Toolbox #2- The Healthy Budget Box For Beginners In Brush Calligraphy

What’s in the Box? All the essentials from the Toolbox #1, but with more options! Still affordable but now you have more room to grow and experiment!

The Essential Budget Toolbox is the perfect starter kit to dip your toe into the world of Brush Calligraphy and handlettering. It is very affordable with high quality products like those AMAZING Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens, The Pentel Sign Brush Pens, a good ‘ol fashioned pencil, some tracing paper, and a couple of my Level Up Brush Calligraphy Workbooks. Let’s not forget the Toolbox itself which will store and organize ALL of your supplies! Check out the little recap of the kit below or click HERE to go to the Toolbox #1 post to see all the details of these tools! You can also click on the images to see where to purchase them!

*Full disclosure: The links provided are affiliates. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I make a small commission – but it does not affect the price that you pay. I only put affiliate links on the items that I personally use and love!

Toolbox #1 Supply List

1. ArtBin Quick View Deep Base Art & Craft Box
2. Level Up Brush Calligraphy Minuscules Workbook (Digital or Print)
3. Hammermill Premium Color 32lb Copy Paper
4. Flying Solo Calligraphy Grid Book
5. Strathmore 300 Series Tracing Paper
6. Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens (2 pack)
7. Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pens (3 pack)
8. Ticonderoga Dixon #2 HB Pencils

Price Range: $48.00 – $76.00

Having the essentials is great and all, but it will only take you so far… If you are serious about learning the art of brush calligraphy, you’ll want more options to help you grow and discover.

The Healthy Budget Toolbox is a happy medium between the Essentials Budget and the Baller Budget. These supplies include everything in the Essentials Budget as well as tools that will allow you to explore more of what the world of calligraphy has to offer. Have you downloaded your FREE Toolbox #2 Supplies Guide yet? Click HERE to create an account on my website and have full access to the FREEBIE VAULT! Without further babbling, let’s open the box!

Toolbox #2: The Healthy Budget Box

Check Out This Video Of How I Organize ALL Of These Amazing Tools!

Level Up Brush Calligraphy Majuscules Workbook

This is the sequel to the Level Up Brush Calligraphy Minuscules Workbook. This book will take your lettering journey to new heights! Once you have mastered Minuscules (a fancy word for the lowercase alphabet), the Majuscules (a fancy word for the uppercase alphabet) workbook will give you brand new challenges to face with elegant uppercase letters of the alphabet! It is packed with fun and challenging drills with detailed and encouraging guidance. By learning all 52 letters of the alphabet, you’ll have all of the creative freedom to tackle 100’s of handmade gifts and projects like envelope addressing, home decor, place cards, and fashion! 

Tombow Fudenosuke Hard Brush Pen 10 Color Set

You know I love Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens. You can read all about them in my previous post HERE. It is arguably the best beginner brush pen on the market, so naturally in this toolbox, I am going to include more options. COLORS! These are the Fudenosuke hard tip pens and are most preferred by beginners. I recommend more color options for obvious reasons, but also because with watercolor ink pens like Tombow’s you can BLEND! Don’t worry…I will teach you the ways of blending with brush pens soon! 

Tombow MONO Drawing Pencil Set – 

Tombow makes great quality drawing pencils and erasers. This is an awesome set that will serve you well in your calligraphy journey! You can use this set for pencil calligraphy, creating your very own subtle calligraphy guidelines and even drafting and laying out your very own artwork with your calligraphy. 

So what the heck is the deal with all these different pencils and what do the different numbered letters mean?

I’m glad you asked! The numbered letters you see are based off of a graphite grading scale called the HB scale. “H” Stands for hard graphite which will leave a finer and lighter mark on the paper. “B” stands for soft graphite which will leave a thicker and darker mark on the paper. The numbers next to the “H” or “B” indicate the degree of hardness or softness. 

Soft or “B” grade graphite pencils are ideal for pencil calligraphy. They really allow you to create those dark dramatic thick and thin lines and are very smooth and comfortable to write with. My go-to pencil for calligraphy is the 6B. The 2H and HB pencils are great for creating your own calligraphy guidelines. the 4B and 2B are great for drafting layouts for your calligraphy designs! 

Rhodia Grid and Blank Pads – 

This pad of paper might seem a little pricey, but trust me, you will NOT be disappointed! In my opinion (and I have not met a single person who disagrees with me!) Rhodia makes the best paper you can buy for calligraphy. They are super smooth and even your juiciest pen won’t bleed through this paper. I use the square grid pad for drafting calligraphy designs and also making my own calligraphy guidelines for practice. I like using the white blank paper for writing letters, creating quick calligraphy pieces and rough drafts of designs.

Canson XL Mixed Media Paper – 

If you want to create a piece on something sturdy other than a thin piece of paper or cardstock, this paper is the way to go. Mixed Media paper is designed for pencils, watercolor, acrylic or markers. It has very little texture which is safe for brush pens and can also allow colors to blend seamlessly. I use this paper all the time for finished calligraphy pieces for framing. 

The Toolbox #2 Price Breakdown:

The Essentials:

•  Everything in Toolbox #1 Essential Supplies

• Workbook Digital Downloads

• Toolbox #2 Pens, Pencils, and Paper Pads

From $129.00

The Works:

• Everything From Toolbox #1 Essentials

• Optionals

• All Pen Options

• Printed Workbooks

• Toolbox #2 Pens, Pencils, and Paper Pads

From  $157.00

*prices ranges were based on products from Amazon.com  and  kaylatotheletter.com before the cost of taxes and shipping.

There you have it! The Healthy Budget Box is a good and reasonable list full of supplies that will set you up for learning, practicing AND for creating! If you loved what we talked about today or need some guidance, give me a shout out in the comments and subscribe to stay in touch! Stay tuned for my next post to see what’s inside Toolbox #3! THE BALLER BOX! If you liked this post and you learned something, leave a comment and subscribe to keep in touch! If you need some guidance, my digital door is always open. See you next time!