My Favourite Calligraphy Tools

The most frequently asked question any calligrapher gets to their DMs is a frantic “what pen is this???”. There are so many tools and brush pens out there, so here’s a round-up of the supplies that I always have stocked in my home studio.

Disclaimer: This supply list includes Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small percentage from qualifying purchases, to support creating further resources like this one. Thanks a million! That being said, I will never suggest supplies that I do not personally use and fully recommend.

Best Calligraphy Brush Pens

THE SMALL-TIPPED BRUSH PEN

I always recommend starting with a small-tipped brush pen when learning on your own, or at one of my calligraphy workshops. Small-tipped pens are perfect for more traditional calligraphy, place cards, envelope addressing, and more.

My favourite small-tipped brush due to its pleasing and smooth glide, is the Pentel Sign Pen. It's the perfect pen to start with for beginners.

TOMBOW DUAL BRUSH PEN

The Tombow Dual Brush Pen is the next step if you want to create larger, more colourful pieces. Just like the Fudenosuke, they’re water-based, which means you can even use them for watercolour projects (like watercolour place cards – tutorial to come!)

They come in delightful 10-packs including Pastel, Galaxy, Tropical, Brights, Secondary Colours, or you could even go for…. the motherlode.

Calligraphy Dip Pens

Here’s the truth: I practiced brush pen calligraphy for a solid year before I moved on to dip pens. No word of a lie. It wasn’t for lack of trying — but every time I picked up a nib and holder, it was a messy disaster. I had no idea what I was doing, and didn’t realize that while the basic mechanics are the same, there are some characteristics of the steel nib that make it hard to rush into your practice. That being said, there are some really amazing effects you can achieve with a dip pen that just aren’t the same with brush pens. For example, opaque white ink on dark paper, or gold/iridescent inks.

It can also be more expensive than the brush pen option, because rather than just one simple brush pen, it requires purchasing three tools:

1. A steel nib (which is dipped into the ink)
2. A nib holder (what you hold when dipping and writing)
3. Your ink!

BEST BEGINNER CALLIGRAPHY NIB: THE ZEBRA G NIB

There are so many different kinds of nibs out there, but the trusty Zebra G is the best one to start with. It has medium flexibility and is very forgiving for beginner calligraphers.

BEST PEN HOLDER: THE MOBLIQUE 2-IN-1

With this lightweight, budget-frendly nib holder, you get the benefit of an oblique and a straight pen holder in one, AND you can even store a couple of nibs inside it. So handy! Grab your Moblique from my online shop.

Best Paper to Use for Calligraphy

HP PREMIUM 32LB COPY PAPER

As a fellow pen and paper addict enthusiast, it is so easy to obsess over finding the highest quality materials – but please don’t break the bank. This heavier, smoother printer paper is delightfully smooth, won’t fray your brush pens quickly and is a more affordable alternative to another one of my favourites, the Rhodia pad (which, don’t get me wrong, makes for a pretty delicious writing experience 😅).

The HP Premium32 Printer paper is also FSC certified – much better for our trees! So go ahead and print out those calligraphy guidelines to your heart’s content.

TRACING PAPER

Using vellum or tracing paper is a great way to build muscle memory by tracing over exemplars, like the ones you’ll get in my workshops! I use tracing paper all the time so that I can see my guidelines underneath, without having to draw them and erase them afterwards.

There are so many fun tools out there, but if you’re still not sure about trying calligraphy, I’ve created a FREE Calligraphy Basics Mini-Course… and all you need is a pencil!