People who have been reading this blog since it started, will know that I'm quite a fan of calligraphy! I used to be very into it and then slowly lost interest a little bit. That was a shame because I think if I'd kept on going, I would be much better at it. Right now I feel like a complete beginner. I feel like pointed pen calligraphy is a whole different ball park. You can't just dive straight in and be perfect at it.
For my birthday, I got the loveliest calligraphy set and Modern Calligraphy book so the spark I had for calligraphy got reignited. I've been following some very lovely people on Instagram that have been spurring me on and I'm finally going to do it!
Ugh! It's so fancy! I love it so much. It feels so special just taking it out of the box.
First things first, you have to get the oil off the brand new nibs. When they're manufactured, they're coated with an oil to prevent them from rusting and to make them shiny! It looks pretty, but it's no good for getting ink onto your nib. So, you've got to wash the nib or put it through a flame. I had a set of nibs a few months ago and for one of the nibs, I tried both of those things and it didn't work. So this time, I tried another method that used to gross me out a bit before....putting it into your mouth and using saliva to get the oil off. Quite a lot of people said it was the most effective and I possibly have to agree with them.
The two above pictures show the most progress I've ever had with a dip pen. There's still a lot of work to do, but the nibs are working more in my favour and I managed to do some pen strokes without the tines just splitting and not taking the ink. In the picture below, you can see one of my old nibs that I've had a constant battle with. No matter what method I use to break it in, it won't work. It doesn't hold the ink and if it does, it just blots. I'm giving up with it and just concentrating on using my other nibs.
I've joined The Flourish Forum which provides such amazing help for starting calligraphy. I know that will all the help they give me, I'll be well on my way to becoming a better calligrapher. First things first, I need to set up my printer so I can print off worksheets!
