Greeting Cards

For an additional dollar each, you may add one or two "rotational" names from the list on the Name Art page (or request a name not yet listed, pending "ambi-fiability") on appropriate rotational or infinite chain cards or gift bags, such as wedding, anniversary, congratulations, best wishes, etc. There is no extra charge for adding "Mom," "Dad," or the phrase "Mom and Dad." If ordering "Congratulations," "It's A Party," or "You're Invited," you may specify what colors to include so it matches your occasion's theme. "A New Baby" comes standard in purple tones, but you may request a different color. If ordering a card for graduation from a different category, please specify if you want it decorated for graduation. You may also request your school colors for graduation themed cards (exact match not guaranteed). If choice of color/s is not specified, standard colors will be used.

Payment

I accept PayPal (send to PayPal ID ambigramgreetings@gmail.com). You may also place your order and make payment by credit card at my SquareUp e-store, http://squareup.com/store/rebecca-may

The Process of "Ambi-fying" a Greeting Card

In making my greeting cards, I start with a word or phrase that you might find on the front of a store-bought greeting card. I write it down one letter at a time on some plain white paper, then write it again up-side-down just below it, mixing in capital letters with lower case letters and making references for a 2-1, 3-1, or 3-2 ratio as needed when it makes the inversion look like it will work better. I try to make word divisions match to those of their inversions, but it can be tricky at times. Below that the ambigram will take its rough form, usually as single-pencil-line-width characters. Below that, or right in with it, the styling will emerge. I take into consideration how much manipulation the letters need when I decide on their appearance. I can often get cursive script style letters to bend to my will. I might need to work some glyphs off to the sides or above the initial letters that I'm trying to invert, but I don't often find that step necessary.

I am usually satisfied with the rough sketch at this point. This process feels like it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but I'm sure it's more like 30 to 40 minutes in reality. Very few of the designs have actually seen physical graphing paper, but I am constantly using the "show grid" tool in the drawing program on the computer when I want my letters to have a consistent size. (A thousand "Thank You"s to fellow ambigram artist, Nikita Prokhorov, for connecting me with the Inkscape freeware!) It is at this point that I switch over to computer and drawing-tablet-with-stylus (I forget what brand). I have used my tablet and stylus so much that the tip of the stylus is starting to wear down. I had to replace its battery just recently. It had been fine for about 3 to 5 years prior, until I started using it so rigorously (or vigorously? or both?) in my new endeavor. Occasionally, I like my rough sketch so much that I will lay it on my tablet and trace it with my stylus into the computer.

I use either the "draw calligraphic strokes" tool, or I will use the "draw lines and curves" tool to manually shape each form. I pick an outline color, usually black or nearly black, and a fill color, usually non-black but sometimes all-black lettering just works best, and a stroke width. The width of the letter forms has a lot to do with the "occasion" of the card as well as the manipulations that the lettering will need. I make good use of the "edit path by nodes" tool to smooth out the occasional unevenness that comes with human hands.

After I have the shape of the lettering worked to my satisfaction, I decide on a layout. Some letter strings cannot be easily divided, as ambi-fied greetings often call for stringing together two or more words whose divisions do not match those of their inversions.

Take for example the very first ambigram greeting card that I made: "Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad" ...

(How It All Began)

My parents' 37th wedding anniversary was coming up and I wanted to give them something unique. They have enough "stuff" so I didn't really want to get buy them a gift. I wanted to give them a little piece of myself -- something that would incorporate my new hobby and creativity into an expression of love. I decided on an ambigram greeting card. (Don't all parents love it when their children give them hand-made greeting cards??) This is how my new hobby of ambigrams started to develop into a marketable product!

A one-to-one letter ratio works very well for the "Happy Anniversary" part. There was no problem getting the shapes to invert. That was easy. I must admit, though, that I got a little help from the Ambigram Generator at ambigram.com for inverting the "Mom and Dad" part. The tricky part came when I had to emphasize the break between the words "happy" and "anniversary" without disrupting the middle of the word "anniversary." This would be difficult to accomplish if all of the letters were in a straight line, especially since "proper" capitalization wasn't used. In this instance, I chose to distribute the letters along a wavy line, putting the "ha" of "happy" and the initial "an" of "anniversary at the peaks. This naturally led to three peaks and three valleys -- or technically two and a half peaks and two and a half valleys. When I was satisfied with the work I had done on the letter shapes for inverting the "Mom and Dad" phrase, I added those afterward, and then the confetti bits were added for two reasons: #1 it is appropriate for the celebration theme, and #2 it helps disguise the fact that the dot for the inverted "i" can be seen under one of the "n"s in "anniversary." I was pleased with it, and my parents were tickled with the final product.

Most letter strings can be broken into two or three lines of text. Some can be arranged in a ring, such as when an ambigram inverts part way across itself and becomes an infinite chain. As for the straight lines of text, depending on their length and the number of them, I will either arrange them horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on the front of the card. Then come the decorations and any extra flourishes that enhance the lettering or the word divisions. Lastly, I add a bit of the theme from the front of the card onto the back of the card. Since I actually started my new design with a template that already has the standard components for the back of the card in place, this is probably the easiest step. I use a "regular" font for the paragraph definition of "ambigram" and for the footnote that states the greeting in plain text, just in case the recipient -- or giver -- doesn't at first realize what he or she is actually looking at.

I tend to think that the whole process, from a thought in my head to a finished design, can take anywhere from one to twelve "working hours." But I haven't actually timed myself. From time to time I revisit a design and tweak it some, or totally redo it. Many times working on one card will inspire another expression, so I write it down on my plain white paper while I'm still working on the task at hand.

With all the work that is required for the outside of the card, I feel justified in leaving the inside blank. That is where your creativity comes in -- Write your own personal message in there. It doesn't have to be an ambigram, but if you're up for it, go right ahead!