Camas High School Junior Natalie Ge is a very talented calligrapher. Before Ge picked up calligraphy she started with bullet journaling and letterforms.

Bullet journaling is a popular art form that involves decorating pages within one notebook. Many people use them as planners or as a way to involve drawings in their daily use.

Ge described that after bullet journaling, she started watching simple YouTube videos where people put calligraphy in their journals. She said that she started copying the letters in the videos and from there her calligraphy journey took off.

Ge began taking calligraphy seriously three years ago, and over time she has evolved in many ways.

“I’ve been doing brush lettering for longer but I switched to a more classic calligraphy,” Ge said.

She made the switch from brush to copper plate nearly two years ago. These different methods offer very unique aesthetics that set each other apart. Brush calligraphy is with a pen that has the ink already installed in it and involves more modern strokes in the lettering. In copperplate calligraphy, the pen is called a nib, which has to be dipped in the ink. The lettering also makes it seem more classic. 

Ge said, “I like making pictures look really aesthetic and I like planning out pictures and setting up everything the way I think looks good.”

In her work, each piece is thought out and outlined beforehand. 

Ge runs an Instagram account @papela.co and displays phrases formed through her calligraphy.

She said, “I was making so many pieces on my own. I just wanted to share with the world what I was doing.”

There are dozens of photos on the page that show her range of pieces created, as well as her evolution. The aesthetics go beyond the lettering, with pictures showing backdrops that match each unique piece of paper. Ge involves flowers and pieces of cloth, and even the pens she uses. 

Recently her Instagram page has allowed her to open an Etsy shop called PAPELACO.

“People usually request birthday cards and thank you cards because they can be personalized,” she said.

Other pieces available are decorative pieces that involve bible verses, poems, or any personal excerpt. Ge is also working on opening her own website in the future, separate from Etsy. 

Calligraphy offers her a unique way to express herself as well as share her talent with the world through the internet.