I'd really like to try my hand at calligraphy! However, I would prefer to learn a bit on my own prior to getting face-to-face instruction. Can anyone offer suggestions for books I should look at or websites that may be helpful?

"Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique" by Marc Drogin is considered the SCA's "calligraphers bible" and is definitely one you should acquire.

It can be bought through Amazon fairly cheaply. Its well laid out, will give you a lot of history and there's a lot on instruction as to the lines you need to form the letters. Sit quietly and copy from this book for a while and you'll be scribin' in no time =)

Thank you for the suggestion! I looked it up and it is very reasonably priced, which is nice!

A friend who is not in the SCA suggested I start with calligraphy markers to learn how to hold a pen and learn the basic strokes, and then move to pens later so I can tackle ink flow separately. It seems like a good idea, but what would I know!?
Is there any reason I should consider jumping in to nibs & ink right away? Or is the marker idea ok?

Gillian Swyft wrote:


When I first started I was told the same thing, so I bought the cheap felt pens. I absolutely HATED them right from the get-go! They just felt really weird to hold, and the lines that made up the individual letters were wonky and all over the place. So I went back to the art store and bought Speedball brand nibs / holder and a bottle of calligraphy ink, a more expensive option but still only about $10. The change made a world of difference and I found it A LOT easier to learn. Paper absorbency also will play a part in how your letters turn out, look for calligraphy paper.

I've since started using a different nib / ink / paper combination, but it involved trying different types and finding what worked best for me. Buy what you can afford and just start playing, you'll quickly learn what you do and don't like and start to get better.

^Excellent, thanks! I still may give markers a try first, but now I know that if they don't work for me, it doesn't mean I'm doomed to failure.

You can also use the pre-filled cartridge pens, though like the markers the ink is not lightfast or waterproof. But after you get the feel of them you can move to refilling the cartridges with a printer ink cartridge syringe with the lightfast ink you would use with dip pens, but stay away from waterproof it will clog your pen. This way you won't have to relearn to hold your pen once you start doing calligraphy for scroll or such, just change the type of ink in it.

I however, use the dip pens, Mitchell nibs for general scribin' and Brause nibs for sharp edge letters. Natural inks like oak gall, walnut or iron gall are wonderful to work with. It is easier to keep your nibs clean and it flows much better. And a big thing is paper, if it is too porous it will bleed or capillary. Get a paper specific for pen and ink or a bristol smooth velum is good too.

I would try John Neal Booksellers online to start building your scribing skills. Speedball is nice, but after a while you want a better quality nib and ink.

I am not by any means a scribe, but I must jump in and state I *hate* the calligraphy markers. I started with pre-filled cartridges, then when those were lost at an event and I couldn't find them locally, I settled for markers. Because my work looked sloppy no matter what I did, I just quit trying to learn. I will pick it back up again someday and when I do, I will go straight to nibs and ink. Or maybe the cartridges if I can find them... they are rather convenient.

I also strongly suggest starting out with Carolingian Miniscule. It is a good base script and is what I have started with. While the other hands can be very pretty, they are also trickier. Vertical hands are harder than the others. Plus Carolingian was used for a VERY long period of time and in a wide range of places.

I am making my own pens. I have some great owl and eagle feathers. In the middle ages, the feathers were striped off and just the quill was used. The feathery quill pen is an invention of Hollywood. However, I will probably leave the feathers on for the same reason they do in Hollywood; it looks nice. The quills need to be hardened. This can be done by heating a pan of sand in the oven and then sticking the quills into the sand. In the middle ages, they used hot ashes from the fireplace. Next the ends of the quills need to be shaped into a pen. I bought some old metal pens to copy the shape of the nib. A busy scribe would have to sharpen his pen every three of four days, therefore a good scribe needs a good knife. I guess one scribe got tired of using a dagger for this purpose and he/she invented the folding knife. Now known as a jack knife, pocket knife or by its original name; the "pen knife". You can also make your own parchment. You can find the procedure on the net. Basically you grind old paper and water into a mush and then squeeze the water out and let it dry. The final step is to start writing in Middle English which I have been studying for the past year now. I will let you know how it all turns out.