Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have done calligraphy for friends in the past, and I also do a lot of hand lettering and chalkboard art and was looking for a book to help me improve. I dug through a lot of reviews before finding this book, and I can't be more pleased with it! In skill, I am somewhere in the Intermediate area, but this has beginning tips as well as pointers on working with watercolor and gouache. Molly Suber Thorpe gives helpful pointers on nibs, nib holders, ink, and paper(which is worse - having paper that your nib skips on, or the sound of your nib skipping on paper?) for those just starting out, and then segues into writing - "letters first, then words, then sentences." There are some wonderful reference pages with upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet, followed by a page with numbers and punctuation. Some reviewers complained that the pages are ordered by letter of the alphabet, but I prefer to look at individual letters rather than alphabets. (A note on the printing - the background of the letter pages has a grid pattern, and in my book the page with Ss and Ts has the background grid visible over the letters. I found it slightly distracting but not detrimental; I'll add a photo showing what I mean.) The book explains spacing, working with rulers or with a light box to achieve a straight line, as well as digitizing one's calligraphy. Writing with watercolor and gouache are covered(as well as ink and watercolor washes in general) in the Intermediate Technique section. The section on addressing envelopes also has a handy etiquette chart! The final section of the book is devoted to DIY calligraphy projects, and while I may not directly do these projects, the information is sure to be useful for similar projects in the future. Projects range from calligraphed wrapping paper to stationery to digitizing one's calligraphy in order to create a custom stamp. Molly Suber Thorpe's expertise shows in her work, and her writing style is casual and easy to understand. I feel like I have improved already - it has given me the confidence to attempt calligraphing in Greek - and Modern Calligraphy is both a great instructional tool and a helpful resource. I couldn't be more pleased.