Are you tired of practicing for hours on end only for your copperplate calligraphy to look the same as it did last week or last month? Here’s what will NOT produce mastery:

• Trying a different nib
• Adding gum arabic to your ink
• Practicing for longer hours

Sure. Those things can make small improvements to aspects of your writing. But until you do this one thing, you will never go from good to great as a calligrapher.

Ready to stop reading about it and start doing something to elevate your calligraphy skill? Sign up for my free Precision Copperplate Calligraphy mini-course through Kalli Camp Academy. Sign Up Here.

I used to think the most important skill for mastering copperplate calligraphy was conquering the basic strokes. And while I haven’t changed my mind on the value of practicing the foundational strokes, I have developed a new understanding of what makes it POSSIBLE to write those strokes well.

So WHAT IS that ONE THING that will help you master copperplate calligraphy faster than anything else? It’s going to sound so simple you might not believe me. In fact you might just stop reading right here and go back to scrolling the ‘gram. But I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it anyway, because this one thing took my calligraphy from copperplate to Engrosser’s script status in one summer.

Are you ready for it? The number one skill for mastering copperplate calligraphy is…tine manipulation. Yep, that’s it. All you have to do is learn how to get those pesky little points of the nib to go exactly where you want them, and it will be like a light suddenly coming on. I know, I know, you think I’m telling you nonsense. I can hear you thinking, “Of course, if I could get the tines to go where I want them, I’d be an expert calligrapher. You’re not telling me anything new!” Amiright?

But I AM telling you something new. What I’m trying to tell you is that there is a way to practice, a way to think, and a way to become one with your pointed pen that will make your nib automatically go where you want it to. The first time I felt my nib sculpt out ink like it was an extension of my finger, I fell in love with calligraphy all over again. Squared edges? Done. Perfect ovals? Easy Peasy. Loop letters on slant? Never looked better.

Mastering calligraphy isn’t about hammering out a gazillion pages of stroke and letter practice. Instead it’s about learning HOW to manipulate the tines of the nib of your pointed pen. When you do that, the strokes and letters will almost write themselves.

Want some {almost} hands-on instruction in learning this all-important calligraphy skill? Grab a spot in my Precision Copperplate Calligraphy mini-course online over at Kalli Camp Academy.