Archie's Calligraphy paper pads have been designed to meet all the needs of beginning and advanced calligraphers.

The blocks are made of high quality paper, from ecological sources, but without any quality compromises. Smooth paper, of sufficient thickness and in an elegant and delicate ivory colour, makes more pleasant both the first exercises and improving of calligraphy skills.

Insufficient quality paper makes a lot of trouble, especially when learning calligraphy. A sharp nib hooking on rough or uneven paper during upstrokes causes interrupted and uneven lines and blots. Tearing of paper, feathering and ink bleeding thru can discourage beginners. More experienced calligraphers loose the pleasure of practicing writting. Specially selected and tested paper helps to avoids these difficulties.

Clearly visible, but delicately printed guidelines allow you to keep the right proportions and slant angle of letters. Offset printing is the best way to apply a line on paper because it does not affect its quality and the comfort of writing. Laser printing and photocopying (that is made with the use of toner), leaves on the paper a layer of toner that is visible and even palpable by fingertips. It may hook the sharp nib during upstrokes, and react with ink. Microscopic toner particles applied to the paper, while printing or photocopying the lines, cover the entire surface with the invisible layer that disturbs the absorption of ink to the paper while writing. Moreover the heater used to fix the toner dries the paper and changes its structure (therefore laser printed pages often curl or wrinkle).

Inkjet printing adds additional moisture to the paper structure, which means that the paper can change its texture and lose its smoothness or accepts the ink differently while writing over the inkjet printed lines. In addition, none of the methods used for digital printing allows to print such a delicate and precise lines as using offset printing.

A two colour lines, unlike black, are not only more aesthetic, but also minimally interfere with the composition of the written text and do not spoil it visually. They are virtually invisible when viewing from a distance, and on most photos.

These features make Archie's Calligraphy paper useful for learning and exercising calligraphy in Copperplate style and other styles, that use pointed, flexible nib, such as Spencerian, or modern calligraphy.

I am convinced that learning and practicing calligraphy using Archie's Calligraphy paper will bring a lot of joy and satisfaction to every calligrapher, because I designed them specifically to meet the needs of calligraphers, including my own.