gone through the toughest creative slumps. And they seem to get tougher each time. Whenever I go through a rough patch, I focus on other things that I enjoy, for example, reading and doing some exercise like yoga or running. I allow myself to feel whatever it is that I am feeling and once I start feeling better, I slowly ease back into it to let my creativity flow by itself. Because if I force myself to "be creative", I end up feeling even worse. I guess the message I would like to convey here is that it is okay if you're not always feeling motivated. It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to allow yourself to feel all the feelings because this is where you will be able to translate all that into art and creativity!
I get inspiration from pretty much everywhere I go! From simple everyday things like walking in the park and looking at plants and flowers, browsing around shops and looking at different products, listening to songs of different genres, and trying out various cuisines. Basically any experience that nourishes the five senses we have can spark that creative flame within us.
Being part of a creative community also helps! There are so many talented individuals in both the bullet journal and calligraphy community. I particularly love being in the
Archer & Olive community!
4. How did you first get into hand lettering and calligraphy? What's the best place to start as a beginner?I first started doing calligraphy when my husband and I were planning our wedding. Initially, our goal was to save money by DIY-ing as much as we can. Together, we both designed our wedding invitation. And I did our envelope calligraphy, welcome signage, and seating chart. To be honest I was expecting myself to dread the wedding preparation but I ended up really enjoying it!
I have become addicted to learning more about calligraphy after that. I started out teaching myself and then attended a workshop which has helped me improve so much more. I love sharing what I have learned and continuously learn to the students in my calligraphy workshops. But there is also no harm in being self taught! There are so many resources out there you can try for yourself and see if calligraphy is something you would like to pursue! I personally started learning with
The Happy Every Crafter and
Loveleigh Loops on YouTube. In addition to that,
WashiGang has a number of books on calligraphy and hand lettering which you can check out! Always remember that the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the creative process!
5. Do you have any tips for the WashiGang crew on bullet journaling, layering and collaging in your journal?I believe everyone has the capacity to create their own beautiful collage in their journal. I think the only rule to creating is to have fun! Like I have mentioned earlier, the creative process becomes better once we stop overthinking and consciously avoid mistakes. There are no mistakes in creating art! Just let your creativity flow and see where you would like to fit certain pieces of stationery and stickers.
What I would usually do is I select an aesthetic and/or color scheme, and then grab some bits of stationery, stickers and washi tape to go along with it. My go to lately are the
Vintage Style Collage Journaling Packs. I select a bigger piece of stationery as the base and place smaller bits of stationery and stickers on top. I would usually select those with pops of color. Then I would add bits of washi tape or stickers on empty spaces. And for the final touch, I would add a quote which I like writing in calligraphy.
I highly recommend you check out
@vinastudio,
@jericaplans,
@thecrystallinaperspective,
@me_and_my_happydesk,
@kirstentebbensbujo (and a lot more others!) for using stationery in your journal!
6. What are your favourite WashiGang products at the moment?Okay, how much time are you willing to listen to a stationery addict? Haha! Whenever I go on the
WashiGang website (which is basically once a day) to check for new things, I get a mini heart attack every time I see something cute! My current vibe is celestial/witchy/vintage/moody but in bright hues of yellow, (weird right?). And because of that, I absolutely love the
Vintage Style Collage Journaling Packs which I have bought every single variety of! I like combining them with
vintage and floral stickers and washi tapes for a junk journal effect. And I am currently loving the
Pilot Fude Makase extra fine brush tip pens to add brush calligraphy to my journal. I especially like them mainly because they are the finest brush tip pens I have ever used! They are perfect for doing brush calligraphy in small spaces in your journal! And of course last but definitely not least, my go to notebooks are the
160 GSM dot grid ones from Archer & Olive. They are perfect for people like me who love trying out different art tools like paint pens, watercolor, and gouache as the paper is strong enough to handle almost any art medium!
I am a huge fan of WashiGang and I love watching the amazing staff pack orders on Instagram stories! There's always something to be excited about!
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