Ink

The ink I use with the pens featured below is stick ink. The stick (long rectangular piece with silver and gold pattern) is ground with a few drops of water in the grinding stone (base piece in photo). To write, I hold the pen in my right hand and the small paint brush in the left hand, pen a few letters and then dip the brush into the grinding stone well and proceed to brush the ink on to the underside of the pen nib. For color work, I use watercolor paint.

Calligraphy

Now that we are in a new house, in a new city and a new state, I will start learning a new hand in calligraphy. Here is a photo of the pens I use to write Spencerian Script. The two pens on the far right were ones that I commissioned Bill Lilly to make. The wood was removed from the White House during renovations in 1950 and under the pens is a small brass plaque that came with the length of wood. My Mom bought the wood for $1.00.

My new course of study is Foundational hand with Monica Dengo http://www.freehandwriting.net/ and below is a photo of my new pen made by Cynthia Ellis-Petrow http://www.woodbyc.com/ The wood has been dyed with deep greens and blues and is incredibly smooth --- feels like satin.