How to Use a Calligraphy Pen

How to Use a Calligraphy Pen thumbnail
A steel-point calligraphy pen

The art of calligraphy, literally meaning "beautiful writing," is an ancient one, dating to early China. These days, there are countless classes, books and videos on how to learn this lovely skill. It's possible to learn the basics of using a calligraphy pen to create elegant writing without formal training.

Things You'll Need

  • Calligraphy pen
  • Nibs (optional)
  • Ink (depending on the kind of pen)
  • Paper
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Select a pen. Calligraphy pens can be felt-tipped, steel-point, fountain pens and even feather quills with a specially cut point. Felt-tip pens require no additional ink. But if you are using a fountain pen, steel-point pen, or quill, you will need a bottle of ink. Try out several pens, long and short, narrow and thick, to decide what feels best in your hand.

    • 2

      Select your nib. The nib is the part of the pen that transmits the ink to the paper. With felt-tip calligraphy pens, you can buy pens in different nib sizes, from very fine (tiny nib) to wide tip (very broad). Steel-point and fountain pens usually come with interchangeable nibs so that you can use the same pen body for all of your work.

    • 3
      Nibs for a steel-point pen

      Dip the calligraphy pen in ink or fill the fountain pen bladder, if necessary. Press the tip of the nib gently against the ink jar to remove any big drops.

    • 4

      Angle the calligraphy pen so that the nib meets the paper at about a 30-degree angle. This doesn't have to be exact. Just add some angle to the pen so that you get the characteristic wide and thick lines of calligraphy.

    • 5

      Write. Practice writing the alphabet using sentences that contain all of the alphabet's letters, like "The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog." Also practice names, numbers and symbols.

    • 6

      Practice frequently. The more you use your skills, the more even and uniform your writing will become.

    • 7

      Take good care of your calligraphy pens and ink. Always clean steel-point nibs after using them. Keep ink stored with the lid on and away from light.

Related Searches:

Comments

You May Also Like

  • How to use Calligraphy Pens

    Calligraphy is the art of writing using fancy letters. It takes a lot of skill and talent to write calligraphy. In order...

  • How to Hold a Calligraphy Pen

    According to Princeton University's Wordnet, the definition of the word calligraphy is, in fact, "beautiful writing." With practice, a writer can learn...

  • How to Use a Calligraphy Pen

    Calligraphy pens are specially designed to write both thick and thin strokes. Learn how to use a pen for italic hand calligraphy...

  • How to Use a Feather Pen

    Feather pens, more commonly known as quill pens, first came into usage in Seville, Spain around 600 AD. This historic implement served...

  • Types of Calligraphy Pens

    The word "calligraphy" means beautiful writing. Calligraphy was introduced to Japan from China in the fifth century. It began as hieroglyphs. The...

  • How to Choose a Calligraphy Pen

    There are basically two necessary tools for calligraphy: Something to write on and something to write with. The "with" is a calligraphy...

  • How to Write With a Fountain Pen

    In 1884 the fountain pen was invented by Lewis Waterman. It was designed after the feather quill pen. Waterman found a way...

  • Calligraphy Punctuation Location Tips

    Punctuation is a huge aspect of calligraphy that can add or take away from your piece. Learn tips on how to place...

  • How to Use a Nib Pen

    A nib pen is another way to describe a dip pen. These pens were usually made of wood and contained the nib...

  • How to Do Old English Calligraphy

    Calligraphy comes from the Greek words "calli," meaning "beautiful," and "graphein," meaning "writing." Old English calligraphy, also called Blackletter, is one of...

  • How to Use Speedball Calligraphy Pen Sets

    Calligraphy is the art of drawing decorative letters by hand. You can do this with metal nibs inserted into a grooved pen...

  • Instructions for Italic Calligraphy

    Calligraphy is a form of handwriting that focuses on lines, angles, letter spacing, and dimensions. Calligraphy is most often recognized as an...

  • Alternatives to a Felt Tip Pen

    Felt tip pens serve a wide range of purposes, from fine-point to permanent markers. Whether you need to color in details on...

  • How to Use Calligraphy Pens

    Learn how to use calligraphy pens in this free video series that will teach you everything you need to know about writing...

  • Calligraphy Pens & Markers

    Use markers with broad, flat tips for calligraphy. Learn more about choosing writing materials in this free calligraphy number lesson from a...

  • How to Use a Ruling Pen

    Ruling pens precede technical pens in the history of art supplies. They were used for drawing lines by hand with India ink....

Related Ads

Featured