Have Pens Will Dazzle presents:
With Nina Tran
Gothic Textura — a script famed for its dramatic elegance and historical gravitas, yet brimming with creative potential.
This class is a skill-building workshop designed to help students become familiar with the nature of Textura majuscules. Students will learn constructive exercises, building up to the construction of a basic Textura majuscules and simple variations.
During class, students will be able to practice along and take notes. After class, students will walk away with a better understanding of how Gothic capitals “work” and how to write them with confidence.
Although there will be no assigned homework, students may post their work on Padlet with concerns and questions. Nina will be checking Padlet until January 16, 2026.
This bootcamp is a fun, engaging way to start one’s Blackletter journey or tune up existing Blackletter skills.
Nina will show you how to master Textura majuscules— one bold, angular stroke at a time.
What You'll Experience...
Day One: We’ll focus primarily on understanding the structure of these Gothic capitals and gaining fluency with our pen through iterative drills. Once we’ve established a strong foundation, we will learn the capitals in groups based on common characteristics, such as parent shapes, “foot” structures, etc.
Day Two: After we’ve finished learning all of the letters, we will discuss spacing between majuscules and minuscules, and simple ways we add decoration and variation to our capitals.
Class recordings will be available to view until March 6, 2026.
Zoom Class Schedule
Textura Minuscule Bootcamp will consist of two 2.5-hour class sessions:
Session 1: Saturday, January 3, 2026
Session 2: Sunday, January 4, 2026
Times: 9am-11:30am US Pacific time
Level: ALL (Beginners Welcome!)
Cost: $120 USD
You can use this Time Zone Converter to check the time in your location.
SUPPLIES: After you register, you will receive a confirmation email that includes a link to your Have Pens Will Dazzle® student portal. You can login to download the Supplies List found at the bottom of the Welcome Module.
We'll use the Padlet App to post homework for Nina's comments. Posting on padlet is optional by highly encouraged!
CLASS RECORDINGS: We will post the class recordings and teacher demo sheets in the student portal the day after class. The recordings will be available until March 6, 2026.
REFUND POLICY: All sales are final. Fees paid for this online workshop are non-refundable and non-transferable to future workshops.
About Your Instructor, Nina Tran
Nina Tran is a Los Angeles-based instructor whose initial love for letters has blossomed into a life-long pursuit of learning and understanding what it means to lead a creative life. She teaches a variety of scripts, including Copperplate, Spencerian, Gothic Textura, Gothicized Italic, Fraktur, as well an assortment of monoline letter styles. When she is not fiddling with the alphabet, she enjoys reading, knitting, and being out in nature. You can find her on Instagram at @anintran where she holds informal office hours every Wednesday at 6:30am Pacific Standard Time for 30 minutes.
About Your Tech Host, Maureen Vickery
Maureen Vickery is a professional calligrapher and engraver with PenDance Studio in Houston, Texas. She also is the former publisher and editor of Calligraphy Crush Magazine @calligraphycrushmagazine.
Her specialties include wedding calligraphy and hand engraving on glass and metal gift items. She loves working in both historic and modern calligraphy styles. Her main focus is pointed pen lettering, but she also enjoys creating compositions with broad edge pens, markers, and paint brushes.
Maureen's work has appeared in Dasherie, UPPERCASE, Expression, Letter Arts Review, Modern Luxury Weddings Houston, and Weddings in Houston magazines, as well as Kitty Burns Florey's book Script & Scribble. She is a member of the Houston Calligraphy Guild, Society of Scribes, Friends of Calligraphy, and IAMPETH.
You can find her on Instagram at @pendancestudio.