Calligraphy is a wonderful art and learning it gives you a great credit and also increases your ability to concentrate on things. The word calligraphy has been evolved from two Greek words "Kallos" and "Graphei" (κάλλος and γράφει ) meaning "Beautiful "and "Writing" which is the art of beautiful writing or Calligraphy.This art is very special and only a very few knows it.In the modern world, calligraphy is very rare and people who does calligraphy are considered very special.My meeting with calligraphy was very wonderful.I was searching on Google for good border designs for my art works, in that image search, there came many styled letters (that's what I knew about them!)
that made a curiosity in my mind, 'Are there people who write like print?'. I clicked the link and saw the word calligraphy, then I looked for calligraphy and could find a little resource on it.But to study them, I needed tools and no-where here in Adoor (a place in Kerala) I could find them.But I could get an old fountain-pen set from a shop which I didn't expect to get it from and from there I started to learn this wonderful art.Now, you may not face that difficulty as I've gathered up the resources to get the pens for you , just visit here.
Okay, to start leaning this art, as I said before , you need to have proper tools that you can easily access from the Supplies page . Here in the picture are some of my tools.there are a lots of tools you can have.Tools, here , what I mean are pens that you use for doing calligraphy.No usual fountain-pen or ball pen can do the work of a calligraphy pen.let me explain you the types of calligraphy pen that we currently have in the market.
Types of Calligraphy Pen
- Dip Pens
- Fountain Pens
- Markers and,
- Brush
Dip Pens
They are the best writing tool according to me and they are what professionals use.They come as nibs and holder and can be used by just dipping the nib in ink and writing.I love them because they can be used with any ink that I want. They can write with permanent inks in them or acrylic or any kinds of paints too..That is a lot of convenience.The are easy to clean, and are very easy to change ink when writing. The only I've noticed is that , it sometimes becomes very messy as there is no cartridge or other kind of ink storage facility in them other than a little reservoir.
Fountain Pens
They are good for beginners and they were the kind of pen that I used for calligraphy for the first time. They are a bit hard to clean but they are very good for learning or light works. They are not capable of handling permanent inks or other paints as they may clog the pen and make them useless.But any water-based ink would be good enough to use in them.The company Manuscript produces good dark inks that can be used in fountain pens, they manufacture fountain pens , dip pens and a lot of calligraphy supplies. So, they are not always good for formal or professional calligraphy- they are not dark nor permanent.Not only that, you don't get big and broad fountain pens.
Markers
A modern tool for calligraphy, markers are very good for busy people. They are dark and permanent but their chisel end are said to split and become soft and lose all their goodness when we use it for long.But there are companies that make good markers.They come in all sizes and is a good option but I do not recommend them for professional works . No pointed nib calligraphy like Copperplate or Spencerian scripts can be done with markers of any kind.
Brushes
Brushes are only used for works that cannot be done with the above tools.The brushes used for calligraphy should be sturdy but flexible.Synthetic brushes are much preferred.Brushes are mostly used for sign boards and other large calligraphy.
See this video:
We are done with calligraphy tools now, we'll go forth to inks and papers in the next post.