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Tag: calligraphy

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Let’s talk Holders

Different holder mechanisms, price classes and the difference between straight and oblique

· 5177 words · 17 minute read
  1. Calligraphy 101 – The Beginning
  2. My Nib Collection
  3. Let’s talk Holders
  4. Calligraphy material save or splurge
  5. Let’s talk Words
  6. Get Better Hairlines
  7. My Top Black Inks
  8. Whiteout: White Ink Showdown
  9. Calligraphy Starter Kit
  10. Handmade Pen Holders

When I first saw that the prices for a nib and pen holder were below 5 dollars I was happy. I felt like for the first time in this lettering world something was not gonna bankrupt me. Boy was I wrong.

Pen holders. Ranging from straight to oblique, from cheap and inexpensive plastic sticks to custom pieces of art made from exotic woods. I have totally fallen down the rabbit hole of pen holders and as the next installments of the Calligraphy 101 series it is the next logical step. We’ve talked general. We’ve talked nibs. Let’s talk the calligraphy version of a magic wand.

Continue reading “Let’s talk Holders”

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Calligraphy Guidesheets in 4 paths

An Adobe Illustrator Tutorial

· 1375 words · 5 minute read

So I’ve realized there aren’t really any tutorials on how to create calligraphy guidesheets in Adobe Illustrator (I use CC).

There are different ways to get a PDF of guide sheets, there’s an online generator I’ve used before to get the guidesheets you can download in my freebies section, but in the end I did turn to Illustrator to create my guides, because it’s easier to adjust, add text to it, change the paper size, etc. So here’s how to do it.

And we’ll only draw 4 paths for this to create the most adjustable and fastest guide sheet you’ve ever drawn.

Continue reading “Calligraphy Guidesheets in 4 paths”

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My Nib Collection

Tortured Tines and Splattering Sacrifices for Pen Presentations

· 3686 words · 12 minute read
  1. Calligraphy 101 – The Beginning
  2. My Nib Collection
  3. Let’s talk Holders
  4. Calligraphy material save or splurge
  5. Let’s talk Words
  6. Get Better Hairlines
  7. My Top Black Inks
  8. Whiteout: White Ink Showdown
  9. Calligraphy Starter Kit
  10. Handmade Pen Holders

I want to know a great many things whenever I am looking to buy new calligraphy nibs. Unfortunately a beautifully lit macro photo of a nib with just the name will not give me answers. Just hints and my next google search term, which will most probably throw the same macro picture at me and call it a success.

Continue reading “My Nib Collection”

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Calligraphy 101 – The Beginning

An introduction into the world of pointed pen

· 3069 words · 10 minute read
  1. Calligraphy 101 – The Beginning
  2. My Nib Collection
  3. Let’s talk Holders
  4. Calligraphy material save or splurge
  5. Let’s talk Words
  6. Get Better Hairlines
  7. My Top Black Inks
  8. Whiteout: White Ink Showdown
  9. Calligraphy Starter Kit
  10. Handmade Pen Holders

How does one get started with calligraphy? What supplies can you recommend for a beginner? I get those kind of questions about every other day. So I decided to start this series of Calligraphy 101 to give an introduction into this world I have really started to love in the past year.

In this first post I want to give you guys an introduction into what I would consider the best supplies to get started if you never used a dip pen before.

Continue reading “Calligraphy 101 – The Beginning”

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My Frankenpen: Using a Dip Nib in a Noodler’s Ahab Flex Pen

YouTube Video

· 246 words · 1 minute read

PLEASE READ ON FOR TIPS AND ANSWERS (nibs and Ink and Paper)

** NIB OPTIONS **
The Nib I am using is E.W. Leo Rose Nib. Supposedly most G-Nibs and Rose Nibs do work. I have tried John Mitchell’s Rose, Zebra G, Nikko G and Tachikawa G in my Ahab and even though I could fit all of them on there, most of the other nibs left quite a big gap between feed and nib which resulted in lots of railroading. You could fix that if you heat set the feed. Since the feed is made of ebonite it gets pliable when heated and so you should be able to fix any gaps. The E.W. Leo nib did not require heat setting, which is why I would recommend it, if you can find one. I got mine at a flea market, so I don’t really have any source I could recommend.

** INK **
This only works with a very wet flowing ink. I have tried it with Pelikan 4001 ink and have not gotten the pen to write, even if it had just been writing perfectly with Apache Sunset. Noodler’s Ink works great for that, but this will require you to use good bleed-proof paper.

** PAPER **
Since Noodler’s Ink had a tendency to bleed sometimes, and wet flowing inks in General have this tendency you should use high quality paper. If you get premium laserjet printer paper, Clairfontaine or Rhodia you should definitely be on the safe side.

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