Creative making: Festive calligraphy

Creative making: Festive calligraphy is at the National Library of Scotland on Saturday 14 November, from 1 pm to 3:30 pm. It's a workshop run by Jemma from The Coastal Pen Calligraphy Studio, and the whole afternoon is spent working with a dip pen and nib to build your own winter wonderland design.

If you've never used a dip pen before, that's exactly where you start. You'll spend the session learning how to handle the pen and nib, and Jemma will guide the group through the steps of making flourished stars, snowflakes and Christmas trees. The goal is to get those shapes down and then arrange them into a winter scene of your own. Once you've got your design sorted, you'll turn it into a homemade card or a gift tag, so you leave with something you can actually use.

It's a slow, hands-on afternoon rather than a quick demo, and because you're working with a dip pen and nib, you'll be doing the inkwork yourself. Jemma takes you through the flourishes one by one, so you're not just copying a picture but learning how to build the shapes from the ground up. By the time you're finished, you'll have a card or a tag that you've made from scratch.

The workshop runs from 1 pm to 3:30 pm on Saturday 14 November at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EW. Tickets are £15.