Making Lettering Tools with Delphie Joy

The Typism Community is filled with lettering artists who have expertise in a variety of techniques. Our goal with the Typism expert series is to ask some of our favourites to share their signature technique or process with you.

Our third feature expert this year is Delphie Joy and in this blog post, she will take you step-by-step through her process of making lettering tools.

Delphie Joy was named after a dolphin in a movie her parent's friend made in the late '70s! She is 41 years old and has been a professional designer for 20 years and pivoted to a focus on letter arts and typography in 2016. 

Delphie currently lives in Perth but is moving back to Brisbane with her family in April 2022. She has four children and has worked in her own business for more than 12 years.

Delphie likes to think of herself as a kindness advocate. As she says, "I believe when we show others true compassion and empathy, we give people the space to be their true selves. I am in a privileged position to be focusing on growing my business as a professional lettering artist and designer and focusing on creating a unique style of work through a "play inspired" practice".

How did you start out as a lettering artist or designer?

I received my Master's Degree in Creative Arts, Graphic Design and New Media in 2003. I always had a passion for type and letters and after working as a corporate designer for over a decade, I decided I needed to start using my hands again and creating. That lead me into the world of hand lettering. It improved my design and logo work and got me excited about creating and communicating in a unique way! I started with sourcing all the brushes and tools and books and tutorials but slowly moved to find my own style and rhythm where I removed the barriers that stopped me "just doing".

What skill or process will you share with us today?

I designed a workshop this year which is all about creating a safe space for play. As adults, we aren't given space or time to create as a process without a direct outcome. For many of us, it's very unnerving to just "play". However, if we aim to practice "play", most days, for small pockets of time, we create new pathways in our brain. These pathways then ignite when we are set to do a new task or design and we come up with new, creative solutions to these problems.

So, today, I would love to invite people to find anything around the house, brushes, ink, crayons, pens, leaves, sponges... and put on a song (here's Delphie's Spotify playlist for you) and spend 10 minutes, just making marks or playing without a finished product in mind. This process is something that will feel awkward at first for some, maybe even unnerving ... but with practice, you will see how liberating it can be to your creative process and your mental health!

Essentially it helps you start to practice creating as a play process, not an outcome-based process. Over time, this practice creates new pathways in our brains to allow us to tackle different projects, designs, situations and artworks with new creative solutions. It also allows us to find what "feels good" in our body and that in turn feeds into our work.

In this mini-tutorial, Delphie will show you how to create a cola pen and hopefully this will lead to some interesting marks, some interesting letterforms (if you focus on letters) and freedom to create without the restrictions of "the right tools, the right grids, the right setup".

Delphie is going to run through a basic lesson as to how you can make one of these grungy lettering tools at home, but first, let's get warmed up and ready to create:

1. Find something that you can create with, any tool, handmade, found around the house, brushes, ink, sponges, cola pens, pieces of cardboard, toilet rolls... literally anything!

2. Pick a song from the playlist. The music works as a way to loosen up and the rhythm sets a tone for the work you will play with.

3. If you need more structure, pick a word, a phrase or a song name, it really doesn't matter what you are writing for this process, it's more just to give you some structure to the "play practice" until you feel comfortable just starting on your own.

4. Try and move your body a little as the music plays and start creating, putting marks to paper, seeing what appears! It can be useful to have a couple of different tools to play with at the start, as this creates contrast and interest as you go.

5. As you move through the play, you might decide to try a new song with a different rhythm to see what you create. Don't be afraid to delve deeper into something if the process draws you, you may decide to play with one style more or for longer.

6. Note the tools you use and the songs when you finish and share with me! I love to see what people create in this practice ... it's not about the final artwork remember!

Now that you're prepped and ready, let's start creating a pop can pen.

Step 1: The tools you will need

• You will need an old pencil of some sort, a Sharpie marker, or permanent marker or something that you can draw with on a can. A little bit of sandpaper is useful, some scissors, tape and the main ingredient is a cola can of some sort.

Step 2: Cutting the can

• Start by cutting the middle of the can out. You need to make a hole in the can first. This can be a little bit tricky. Just be careful when you're doing this.
• Then you're going to cut around the top and the bottom. 
•  We're just going to cut this in four pieces now as well and we'll be able to make four different nibs.

Step 3:  Outlining the nib

• Start with this long rectangle shape of a cola can. Now you want to fold it in half again, being very careful not to scratch yourself.
• TIP: don't make the fold too sharp, because that's where the ink is going to sit in that reservoir.
• then we're going to unfold it again and we're just going to draw a Y shape on it with a marker pen, then we're going to cut it out.

Step 4:  Making the stem

• When you have a Y shape, take the pencil and put it halfway up there and make this the stem of the pen.
• Then take the tape, and wrap that around the base to secure it, and then it will hold the can piece to the pencil.

Step 5:  Shaping the nib

• You can see that there are some differences in the shape of the pens, depending on the size.
• Mark the aluminium with your marker according to the shape you want.
• Take your scissors and cut it into a curved shape
• This can be quite sharp now, Ss if you do have a little bit of sandpaper, it's a good idea to sand some of those edges off a little bit, because it does help when you then put the ink in there. It also makes it a little bit safer.
• Then finally, just grab a little bit of paper and see how it works when we dip it in the ink.

Watch the video below to see the process in action.                 

By building play practice into your week, you actually start to think of unique and different ways to solve your lettering or other situational problems! You will find new ways to draw a letter or try and composition... but this won't happen after one go! you need to make this part of your creative practice to get the full benefit!

Delphie launched a workshop "Permission to Play" in January 2022, and will be holding the next workshop in the second half of 2022 and it will be bigger and better!! You can sign up for the waitlist to find out more about it as details are released: 

To see some info about the last one, check out the highlights on Delphie's Instagram. 

Remember, like all things, practice takes time. But finding what feels good to you and how you like to create, is a liberating experience for your mental health and creativity. You also don't need ANYTHING fancy to play and create so stop creating roadblocks and give yourself 10 minutes to play!

Delphie would LOVE to hear from you in her DMs if this is for you!