Tools of the (Calligraphy) trade: The Basics

Most great things have humble beginnings, including your calligraphy journey!

Calligraphy has made quite a comeback and is very trendy at the moment and gaining in popularity. Scrolling through your Instagram feed can sometimes be overwhelming as you see calligraphers who've been in the business for years post incredible pictures of their artwork. I know I felt a little paralyzed in the beginning and wasn't sure where to start (and it's so tempting to just go out and buy all the tools that they feature!)

But before you go and bankrupt yourself, take a few breaths and start with what you have:

No.1: The oh-so humble pencil

Pencils are my number ONE go-to tool, they are readily available and inexpensive, and you probably have one or a few rolling around somewhere in your house/purse/backpack/fortress of solitude, etc.

Many pencils come with a few letters and/or numbers at the 'end' of them, i.e. the other end of the pointy side, and usually where the little round eraser is. These characters tell you how 'hard' and 'black' a pencil shading will be, and it comes in a range from hardest to softest and lightest to blackest. A good place to start is an 'HB' (hard/black) pencil, which is standard. If you look closely at the above picture, you'll see that the middle pencil a 2B.

You will need to get a good sharpener to keep the point nice and sharp.

Another option is the mechanical pencil- pictured on the left in the above picture. These are pencils that come with lead refills and uses a mechanism to propel the lead through the hole at the top. Because you can buy refills, you do not use a sharpener.

By the way (!!history lesson alert!!), pencils no longer use actual lead, but are made of graphite (that's the part of the pencil that makes a mark and allows you to draw)- in the past people could get lead poisoning from sucking on the pencil tips (yuck)

No.2: Paper

Any old paper will do when you're starting out, printing paper, newspapers, magazine pages, notebooks and journals. Just don't write in library books- don't be that person ;)

Go wild and draw/write something or anything! If you're really stumped, start with your name and see how many times you can write it differently, starting with your handwriting and then adding extra finishes. Remember the beauty of calligraphy is that it can be for anyone <3

Until next time!

xoxo