The Calligraphy Pen

One of Canada’s foremost calligraphers is designer Martin Jackson who runs his own studio in Vancouver. He has lectured thoughout Canada and the US and has an impressive list of credits including commission pieces for the Prince and Princess of Wales, Poep John Paul II as well as the calligraphy on the wedding reception for Bill Gates.

He is available for all of the usualwork requiring high quality calligraphysuch as certificates, weddings, receptions, letterhead and invitations. Add to that commercial commissions such as wine labels, menus, business cards and the like and Martin creates some important occasion pieces of great quality.

The site contains a section where you can view instructional videos that give an introduction to italics, quill cutting and gilding. You have the opportunity of booking courses and lectures with Martin in all sorts of calligraphy disciplines.

Then there’s the fine art work that he has produced, a gallery of which is available to view at his site.

When the Pilot Parallel Pen calligraphy pen was released it was hailed as a breakthrough in calligraphy pen design. The Pilot Pen Company’s Parallel Pen was designed with a nib that consists of two parallel plates that gives the writer the ability to write with lines that are sharper that other calligraphy pens.

The Parallel Pen has proven to be a reliable, durable pen that gives you crisp edges proving suitable to both the beginner and experienced calligrapher alike.

A common problem with calligraphy pens, particularly the larger nibs, is skipping - where the ink is not delivered consistently. The Parallel Pen’s construction is such that the ink is directed between two layers of metal forcing the ink to the entire writing edge without fail. If you choose to, you can turn the pen so that the nib is on its side and use it to produce fine handwriting

The Pilot Parallel Pen comes with both an ink cartridge and a bladder giving you the choice of whichever ink delivery system you prefer. Alternatively you can dip the pen or, if you want to try some color changes mid stream you canuse a combination of dipping and cartridge ink. Touching the nib of one Parallel Pen to the nib of a differently colored Parallel Pen will achieve that same effect.

The Parallel Pen is available in 4 different nib sizes - 1.5mm, 2.4mm, 3.8mm and 6.0mm. They are also supplied with a range of colored ink choices and these inks have been specially formulated for use with these types of nibs.

The Pilot Parallel Pen is just one of a number of low-cost alternatives examined here to choose from when buying a calligraphy pen such as the Sheaffer entry level pens, the Pelikan calligraphy pen, and the Rotring Calligraphy Art Pen.

The latest in my series of presentations of the sites of calligraphers takes us to the beautiful site called The Calligraphy Lady.

This is the home of calligrapher Dayna Bischof who provides an extensive array of services, notably wedding invitations of outstanding quality, as well as calligraphy services for envelopes, programs, menus, monograms, place cards, escort cards, table cards, stationery, corporate business needs among other things.

The site points out that although The Calligraphy Lady is based in Missouri, she has provided work for all 50 states and has even sent work to Germany and the UK.

There is a stack of samples of Dayna’s work and it is quality indeed. Her calligraphy has been featured in Beverly Clark Elite Wedding Collection, Brides, The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Cosmo Bride, Quest NY and City Wedding: a wedding planning guide for brides.

For those planning a wedding this definitely looks like one of the sites you should check out before making a final decision on your invitations and cards.

The following news story reminds us about knowing the calligraphy we are producing. (A translation is provided at the site that I’ve linked to).

As attractive and stirring as many of us find Chinese calligraphy, and for us Westerners I guess a lot of us find it mysterious, it must be remembered that the calligraphy we are admiring is actually words.

This fact was obviously forgotten by Max Planck Institute in Germany when they published a special issue about China including some lovely Chinese calligraphy on the cover of the magazine. The problem was that the calligraphy was actually an advertisement for a brothel and rather than giving the mysterious aura of the East to the page, it gave a rather more titillating invitation.

So the next time you decide to use some Chinese characters for a major work that you are planning to exhibit or display, get a translation of what it is you’re writing. It will save the embarrassment that the Max Planck journal must be feeling.

So you have recently taken up calligraphy, maybe you have taken a calligraphy course or have studied online. It’s very likely that early on in your calligraphy career you will need some advice or guidance on some of the work you are attempting. Or perhaps you need some direction about where to go to get a good deal on some equipment, or even what equipment you should be using.

What you’re actually after is the valuable resources available from your local calligraphy guild. Joining a calligraphy guild will help you network with other calligraphers, many of them seasoned veterans. All kinds of questions can be answered and advice given by calligraphy guild members.

Events such as exhibitions and workshops are an invaluable part of calligraphy guild membership and they are held at regular intervals depending on the guild you have joined. You will also get notification of upcoming national and international events that you will be sure to find you will want to attend.

To quickly find your local calligraphy guild, you might try visiting the Cynscribe site.