Calligraphy Pens

Calligraphy (from Calli –beautiful and graphos – writing) has many forms and expressions. A modern computer can produce consistent and very controlled text and print out perfect copies in full colour in seconds.

Most calligraphers spend many hours perfecting consistency and control in their writing so that, when required, they can break their own rules. The difference between the two pieces would perhaps be hard to describe or define but obvious to most observers. Calligraphy has been described as a craft rather than art because much of the skill and application of calligraphy can be learnt, practised and perfected.

Most calligraphy is accomplished using a square cut pen that will produce a thick line when pulled in one direction and a thin line when pulled in the other. When combined into a curve these thicks and thins can produce the characteristic shapes that are often referred to as calligraphy. The revival of modern calligraphy can probably be traced back to Edward Johnson who published his major work on calligraphy in 1906 and began the modern study of the skills of the mediaeval scribes and artists.

There are many different styles of calligraphy from the Roundhand or Roman, Italic, Gothic, Uncial. The calligraphy style that differs fundamentally from the others is Copperplate which is a round script based form of writing frequently seen on old contracts and documents. Copperplate gains its distinctive form from pressure applied to the pen which make the letter swell and narrow. There is a wide range of calligraphy pens available for the modern student. Traditionally the work would have be done by a scribe cutting and using a quill dipped into ink. Steel pens gradually replaced the quill and in the last century the fountain pen was developed and fitted with a square cut calligraphic nib. The development has not ended as within the last 5 years the Pilot Pen Company developed and manufactured a radically different calligraphy fountain pen called the Pilot Parallel Pen.

The simplest and easiest place to begin calligraphy is with a Calligraphic fountain pen (make sure if you are left handed that you buy one of the left handed pens). Start with a reasonably broad nib (say for instance the Pilot Parallel Pen 3.8mm) because letters of that size will enable you to see the shapes you are producing and compare them to the shapes you are supposed to be producing. You will need some form of sampler or letter chart to copy letters from. There are lots of excellent Calligraphy books in the bookshops which will give you both instruction and encouragement. Plenty of paper, time and practice, practice, practice … when the floor is littered with sheets of letter you may find one letter that is beginning to resemble the one on the sampler – progress! As your ability develops you may wish to try writing with a steel pen. Most people refer to them as nibs.

Traditionally what we refer to as a nib would have been referred to as a ‘pen’ and this would have required a ‘pen’holder. There used to be hundreds of manufacturers of nibs. Today there are probably a handful still in production. Mitchell & Gillott are a traditional English manufacturer. Also in the UK Leonardt & Co who currently market a range of pens under the Manuscript label. In Germany there is Brause and in the USA Speedball. Manuscript, Rotring and Pilot produce a range of calligraphic fountain pens and some of the fountain pen manufacturers also fit calligraphic nibs to some of their models eg Sheaffer.

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