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  • 5 Tips for Creating Left-Handed Calligraphy (From a Lefty!)

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    , , , ,

    Over the years, I have received many questions about left-handed calligraphy. As a right-handed person, I try to provide answers to the best of my ability, but I sometimes find myself stymied! You can imagine how thrilled I was, then, to meet left-handed calligrapher Elisabeth Young of ElisaAnne Calligraphy. I am so pleased that she…

    5 Tips for Creating Left-Handed Calligraphy (From a Lefty!) | The Postman's Knock

    My name is Elisabeth, and I’m writing this post to help you learn more about left-handed calligraphy. I have loved playing with different hand-written fonts ever since I was very young. As a result, I constantly changed my handwriting throughout my childhood, and I doodled nonstop in my notebooks. I was fascinated with the precision and execution of handwriting. At one point, my great-aunt purchased me a calligraphy kit for Italic hand (which uses a broad-edge nib). I immediately tried the kit when I received it; to my dismay, all I could manage were a few chicken scratches of ink. No matter what I tried, or how I maneuvered my hand, I couldn’t get anything written.

    5 Tips for Creating Left-Handed Calligraphy (From a Lefty!) | The Postman's Knock
    Photo by Rosalynne Love

    Little did I know that broad-edge nibs are made for right-handed writers by default. Since I am left-handed, there is no way those kit nibs would have ever worked for me. (I recently found out, however, that you can purchase left-handed broad edge nibs.) Unfortunately, at that point in my life, I assumed that I would never be able to create calligraphy. In Fall 2014, however, I finally had an “ah-ha!” moment when I saw multiple calligraphers using pointed pen nibs. I bought myself some starter supplies from Amazon and a local craft store, and thus began my left-handed calligraphy journey. After hours of experimentation and practice, I was pleased to slowly be creating letters and words that I liked! You can see one of my very first pieces below:

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