The 5 Top Tools to Learn Calligraphy

Where do I begin?

A very important, well-to-do looking lady approached me in the craft store yesterday. I could tell she was probably a little older than me. She had blonde hair that was styled into a bob that fell at just the right length between her ears and shoulders…and she was well overdressed for the local craft store with her black dress that cut just above the knee, make up and jewelry.

At the time, I happened to be perusing the aisles of sketchbooks looking for another large, black drawing pad on clearance. When I stopped to hear her question, I wondered at the sight of her, did she always dress her best to shop craft supplies because maybe I had this thing all wrong.

She told me she was trying to find some way to paint a tiny strip on her purse that happened to be navy blue. The last time I worked in a craft store, I was in my twenties. But, I gave her my suggestions anyway.

As we talked, I could tell she became a little self-conscious about fretting over the best way to paint a strip of fabric on her purse and joked about how she could have just let it go. It was just a tiny strip after all. But, I told her that I thought it was good for us to have projects.

Y’all know I believe in projects…it’s pretty much the entire premise of this blog. And being equipped for whatever project you want to do is one of my foundational principles.

If you’ve been following along, I’ve been playing with a lot of tools to learn calligraphy lately…and beyond paper, pens and pencils, these are my top five tools for your practice.

Five Top Tools of Calligraphers

See this project above? I’m adding Spencerian to my tool belt.

Spencerian is a script that appears to be more angular and streamlined than Copperplate.

Don’t get me wrong…I still love Copperplate! But, engraving for live events taught me that Spencerian could be just as beautiful for times when I have a line of bottles to engrave and need to speed up because I would have fewer thicks to have to go back to perfect.

This brings me to my first top tool…

Books, etc.

Since I got my engraver, I’ve been looking for the right supplies and resources, much like the lady I met at the craft store.

One of the resources I have found helpful for this particular project is Classic Calligraphy for Beginners by one of my favorite calligraphers, Younghae Chung.

Younghae is probably known better for her beautiful Copperplate hand and there’s much more information in the book on Copperplate than Spencerian. But it has a some useful tips, starter projects, and a helpful exemplar in there to work with alongside your practice.

Online Classes, etc.

I’m a fan of online classes and another resource I’ve found is an online Spencerian course by the mesmerizing Genevieve Marcel of Slinging Ink and Bella Grafia Calligraphy. In her online class, she discusses a bit about the history, the supply list, some of her favorite resources, and how to form the capitals and lowercase letters. She also supplies a few downloads to practice on your own. Besides that, I don’t know how…but her voice makes it feel like it’ll be effortless for you to learn.

At her recommendation in the course, I also found the book An Elegant Hand to be a beautiful reference as well.

Side note: I scored the book at a much more affordable price at the Oak Knoll Bookstore in historic New Castle, proving that there are a few perks to living in The First State after all. Although they are still closed at this time, online ordering is available. But, once they reopen, if you’re ever in the area, and into rare books on typography and lettering, give them a visit. They will not disappoint!

I found some other examples of Spencerian script at places like archive.org, a non-profit library of free books, and IAMPETH, a site for calligraphy enthusiasts with a membership option. Certainly, Bloser Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship by P.Z. Bloser , which includes some very specific, instructional material, is worth a look. And this list of links on Spencerian script on IAMPETH is insane!

Calligraphy Guides

Remember, the only reason I started learning pointed pen calligraphy at all was for engraving. I love that stuff! So, when I saw a washi tape guideline that could be used for engraving by Ink Me This, of course I had to try that out!

I have to say…I don’t hate it!

I haven’t measured it yet, but I’d assume the slant was made for Copperplate. But, the degree of slant between Copperplate and Spencerian is very close. Unless you are a master penman, you likely won’t notice it much.

Suffice it to say, the washi guide tape can make your life easier….

…unless you gotta be all extra. 👀

Soon after the calligraphy bug bit me really good, I wanted to see what other tools I might need for guides on surfaces besides round glass. Along with tape, there are other ways of keeping a guide present while working on flat surfaces like paper. Take this laser, for instance.

I got a laser guide ages ago from a recommendation by Becca Courtice, The Happy Ever Crafter. At the time, I wasn’t as interested in calligraphy as I am today. But, I thought it could be useful to keep around for leveling out lettering too.

I gotta say, I never used it for lettering. But, I broke it out to give it a try for calligraphy recently and it works really well for it.

In comparison to my current favorite way of putting guides on paper, the Ink Me This Calligraphy Ruler (aka my favorite Envelope Guide that I wonder will be replaced by the new Suz Cunningham Rapid Liner design coming soon), the laser will also work on dark papers and is much faster to get started.

But, the Calligraphy Ruler and the larger Guide Maker give me a visual for x-heights, 1st and 2nd ascender and descender lines as well as slant lines.

For me, even though it takes longer to set up, I still need the guides enough that I tend to rely on the IMT Calligraphy Ruler and Guide Maker more than the laser.

Ink Stirrers

Ink stirrers continue to delight me! I currently have two.

Why two? Read on…

I love both stirrers and I think there’s room for having both in a calligraphy arsenal.

I got the very portable Soap Ink Stirrer by Luis Creations first. While I can still use it on my desk, I love it for on-the-go stirring since it’s battery-operated and can accommodate smaller bottles of ink. That’ll definitely come in handy when I go back to school.

The Ink Me This Ink Stirrer, I got for larger-size jars and to keep at the ready on my desk at home. Since it uses a plug, it has to be near an outlet which may not always be available when I’m out and about. But, since I also have the silver IMT engraver, it would definitely pair well at an on-site event with an outlet nearby.

Both are super quiet and work perfectly for what I need. It just depends on where I plan to need it.

The Words

As I continue to try out the tools that calligraphers use, I can never forget the number one tool any lettering artist must have for a vibrant practice…the words.

I started this blog in 2020 to keep my mind preoccupied for “a couple months” at home. In between talking about learning to letter, I also discussed controversial stories as they unfolded over the year. These stories left many of us horrified at times, dumbfounded at others, and always searching for ways and places to express our thoughts and feelings. Many of us even happened upon communities that “got” us while we waited for everything to normalize again.

Here in 2022, the world we live in now is so different than when we were all longing for a return to whatever normal was just two short, very long years ago….and it’s difficult to separate out the gains we’ve made as a nation, let alone the world, for all the setbacks.

At this point, do I write about the Supreme Court ruling on abortion? The rise in mass shootings versus the time it took to even consider new gun legislation? How woke we are about the over-policing of people of color now versus how little is done to halt the victim-blaming or penalize the shooting deaths of unarmed people by police (forget about the color part of it for a moment…)? A new, global health emergency in the form of monkey pox? And now…unlawful child labor in the United States?

There’s just so much to address.

With so much rapid change keeping company with crippling and entirely illogical stagnation, it’s no wonder mental health is wanting anymore. Just how are our minds supposed to keep up with the mind-boggling aspects of what’s going on around us?

I have few words for any of it, except to say, prayer works wonders…And for the rest, like the lady at the craft store, so focused on a tiny, seemingly insignificant scrap of fabric…

Get a project.