what pen to use to address wedding invitations

April 07, 2022 Post a Comment

Envelope addressing tin be a daunting task, whether y'all are doing it for a large issue or just because it's your best friend's birthday. Through the terminal few months, I have experimented with many tools to figure out which ones are the best for writing on envelopes. This roundup of tools will hopefully be helpful to beginner calligraphers, brides, or just near anyone who wants beautifully-addressed envelopes. Delight note, this is simply a few of the tools I apply. There are plenty of other tools out there that work, these are just the ones I have tested and I can experience good almost recommending to others!

In this post, I break down the different pens, inks, nibs, brushes, and paint I employ on a regular footing for addressing envelopes. I compliment this roundup of tools by also showing y'all what products piece of work for lite envelopes vs. nighttime envelopes. Nearly of the pens or tools have some sort of quirk – and then don't worry, I've outlined those beneath. Some of these products are simple right from the become go, but some need a petty flake of caption or practice before yous can master them.

This is just an article on the tools to utilize for addressing envelopes. If you're looking for a simple mode to faux calligraphy (which looks smashing on envelopes), check out this Step-Past-Footstep Guide to Faking Calligraphy Like a Pro .

*Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if yous purchase through those links, at no extra price to you. This helps back up my weblog and allows me to continue to brand gratuitous content. I just recommend products that I utilize and love. Thank you for your support!

PENS

THICK & Thin SHARPIES

Sharpies are the most widely known, and probably widely used, utensil for addressing anything. Sharpies are very permanent, meaning that you tin write on envelopes with any sort of gloss or sheen and it'll stick. This helps if you lot're writing on glitter or shiny envelopes, and a lot of pocket envelopes are made of a plastic textile that doesn't piece of work with many pens. Sharpies are 1 of my favorites for faux calligraphy, as I mention in this article .

The only thing to watch out for with Sharpies, that you probably already know, is their tendency to drain. Specially if you're using thinner envelopes, they tin bleed all the style to the back of the envelope. As well, make sure you don't have your card or anything inside of information technology when you write on the front with Sharpie.

FINELINERS

Two of my favorite fineliners at this point are my Staedtler Fineliner and my super thin fine gel pen. My fine gel pen is my favorite, even though they are kind of difficult to notice. I bought mine from Etsy , because they aren't found many places but I'thou in beloved with them! Another pack of fineliners that I beloved, that I didn't include a flick of, are Stabilo Fineliner Pens .

Fineliners in general are the perfect tools for the address portion of your envelopes. Because y'all want this to be adequately ledgeable, and at that place is more information to include with the accost portion, yous'll demand a thinner pen. Plus, I think it looks then sleek to have a thicker pen as the proper name and thin pens as the address.

BRUSH PENS

I have three brush pens that I use religiously. Each have their own size and brush flexibility, so it all depends on what you're addressing to determine which 1 works best for you.

Pentel Sign Brush Pens come up in a bunch of colors, and are a nice middle ground between super soft tip and super hard tip pens. They have a nice concentrated stroke, and are small plenty to utilize on smaller envelopes and surfaces.

Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens come in ii tip types, hard and soft. I have both, only I prefer the difficult tip for envelopes (though I practise still use the soft tip occasionally!). I find that it is easier to control, and you can keep the actual strokes very small. I also dearest that this pen is a piffling bit drier, so it looks more like a real brush than the Pentel Sign Brush Pens do. Both this pen and the Pentel pens are slap-up for small envelope and for writing render addresses.

Finally, Tombow Dual Castor Pens have the largest brush of the three pens. This makes it difficult to address small envelopes, so it is best for large envelopes. The Tombow brushes have a very cute stroke and are very pigmented, so they give a unique look to any envelope.

Pigment PENS

Sakura Pen-Touch metallic pens are way also much fun. They are the most beautiful, pigmented metallic pens I've used – and this picture doesn't practice it justice. When you write with these pens, it leaves a really pretty shine that will stand out on your envelopes. I utilise the smaller considering then you tin command the size really well and apply them for incredible faux calligraphy .

These pens are paint pens, which means occasionally you have to press on the tip or shake to get the ink to come up out. Simply, BEWARE: they have a tendency to exspell besides much ink and go out a puddle. When you press on the tip, make sure to exercise information technology on some other piece of flake paper. Likewise, similar to Sharpies, these pens practise bleed a lilliputian bit. Not quite as much as Sharpies, just still enough that y'all don't want to have anything inside your envelope when you write on them.

INKS & Pigment

NIBS

The Brause B361 nib is made of stronger metal, which means that it's a little smoother to write with. This nib has a slightly thicker tip, just it still has the archetype calligraphy wait. Although this bill is a little trickier, in that information technology takes a footling practice and the right inks for information technology to menstruation right, the concluding product is beautiful. Just beware, that because of the big torso of this nib, information technology is decumbent to puddling. Just make sure that when y'all dip in ink, you shake it off a fiddling bit so no extra falls off on the newspaper.

The Brause Arrow #66 is a super small nib, with a very flimsy pecker metal. It takes a little fleck of practice to go used to using such a flimsy nib, merely in one case you lot do, I've establish that it is adequately easy to apply. Not only does ink flow very well with this nib, but it has a very classic look because of the super thin tip. One thing to watch out for with this bill is that if you press too difficult, it tin get caught in your newspaper and film, occasionally sending little bits of ink beyond the page.

INKS

If you're looking for a very solid, perfect black calligraphy ink, I highly recommend the Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star Matte Republic of india Ink . This ink is a cute black colour, very pigmented, and doesn't bleed much (unless you accidentally get a puddle). Merely be certain to check how it writes on a scrap envelope or paper of the aforementioned thickness before you swoop in. Sometimes if the paper is too thin, information technology bleeds a footling chip. I always recommend a scrap envelope for any envelope addressing you do!

If you desire a gorgeous, super pigmented gold ink, Dr. Ph. Martin's Iridescent Copper Plate Gold is a great pick. It looks great on light newspaper and dark (come across below), and is very shiny when it dries. Iridescent inks are thicker than India inks, so they don't bleed much at all and they oftentimes dry out raised (which I love, I don't know about you). All of the Dr. Ph. Martin's Irised colors are gorgeous for envelope addressing, and I recommend every one (but for the sake of images, I only showed the golden).

Ane unusual add-on to my calligraphy colors is my Finetec Gilded Watercolor palette (they don't sell it under the Finetec proper name now – but Coliro is produced by Finetec then I'm guessing it's the same!). I also take some other 1 , with more than colors that I employ as well. And yes, they are pretty expensive, but they last a long time and I've never been happier with the quality of a fix of paints! What is different most these is that it is a watercolor, and then you accept to find the correct consistency of water with ink to flow correctly on your nib. If you utilise more water, information technology has a more transparent look, like watercolor. Simply when y'all employ less water, the cute thing about this palette is that it is surprisingly pigmented – and has a shimmery look that yous can't get with the Iridescent inks.

WATERCOLORS

Although I am still practicing with watercolor and I haven't experienced every product out at that place, I have tried a few that I really love.

Simply, before I get into the actual paints, let'due south talk brushes. I use other brushes when it comes to watercolor lettering, just because of the limited size on envelopes, you need a fairly small brush. My favorite (that is the only one I use for envelopes) is the Princeton Select Spotter 5/0 castor. Whatsoever small spotter brush would piece of work though, every bit well every bit modest flat liner brushes, like this one.

Blackness Watercolor is a popular option for envelopes, because it stands out a lot but withal has that watercolor expect that is so gorgeous. For black, I use Academy Ivory Blackness watercolor tube. I was pleasantly surprised with the color black it was, and with how trivial paint you lot demand to go a project done. Plus, if y'all apply too much, the paint tin dry out upward completely and nevertheless be re-activated with water the next time you need information technology. I observe that when addressing envelopes, it's actually easier to transfer the ink/water combination in a different container or palette that you can easily dip into.

For colored watercolors, I accept ii that I utilise. My offset is Prima Watercolor kits, which come in a number of different colors. I personally use the Tropicals, but it is missing a few colors I wish it had. These watercolors accept a really bright color, and are fairly smooth on whatsoever paper. I also recently discovered Brea Reese liquid watercolors (I linked to the Amazon product so you can see it, but it's defintiely cheaper elsewhere. I bought mine for $3.99 each at Hobby Anteroom!), which are so pretty and pigmented, I love to use them. With these, you barely need any liquid when you combine with a little flake of water. I accidentally put 2-3 drops on my porcelain palette and majority of it wasn't used. Luckily, you tin let it dry up and re-activate it with water, but if you put too much down, some of it volition evaporate.

TIP: because nearly envelopes are not made of watercolor paper, you really have to be careful how much water y'all use. Most will dry up fine, but if you utilize too much water, it will probably bleed through and out. Be generous with the amount of h2o you use, and try not to go over the same spot a ton of times.

Dark ENVELOPES

If you're looking for a cracking sparse white pen to address your darker envelopes, Sakura Gelly Scroll pens are the perfect choice. They are very pigmented and bear witness upwardly beautifully on dark paper. Plus, they make for a great fake calligraphy pen! Sakura also has a number of other gel pens in different colors for dark paper, my favorite existence their Moonlight Gelly Ringlet pens. Sometimes if you effort to go over these pens once more or color in imitation calligraphy, the pen pulls some of the pigment up. To avert this, let your ink dry completely before filling in!

Like to the metallic pen touch on pens that I depict in a higher place, at that place is also a White Sakura Pen-Touch version that works great for darker colored envelopes. Information technology is the most pigmented paint pen that I've used, and I take tried a lot of them! Simply, similar to the metallic ones, information technology occasionally bleeds through the newspaper if y'all press too hard, and it has a tendency to puddle when yous press on the tip to bring more ink into the tip.

All three of the metal Sakura Pen-Touch pens wait simply every bit amazing on dark paper than they do on white. Their shine is just equally noticeable on a night groundwork, which is hard to come by with pigment pens. These are extremely versatile!

My all-time favorite paint or brush calligraphy ink to use is Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White . It is very piece of cake to write with (with my Princeton Select Watch 5/0 brush that I mentioned higher up), and information technology is super pigmented so it shows up incredibly bright on dark newspaper. Plus, you lot can use it as a thicker paint, where you tin't run across whatever paper through the ink, or add together water and you lot too have a white watercolor that actually shows up on a dark background. The i trick with Bleed Proof White is that it needs to be shaken or stirred before use to become the all-time consistency.

As for inks on nighttime paper, nearly of the Dr. Ph. Martin's Iridesent inks show up perfectly. Just similar on white paper, Copper Plate Golden shows upwardly just as shiny and gorgeous. In addition, in that location is a few inks I use on dark paper that I tin't employ on white. 1 of which is Dr. Ph. Martin'southward Pen-White , for the brightest and most consistent white colour to use with nibs. This white color is thick and luxurious, and you cannot meet the paper through it. I also occasionally employ Pen-White for castor lettering, because information technology is slightly thinner than the Bleed Proof White I mentioned in a higher place. Some other cute colour on dark paper is Dr. Ph. Martin'southward Iridescent Silverish , which is very similar to the Copper Plate Gold. It has a sheen to it that you can't go with bones inks.

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