Wishing everyone a life filled with brightness! (Diwali/Deepavali is the Hindu Festival of Lights)

I paint wood slices and make Christmas ornaments out of them to sell. After two years of struggling with white calligraphy fading into the black acrylic paint backgrounds, I figured now was the time to seek the help of experts on Reddit. I need to find a white paint pen that will write opaquely on black paint OR I need to find a black paint for the background that a white pen can write more easily on without fading. I typically buy your generic white paint pens from Hobby Lobby/Michaels/those kinds of places. Any tips or recommendations?

To add, I'm not interested in painting the calligraphy. I know white acrylic paint will be opaque enough, but that's too time consuming for me. I prefer a pen or marker.

Will the paper used in, i guess what you'd call common, coloring books fray brush tips?

When I first started using a lot of markers especially brush tips, I was oblivious of the impact that paper quality had on a marker's lifespan. Then, after noticing the deterioration, of some of the tips on some of my relatively expensive brush pens, I did the research, and learned of the impact that paper has on markers. From then on I have been gunshy to use my markers on anything but Rhodia, Canson and other premium paper. I think though that I might be being a bit overly cautious in my ignorance, and I was hoping someone could lend me some insight to help me determine what paper is ok to use?

I haven’t been practicing my brush lettering properly in years. I scored some new Tombows at a sale this week so I’m diving back in. Free handed two of our cats’ names for practice.

I enjoy hand lettering, and occasionally use brush pens for calligraphy, which I am honestly not the best at. I've pretty much only ever used Tombow brush pens (ie https://www.tombowusa.com/dual-brush-pen.html or their fudenosuke pens) and never actually liked them, I find them hard to write with and the tips always start fraying and splitting super fast (and as for the fudenosuke pens, they dry out too quick)

I was in the pen aisle of Michael's and tested a Brushmarker Pro and absolutely loved the feel of the marker and the look of the ink. Do any of you have experience with these pens? Do they last longer than Tombow? I don't want to spend a lot of money on a set of pens only for the tips to fall apart or the ink to dry out in under a month again. (Also, am I doing something wrong for my Tombow pens to be dying that fast or is this the usual experience?)

I'm looking for a high quality handlettering brush. I got some really nice watercolors at an estate sale and want to start seriously learning it. The brushes i've been using aren't very good and I can spend about $30 if needed. A small to medium sized brush is preferred. I write out my goals on printer paper to keep on my wall to help motivate me.

Has anyone bought Chinese calligraphy brushes from temu? I usually get them from inkston but I was wondering if anyone has tried out some good beginner temu ones. ✨

I started Bengali last week and been writing down 15 words, ten times each once a day, and been feeling a minor bit of arthritis and hand cramps and other hand sensations days later. Nothing serious enough to be concerned about setting up an appointment with my primary doctor, but noticeable enough to spark some curiosity. Is this natural when you're learning writing systems that use different alphabets from your primary tongue? Like an expected result if you start learning how to write Japanese as an native English speaker? Or is it something to be concerned about (even though its just minor annoying sensations and nothing serious so far, not even the cramps and random bouts of arthritis feelings)? I'm checking to make sure if I should see a doctor while its still just a mere annoyance or if I should just brush it off as an unimportant issue that will go away as I get more and more used to writing Bengali.

Oh one more thing, if its not a concerning issue, should I expect this to occur every time I start learning another language with a completely new script? Like even if I say master Cantonese calligraphy, I should expect bout of hurt when I on Korean lessons and ditto with Arabic much later on?

First time learning calligraphy using acrylic pens and filling the letters in.

I bought a basic sumi liquid ink on Amazon but it gave me a headache and made my lungs burn a little.

I’m usually painting but I wanted to experiment with inks and brush calligraphy

Can anyone suggest a brand that doesn’t smell so much? Or has a more pleasant smell.

I can link the brand I bought if that helps. TIA

I have a hard time figuring out which quotes to letter. This has been a huge creative block for me. If anyone can help me with a place where there are a dump of quotes, and I could mindfully pick one and start lettering, it will be great. Thanks in advance 😊

Hi! I really want to find out what brush is being used here. The body seems to have "calligraphy" written on it- anyone know? Thanks in advance! https://youtube.com/shorts/DYCsqihGYxc?si=Hzt_qfqViSlz2zoO

Does anyone know if there are marker paper pads that are pocket size like 5.5in by 8.5in I have a mixed media pad this size I love and would love marker paper this size.

Does anyone have any experience with white paintbrush, pens? I'm using them to cover something that's translucent that will be layered to other stock so it has to be thin as possible when dried! Any suggestions?

What do you guys think?

Is all 120 gsm paper really smooth? I know a lot of people recommend hp laser jet 32 lb for use with their brush markers. I saw some 120 gsm paper on Amazon with dot grid printed on it. For convenience reasons I was thinking of purchasing. It’d be nice to not have to print the grid myself. But I’m not willing to sacrifice on the smoothness of the paper. Hence my newbie question… is all 120 gsm paper really smooth. Or smooth enough to use my brush markers on safely. Or are different brands smoother than the other?

ripped paper core 🥰

to be real these pens are amazing if u don’t accidentally smudge them

I love these pens more than the hard tips but I'd love colors. Anything that is a good dupe?

Since so many of the old masters of Kung Fu styles and the Samurai considered calligraphy as a skill to develop, I'd assume calligraphy must bring some helpful development to martial arts especially with the Chinese Jian and other swords?

They’ve understandably gone a lot softer over time so curious if anyone knows of any ways to make them stiffer again? I miss the very fine pointed end