Handmade Pen Holders

How to choose the perfect piece in the wonderful Sea of makers

18 September 2018 · 3809 words · 13 minute read

This is post 10 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

Considerations when ordering your first non-off-the-rack pen holder. There are so many. Do I go and find a handmade pen or Etsy? Do I get one on Instagram? Do I go custom? How Custom do I go and how on earth do I choose a maker and design. Whether you already have a bunch of handmade pens or are looking to make your first purchase perfect – this post is here to give you some insight into how my process has changed as I have started to build my collection. I feel like I am now at a point where I know exactly what I want from my pens and what I want my process to be like. I know how to start a conversation and end up with a pen that brings me joy every time I lay eyes on it.
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Calligraphy Starter Kit

what you need to kickstart your journey

05 March 2018 · 1662 words · 6 minute read

This is post 9 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

Calligrpahy requires a lot more tools than most other writing instruments and not a day goes by that I don’t get at least one message of people asking what tools they need to get their own calligraphy adventure started.
I am writing the calligraphy 101 series, which should give you a general idea on the tools needed, but for some people that is not enough. Some people want to know exactly what products they should get. If you are one of those people – this post is for you.
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Whiteout: White Ink Showdown

The Good, The Amazing, The Worst

21 January 2018 · 2206 words · 7 minute read

This is post 8 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

White Inks are a whole subject of their own. A while ago I wrote about black inks and the different types of inks available, so I’ll just reference you to that for this kind of information. This time round, I dug out all of the white inks I had available (and bought some new ones) to give you an ultimate white ink showdown.
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My Top Black Inks

Plus you’ll also learn about different types of ink and which aren’t vegan

03 December 2017 · 3234 words · 11 minute read

This is post 7 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

Me and black ink have a pretty strong bond and somewhat of a long history. Back in my school days I got/had to use fountain pens every day and I’m gonna be honest, I just never liked the default royal blue. That was before Social Media and before I learned about this wonderfully amazing thing we call Online Shopping so all I knew was a very limited palette of ink, notably Royal Blue (urgh), Dark Green (not allowed in School), Red (loved it, also prohibited), Pink (my top favorite, but also not okay in school) and black (OMG, it’s allowed to use, it’s not freaking royal blue and it’s kinda awesome!). Me and black ink were a pretty big thing and if you look at old notebooks of mine, before all of my dark reds and burgundies and turquoise they are pretty much exclusively written in black. So to say that me and black ink go way back is a bit of an understatement, since it’s basically been with me for most of my life, since I was around 8 years old. But black and me in Calligraphy didn’t have the easiest of starts, because I tried a lot of inks I didn’t like. That has changed now though.
So let’s talk about my Top 5 (alright, it’s 6…) Black inks. But first we’ll dive a bit into different types of inks you can get nowadays and learn all about the differences. When I shared some information about this on Instagram a while ago I was contacted by a few vegans who were a bit surprised but also really thankful because they hadn’t realized that those paints were not animal-product-free. I personally eat meat and am thus not a vegan, but since I know a bunch of people in this lettering community are, this might be helpful to you. And I think it’s generally very interesting.
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Get Better Hairlines

instantly & long term

01 November 2017 · 1333 words · 4 minute read

This is post 6 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

We all love them. We all crave them. We all want to achieve suuuper thin hairlines. When I first saw delicate calligraphy written with a 303 nib I was in awe! But how on earth was I supposed to achieve that when I was so heavy-handed? Well, I decided to work on it and less than a year later, hairlines is what people most often compliment me on. Today I want to share a few tips that I’ve learned to make hairlines thinner and prettier.
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Let’s talk Words

How Hand Lettering is not Calligraphy but Calligraphy is Lettering but neither is a Font because both are not Type

18 October 2017 · 1513 words · 5 minute read

This is post 5 of 10 in the series “Calligraphy 101”

Words are confusing, especially when it comes to those “mushy” terms where no one is really sure what they actually mean. You guys know I am crazy about research, you know I love to write, I also am a gigantic word-fanatic so this is a subject I have been spending a lot of time with. I get the question whenever I make a comment about the fact that I am bad at Hand Lettering and prefer Calligraphy.

So then I try to break it down, try to explain it as shortly as possible but – hell I write novels for a reason. I have a hard time cutting myself short. But let’s just look at those words and see how successful I am at keeping it reasonably compact today.

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