Just about anything can be used as a lettering or mark making tool. Let’s take a look at all the possibilities…
The most commonly found tools for lettering have included reeds and quills sharpened to specific sizes, pens with pointed or broad edged mental nibs, sticks of bamboo carved to size and angle, drafting pens, pencils and round and flat brushes.
Metal Nibs
Paul Antonio, calligraphic master, on preparing nibs:
Randall Hasson, passionate Speedball lettering artist, talks about Speedball’s unique bent nibs:
Randall talks about vintage lettering and Speedball:
Randall focuses on the Speedball A-nib:
Randall focuses next on the B-nib:
Randall moves on to the D-nib:
Randall brings the bent nibs into contemporary uses:
Another history of the widely available and popular Speedball nibs:
Brushes
Renowned calligrapher, John Stevens, shows preparation of the 1/2″ flat brush for Roman Lettering:
Quills
Townsends shows how a feather turned into a pen in his history focused series: