Duke Confucious Art Pen

March 1, 2012

DUKE Confucius Art Pen

I am Number two of the people who purchased this pen at a discount in return for a review. I intended to drag the pen around with me for a week before writing; but thought perhaps it would be more helpful to write and post now. I received the pen late Saturday and have had it in my pen case since.

I was curious about this pen because of the two slit nib and the ink collector on top. I draw with my pens and I am fast, a pen that can keep up with me is a must. I am also interested in the mark a tool makes.

The pen is a very finished item, perhaps "fancier" than anything else I own. It is also heavy. I wondered if I would be able to use the pen over extended time periods because I have very small hands and usually prefer a small pen.

What surprised me was that I am able to use the pen; the bamboo warms to the touch and I find, when drawing, that I hold the pen much like the fat bamboo dip pens. (I hold all of my pens in varying ways as I work so it is normal for me to do this).

My drawing time has been sporadic in the past few days; the pen has been wet and ready to work whenever I pick it up. Never balky.

I used Aurora black with the converter; I do not mind using cartridges but have not gotten around to seeing what works best for me in this pen.

I draw from perception –looking at something, and from invention, constructing from memory. This pen has worked well in both modes. Drawing from perception I work very fast and some perfectly good pens (like my Lamy2K BB) cannot keep up with me. Drawing from invention is slower and easier for most pens to cope with. The Confucius pen performed well in both modes. I even include here a page of "doodles" from a meeting I sat through; I was surprised such a formal pen could "doodle". I was also surprised that the pen was comfortable enough in hand to use during a meeting.

I had no trouble using the pen, able to get results from the first drawing – a little splotchy because I didn't know the pen's specific personality. (Think about getting a new car and how every clutch and transmission has its own personality).

The pen nib, used in its full width, makes a mark that seems akin to marks Van Gogh got with a wood pen. A sort of rounded mark with an edge. (I suspect this nib would be lovely for calligraphy). A mark very different from what I can get with my Sailor Fude nib, which is longer and more like a metal nib mark.

I am thinking that brown ink might work very well with the marks this pen can make.

I find that each time I use the pen it gets more familiar, and I seem to get a little more out of it.

The only downside is, in any pen with a big nib used to lay down as much ink as I lay down, the pen must be refilled often. I think in the hands of a calligrapher this would not be a problem, and I am thinking on how to address this. I usually carry ink around with me, and when I am outside drawing cartridges work well.

I showed this to an artist friend and he knew immediately what it was capable of for an artist, and had no problem with the heft of the pen. I was surprised that if a practitioner of Western art such as he understood the nib, then it was not so esoteric.

The pen came with its converter, a long cartridge (refillable) ink and a triangular dunce cap like funnel that I assume gets the ink from the bottle into the cartridge. There was a booklet that I cannot read. The wooden box is lovely and will be useful for something.

I plan on dragging this pen around with me to see what else it is capable of and I shall bring it to the Big Apple Pen Club tomorrow evening.

Thank you Tyler of Bertram's Inkwell for making this experiment possible. Perhaps I will post more drawings if anything good comes out.