This month we have the amazing Athena and her store @meticulousink. This is a small, female-led team in Bath, UK that really care about creating beautiful, unusual, tactile stationery. Take it away Athena...
I'm Athena, founder of Meticulous Ink, a fine stationery and letterpress print shop full to the brim with dreamy stationery, paper goods and calligraphy essentials. Opened in 2010, we just celebrated 14 glorious years of fabulous stationery!
As well as the high street shop, we offer utterly bespoke letterpress printing, and creative workshops, our most popular being the beginner copperplate calligraphy workshop.
I'm a self taught calligrapher, and only started learning after opening Meticulous Ink. We were inundated with wedding invitation orders, with lots of couples requesting addressed envelopes and place cards. As a fresh new business and being very creatively confident, I saw this as an opportunity, so began learning through a few books and tutorials. After a few months of practice, I offered a calligraphy service in the shop. Thankfully my calligraphy has improved dramatically since those early days - as they say, practise really does make progress!
We've stocked the wonderful items from Tom's Studio since 2021. The quality is truly excellent and having a keen eye for design, I really appreciate the beautiful presentation. For me, the niche and specific tools aimed at budding and experienced calligraphy fans hold huge appeal, with items that are useful, practical and a joy to use.
My personal favourites: The Studio fountain pen with Semi Flex nib, and the utterly amazing One Dip Wonder. Such a small, yet perfectly formed tool that makes calligraphy so much easier!
If you are at the beginning of your calligraphy journey, my biggest piece of advice is to get started with whatever tools you have now. Even a pencil and some paper to get used to the shapes will get you well on your way. Every expert calligrapher out there started from zero, so the sooner you get started, the sooner you'll improve.
My Favourite Tom's Studio Pen
Taking a tour of the Studio Pen with Semi Flex nib by @tomsstudio, a fantastic pen for on-the-go calligraphy and easy practise.
The semi flex nib allows you to create varying line weights, so you can use your copperplate calligraphy skills to full effect. Simply apply pressure on your downward strokes to engage the flex in the nib, allowing more ink to flow onto the page. Use with standard pressure and you'll find the pen writes wonderfully smooth thanks to the tipped nib (that's the ball on the end of the nib).
Made from solid aluminium in a delicately textured finish, so has a reassuring weight, plus comes complete with a refillable cartridge converter, meaning you can choose from any bottled ink.
My Favourite Tom's Studio Accessory
The secret weapon in any calligraphers equipment stash - the One Dip Wonder by Tom's Studio, helps you to focus on your calligraphy rather than the interruption from needing to get more ink.
This magical reservoir dramatically increases the capacity of ink held in the vent, so you'll be able to write up to seven times longer with a single dip.
I find it particularly useful when I'm creating calligraphy artwork. It means I can get lost in the creative part, rather than the practicalities of needing to collect more ink. Best used with non-metallic inks, it's perfect with our Iron Gall ink, and can be used with any dip pen nib lacking a reservoir.
You can find out more about Athena and Meticulous Ink here.