You might be surprised to learn that you actually don’t need a whole lot of supplies to start practicing modern calligraphy with a dip pen.
Earlier this week, I made my workshop booklet available for sale here. The booklet is a starter guide to learning modern calligraphy with a dip pen, complete with a section on the anatomy of the pen, procedures for cleaning the nib before first use, basic strokes as well as full uppercase (majuscules) and lowercase (minuscules) exemplars for you to practice.
What else do you need besides the workshop booklet to get started? Here is a (very short) list of the supplies you’ll need, complete with the links to purchase from.
Sumi Ink - Sumi is a readily available practice ink that is gentle on your nib, in contrast to iron gall ink, which corrodes your nib over time and requires more frequent nib changes. It is an ink made of vegetable oil soot and writes like butttaaa. It does dry up after a while, so I like to decant the ink from the giant bottle I have here to a smaller container and then add drops of water here and there if I find the consistency to be tackier and not runny enough for a steady flow off the nib.
Penholder - Starting out, I highly recommend the Speedball dip pen. It is fairly inexpensive and functions just as well as any other pen. As you practice, you may find that you prefer a wider barrel, a rubber grip, etc and that’s when you can start to shop around. For those seeking to start with an oblique pen, I recommend the Speedball Oblique Dip Pen. It is another inexpensive starting pen but in the case of the oblique, if you find you want to level up your practice, I recommend moving up to a pen with a metal flange, like this Century Turned Oblique pen. The metal flange allows you to adjust the angle of the nib so that you can write more comfortably. This was my first oblique pen and remains one of two favorites.
Nikko G Nib - Nibs come in a variety of different sizes, shapes and flexes. The Nikko G nib is the chrome nib pictured - it has a medium flex, perfect for new writers who are learning the ropes. It gives great thick downstrokes and beautifully thin upstrokes and allows you to figure out your style. If you have a light hand, you may want to try a more flexible nib like the Hunt 101 next, which gives you great thicks and thins with a gentle hand. If you have a heavy hand, you can look for a Zebra G, which is slightly stiffer than the Nikko. My favorite source for nibs is John Neal Booksellers.
Tracing Paper - Tracing paper is a new calligrapher’s best friend. Lay tracing paper on top of a worksheet to prolong your practice without having to draw/print new guidelines. How nifty is that? I prefer the Borden and Riley Marker Layout Bond.
That’s it! Are you surprised that you only need four things to get started?!