Calligraphy Pens / Ink / Tools & Calligraphy Materials for Beginners

Calligraphy Pens / Ink / Tools & Calligraphy Materials

Calligraphy Pens / Ink / Tools & Calligraphy Materials: Calligraphy is now not only the art of beautiful lettering, but also a means of self-expression and meditation. More and more people are getting involved in this process. For some, it is a hobby, while for others it is a source of income. There are many options for monetizing your skills, from handcrafted wedding invitations to logos for large companies and brands when beautiful writing is needed.

Calligraphy is also a powerful tool that trains the brain: it can tidy up the nervous system and develop the discipline.

The world of calligraphy is so wide that it is often very difficult for a beginner to decide which basic calligraphy tools & materials are needed in the first place to master this art form even there is lot of range of Calligraphy Pens / Ink. Many masters, whom you want to look up to, have perfected their skills and writing for a long time and have collected their arsenal of favorite materials. However, it is very difficult to focus on them, since completely different tools are needed for mastering and the first steps just like Calligraphy Pens.

First you need a calligraphy pen and a holder. Better to get two at once: a broad-nib pen and a pointed nib. The first option is more suitable for beginners, since it is easier to work with and master basic fonts. But for full-fledged lessons with prescriptions, you still need a pointed pen. For starters, you can choose the simplest mascara. It is better to take it ready-made in liquid form.

A very important point is paper. It would seem that calligraphy is an art form where absolutely any paper can be suitable, since the masters write beautiful fonts on completely different surfaces: from envelopes to leather and plastic. But for training, smooth paper with a density of 90 g / m2 is more suitable. Writing looks very sophisticated on textured paper, but it’s hard to learn from it.

Once you have mastered the basic techniques of calligraphy with the basic set of calligraphy materials, you can expand your arsenal.

Calligraphy Pens

The calligraphy pen is the ultimate calligraphy tool. They differ in the degree of flexibility and shape. Hard nibs are rarely used. They are intended primarily for drawing / poster work – where pressure should not affect the thickness of the line. They should be good at typing ink, but should not allow varying width of the letter.

For calligraphy pen flexibility is a fundamental requirement. And here they also differ. There are Super Flexible, Flexible and Medium Flexible. The more the line thickness varies in a font, the more flexible the pen is needed for writing.

Any feather consists of several elements: the tip, antennae, slot, reservoir and eyelet.

The tip affects the thickness of the line. The feather can be pointed and broad-pointed. Each type suits its purpose and fonts. Antennae of a feather, when pressed, separate and increase the width of the line. The smoothness of the transition from a thin line to a thicker one depends on their flexibility. The slit is necessary so that the calligraphy ink does not fall like a blot, but is gradually fed to the tip.

Types of Calligraphy Pens

For beginners, universal nibs are recommended, but they also differ in types:

A sharp universal pen – for cursive fonts and ornaments. An excellent combination of pen flexibility and ease of control when pressing.

The nib is pointed with a super soft tip. Lets you create a nifty handwritten font in English Italic style – Copperplate and Spencerian. Ideal for small lettering.

Pen with 0.5 mm line width – for italic and base fonts. Medium flexibility but excellent pressure control.
Wide nib flexible with a line thickness of 2.05 mm – for decorative writing and ornaments. The recommended height of letters is no more than 1 cm.

The poster pen is used to create large print, ideal for posters. The wide, flat tip with a smooth cut allows you to draw large, clear lines. The pen number corresponds to the line thickness in mm. The writing will be consistent because the poster pen is not flexible – even if you press a little harder the line width will not change.

Also, don’t forget about the pen holder. The most common and simplest holders are straight . It is with them that it is recommended to start mastering the recipe. Oblique pen holders are very popular nowadays , which reduce hand stress when writing cursive fonts. But for mastering calligraphy, it is better to choose straight lines, since it is more usual to hold them in your hand.

It would seem that there is nothing easier for calligraphy than pens – after all, from childhood we are taught to write with them. But here there are some nuances. The calligraphy pens use ink which for the most part is water-washable and unstable, unlike mascara. Therefore, if you have chosen a pen as a tool, then there can be no question of the preservation of the original appearance of your work. The nibs that are used in pens are not flexible, which imposes restrictions on the choice of fonts when writing.

But do not forget that the pens were invented specifically for writing – it is more customary to work with them and study recipes. Plus, they allow you to teach any beginner to correctly position the pen in relation to the surface. If the tip of the pen is not pressed against the paper and parallel to it, then no fountain pen will produce continuous writing.

Pens differ in types of nibs – pointed and broad-nib .

Wide nib pens are numbered according to the nib width. The widest nib in the series can be up to 6 mm . Pointed fountain pens can also vary in thickness. Moreover, they are marked with letters:

EF (Extra Fine) – super thin nib (≈ 0.5 mm);
F (Fine) – thin nib (≈ 0.6 mm);
M (Medium) – medium nib (≈ 0.75 mm);
LH (Left Hand) – left-handed pen (≈ 0.75 mm).

For advanced users, there are brush calligraphy pens such as the  Pentel Pocket Brush . The calligraphy ink in them is permanent – after drying, they do not smear and do not spread. They can be used not only on paper, but also on many other surfaces.

Almost every fountain pen is reusable. For them, both individual refilled replaceable cartridges and converters with ink in cans are sold.

Calligraphy Pen Set

GutsPK offer different calligraphy pen sets to our audience. Just visit our store to check the all deals related to calligraphy pens set.

Calligraphy Ink

For a beginner, ink and ink are the same thing. But in fact, these are materials that differ in their physico-chemical parameters.

Ink – solid particles of a dye. Historically, these are gas soot pigments. Mascara can be either solid or already in the composition with a binder (liquid).

Ink is always a liquid dye substance in a binder (water or alcohol).

The coloring particles (pigments) in the ink remain on the surface after drying, and the ink impregnates the surface. Therefore, when working on loose and textured papers, ink may fall inward (be eaten by the paper). This should be taken into account when choosing calligraphy materials for both beginners and professionals. In order to avoid fading after drying, pigmented inks are available from many manufacturers. To increase the viscosity, many components are added to the finished ink and ink, which were previously of natural animal origin and now they are synthetic.

Ink for calligraphy is available in black and color. Dry ink in the form of sticks is only available in traditional black color. A stone may be needed in the kit for rubbing it. When working with such mascara, it should be understood that despite the fact that a clear black color will be visible when rubbing, when diluted with water, a subtone of purple or gray-green color may appear. It depends on the origin of the pigments used for production.

Calligraphy ink is used both as an independent material for work and for refilling cartridges in pens. It is almost impossible to use mascara for pens, as pigment particles will constantly clog access to the nib. Therefore, only ink is used in pens .

Calligraphy paper

Calligraphy is an art where rice paper has traditionally been used. At the same time, “rice” was once called any hand-made paper made both in China and abroad. Many professionals prefer to use it for their work, especially where calligraphy goes in tandem with traditional Chinese drawing.

It will not be easy for beginners to work on rice paper, and write with a calligraphy pen, you need simpler paper. Better that it is smooth. Then the irregularities of the lines from the incorrect setting of the pen cannot be attributed to the roughness of the paper. When calligraphy is just getting started, many people think that plain office paper may be fine. You can take it too, but the result is unlikely to be pleasing, since the lines will spread and the letter will not give thin lines. For training, you still need specialized paper for calligraphy with a density of 90 g / m2, then writing will be enjoyable.

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