HobbyCraft - Craft Techniques

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Calligraphy

Smooth finish paper
Pen and nib
Ink
Pencil
Ruler

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting and has been used for centuries, well before the invention of the printing press. Today, this art of beautiful, stylized, elegant handwriting is very popular and is used to add greetings to handmade cards, memory albums, invitations and much more.

It is an art form in which patience and attention to detail are more important than artistic talent. That means you don't have to be an "artist" to be good at calligraphy!

Equipment Needed

To write calligraphy you will need:

Smooth finish paper
Pen and nib
Ink
Pencil
Ruler

Preparation

Start by sitting comfortably - you may find it helpful to work on a surface angled at 30 degrees.
Decide on a nib size and lettering style and rule up a framework for your lettering. The height of a particular style is set at a specific number of nib widths, and varies according to the size of nib selected.
Rule equal lines for the ascenders (upstrokes) and descenders (downstrokes). Lines should be drawn in pencil so they can be erased when the ink is dry.

Method

The following examples are written with a No. 1.5 Round Dip Nib for the large text and a No. 5 Round Dip Nib for the small text together with Acrylic Dip Pen Inks. They show how the use of colour can enhance calligraphy and create different effects:

'An Invitation'

The word ‘An’ was written quite quickly to project movement. ‘Invitation’ is much larger. It starts with a flourished capital letter and to make the word less informal, the second leg of the letter ‘n’ was written at an angle together with the last letter ‘n’.

Using the No. 5 nib, the red ink was used to create a drop shadow which creates a 3-D effect.

Finally the word was finished with a calligraphic mark of four squares. The pen is held at an angle of 45° and pulled at that angle to create a square. A second square is then made in line at the same angle then the other two squares are written below.

'Good Luck'

This was written in the Italic hand with tails above and below the line. The ‘banner’ flourishes are simply the stroke of the middle of a letter ‘S’. These need to be written with a little more speed than the actual letters to avoid ‘stuttered’ flourishing.

The small red capital letters were added for contrast, colour and interest.

'Congratulations'

The word ‘Congratulations’ was written in the Italic hand. To help make the word informal, the send leg of the letters ‘n’ were written at an angle.

To decorate the word, a ‘wave’ stroke was given to each letter (except the letter ‘t’ which already has one.) The ‘wave’ stroke is drawn along the centre of the body height.

The star over the small letter ‘i’ was created by holding the nib parallel to the writing line and making the horizontal stroke first then simply turn the page round to make the three other strokes.

The smaller writing ‘you’re a star!’ was written to give contrast in writing sizes.

'Happy Birthday Helen'

This type of format is very suitable for making personalised book marks. The writing is in the Unical hand and can be very attractive. Contrast in lettering sizes is essential to throw forward the recipients name.

The information contained within this craft technique sheet is presented in good faith, but no warranty is given, nor results guaranteed. Product quantities and selections may vary at each HobbyCraft Superstore. Products are subject to availability and not all ranges are available in all stores. Before making a special journey please contact the store direct to check that they have your required product in stock. HobbyCraft Group Ltd disclaims all liability from any injury to anyone using this craft technique as a result of improper safety precautions. Since we have no control over physical conditions surrounding the application of the information herein contained, HobbyCraft Group Ltd disclaims any liability for untoward results.