I first picked up a dip pen in 2005. At that time, it seemed to be best suited to making squiggles because it was tough to write letters with! Fast forward a few years, though, and I saw other people using these mysterious instruments to create modern calligraphy. Flowy alphabets with a beautiful contrast abounded, and I wanted to know how to do that myself!
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If you’re new to calligraphy, it’s easy to feel terrified at the prospect of modifying your supplies. Ideally, they should arrive ready to use — no need to change anything! In practice, that sometimes isn’t the case. In today’s blog post, you’ll learn why, when, and how to dilute ink to make it more user-friendly!
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If you’ve been reading TPK for at least the past few months, then you know that I occasionally teach calligraphy workshops. The workshops are, without question, the highlights of my year! The feeling of helping learners to “click” with key calligraphy concepts and build a strong foundation is incredibly rewarding.
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Before I start this post, a disclaimer: there are so many calligraphy inks available, and I’ve used a tiny percentage of them! Still, I encourage you to try the calligraphy inks on this list, plus any other inks that appeal to you. The only way you can find favorites is through experimentation in growing your collection — and you can never have too much ink!
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When I first became interested in lettering, I noticed beautiful pieces of gold calligraphy on Pinterest. And, while I loved the effect, I simply couldn’t figure out how to achieve that myself! Then, one fateful day, I ordered a Finetec Golds palette. Creating calligraphy with it has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s worth riding out any frustration to figure it out! In today’s blog post, I’m going to teach you how to use the Finetec palette to create stunning gold calligraphy and lettering.
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Preparing for calligraphy workshops makes me so happy! I love writing out participant place cards, arranging little bouquets of flowers, and coming up with curriculum tweaks. On the day of, I arrive early at The Riverside and set up the room to make it comfortable and beautiful. If you are relaxed and in a pleasing environment, I believe that it’s easier to tap into your creativity!
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I want to start this post off by saying that if you experience a lot of calligraphy ink problems, there may be a simple culprit. The first may be that you have not prepared your nib for use; or you might be holding your pen too upright. If you have addressed those issues and continue to experience problems, then this post will be helpful! In it, we’ll go through four common calligraphy ink problems and how to fix them.
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Last weekend, two cool things happened here in Boulder, Colorado. The first was literally cool: Saturday was a chilly day — in the midst of a slew of warm days — filled to the brim with snow. The second cool thing involved an amazing group of people who braved the snow to come to downtown Boulder to learn calligraphy. I couldn’t have had a better time getting to teach learners at the two TPK beginner calligraphy workshops last Saturday, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated!
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In the second half of last year, I traveled extensively to teach modern calligraphy workshops. From September through December, I went to Portland, Berkeley, Brooklyn, and Tampa — and I enjoyed every second of it! It was amazing to help people in different parts of the US have “aha!” moments when it came to calligraphy. I also loved how men and women of all different ages participated, encouraging each other as class progressed.
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White calligraphy is enchanting, unique, and an attainable skill to add to your lettering repetoire. We’re used to seeing light papers with dark inks, but dark papers with light inks are a rarity! If you’ve never tried using white calligraphy ink, I encourage you to give it a shot. The capability to make white lettering is one of the major perks of being able to use a dip pen! In this post, I’ll provide seven tips to help you get started.
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