Favorite Nibs

To do COPPERPLATE calligraphy I use an oblique pen (which means the nib housing is off to the side) and pointed nibs.

I personally prefer the wooden oblique pens. The wooden pens have a slot on the left (for right handers) where a metal flange slips in to hold the nib you want to use. I've tried several nibs and have decided that I have three favorites. The first is the Nikko G nib which makes great thicks and thins when writing the letterforms.

The second is the Zebra G nib, which is close to the Nikko G.

The third is one (that I just recently started using) is the Leonardt 40 (nickname Blue Pumpkin). It's a wider nib and makes really nice thicks and thins when writing large.

Of course, there are other nibs that do the copperplate styles of lettering, but these are my favorites.

Calligraphy - The Art of Beautiful Lettering

What started my interest in calligraphic lettering? A World Book Encyclopedia dictionary. Really...I saw the fancy letters that started each alphabet section of the large 2-volume dictionary set and decided I'd try to copy them with pencil and paper. Later, as a young adult, I saw a PBS series on calligraphy and decided that was what I wanted to do. I studied for several years with the Houston Calligraphy Guild, got good enough to teach classes and start a calligraphy business. That was an interesting time because most of my commission pieces were done in an Old English script. I filled in certificates for a Christian organization, a shipping company, did some logo work and even lettered the call letters for a popular Christian radio station on a song someone wrote.

Now I mainly do lettering for myself and as gifts for others. At this time, my favorite script is copperplate. I still dabble in the Old English and italic script, but I love the flow of the copperplate script. Below is one of my latest, a simple envelope done with the name in a copperplate script with Fraktur initials.

Copperplate Nib for Name - Zebra G
Nib for Fraktur Letters - Pilot Parallel Pen