I’m not one of these people who can work with background noise. When I’m working on a calligraphy commission, I need silence so I can concentrate, but I do like the radio for company if I’m doing admin, like writing blog posts and scheduling social media. The fact that I tend to reach for the…

A bad workman blames his tools, as the saying goes. But when it comes to calligraphy, the idiom doesn’t always ring true. Success in calligraphy is often dependent on the quality of the equipment you’re using, so it’s worth doing your research on nibs, inks, pen holders – and paper. Paper is something I get…

Glass dip pens are not something I’ve played around with much, but that could be set to change! I was gifted one a few years ago, but found it quite blunt to write with, although beautiful to look at, so it never became part of my regular calligraphy kit. I was encouraged to try again…

I set myself a challenge this year to take advantage of more business development and networking opportunities. So when Invest South Tyneside announced its programme of free activities for South Tyneside Business Week 2020, I scrolled through the listings and booked up immediately. I usually avoid these sorts of things like the plague – they…

Having played host to some rather special calligraphy exhibitions last year, the north east is off to a flying start for 2020. The Art of Handwriting is a digital exhibition exploring the changing role of handwriting between the late middle ages and the early modern period – but it currently has a physical presence at…

Have you done the Facebook 10-year challenge? People have been posting pictures of what they looked like 10 years ago compared with now, to mark the turn of the decade. Well, around this time in 2009, my world was about to be turned upside down by the arrival of my first child, James, who is…