What a Kit Leaves Out

Design Roots sells calligraphy supplies, kits among them. Read that as a disclosure. For the operational side of a creative studio, time tracking software is a separate topic from the craft itself; this guide provides additional context.

A starter kit exists so that somebody can begin without making five decisions they have no basis for. That is a real service and it is achieved by making the decisions for them. For another independent reference on pens, paper and calligraphy materials, Strathmore Artist Papers is useful for comparing tools and techniques.

Knowing which compromises were made is more useful than replacing the kit.

The five things usually missing

Enough paper. Kits include a pad, and a pad is a few sessions. Paper is the largest variable and the fastest consumed, and running out is where most people first meet a difficult sheet.

A second nib. One nib means one flex and one size, and it means that when the nib wears or is damaged the whole kit stops working.

Guide sheets. The single most effective aid for slant consistency, and almost never included, though it costs a printed page.

Any statement about preparation. New nibs are coated and the instruction to clean them is missing from most packaging — which is the single largest cause of a bad first hour.

And a way to tell material faults from technique faults. Which is what this whole section is, and no kit contains it.

What kits usually get right

Being fair.

A workable combination. The nib, holder and ink in a kit generally function together, which is not nothing — assembled separately by a beginner they frequently do not.

A holder that fits the nib. Fit problems produce faults people blame on themselves, and a kit removes that variable.

And a starting point that is not a decision. For somebody who wants to find out whether they enjoy this at all, that is exactly right.

The cheapest three additions

More paper, of a known smooth kind. More than any other purchase, this changes the first month.

Printed guide sheets. Free.

And two more nibs, one stiffer than the kit's. A stiffer nib is more forgiving and it gives you a comparison — when one nib misbehaves you can tell whether it is the nib or you.

All three together cost less than most kits and they address what the kit could not.

When to replace rather than supplement

When the kit's nib is damaged and you have no spare — but that is buying nibs, not a kit.

When you have decided on a script the kit was not for. An upright script and a steeply slanted one want different holders.

Otherwise, supplement. A kit that got you started did its job, and the money is better spent on the things above than on a second set of the same compromises.

The short version