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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.

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To begin this journey, we need to look at the art form of calligraphy to see what can be made with these tools. Here is an overview by the richly talented artist and calligrapher, Dorothy Lim:

https://www.theartofletters.com/blog/a-brief-look-at-some-traditional-western-calligraphy-scripts

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Broad & bent edged 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:

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Brushes

Renowned calligrapher, John Stevens, shows preparation of the 1/2″ flat brush for Roman Lettering:

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Quills

Townsends shows how a feather turned into a pen in his history focused series:

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