Hi, I’m Amy.
Welcome to the Modern Scribe online collection. I specialise in creative calligraphy design and wedding stationery. My work features a lot of mixed media with a focus on texture and tactility. I offer workshops to beginners and also ongoing improvement mentoring to fellow stationery industry professionals. If you’d like to keep up to speed with what’s happening in my studio and be the first to hear of new workshop dates, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter below.
My beginners calligraphy education package is called Calligraphy On Demand. It includes full beginners kit, a structured online syllabus (via video tutorial) and ongoing support directly from me. If you are already part of my cohort of students, you can access the Calligraphy On Demand hub by navigating there via the main menu and then typing in your student password.
If you are not yet a student but would like to enrol, please fill out the form below to register your interest. I open enrolment for a new cohort of students every four to six weeks.
There is an FAQ section (including cost information) just below the form, but if your question is not covered there, please feel free to include your question in the ‘Message’ section of the form.
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Calligraphy On Demand is a calligraphy course which you take entirely at your own pace. It is a package of calligraphy kit, tutorials and ongoing live support and guidance. The kit is personalised and delivered to your door. The tutorials are situated in the Calligraphy On Demand hub which is password protected and accessible to students only. The tutorials total over three hours of close-up demonstration with accompanying comprehensive explanation, and are broken down into manageable bitesize learning chunks (each tutorial lasts approximately 10 to 20 minutes) that are easy to fit into your day. Access to the hub is granted upon enrolment and lasts for 12 months.
Delivered to your door…
…beautifully wrapped
The course is not only suitable for complete beginners, it is specifically formulated for complete beginners! We start from absolute scratch and ensure your calligraphy knowledge does not come out the other side with any glaring gaps. The correct balance of theory and practice is so important at beginners level which is why everything is demonstrated close-up with accompanying thorough explanation in the tutorials.
The kit includes:
1. A 2-in-1 nib holder that you can use as a straight holder (without metal flange) or as an oblique holder (with metal flange)
2. A super-beginner-friendly Brause 361 nib
3. A 16 page workbook (12 pages of fully traceable exercises, four pages of guidance and ‘how-to’); one page of which is totally personalised - you tell me the five words you especially want to learn and I will customise exercises especially for you
4. 10ml Flower Moon Sumi ink
5. An additional 20 sheets of dotted and blank calligraphy paper
6. A blank quote card for you to scribe! Made of ivory 310gsm smooth watercolour card
When you enrol, there is the option to include extras in your kit, such as my handmixed signature pink ink, various inkwells, calligraphy journals and press flower cabochons (excellent for decorating your quote card).
Every (personalisable!) aspect of the kit is personalised
For the full Calligraphy On Demand package — kit, tutorials and support — the price is £89 plus £4.99 UK p&p (I also send the kit overseas - ask me for a shipping quote).
I do not sell any of the components of the package separately.
The workbook is personalised (it includes your own page with the five words you most want to learn - usually those that have meaning to you or you’d like to write in cards etc) and fully interactive, meaning that you trace my calligraphy directly in the workbook before attempting to go freehand. All individual deconstructed strokes, full letterforms and words are made traceable. It is one of the most comprehensive and interactive beginners workbooks available.
The workbook takes you through orientation drills (getting you used to the mechanics of a pointed flexible nib), all the way through the lowercase and uppercase alphabet (fully deconstructing each letter into its constituent strokes), then, finally, the rules of joining are covered thoroughly over three pages (where you advance from joining pairs of letters to joining whole words). From here, the next step is your personalised page where you are presented with your chosen words in black exemplar form, a transparent grey form for you to trace and then space to practise freehand. In addition, there are the numbers and symbols (like ampersand) to get to grips with — again fully broken down and traceable — and a quick reference alphabet sheet for when you start practising outside your workbook, on your separate calligraphy paper or quote card.
Each stroke is deconstructed and traceable — making the learning process clear and simple
The tutorials mirror the workbook and work you through it page by page. Your hand is fully held the whole way through the workbook, if you want it to be! Equally, you could watch the first few minutes of the tutorials to get the gist of what you should be doing and then go it alone…only returning to the tutorial if you get stuck. It really is open to you to choose the pace at which you learn and how much you follow the tutorials.
There is also an intro tutorial which is an essential watch to understand your kit, especially nib mechanics and at which position and angle to hold the nib to achieve the results you want.
I should also let you know now that the tutorials, whilst informative and elucidating, are informal and chatty. I am an in-person calligraphy workshop teacher usually, so my style is very personable and warm, not super-slick and scripted!
Then I am at the end of a DM or email! I offer ongoing email support for any beginners calligraphy-related problems and questions to all of my Calligraphy On Demand students.
Being part of Calligraphy On Demand also opens up access to purchase personal one-to-one tutorials with me which will take place via Zoom.
The personalised page is not about choosing words which will ‘boost’ your calligraphy learning - no words have the inherent power to improve your calligraphy should you learn them. Rather, you should choose words that mean something to you (your name, kids’ names etc) and/or that you know will come in handy (‘happy’ and ‘birthday’ for example). Calligraphy is more enjoyable the more we are writing something that has meaning to us, the more enjoyable something is the more we practise it, and the more we practise something the more we improve.
You will be prompted to provide the five words for your personalised page at the time of enrolment. If you do not provide the five words it will be assumed that you do not require a personalised page in your workbook.
Submitting the above form does not enrol you, guarantee you a place or oblige you to enrol on the next intake. It simply registers your interest, meaning you will receive all pre-enrolment emails and then the enrolment email itself the minute enrolment opens. Spaces are allocated on a first-come first-served basis once enrolment is open. You initiate your enrolment by replying to the enrolment email and you complete enrolment by paying the invoice which will be subsequently sent to you via PayPal.
If you would like to register your interest by submitting the form, please ensure you read the message that pops up after you submit your form. The most common way that potential students miss out on an enrolment place is by not doing this.
Enrolment is open for as long as there are spaces available. Recent enrolments have sold out within 24 hours or less.
Lots of people buy Calligraphy On Demand as a gift and the recipients are always over the moon! To go about gifting Calligraphy On Demand, please input your own information in the above form to get yourself on the enrolment list (as you are the one who will be ordering and paying for the package). You will then follow the normal enrolment process (outlined above in a separate FAQ - please do give it a good read) alongside my other students. When enrolment opens, the enrolment email will prompt you to inform me that you are buying as a gift and I will then ask you to provide all necessary information about the recipient.
You are able to add a hand scribed gift message of up to 45 characters with your gift. Again, you will be asked for the wording for this message during enrolment itself.
