Mahlsticks help to steady your hand while lettering, helping the hand move fluidly through your work. Learning to use a "mahlstick" is the most important technique to master. It allows you to work over wet paint and stand comfortably at a distance from your work, while maintaining good posture. Assuming you are right handed like I am, face your left palm up, thumb toward the ceiling. Place the mahlstick (ball end up), between the index finger curling the last 3 fingers around the base of the stick. Next, place the cup of paint between the thumb and the index finger.

Hold the stick near the bottom in your left hand. Rest your right hand (lettering hand) about 15 inches down from ball end.
<(If you are left handed, just exchange the position of the your hands).

CLICK FOR VIDEO (how to hold a mahlstick)

Brush control is the foundation of all sign painting. The disciplined handling of a lettering brush and or a quill is learned by developing hand and eye coordination.

CLICK FOR VIDEO (how to hold and control a lettering brush)

BRUSH CONTROL
With your lettering hand, hold brush between the index finger and thumb just above the ferrule, the casing that holds the brush hair. Holding the brush like a pencil, practice twisting the brush slowly, back and forth using the thumb to control the movement. This technique is use when ending a letter stroke with a snap, pertaining to a script letter "S" or lower case script "y".

continue to part 2
Learning The Basic Letter Strokes

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For detailed Information about this course,
see: Course Descriptions

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