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RESOURCES FOR CALLIGRAPHERS

I am often asked about my favorite supplies, especially for beginners. I wanted to put it all together in one place, along with some links to make it easy for you, so I put together this guide.

One of my favorite online shops for supplies is Paper and Ink Arts. They have good prices, almost everything I need, and ship really quickly. I also love that they are a small business, and exclusively dedicated to calligraphy.

Here’s what I always order from there:

  • Brause EF66 Nib — My absolute favorite nib. I hardly ever use anything else. It’s very flexible but creates nice hairlines. Ink flows from it really easily. It’s my teeny tiny baby love.
  • Nikko G Nib — I also give this nib to students in my workshops because it’s a little easier for beginners to use. It is stiffer than the EF66 so doesn’t snag as easily if you hit an angle wrong. I use it when I have tougher paper that the EF66 might get caught on.
  • Speedball Straight Holder — I use a straight holder (not an oblique) and it doesn’t get cheaper than this. Standard but works totally fine and I can have a lot of them and not feel bad about it.
  • Koh-I-Noor Cork Tipped Penholder — This is a little more expensive, but nicer than the Speedball, and it has a flexible prong to hold any size nib.
  • Tachikawa T40 Holder — Even more expensive, but super cute, with a nice rubber grip and slots for different sized nibs.
  • Higgins Eternal Ink — The ink we use in our workshops. Great for beginners because it’s very thin and flowy and inexpensive.
  • Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink (in black) — My go to black ink. It’s not too thin but still flows nicely.
  • Dr. Martin’s Bleedproof White — My go to white ink. Opaque. Flows nicely once you get it to the right consistency.
  • Dr. Martin’s Iridescent Colors (Copperplate gold) — My absolute favorite gold. Nice color. Nice shimmer. Flows when a lot of metallics don’t! (I also use the Silver and the Copper)
  • Winsor & Newton Gouache — I almost always use gouache over colored inks, and you can’t go wrong with Winsor & Newton.
  • Holbein Acryla Gouache – This is my go-to gouache. I find it very smooth and easy to work with.
  • Pentel Aquash Waterbrush — My favorite brush to use, whether it is filled with water or not. I love it because it keeps its point so well.
  • Single Refill Jar with Cap — Great inexpensive jars for mixing and storing gouache or ink.
  • Uniball Signo Roller Ball Pen (White) — A great monoline white pen. Writes on a lot of different surfaces and goes on very opaque and very smooth.
  • Small Staedtler Mars White Plastic Eraser — The eraser I’ve been using for about a million years.
  • Canson Marker Paper — My favorite paper for spot calligraphy and practice. It is really smooth and semi-transparent so you can see liners under it without using a light box.
  • Light Pad— Could not live without this. Makes my life one million times easier for sure.
  • Laser Square & Mat — I’ve been using the Slider Writer for many years to get a laser line on envelopes or paper that you can’t use a lightbox with. But it has been discontinued. This looks like a perfect replacement.
  • And of course, my own magical Envelope Template Liners. I have been using them for years and years and can’t imagine my life without them!

Also, I recommend these books to all of my students:

And last but not least, calligrafile.com is a great website with a ton of different resources and tools.

*** Some of the links here and on the site are affiliate links, meaning that we may receive a commission on sales, but we want to assure you that we only recommend and work with companies that we absolutely love and use personally. You can also find these supplies and more on our Amazon Storefront.