I adore Chinese (well, let’s be inclusive and say ASIAN) calligraphy. It’s complex and lovely and one of my favourite art forms. I am doing another wisteria window and I thought it’d be cool to have ‘wisteria’ in calligraphy on the window. So, I search the intertubes and find 2 versions – but have no way of knowing which one is the one I want.
Enter Oriental Outpost. This site offers custom calligraphy wall hangings as well as Asian art and translation assistance. They can find you a word, they can create your name in calligraphy or provide you with stunning Asian art pieces. The site is run by an American, Gary, who has lived in Asia for years. The forums are chock full of information and Gary will help you with whatever you need. They also offer straight up translation services, too, if you need something translated to or from Chinese or Japanese – or you want to make sure your kanji tat says what it’s supposed to… ;-)
Gary showed me which of the ideograms for wisteria I should use for free, which is why he gets a big old shout out on the blog today. Thanks, Gary, I appreciate your assistance!