Window Art
Window Display Art Window Cling Using a few art supplies and some house hold items you can make some awesome window displays. If you are
Reading time: 5 minutes
Calligraphy and creative writing is becoming increasingly more popular – whether it’s for writing wedding invites, letter writing or just plain old doodling. With more and more people wanting to put their creative hands to work, it’s useful to know the type of things you will want to consider before you purchase a Calligraphy pen set.
A major factor to consider is the flow of ink from the nib. This might sound obvious, but we all write at a different speed and apply a different force with the nib. Therefore, it is important that the flow of ink is consistent. If it is not then your work will not look particularly attractive and it may cause you frustration due to no fault of your own.
If there is too much ink flow from the nib your work will blot on the writing sheet (see picture A, below). When this happens you may also find your work seeping through the back page and possibly ruining on to the next sheet.
In contrast, if the pen does not provide enough ink flow (or the flow is inconsistent) you will have patchy and incomplete strokes (see picture B, below).
Writing with any type of writing instrument, even for short amounts of time, can sometimes lead to discomfort in your fingers – especially if you are using a hard plastic composition like many calligraphy fountain pens are made from.
This point is often overlooked by buyers. A complete Calligraphy pen is made up of three parts: a nib section, a barrel (the piece above the nib section) and a lid or cap. If you are not going to be switching between the different nib sections that often you might be able to make do with a Calligraphy set which has one lid and one barrel. However, if you are going to be switching nib sections fairly often you may want to consider a lid and a barrel for each nib section. This will save you the time of unscrewing and re-screwing nib sections every time you wish to change nibs!
Another big advantage of having separate lids and barrels is that they help prevent your pens from drying out quickly as the lids can be placed on when they pens are not in use.
The purpose of a converter cartridge is to allow you to use bottled ink (as opposed to ink cartridges). You may choose to do this just for ease or because you have a specific colour bottled ink that you would like to use. Be sure to use ink that is suitable for cartridge pens otherwise you may find your nib becoming irreversibly blocked. Indian ink, for example, is a dipping ink and is not suitable to run through a cartridge-based pen even if you using a converter.
The alternative to a converter, and a far more popular choice, is to use conventional ink cartridges that come with most good Calligraphy sets. These cartridges, in the same way as bottled ink, can be permanent or water-based.
Permanent ink will provide better protection against your work fading with time or in the light. If you’ve spent hours on your work you will probably want it to last so permanent ink can be a good choice. The two main downsides to this type of ink, however, are (1) that the nib section will need to be cleaned out after each use and (2) the ink is less easily removable from clothes or surfaces should it leak or be spilt.
Water-based ink will wash out more easily and the nib section does not need cleaning out after every use (though periodic cleaning is recommended). The ink will not, however, provide the same level of colour intensity or protection as a permanent ink.
The blue ink cartridges in Zieler Calligraphy sets are washable ink with all of the other colour cartridges supplied being permanent ink.
Finally, you should also consider how easy your cartridges are to buy when they run out. The last thing you want is to be spending money on a pen set for which replacement cartridges are hard to obtain. Zieler pens are designed to fit standard, international-size cartridges which are readily available at all good stockists.
A useful part of any Calligraphy set is whether it includes a guide to get you started. This is especially true if you are considering as a gift for someone new to creative writing.
Some guides may include a grid sheet. This is a sheet with lines on it that guides you on how to size and space out your lettering – something which many newbies struggle with. Please note you should make a copy of the grid and ensure you practise on this so that the original can be copied and reused.
The lines on grid sheets differ depending on the size you are writing and the writing style you have chosen. Calligraphy practice grid-lined pads are available should you require these.
The Zieler guide to Calligraphy includes a grid sheet with step-by-step instructions on how to write Uncial Script and Gothic Script styles of Calligraphy. You can also download our free grid sheet here and use it to practice various sizes and styles of writing.
Lettering is something to be enjoyed and should never feel like a chore. You will want to be spending more time actually practicing, learning and writing than fiddling around with pens and inks. There are many Calligraphy sets available on the market and it can be difficult task choosing the right one as it’s not normally something you can try before you buy.
As far as Zieler Calligraphy sets go, we’ve created the table below to assist you.
Window Display Art Window Cling Using a few art supplies and some house hold items you can make some awesome window displays. If you are