A Guide to Using Metallic and Gold Calligraphy Inks

I have touched on using metallic and gold calligraphy inks in a couple of other blog posts, but I gleaned from emailed questions that it’s a topic that deserves more explanation and depth. So, whether you are addressing envelopes for a wedding, hosting a Golden Girls binge-watch party {with gold invitations, of course}, or just wanting to add some bling to your projects, this post should be enlightening!

First of all, I have tried several different metallic and gold calligraphy inks, and my favorites, by far, are made by Finetec.

You may have furrowed your brow when you saw that the photo above doesn’t depict inks at all! Actually, Finetecs are watercolors that happen to morph into pretty amazing gold inks when applied correctly. The palette on the top is the Finetec Golds palette, and the palette on the bottom is the Finetec Pearl Colors palette. {If you live in the EU, you can find the Golds palette here and the Pearl Colors here. My apologies for not knowing where to obtain them in other countries! If you know, please comment.}

You may be wondering how to morph these hard little rocks of gold into silky ink. It’s the same process as outlined in the watercolor calligraphy tutorial. First, you’re going to add a drop or two of water to the color you wish to use.

Let the water sit for a bit; 30 seconds to a minute would be good. Then, take a paintbrush and stir the water into the ink.

Viscosity is very important when it comes to using the Finetecs as ink. If you add too much water, your calligraphy could end up looking like this:

However, if you add too little, it can be nearly impossible to write because the ink won’t flow. To prevent both of these scenarios, you can follow these guidelines:

• Start with one drop of water, then stir. If the ink quickly becomes very thick {think: the texture of drinkable yogurt}, you’ll want to add another drop.
• Try to achieve the texture of cream. That way, your ink will flow well on to your paper as well as retain great opacity.
• If you add too much water to begin with, leave the tray alone for 5-10 minutes to allow some of the water to evaporate out.

Once you’ve added some water to your ink and achieved what seems to be a good texture, brush paint on the back of the nib, like so:

You’re now ready to write!

I know that it might be a little easier to figure out exactly how these inks work by watching a video, so I’ve put one together for you. This way, you can actually see the viscosity of the ink and watch it in action.

Writing with Metallic and Gold Calligraphy Ink from Lindsey Bugbee on Vimeo.

Note: in the video, I say your ink should have the viscosity of “whipped cream”. Oops! I meant “whipping cream”.

Hopefully that was educational. One piece of advice I would add is to have patience with yourself as you’re learning how to use this ink. When you figure it out, the rewards are very, very beautiful! It won’t take long to get the hang of it; but I don’t want you to have the impression that if you don’t get it right the first couple of times, you’re not doing well. That’s simply not true!

Of course, a perk of using metallic and gold calligraphy inks is the wonderful opacity on dark paper and envelopes. I’m going to show you a little bit of envelope inspiration here using the Pearl Colors palette! First of all, if you’re planning on using dark paper, a soapstone pencil can make your life easier. You can see below that I’ve used it in tangent with the guideline template from Amazing Envelopes for a Latté to make crisp, clear guidelines.

The great thing about the soapstone pencil is it’s very easy to erase. Because of that, sometimes I’ll go ahead and write out my recipient’s address information to ensure proper centering.

Even the reds in the Finetec Colors palette stand out pretty well on this envelope {especially so when held to the light!}.

You can add some bling to your envelope by drawing a henna pattern in the corner {follow the “Henna Envelope” steps in Amazing Envelopes for a Latté}, then use a ruler and your soapstone pencil to draw “rays” emanating from the corner of the envelope.

You can then using a brush to make little metallic dots along the lines of the rays.

Here’s the finished envelope! You can see that the henna complements ever-elegant Janet Style calligraphy, and everything is tied together by the somewhat playful color combination of metallic red, silver, and gold. The envelope is interactive, too, in that it encourages those who come in contact with it to move it back and forth in front of a light source! The ink really glitters.

This is unrelated to the topic of gold ink specifically, but I actually used contemporary calligraphy stamps for once on an envelope! You can find stern ol’ George stamps and the American Toleware stamps at USPS. The chocolate envelope is from envelopes.com.

I also had fun using the Pearl Colors on an envelope that you may have seen on Instagram the other day.

Of course, these inks work great on black paper as well. If you’re curious about using white calligraphy ink, you can read about that here.

If you’ve considered using the Finetecs and you’re thinking, “OK. I really don’t want to mess with mixing the right amount of water and brushing the ink on the back of the nib,” then I’ve got a good alternative for you. I recently ordered some Dr. Ph. Martin’s Spectralite. After reading reviews about it, I was curious, so I purchased 14K Gold and 18K Gold. If you go the Spectralite route, make sure you have a small container or two to put the ink in for ease of dipping.

I have to say that I prefer the the opacity of the Finetec to the Spectralite; however, on white paper, the Spectralite 18K was a dream to use! It’s faster than using Finetec, of course, since you can dip your nib directly in the ink. That said, The 18K has more of a matte finish to it that doesn’t mimic liquid gold as well as Finetec does. The 14K was difficult to see on white paper unless held up to the light. I’m guessing that if you addressed an envelope with it, said envelope would be returned.

Neither of the Spectralite inks seem to do well on black paper. That could be my fault; maybe I need to thicken them up with some gum arabic. Either way, I’m looking forward to using the 18K in the future on white paper/envelopes … and, well, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the 14K gold.

One question I’ve encountered relatively often with the Finetecs is how to waterproof them. Some people assume that Finetecs will run if exposed to any moisture since they are, after all, watercolor paints. However, most inks are not waterproof {save for Sumi/India inks}, and I generally don’t bother with worrying about ink running regardless. If your envelope gets wet enough for the non-waterproof ink to be affected, you’ve probably got bigger problems than an iffy outer presentation {like ruined inner contents!}; and your recipient will understand that you had no control over your mail carrier soaking the correspondence. However, I totally understand if you’d like to play it on the “better safe than sorry” side. And, luckily for you, there is a way to waterproof your envelopes! You’ll need to procure a jar of Microglaze, and then you’ll rub it all over your envelope/gold ink using your finger.

At first, your envelope will look like a greasy mess, but the protective wax dries surprisingly matte. It actually gives the envelope kind of a neat, polished texture. Of course, you could also use a finishing spray, but then you have to make a big to-do about having proper ventilation, etc. If you do try the Microglaze, make sure you test it on a scrap piece of paper first to ensure you like the effect.

You may wonder what applications you can use for metallic and gold calligraphy inks besides calligraphy. I use my gold inks quite a bit, really, for various projects. For example, you can use them to add a bit of luxe to a border, like on this Quaker wedding certificate:

Or in a wreath, as discussed in the Botanical Watercolor Wreath Tutorial.

You can also make pretty chevron gold patterns as shown in the DIY Bookmarks Tutorial.

If you have any questions {or suggestions!} about using metallic and gold calligraphy inks, please feel free to comment! Your question or input will surely benefit others who are trying to work with these beautiful mediums. Remember that no question is an obvious or foolish question; someone else is wondering the same thing, but is too shy to ask!

I hope that this post was helpful to you! Stay tuned for a watercolor basics post later this week. 🙂

Warmly,