Walking through a craft store can sometimes feel like a flashback to many different phases in my life. I realized recently that I’ve hit almost every section in the store at some point in my life or another, everything except for the pens/calligraphy/writing section. I’ve always had really messy handwriting so I never gave those fancy pens a second thought, a good pen isn’t going to fix bad handwriting! Then about a month ago I saw this video on Facebook that made lettering look so cool and a whole new crafting section has opened up for me!
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After watching the video I immediately thought, “I need those brush markers!” and ordered them from Amazon!
Then I realized I might need to learn how to use them, so I dug around the internet to figure it out. Here’s the rabbit hole I initially went down to get started: |
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First I searched for the artist featured in the video and found her website https://blackchalkco.com. She has some amazing resources for beginners including what materials you might want to use, basic strokes, and some free lettering guides: https://blackchalkco.com/resources/learn-brush-pen-lettering/. |
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Then I followed her on instagram, @BlackChalkCo. As I dug into her posts and hashtags I began to find my people, calligraphers of all skill level who just wanted to practice and share their work. I love watching the videos people post of how they create their lettering, they are one of the most relaxing things to watch! |
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On Instagram I found what inspired me most, lettering challenges! Every month people share different themed challenges that have a daily word or phrase to letter. It’s been great for practice, a ton of fun, and helped me find even more people to follow and get inspired by!
My first three challenges were the #LetteringWithPositivity hosted by @JeshyPark, @leslie.writes.it.all, and @lettersbyshells, #HappyLetteringChallenge hosted by @HappyLetteringChallenge, and #LetteringFoodPuns hosted by @LetteringInVA. |
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I also found this free training offered by Liss, an Introduction to Brush Lettering, on her website: https://liss.com.au/introduction-to-brush-calligraphy/. It works like a newsletter, you get a daily training video for five days. It was a nice way to break the practice up and not take on everything at once. |
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Liss talks so highly of them and it seems like EVERYONE on Instagram is using them, I also bought this two pen set of Tombow’s. |
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And because I might now have a brush pen problem and I needed to spend $15 more dollars to get free next day delivery from Amazon, I also picked up this set of Tombow dual brush pens in secondary colors because they just feel so much like Autumn to me! |
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To round everything out, I also got some really low cost watercolors to start. I thought I was just going to make wreaths with them, but it turns out lettering with water colors is pretty fun too! |
As much as I do love the craft of lettering, I’ve found that the community to be the most rewarding part. It’s full of people who are genuine and welcome you in, even if you’re a newbie.
Instagram is also a place where I’ve gotten inspired about what I want to do next to take my lettering to the next level. Here’s my wishlist for what I hope to do next:
How cool is foil lettering?!
I love watching the foil reveals on Instagram, they are seriously magical!
Foiling Shopping List:
- Laminator: I have this laminator on my Amazon list
- Laser printer: I need to do more research on this one.
- Foil: I have this gold foil on my Amazon list
I also love embossing!
This one seems like there could be endless things I could do beyond just lettering.
Seriously, I could watch these videos over and over again. When the heat hits the embossing powder, wow!
Embossing Shopping List:
- Embossing kit: I have this embossing kit on my Amazon list