{"id":44640,"date":"2025-08-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=44640"},"modified":"2025-08-07T13:18:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T20:18:58","slug":"calligraphy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/calligraphy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Calligraphy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Refillable Manga medium<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Copic Markers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copic markers are Japanese-made markers that have been used for years by Manga and other artists in Japan. Though generally relegated to that purpose, they\u2019re a very functional medium, an alcohol-based, refillable marker that can also be used with an airbrush. They are initially expensive to buy, but because they are refillable and so versatile, over time they prove to be less expensive than Prismacolor markers. Because they are alcohol based, they are also blendable; similar to watercolor in application, but much more convenient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Copic markers are somewhat limited in application, and not something generally as versatile as acrylic- or oil-based media. The advantage in my case is mostly portability. For anything larger than an 8 1\/2X11\u2033 page, they wouldn\u2019t be practical. Think of them as more for cartooning than fine art. I do a lot of caricaturing and figure drawing, for which they work well. \u2014 Stephen Young<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For indelible writing on dark glossy surfaces<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Metallic Sharpie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Metallic Sharpie is a vast improvement over other metallic pens out there \u2014 no shaking the pen before use, and the ink doesn\u2019t puddle up. It dries permanent and shows up great on dark surfaces as well as light ones. It became favorite art tool in my arsenal when I was able to write a friends phone number on a freshly opened, ice-cold beer bottle. Seconds after jotting the number, it was indelible. I try to take it everywhere \u2014 it\u2019s good for men\u2019s room graffiti, VHS tapes, I even labeled various keys on my key ring. You can get metallic sharpies at Staples or Office Max. \u2014 Chris Sperandio<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s almost no other way to easily write on slippery surfaces. The metallic sharpie uses silver ink, which has remarkable contrast against both light and dark surfaces. For writing on black plastic or enamel (there is more of it around than you think) nothing else will do. \u2014 KK<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have managed to accumulate dozens of small transformers over the years. Those black plastic \u201cwall wart\u201d things. They get unplugged from the device and usually they are totally generic in their labeling. Whatever they powered has gone away, but the transformer remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grabbed one and wrote the product the new transformer belonged to in silver ink on black plastic. I\u2019d tried grease pencils and tags and such stuff before, but they just never worked out. This seems to be the fix. I am so excited about this discovery, I just had to share it. \u2014 Norm A.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fine point performance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sharpie Twin-Tip<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharpie markers are well-known for being indelible, particularly on plastic, glass and metal surfaces. Folks in labs, movie sets, and hospitals who need to mark things permanently use Sharpies. If the ink goes on, it won\u2019t come off. What\u2019s special here is that the other tip of these pens is an ultra-fine point Sharpie, fine enough to write like a ball-point pen \u2013 but permanently \u2014 when you need to. The \u201cindustrial\u201d version of Sharpie ink will even resist chemicals and scrubbing. Since more writing surfaces seem to be plastic-like, I find we use Sharpies all the time now. \u2014 KK<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learning to hand letter<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Calligraphy \u2022 The Calligrapher\u2019s Bible<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calligraphy: A Course in Hand Lettering<\/em> is the best book for teaching yourself calligraphy, which you can do on your own. It\u2019s how I learned. The book is spiral-bound to lay flat and includes transparent guide sheets for practice. You write over its pages. The course is structured simply and will teach you the basic Italian cursive hands. I prefer it over other guides because it focuses on getting the basics right, without intimidating you with a lot of fancy work. By the end of this course you\u2019ll be able to do a passable wedding invitation, envelope, or framable quotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you want to move onto additional scripts, the Calligrapher\u2019s Bible (also spiral bound) will show you how to hand write over a hundred of them. The directions for each hand are clear and concise. This will last you many years. \u2014 KK<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once a week we\u2019ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because\u00a0the possibilities they inspire are new.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 150<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2387],"tags":[2388],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44647,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44640\/revisions\/44647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}