Calligraphy Guide

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A thorough guide on learning to use calligraphy efficiency, aimed at beginners. Learn how to get started, what pens to start with, and some tips & tricks. A modern browser is required for security, reliability, and performance. The gold guide sparkles will likely fade just as you get to the end. Please tell your developers that the quest 'Calligraphy' is awful. As a player with motor control issues after an accident last year this quest is the most infuriating and frustrating that has ever been added to the game. Control of my character to the level of detail that.

You can purchase our Modern Calligraphy Kit or the Brush Calligraphy Kit at our online store.

Not sure what any of this is? Check the FAQs or email Melissa with your question.

Guide

Modern Kit

Our Modern Calligraphy Kit includes everything that you'll need to get started with both Melissa's Modern Calligraphy class and Hoang's Spencerian class. We've changed this kit over the years, and we're very happy with our current selection of supplies.

We're particularly excited about the walnut ink crystals that ship dry and will not explode and destroy your kit! You simply add water until you like the consistency, and you have a high-end bottle of ink.

Brush Kit

Calligraphy Guide Book

We designed our Brush Calligraphy kit for Melissa's Brush Calligraphy class. It includes a selection of brush markers to give you a taste for what high-quality supplies can create.

Try Paper & Ink Arts

You don't want to order our kit? No problem. We’ve teamed up with Paper & Ink Arts to provide you another way to order the supplies you need.

Purchase the basic supplies at a minimum. If you think you may fall head over heels for calligraphy, go ahead and get the optional supplies to save yourself some shipping costs and time.

Get it locally.

Sourcing locally can be time consuming and frustrating unless you live in a relatively urban area or an artsy college town. If you do, you may just be able to find everything you need in one stop.

To expedite your shopping trip, print out this page (or save a tree and pull it up on your phone) and have your local art supply store employee help you find everything you need.

Calligraphy Guideline Paper

We love Michael’s, JoAnn and Hobby Lobby, but they won’t have what you need. PROMISE. If you want to waste time and money, go ahead and get one of those yucky Speedball calligraphy kits. If you want to enjoy your time with pen and ink, see Melissa's recommended supplies list.

Modern & Spencerian Calligraphy

GuideCalligraphy

Required Supplies

  • Wooden or plastic pen holder, try to find an oblique holder and a straight holder
  • Black ink
  • At least 2 Nibs
  • Rhodia grid or Bienfang grid paper
  • Pencil
  • Eraser

Additional Supplies

  • Sumi 60 ink, Dr. PH Martin’s Pen White ink
  • Finetec Gold (and coarse bristle brush)
  • All the pointed nibs you can find
    • Hiro 40
    • Hiro 41

Brush Calligraphy

Required Supplies

  • Marker Layout paper or Rhodia Gridded paper
  • Small brush marker
  • Medium brush marker
  • Pencil
  • Eraser

Additional Supplies

  • Bristle brush markers
  • Watercolors
  • Watercolor paper

Chalk Lettering

Required Supplies

  • Chalk. Any chalk. You can buy colors if you like, but white is usually best.
  • Paper towels
  • A cup with water

Additional Supplies

  • Any pencil or a lead holder and leads


Written in calligraphy, words appear to waltz across a page. But don't let the rythmic flourishes and old-world elegance of such lettering fool you. Calligraphy is easy to learn. All you need to do it are a few special tools and a bit of patient practice. Before long, you'll find making letters this way as comfortable as using your best penmanship.

There are numerous styles and methods of calligraphy. We selected copperplate script because of its sophisticated appearance and simple form. Begin with a pen, a nib, ink or gouache, a guide sheet, and paper. Dip the pen into the ink until the hole of the nib is nearly covered; tap the nib on the rim of the pot, then make a few strokes on scrap paper to eliminate any excess ink, which might cause blotches or drips. The goal is to use enough ink to make solid lines, but not so much that the lines bleed. When the nib begins to scratch the paper, it's time to redip your pen.
Refer to the diagrams above to learn how to create letters and numerals (If you click on the tiny image, a new window will open with a full-size printable page). Position the paper at an angle, with the pen's tip aligned with one of the diagonal lines on your guide sheet. This technique may take getting used to because, unlike cursive handwriting, calligraphy usually involves lifting the pen from the paper several times during the course of making each letter.