From the course: Learning Calligraphy

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Writing with smaller nib sizes

Writing with smaller nib sizes

From the course: Learning Calligraphy

Start my 1-month free trial

Writing with smaller nib sizes

- Up til this point, we've been writing with large nibs so that you could easily see the structure of your letter forms on your practice sheets. It's easy to work with these pens because they have an ink cartridge which keeps the ink flowing. They work well at larger sizes but as you get into smaller writing, the best tools for producing sharp hairlines and crisp edges are dip pens with interchangeable nibs especially as our writing gets smaller. It's the thin hairlines and crisp edges that give you the beautiful turning ribbon effect of Italic calligraphy. Have a look at my optional materials list which is in the exercise files. To write at smaller sizes, you'll need bottled ink, a pen holder and some smaller size nibs. There are several different brands of nibs that will work well for you. If you choose Brause or Tape, start with a number three millimeter size. If you choose Mitchell's, start with a number one. Notice that the Brause and Tape nibs have an attached reservoir on top…

Contents