A special ’Beyond Beginner’ webinar hosted by Master Calligrapher Kirsten Burke, with Lead Calligrapher Maisie Minnet.

Seriously, you don't want to miss this!

In this live webinar, Kirsten Burke will inspire and amaze you with her incredible expertise in working with an Automatic Pen. Unlike our workshops, this webinar doesn't require you to actively participate but watch Kirsten form expressive lettering with this dynamic form of calligraphy. 

Accompanied by our Lead Calligrapher Maisie Minettt, Kirsten will discuss and demonstrate live from our Chichester studio via Zoom! If you would like to follow along then have inks and your own automatic pen at hand. If you purchase one from our site, you will receive Kirsten's alphabet sample sheet with it. During the session, Maisie will be on hand to ensure all your questions are answered.

The magical thing about the automatic pen is that you can blend different coloured inks and make expressive lettering. With the right amount of force, the blades begin to lean to one side after a while, so you can then twist the pen and use the other side to bring the blades back to the centre! 

The automatic pen lifts on its edge and writes a hairline that can become a flourish, and if you work quickly, splashes of ink will sometimes fire from it when the corner of the blade catches on the surface of your paper and create exciting splashes of colour!

Originally invented as a tool for creating large-scale lettering, in the mid-1950s most posters for shops were lettered using a brush and these pens were designed to replace them and ‘automatically’ do the solid, thick downstroke. Popular with Blackletter Calligraphers, they can be used to create medieval styles that work in the same way as a broad-edged nib. 

This workshop looks at calligraphy as a pattern to create fast, frantic marks with unexpected sprays of ink, layers of colour, and a dynamic lettering style. Legibility issues will certainly arise from this workshop and be discussed, using an automatic pen in ways that they were NOT designed for! 

System requirements

This workshop will be hosted via Zoom. All you need is a PC, Mac, laptop, or tablet. We wouldn't recommend a phone as we will be very small on your screen. Your Zoom invite will come with your booking email confirmation, and we'll send it to you again 3 days before your workshop in your reminder email. After you've booked please check your Spam folder in case the email ends up in there!